Get ready to put your dancing shoes on – PNAU are back in the country. Peter Mayes, one half of the veteran dance duo, spoke to Garrett Bithell from London on the eve of their departure.

One of Australia’s most critically and commercially successful crossover outfits, PNAU have returned to Australia for a dusting of east coast gigs and their highly anticipated Splendour in the Grass appearance.

“We’re taking it bigger this time around,” Peter Mayes, one half of PNAU, tells AXN.

“I don’t want to give the surprises away, but expect more colour and more excitement than ever before.

“We’re really looking forward to Splendour too. It’s just a great crowd and everyone goes there with the same intensity. And that’s something that extends to the backstage bar – we’re all in a good mood and being nice to each other!”

After playing the Big Day Out festival and a sold-out headline album tour, PNAU have recently been spending their time conquering international markets, especially Europe and the UK. They are also celebrating the release of new single ‘Embrace’, featuring the vocals of Pip Brown from Ladyhawke, from their third self-titled album, a gem of a record that also includes collaborations with Luke Steele from The Sleepy Jackson and Michael DeFrancesco from Van She.

“We’ve got vocals on almost every track on this record, which we’ve never done before,” Peter says.

“We’ve never had this much vocal content and Nick [Littlemore, the other half] is singing now, which is great.”

Peter and Nick have been mates since childhood, and they started making music together when they 14 years old. “In many ways we’re the same person,” Peter says.

“But our expertise and strong points seem to dovetail nicely. So as a team we’re much stronger than either of us is individually.

A Sydneysider born and bred, Peter has a few things to say about the state of our live music scene. “The poker machines are always a problem, let’s be honest,” he states.

“You don’t see that kind of thing anywhere else. Sydney is plagued by them.

“But having said that, I think [the scene] is getting better. There seems to be more venues at least putting up a stage and going for some kind of music licence. I think in the 90s, club music took over – more of a DJ culture than a live culture. But it seems to be coming back now. It would be nice to see some joints that are a bit smaller I suppose – places that don’t need to make so much money to run every week so they can afford to be a bit more eclectic.

“One thing I know is that there are a lot of people making music – way more than there was ten years ago. And that’s cool, because that’s where it starts.”

PNAU play The Tivoli in Brisbane on Thursday, August 7, and the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney on Friday, August 8. Special guests Operator Please and Sam La More. Tickets through Ticketek on 132 849 or online at ticketek.com.au  For more information on PNAU, go to myspace.com/pnaupnau  Their third, self-titled album is out now.