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Some sauce from Peking Duk

Australian electro-fusion duo play Garf's
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Australia Day Peking Duk, a.k.a Reuben Styles and Adam Hyde, are performing at Garfinkel's on two nights to celebrate everything Australian. Photo submitted

Reuben Styles is at home in Canberra and about to depart for Sydney to work on music.

One half of Australian festival favourites Peking Duk (along with Adam Hyde), Styles says they've been broadening their musical horizons after non-stop touring.

"We've been performing every day since last February. It's been relentless," he says.

"Right now we are working on hopefully what will become an album. It's been fun. We've stepped outside our regular comfort zone of just making dance floor songs, and making songs that range from lounge funk to hard-hitting rock. Hip hop songs as well."

Talking about where they are going musically, Styles says they are ambitious.

"We realized that Peking Duk doesn't have to be strictly a dance floor project. We can look to become something musically similar to Major Lazer or Mark Ronson," he says.

"We've been working with various instrumentalists instead of just singers. It has been an exciting time. We've been writing on the road but we get 10 times as much done in Sydney. Touring is not a way to get things done."

And you can practically hear him rubbing his hands together in anticipation over the phone.

"We are really excited to be releasing the new tunes. Our three favourite-ever songs that we've made aren't out yet," he says.

Their fan base can be pretty intense. One Melbourne fan was a case in point in December. Stopped by security from going back stage during a Peking Duk show, he used his smart phone to change the band's Wikipedia page to list himself as the step-brother of Styles. They let him through after they showed it to him.

The two performers found out about the security breach when he turned up just outside their green room. When they realized he was not a danger, they ended up having a few beers with him.

"It was a pretty clever move. And we'd never had anything written about us in Time magazine until that time, so good on him. But I don't think it will be so easy in the future!" Styles says.

He adds Peking Duk tend to perform in large urban centres and at music festivals."But anywhere with a large Australian contingency is great!" he laughs.

Speaking of resident Australians, this will be Peking Duk's first visit to Whistler, though some may have seen them at the Squamish Valley Music Festival last summer.

"Whistler had to happen this year, I think it almost happened last year," he says."But it has been on the cards. I don't think Whistler is a place an Australian would avoid playing."

Especially on Australian Day.

Peking Duk is performing two shows at Garfinkel's on Monday, Jan. 25 and Tuesday, Jan. 26. The Tuesday show is sold out but tickets for Monday's performance are $25.