Confidence Man

14+ (under 16’s to be accompanied by an adult over 18)

Australian powerhouse partystarters Confidence Man are back and celebrating their big move to London the only way they know how: flying over the city in a helicopter, naked. The visual for lead single ‘I CAN’T LOSE YOU’ – a sugary shot of euphoria from their third studio release 3AM (LA LA LA)  – sees the pop-dance delinquents setting out their stall from a great height: they want to whisk you away from the dull wasteland of modern mediocrity, pump up the volume and, with their typical unseriousness, crashland on the dancefloor. This is album three, Confidence Man 3.0, locked and loaded, and they’re building a rave new world, where the outfits are daringly small, the hairstyles outrageously large, and it’s always, always night. 3AM (LA LA LA) is due for release on October 18 via CHAOS/Polydor/I OH YOU, pre-order the album HERE. 

“It’s a fucked up sort of world,” says Sugar Bones of the new Confidence Man universe they’ve created. But most importantly: “It's 3am, it’s never not 3am, and we party all the time.” 

Since they high-kicked into view with their 2018 breakthrough album, Confidence Man have won hearts and lost minds around the world with their arch pop-dance confections and cute choreo – but, like, in a hot way. On 3AM (LA LA LA), Janet Planet, her floppy-haired foil Sugar Bones and instrumentalists Clarence McGuffie and Reggie Goodchild are delving deeper into UK rave sounds of the 90s and 2000s, from trippy acid techno and trance to breakbeat and big beat. It’s darker, sexier and more surreal. 

Following the huge acclaim of their last album, 2022’s TILT, Confidence Man’s next club-focused chapter began with the release of 2023’s ‘On & On (Again)’, co-produced with Daniel Avery. They’ve since released underground hits with DJ Seinfeld (‘Now U Do’) and DJ Boring (‘Forever 2 (Crush Mix)’, as well as a remix album (Confidence Man Club Classics Vol 1.). At first, the band “wanted to dehumanise pop music and make it over the top and ridiculous again,” says Planet. But now they’re bringing those pop sensibilities to classic UK rave. “We wanted to revisit those sounds and then add pop hooks and vocals to them,” she continues. “I feel like that hasn't really been done before, besides The Prodigy.”  

3AM (LA LA LA) references what you might call the flow state Confidence Man found when writing and recording the album at Pony Studios in east London, with sessions that would go on all night. Vocals were improvised in the moment, and often captured in the first take. “We pretty much wrote every single song when we were wrecked,” says Planet. “We’d get blasted and stay up till 9am coming up with music, but we noticed that 3am was the hottest time for when we were on it and the best ideas were coming out.” 

Keen detectives may also notice the album’s reference to the song ‘3am Eternal’ by their heroes, the British acid house group The KLF (the very same KLF who once pulled off one of the most talked-about stunts in UK music history: burning a million quid). That admiration works both ways: The KLF’s elusive Jimmy Cauty has become a Confidence Man fan and has worked on a remix of the album’s closing title track. “I don't think he'd been to a gig in 25 years and he came to see us at the Roundhouse in London,” says Planet. “He’s been mentoring us a bit ever since.”  

While Confidence Man aren’t planning to set fire to any hard-earned cash anytime soon, their new album is definitely full of unexpected twists. A seamless, high-energy mix, 3AM (LA LA LA) blends together an even more varied grab-bag of genres from the 90s and 2000s, masterminded by producer Goodchild. It makes sense that Confidence Man drew on the likes of Groove Armada, Prodigy, Leftfield and Underworld, says Bones, because “all those classic UK rave acts have always been popular in Australia. Prodigy were my fave band growing up when I was in my early teens.” And yet their take on it all is, in typical Confidence Man style, filtered through their own warped lens. “We didn’t know any of the rules,” says Bones. “These sounds make their way into your scene but then everyone repurposes them because no one understands the context,” continues Planet. “No one had ever been to a warehouse rave where we’re from.”  

Confidence Man have quickly attracted a hardcore fanbase of ravers, young and old, through their jaw-dropping, high octane performance at Glastonbury 2022. They’ll be back at Glasto again this summer testing a new live show they’re putting the finishing touches to, stepping up to the Other Stage as well as hosting their club night, Active Scenes later on in the night. For the first time, they’re building an ambitious set  – helmed by Rob Sinclair, lighting and production designer for none other than Madonna – and you can catch the new show on tour this summer, kicking off with a return to Pikes in Ibiza on June 14 and a number of Glastonbury warm-up shows across the UK. Tickets and tour dates are available here: https://www.confidenceman.com.au/tour  

Confidence Man are naughtier, ravier, and ready for lift-off. Standby…