SWEAT: "Things will almost certainly go wrong..."

Using cloaks, daggers, smoke, and mirrors, the enigmatic crew have clattered into 2016 like a drumkit hurtling down a staircase. SWEAT are an intriguing band of convention-defiers that look to the leftfield at every opportunity - they even attracted the attention of US megastar Lady Gaga, who made her live comeback after a decidedly, erm, sweaty performance from SWEAT.

One of the group's finest adventures in 2016 is undoubtedly "Acid Rainbow". It's one of our Fifty Essential Tracks Of The Year - find out what else we think made 2016 such a great year for music.

Listen to the single below and get to know the quintet after.

Could you introduce yourselves for us please?

Hello, we are SWEAT. Dante, Gam, Matt, Joe, and Dave

What do you try to do with your music and how do you achieve this?

In a world falling apart at the seams it’s simply impossible for us not to feel the influence of this in our writing. Despite rising sea levels, extinction of animals, and the impending catastrophe of globalization and social media all forcing out darkness in our music, it’s important for us to make music that is exhilarating, that makes you want to move, and acknowledges something positive about human beings and human beings’ desire to behave recklessly.

Probably the core of SWEAT is a chaotic live show where things go wrong and it's loose but gets across what we feel I guess. It is the task of essentially playing hybrid electronic-sounding music live without laptops or loops, which is sometimes unnatural but makes it dangerous and sometimes a white knuckle ride.

We produce all our music in a little Peckham lock up, using homemade equipment made out of filing cabinets, bits of old organ and half broken drum machines found in skips - the detritus of musical civilisation - to create a sonic signature that is one hundred percent our own. This takes a little longer and it sounds rawer and wronger but creates a type of roughness that feels futuristic rather than retro.

Can you tell us what musical and non-musical influences have shaped your sound?

Our recently deceased heroes David Bowie, Prince, and Leonard Cohen, but we have also drawn musical ideas from Frank Ocean, RD Burman, Suicide, The Spice Girls, Connnan Mockasin, Kendrick Lamar, Emmylou Harris, Cyndi Lauper, Rob Zombie, Bob Dylan, Taylor Swift, Eurythmics, The Doors, Billy Idol, Piano Man, ABBA, Laurie Anderson among many others.

In the last five or so decades humans have increasingly been predicting many different ends to the world we know. Perversely these apocalyptic visions have taken shape primarily in the form of entertainment - movies, writing, music, TV, art, even games and clothing. As we begin to enter what seems like the real-life version of what these 'entertainments' have been prophesising with events like the election of Donald Trump, it makes sense for the visual representation of the music we make to be part of the lineage of these past attempts. Blade Runner, Snow Crash, Nirvana, Infinite Jest, Mad Max, Akira, the writings of Gibson and Nick Land, Donald Trump and Kanye...

What should people expect from your Five Day Forecast show?

It'll be groovy, that's for sure, something/things will almost certainly go wrong, some people might find it a bit scary, others possibly orgasmic.

What are you working on next?

We are in the process of writing what will eventually become our debut album, slices of which we will probably dish out in the form of singles or EPs to set the scene beforehand. We are drawing from an increasingly wide network of influences at the moment - US R&B, trap, vapourwave, chart pop, superclub, punk, country and western - all filtered through our particular recording methods, so it will definitely sound like the next step musically for us.

How is 2017 shaping up? What are you looking forward to next year?

Starting the year by going to America for SXSW will be literally a dream come true and we are beyond excited. To experience the land where so much of the music that informs our lives came from - I have heard it’s a mental place.

Other than that, pushing our sonics even further and experimenting with even more extreme territory on our next musical offerings. Hopefully 2017 could see SWEAT album #1!