It's not unusual for winners of Triple J’s Unearthed competitions to find fame — think Missy Higgins or Grinspoon — but for last year’s winners, Sydneysiders Art vs Science, it’s been an incredibly rapid rise. How many bands find themselves on the Splendour in the Grass bill a year after they formed?

Having played only a handful of live gigs when they won the competition, Art vs Science’s catchy debut single, 'Flippers', endeared them to fans of dance-rock crossover, as did the follow-up, 'Parlez Vous Francais', and their self-released, self-titled EP recently reached No. 6 on the iTunes charts.

Drummer Dan Williams, speaking to us a couple of days after their Splendour appearance, was still on a post-gig high. ‘‘It was bloody fantastic. We were on early, so we were freaking out that nobody would come and see us. But they did, which was a pleasant surprise,’’ he says ahead of the band’s national tour, which kicks off this week. ‘‘It’s absolutely flattering to be playing Splendour — we didn’t expect this to happen when we started messing around in summer last year.’’

The trio — Williams, Dan McNamee (aka Dan Mac; keyboards, guitar, vocals) and Jim Finn (keyboards, vocals) — all in their mid-20s, met in high school and had played in different rock bands before forming Art vs Science and embracing dance beats, spurred on by the acquisition of an old Ensoniq keyboard Williams inherited when an uncle died. ‘‘We’d never really played keyboards but we were becoming big fans of dance music so we started messing around with it,’’ Williams says. ‘‘We plugged it into a guitar amplifier because we had no other way of making sounds and we were amazed at the variety of strange noises you can make! ‘It’s a late ’80s, early ’90s keyboard, so it’s quite digital but if you put it through an amplifier it sounds kind of distorted — it sounds good.’’


Art vs Science - 'Flippers'
 
Williams, who is also the drummer in Sydney outfit Philadelphia Grand Jury, says the trio’s keyboard epiphany inspired them to make dancier tunes. ‘‘Also, Dan Mac had a pseudo-religious moment when he saw Daft Punk,’’ Williams says. ‘‘We’ve always been fans of bands that play dance music, rather than DJs necessarily. I was a big fan of Gerling and Regurgitator and we’d always been interested in doing something along those lines. We want our dance music to be fun.’" Unlike many of their electronic peers, Art vs Science play live; no looping machines or laptops. ‘‘That’s not a choice though, it’s a necessity — none of us could afford a laptop,’’ admits Williams. ‘‘And we didn’t really know how to use those programs anyway. So that became the more natural way for us to play.’"

Given the trajectory they’re on, affording laptops shouldn’t be a problem for the band for much longer; as well as their first national tour, they start work on their debut album, before joining the Parklife festival tour. ‘‘They’re putting us up in hotels and stuff, so we’re very excited,’’ says Williams. ‘‘We also have a few summer festivals but I’m not at liberty to say which ones yet.’’

ART VS SCIENCE

Aug 7 - East Brunswick Club, Melbourne, VIC
Aug 8 - The Toff In Town, Melbourne, VIC
Aug 9 Kooroora Hotel w/ Miami Horror, Downsyde... Mt Buller, VIC
Aug 13 - Plantation Hotel, Coffs Harbour, NSW
Aug 14 - The Zoo, Brisbane, QLD
Aug 15 - The J, Noosa, QLD
Aug 16 - Neverever Bar,     Gold Coast, QLD
Aug 19 - Norfolk Basement, Fremantle, WA
Aug 20 - Amplifier Bar, Perth, WA
Aug 21 - Jive Bar, Adelaide, SA
Aug 26 - ANU Bar, Canberra, ACT
Aug 27 - CSU Uni Bar, Bathurst, NSW
Aug 28 - Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, NSW
Aug 29 - Oxford Art Factory ALL AGES     Sydney, NSW
Aug 29 - Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle, NSW
Aug 30 - Waves, Wollongong, NSW
Sep 26 - PARKLIFE - Brisbane, QLD
Sep 27 - PARKLIFE - Perth, WA
Oct 3 - PARKLIFE - Melbourne, VIC
Oct 4 - PARKLIFE - Sydney, NSW
Oct 5 - PARKILFE - Adelaide, SA
Oct 31 - Stonefest     Canberra, NSW