Just before seeing the awesome Vancouver show, I got to sit down and chat with Jason Stollsteimer of The Von Bondies. They have an interesting history to say the least and their excitement for what they do is apparent in everything they do, interviews, live shows, albums, etc. If they’re in your area, check them out. You’ll be impressed with how personable they are.

Killahbeez: How did the Von Bondies come to be? You guys used to be the Baby Killers?

Jason Stollsteimer: I listened to Minor Threat, Weezer, Sloan, random music. I wasn’t a huge music kid, I played sports when I was a kid; I was talked into that by certain members of my family. I played a lot of sports; I was never interested in music.

In 1998 I went to a concert were there were bands I had never heard of. My roommate at the time dragged me to the show and it was packed, 800 people, in Pontiac, an hour north of Detroit. The bands playing were the The Cramps and Guitar Wolf. I was watching this band from Japan that basically didn’t speak any English. During the show, the lead guitar player handed his guitar to some random person in the crowd and said “hit it!” and this guy hit the strings and it sounded just like the band, meaning, I could do that! If that guy can’t play guitar and the guitars are so loud that it doesn’t matter what you play, I could do that!

It looked like so much fun! That night I went back to my apartment and proceeded to get drunk with five of my friends and we started the Baby Killers that day. I had never played guitar, the drummer had never drummed, the singer had never sung, and I had never played bass. We were playing in the basement just making crap noise because none of us knew what we were doing.

Then, one by one each person went upstairs to get a drink but then didn’t come back down. In the end I was by myself which is ironic because I’m the only one left in the band. So I went upstairs and the lights were all off and when I turned them on I saw everyone was having non-sex sex, they were all making out in a big group. That was the first Baby Killers practise. That was the most rock ‘n’ roll thing and it started off that way. Three of those people weren’t in the band the next week.

KB: It was one of those things where being in a band seemed cool until they realized they had to work and actually practise.

JS: Yeah. They were the ones that were more into music than me but I was the only one that lasted. We changed our name to the Von Bondies when our drummer Don joined.

We started playing our first shows at house parties in a room that fit 50 people, but we would fit 100 in the room of this house I had in college.

We were pure energy with no talent. It was great. Now we have a little bit of talent and lots of energy still. We’re very self-deprecating. It’s very mid-west, that’s how it is where we live; everyone picks on themselves.

KB: So just to clarify, you had no interest in music when you were younger or you didn’t have an “interest” because you weren’t supposed to?

JS:All of my friends were musicians, I was the guy who carried their equipment and sold their band t-shirts. My brother was the musician in the family and he still is. He’s ten times the musician that I’ll ever be.

KB: Does he ever help you?

JS: In the ten years of the Von Bondies, he’s come up on stage once and it was great.

KB: What were your inspirations then? If you weren’t into music, you’re inspiration must have grown from somewhere, eventually some musician…

JS:No, I normally buy a cd every four or five years. I never buy music. I listen to talk radio consistently.

There are certain bands that I’ve seen live that inspire me but cd’s not at all. I still don’t own a Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin, Stooges, or MC5 record and those are the five things that people relate to rock’n’ roll. It’s not because I don’t like it. The rest of the band listens to music religiously. When I hear it on the radio, I’ll sing a long, but I’m not a huge music fan which is strange because of what I do.

I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher but somehow I ended up here. I love it, don’t get me wrong, but not for the same reasons your average musician does. Some people want fame, some people want to get laid, some people like partying and being the center of attention. I kind of got talked into doing this and then I liked it for totally different reasons.

KB: What is it about what you do that you love then?

JS:I like traveling and talking to people after the show. I like talking to the audiences which most shows I go to, nobody does that. Touring bands plays their songs and then says one cool line and that’s the show; they play the cd. There just getting through the night because they have 300 other nights to do. It’s a rip-off. I feel ripped-off if there is no connection between the band I’m watching and me in the audience. That might be the only show I go to that month. If I’m having a good show I talk to the audience for like 15 minutes over the course of an hour.

Tonight’s a Monday. Our job is to make people forget they have work tomorrow. That’s my main goal. Friday’s and Saturday’s are different shows because we know they don’t work the next day so we play more songs and talk less. I like to get them involved on the weekdays.

KB: Any musical collaboration you’d be interested in making happen sometime soon?

JS: I don’t think doing something with me would be good for anybody else. I don’t think I work in the normal way a song writer might work because I don’t have any background in music. Even in this band I end up playing all the bass and guitar parts on all the records, sometimes even the backing vocals. I don’t really collaborate that well. I didn’t know that I was supposed to; I didn’t know that’s how it worked. I had never done my homework on how you’re supposed to run a band. This was from day one, now looking back over the course of ten years, a solo project with my friends.

On the new record we don’t list anybody. I’m not even listed as a band member. Either you like the cd or you don’t. It doesn’t matter if Dave Grohl’s on drums (which he’s not); it’s about whether or not you like the music. So if you liked us because of the guest, that’s weird, because they weren’t involved musically.

People already know that I’m in the band so why should I put my name on the album saying Jason Stollsteimer, guitar and vocals.

KB: Are you guys writing while on the road or just touring and having fun?

JS: If I wasn’t doing sound checks, I would be up there by myself writing songs, just little riffs at a time.

I write better when I’m on tour, I don’t write at home at all. If you said, you have one day in the studio and you have to write ten songs, I would be able to do ten songs and one would be really good. I’m really good at being put on the spot. If you said you have six months to put out an album, that’s bad, don’t give me time.

“C’mon C’mon” was written in a day: it was written in less than five minutes, recorded, and edited. Same with the new record; “Pale Bride” took like five minutes to write. The songs that take the least amount of time are everyone’s favourites.

I have six new songs that are basically done.

My other band, Jason and the Hounds Below, is putting out a record this fall so I’ll tour on that for a little bit. It’s more like Roy Orbison meets Velvet Underground. It’s more crooner-esque, it’s not rock. I get to sing huge vibratos, my more natural voice. That’s what I grew up listening to, like Otis Redding.

KB: What’s the tour been like so far?

JS: Canada is hilarious. We had never been to Edmonton, Winnipeg, or Calgary and they were amazing.

In Edmonton, the venue was way over sold out. Everyone was dancing. I hadn’t had that much fun in like two or three years. Vancouver has a lot to live up to!

KB: Uh oh!

JS: No, no…Vancouver is normally really good but it is a Monday after all. Bands usually try to have Mondays off because they’re the least well attended. Tonight should be fun. We played at Richards last time.

KB: Yeah I like Richards. I like smaller venues. They’re more personal, better crowd, you see familiar faces.

JS: We’re noticing that our friends who used to do the 2000 seaters are now doing 500 seaters. All those bands are playing smaller venues because people aren’t going to shows, at all.

It’s good that you like small venues because the bigger venues aren’t going to be selling.

I try not to go to big stadium shows; festivals are different. There was a time when we were doing 2000 seaters in Europe and that was a low point for me personally on stage because it didn’t matter how sold out every show was, I couldn’t see anybody. There was forty feet between me and the first person in the audience.

KB: After this tour do you have a bit of a break before heading onto your other bands tour? Any other future plans?

JS: We’re doing Virgin Festival in Toronto. We’re doing a bunch of festivals after this tour and until October and then we’ll have two weeks off and that’s when I’ll record my other band.

I know that we’re going to try and get on Lollapalooza, Coachella, and some others.

This will be our six month straight touring. The reason why I did this big Canadian tour is because every tour could be our last. I’m having fun but who knows. Plus, we had a five year break between albums and we had no idea if anyone would remember us, especially in cities we’d never been to. It’s been reassuring!

KB: Enjoy it while you’re up there because you never know! Something could come up and you’ll kick yourself for not making the most of your last tour!

JS: Yeah, I am enjoying myself! I had a day off in Vancouver. I’ve never had a day off on purpose to go see a city.

KB: Well thanks for the chat. I had a great time and I look forward to seeing the show tonight! I’ll be up at the front taking as many photos as I can during the first three song limit!

JS: Oh yeah! We want photographers to take photos after the first three songs. We want to be sweaty. We hate it when the label only allows the first three songs. No one needs a photo pass. We feel lucky to have out photo taken. Flashes are fine, everything is fine. It takes us three songs to warm up. I don’t want us looking like Hollywood crap. The last song is the best to photograph because that’s when we’re jumping around! You want photos of the chaos!

KB: Wow amazing! Thanks so much. See you later!

JS: Enjoy the show!

I’ve been recently put onto Glass Candy, as I’ve been told by numerous people, that they KILLLLED it at Coachella this year. The duo consists of Ida No and Johnny Jewel and are on the indie lable “Italians Do It Better”. Dochey sounding record label name right? But don’t let that deter you from grinding out to their jams. The shit is quite melodic and her voice is very very entrancing, I’ve also seen videos and I have to say she’s extremely sexy based on stage presence and the way she dances. Straight up. Check out their MySpace page, www.myspace.com/glasscandy, for more info on them and upcoming tour dates.

Glass Candy “Computer Love” [MP3]
Glass Candy “Candy Castle” [MP3]

Both Chairlift and Sébastien Tellier were recently on tour together and one of their stops was in Vancouver. The tour has since completed with Tellier finishing up his North American tour at Coachella, while Chairlift now joins Peter Bjorn and John on tour throughout North America minus Vancouver.

The night started off a bit slow. Chairlift was expected to be on stage at 9:30pm, but weren’t on til about 10:15ish. The crowd was treated with an appearance from lead vocalist, Caroline Polachek. She would start the set solo, playing on her Nord. Moments later Patrick Wimberly would join her on stage and made the announcement that we all dreaded to hear, that guitarist Aaron Pfenning couldn’t make it across the border. My initial reaction was, what the fuck? really? this shit usually happens to rappers. The sad thing is, us folks north of the border are generally use to US acts not making it across the border for various reasons.

But both Caroline and Patrick wouldn’t let that news deter them from playing for the crowd. Instead they announced that they were going to be playing a modified set that included some songs from Caroline, Chairlift tunes “Planet Health” and “Evident Utensil”, and some covers. One of those covers pretty much shocked the crowd, as a familiar baseline would drop and the synth kicking in. Attendees quickly realized that Caroline Polachek was singing Snoop Dogg’s “Sensual Seduction” (video below). It was actually pretty amazing, as she would sing the song, THEN proceed to rap the lyrics, Colorado represent what what.

Despite the fact that they weren’t able to do their normal set, the crowd seemed fairly satisfied with the performance, mostly because the band did at least put in the effort and I’m sure this won’t be the last time we’ll be seeing Chairlift in Vancouver.

Once Chairlift ended their set with “Sensual Seduction” and left, the stage was quickly dismantled and setup for Sébastien Tellier, the crowd in attendance was definitely buzzing as many people were talking about how epic they’ve heard his performance is and such. A few moments went by and the man himself came out, this was the moment of truth, and he wouldn’t disappoint, kicking his set off with the latest single “Kilometer”. Ladies in the house were going crazy and I think a few men also went crazy. With his signature disheveled hair, full beard and shades, he was full on serenading the attendees and all were eating it up. He would grab his guitar and play along with the 3 piece band in behind him.

He would sing an array of songs both in French and English and all at the same time sounding extremely silky smooth. Besides the singing the man would connect with the crowd by bantering but to be perfectly honest he would say incomplete sentences or random words like “Freedom”, but it didn’t matter, the crowd loved it all, whatever he was giving, they were willing to taketh. He was really great with us photographers in the front as well, by throwing poses or giving us angles to take shots of him.

The majority of the songs performed, as expected, were off of the Sexuality album. Playing crowd favourites “Divine”, “Une Heure”, “Fingers of Steel”, “L’Amour et la Violence”, but he would play “La Ritournelle” off of the Politics album and “Universe”.

During “L’Amour et la Violence” his showmanship would once again come out. As he was playing the piano and singing, he would take the mic and proceed to climb on top of the piano and layed down on top while continuing to sing for the crowd. Folks in the building were yelling and screaming and cheering for the man, females offering to be his baby momma and such. This song would end the set…for the brief moment that is. Until him and his band came back onto the stage to play “Sexual Sportswear” for the encore. The band and him would jam out on this 7 minute or so long set, but Tellier still wanting to entertain the crowd would pretend the mic stand was a woman. He would gently caress it, make love to it. Then at one point treated the mic stand as…well a penis, and proceeded to stroke it sensually (video below), people were going nuts and he was highly entertaining. And with that he ended the show. How one could not be entertained by the overall showmanship and performance would baffle me.

The concert was produced by Timbre Productions, www.timbreproductionsconcerts.com, check out their website for all upcoming shows. Like a lot of the mid-sized promoters in Vancouver, they’re always bringing in talented people.

Check out photos from past events at our Flickr page, www.flickr.com/photos/killahbeez, and of course don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, @killahbeez.

As you’ve all heard by now, Amy Winehouse is officially out for Coachella, no big deal honestly in my opinion. But who has been added is even more amazing, Etienne de Crecy. You may find yourself asking, who?, not to fret, there are a lot of people who aren’t aware of Etienne de Crecy, but their music is amazing, but what’s even MORE amazing is their live shows. They. Are. Fucking. Bananas. Treat yourself to the visual delight below. This video was taken at a concert they did in Paris at the La Défense, Espace Grande Arche, which is a pretty cool area in itself.

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Last month, DT and I leaked a track from Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ upcoming It’s Blitz! album on Killah Beez.  The music video to this track, titled “Zero”, debuted on AOL yesterday. The digital version of It’s Blitz! is out today. The CD will be in retail stores on March 31st.

If you’re attending Coachella or Bonnaroo, you’ll be in for a treat as the YYY has been announced to perform at both festivals.

Source: YYY, AOL

Few artists can break down language barriers and find success, yet Yelle, a French Pop Artiste, can certainly state that claim as she has done just that. Her music, despite being sung entirely in French, has gone global and specifically infecting English speaking countries with her sound, yes sound. Listen to her album Pop-Up and you’ll understand. The electro-pop sounds make you euphoric and you can’t help but dance. Her live show takes the energy of the album and multiplies it by a 1000, giving you a feeling that you’ve just enter an aerobics session. So it was a great pleasure to have a chance to interview her last month, touching on topics such as how the group started, musical and fashion influences and a host of other topics.

Killahbeez: Hi Yelle, thanks for taking the time and doing this interview with us.

Yelle: No prob!

KB: So for those who are new fans of Yelle, can you breakdown how the group formed with you, GrandMarnier and Tepr and why the group decided on the name Yelle?

Yelle: I met GrandMarnier first and we became good friends. We decided to do music together in 2005 and we chose the name Yelle at the beginning for “you enjoy life” and it was just YEL, but then we decided to feminize it with one more L and E! Tepr met GrandMarnier because he used to be a journalist and he was writing an article about GM’s previous band. We asked him to join us on stage and for the album in 2006.

KB: Your album, Pop-Up, has a fun and playful sound to it, how do you translate that to the stage and bring that energy out?

Yelle: The live show is like an extra power of the album. It’s like a dj set with the energy of instruments (GM on the drums, Tepr on keyboards, me singing and hitting my floor tom). Performing live is what we prefer; we are a rock band when we are on stage!

KB: [laughter]. Yeah I couldn’t agree more.

KB: Writing for this album, how much of the lyrics are about your life and how much of it is just about a 25 year old girl (which you happen to be as well) living life and having fun?

Yelle: With GM (GrandMarnier) we find the theme in our life, in my real 25years old girl life! Of course it’s funny to imagine some stories but it’s always apart of reality!

KB: So do you feel that singing in French has been a barrier at all to breaking into the North American market, or do you feel like good music is good music and people don’t necessarily care about the language?

Yelle: It’s maybe exotic for English speaking people to listen French songs. But yes the music is very important and if the people are curious they’ll try to find the translation of the songs. It’s not a barrier, we have this particularity and it’s cool!

KB: Yeah I was definitely initially drawn to the energy of the music before diving into the lyrics a bit more.

KB: How would you describe your sound? I mean in some songs there are times when it definitely sounds like you are rapping, yet maintaining a pop / electro vibe.

Yelle: We did a real electro pop album with some fantasy sounds. I think I’m more a singer than a rapper; my rap is so old school! I discovered the rap music with Warren G and Snoop Dogg when I was a teenager and yes I like that!

KB: You mentioned Snoop Dogg and Warren G, who or what else influences your music and sound?

Yelle: I’m a big fan of Pop music with Madonna, Blur, Prince, and more and I was listening lots of rock bands and French singer when I was young, with my parents. Then I had a crush on Daft Punk, with my bro.

KB: Speaking of Daft Punk, a lot of French artists, such as Daft Punk, Justice, DJ Mehdi, SebastiAn and including yourselves, are getting a lot of recognition in the US. Do you feel like each of you are influencing one another with your sounds?

Yelle: It’s not the same sound, and not the same crew. We appreciate them but we can’t say they are an influence, except Daft Punk, for sure, cause they do have songs, you know what I mean, it’s not only about sound, it’s about songs. But we are from the same generation yes, and we all watched the Fresh Prince!

KB: [laughter]

KB: So changing topics here, in all your pictures and in all your videos you’re so well dressed. Who or what influences your fashion sense? Any favorite designers or pieces of clothing that you can’t live without?

Yelle: I like to play with my outfits for a long time! I like to wear colors but black and white stuffs too! I just like to have fun with my style like in my life so I’m a big fan of designers like Jeremy Scott, Andrea Crews, JP Lespagnard or JC de Castelbajac who are really into pop art, they have lots of fun in the way to dress people! I’m a big fan of bags and shoes!

KB: Would you ever think of starting your own clothing line?

Yelle: We have some merch on tour and on a web site call www.recreation-center.com! Creating a clothing line is one of our project, yes.

KB: Going back to the topic of music, Tell us a bit about your experience at Coachella, what was it like performing at such a huge festival? Do you prefer big venues or smaller more intimate venues?

Yelle: Playing in Coachella was totally crazy and amazing!! We were a little bit nervous cause we were playing at the same slot of Portishead but the crowd was there, they were dancing and screaming, it was a very good night for us! We like to play sometimes in little venue to be closed from people but it’s really intense and fun to be on a huge stage too!

KB: What’s next for Yelle, any other projects or collaborations that you can talk about?

Yelle: Katy Perry just asked us for a remix, we did it, but now we really want to focus on the next album. Can’t wait to go back in studio and work.

KB: Anything else you want to say to your fans that read this?

Yelle: We love you!

Oh man, just received this from my homegirl Emily. It’s the official line-up for this years Coachella and man is it looking spectacular. The three day music festival takes place April 17th to April 19th out in Indio, California, near Palm Springs. I, myself, am definitely looking to try and hit this event this year as last years attempt failed. Below are some quick highlights on who’s performing and when.

Friday, April 17th

Crystal Castles
Franz Ferdinand
Girl Talk
Leonard Cohen
N.A.S.A.
Paul McCartney
The Crystal Method
The Presets
The Ting Tings

Saturday, April 18th

Amy Winehouse
Fleet Foxes
Hercules and Love Affair
MSTRKRFT
The Killers
Thievery Corporation
TRAV$DJ-AM
TV On The Radio

Sunday, April 19th

Antony and the Johnsons
Friendly Fires
Lupe Fiasco
Lykke Li
Sebastien Tellier
The Cure

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to link up for lunch with Dave 1 whom I’m sure many of you know is 1/2 of Chromeo, the beloved and infectiously dope electro-funk duo pictured above.

I ordered the grilled chicken panini and a diet Coke, he ordered the smoked turkey wrap and an orange juice – Then I pressed record and the following conversation spanning everything from the beginnings of the band to the current state of hip-hop is what transpired…

You used to be a part of the Audio Research record label back in the early/mid ‘90s – When and how did the expansion from hip-hop focused production to the variety of elements we currently see in Chromeo begin?

Um I kinda felt like… it was weird, like different things at once. The audio research thing was a vehicle for some of the stuff I was producing and my brother was cutting on. I guess like maybe in 2000, I kinda wasn’t as prolific in my hip-hop production as much. It was the beginning of keyboard beats and I didn’t know how to make them – and I didn’t really like them…haha. I remember like Jay-Z’s Blueprint coming out and those tracks had samples in them, but they also had tonnes of keyboards and I was like, “Man, should I buy a [Korg] Triton and try and do a Just Blaze kinda thing?” I wasn’t really into it ‘cause my shit was always from the more hip-hop production school of the Pete Rock’s and SP1200’s. Even if you look at the last obscure disorder single, which was our marquis group at Audio Research – I didn’t even produce it. My brother produced it, I was doing less and less and you know, right at that same time the Chromeo deal came about and P-Thugg and I were working on that and I just felt more fulfilled working on that.

It sort of just happened – I moved here [New York], I was getting into different kinds of music. I wasn’t as stimulated by the idea of producing hip-hop as much as the Chromeo stuff. We did one show here that went really crazy and got offered record deals and stuff – so it kinda naturally transitioned. The Chromeo stuff was just more stimulating for me at that point. I mean, at first I had no idea it was going to become my main thing but now I can’t even see myself producing a hip-hop track – even though I still listen to it as much as before. It’s just that the style of production that I know how to do is way too throwback and I wouldn’t really want to try any of the new stuff.

The two of you have been friends since childhood, but when did you start working together musically? What are your particular musical backgrounds?

Our friendship was built around music. We became friends because we played in the same high school band. Ours has been a musically bred friendship. We’ve always been doing stuff. When I was producing hip-hop, P taught me how to use the [Akai] S-950. He taught me how to use a sequencer. He taught me how to use all my samplers. He’d come to all the mixes and stuff too. I mean, even though he didn’t really co-produce anything with me, he was always there in the background and behind the scenes getting involved. So when we started doing Chromeo, it was my idea of like, “Let’s co-produce music together.” It was that simple.

My musical background was more growing up listening to rock and learning guitar and then discovering funk and soul music with P with our high school band. At the same time, we were getting heavy into hip-hop and producing hip-hop. P was more into hip-hop back in the Kid N Play days. He stopped fuckin’ with it around 92 and he got into funk then. Contrary to what people think, P doesn’t really listen to hip-hop.

Yeah, image-wise everyone would probably assume…

Yeah, I’m the hip-hop dude!!…He doesn’t listen to hip-hop.

Alright, so that being said, who usually does what in terms of the production and songwriting process, programming the drums, synths, bass etc?

We both do a lot of that, but it really varies from track to track ‘cause we both can program drums, we both can play synths and bass. We can pretty much play any instrument in our studio. The only thing that stays the same is that I’m more of the songwriting, melody, chorus, song structure kinda guy and he’s more the sound engineer kinda guy.

Like I could play a line, but I don’t really know how to get a good sound on any keyboard so that’s really what he does. All the keyboards are at his house and I’ll be like, “Alright, give me a bass sound like ‘Billy Jean,’” and he’ll do it. And whether he plays the bass or I do, it doesn’t matter. He’s the sound crafter and I’m more of the song writing, lyrics, melody – but everything else we split. It really depends from song to song. Some songs he does almost all the music, some songs I’ll do almost all the music – it really depends.

This is somewhat of a tangent, but I guess since we’re having lunch out here by Columbia University Campus, maybe you can inform those that don’t know why you’re somewhat of a modern day renaissance man?

I’m finishing a PhD here at Columbia – and yeah…haha…you know, studying to become a professor – so hopefully that’ll happen. For the first time, just this year, music has become something that say, if I wanted to not go to school, I could probably just do – but I’ve never wanted to just do music, so school is still my main thing.

Do you lecture at all and have students recognize you or anything like that?

Yeah, I mean, they’re discrete enough to not make a big deal out of it. After class they’ll be like, “Hey! I like this, I like that.” You know, it happens, but it’s never really awkward. Students have always been very discrete and very delicate about it, and so am I.

With you and P living in different cities (P-Thugg resides in Montreal), does it get difficult staying sharp for shows and being in creation mode? Do you go back to Montreal to work on stuff?

Yeah, that’s what I do. Montreal is good ‘cause there are no distractions – you can kinda get into the vortex and just work on music all the time. But yeah, I go up there; we email stuff to each other. It’s been working. It’s a little bit slow, but at the same time it’s kinda become our way of working. So as long as I can go up there and we can block off a couple of weeks to bang out some stuff, we’ll be fine – and that’s what we’ve done.

One of my best memories in music… in my entire life, was December 2006, January 2007. I came up to Montreal and P and I basically were on deadline to finish the Fancy Footwork record. I was living in France at the time and you know everyone around me in France was doing music… really good music. I came home hungry and we just blocked off two weeks and did the Feist remix, “Momma’s Boy,” “Bonafied Lovin’,” “Outta Sight,” “Call Me Up” and the intro. It was wonderful and we were getting along great! I mean, we always do, but we were just really in a great creative state. I’d come home and play the stuff for my brother, play the stuff for my girl – we had no idea what to expect of the record cause we were just anxious. We were like, “Man, we don’t have another ‘Needy Girl!’” But if you look at now when we play shows, “Needy Girl” isn’t even the biggest song anymore!

So with initially being behind the boards for hip-hop production, how big of a leap was it to go from that to singing and performing live? Do you still remember your guys’ first show?

Yeah, I do. Our first show was Labour Day weekend in Montreal at a big rave in 2002… haha. It was pretty awkward. My brother went up and did the cuts on ”Needy Girl.” It was a big transition; I never really wanted to sing. I never considered myself a singer. I mean, we thought other people were gonna sing. We thought it [Chromeo] was gonna be more of a project, like we’d get other vocalists. We got a couple of vocalists and I wrote the songs, but it was never quite right and then we did “Mercury Tears” and I sang that on the vocoder and P was like, “That’s perfect!” Then we did ”Needy Girl” and that was really the first time I sang… in my life. And we just kept it like that, ya know? But it was a big transition – like the first shows you know, they were awkward and we’re still a little bit… no we’re not haha… but I mean, I don’t know, it was a big transition. For years, I hated touring; I’ve only started to kinda enjoy it now. For the first few years I hated it.

You mean it was physically draining or you just weren’t into it?

Well ya, we just weren’t into playing the same songs over and over. Keep in mind, this is at first – we’re playing mostly crowds who weren’t so into us – things only started changing with this one [Fancy Footwork]. It was always a bit of a struggle at first, like a long uphill climb.

The first show we did in New York was one of my craziest memories.

It went off really well?

Yeah, it was crazy – like no one knew us, but they got all the references. It was at the Bowery Ballroom. We weren’t the headliner or anything. We were opening for that guy, The Streets. It was crazy.

You guys played Coachella this year and it seems like you guys have quite a few other large festival performances locked down. Compared to the more intimate shows full of solidified fans, how different is it playing to a crowd that could consist of some people who may not be completely familiar with your stuff?

It’s like that at festivals. You come and you play to people who are there sometimes to see you, sometimes not. Its good, ‘cause you know, we don’t want to get spoiled by hard-ticket shows like the Commodore in Vancouver, where everybody is there to see us already. But at a festival it’s like some of them just stepped in and some are there for us. You can’t really tell in the whole tent who’s really a hater or not – but its good. It keeps you on your toes and forces you to really step your game up. At a festival, you never get to sound check and there are other bands, so it’s competitive. It’s good. It’s a healthy way to put what you have to the test.

Coachella went really amazing. What’s crazy is that we had huge sound problems for three songs and people didn’t notice! The next day, we kept getting comments and comments on how amazing it was. But like, the first three songs, I fuckin’ had a hernia cause the sound problems! Luckily, it got fixed!

When it comes to your guys’ music videos, along with a lot of other electronic-ish artists, you seem to constantly set the bar in terms of creativity – How active are you in the actual creative direction and production of them?

I stay very active, I mean, in the band we split duties. P does all the accounting, business managing and tour managing himself!

Wow!

Yeah, he’s very hands-on like that. He’s got formal training as an accountant, so I trust him more than anyone. I’ll take care of a lot of meetings with the record labels and being my manager’s sidekick a little bit. The videos are a lot of what I do as well. I stay involved, but I also know how to delegate to directors and trust them. The problem is, we always have such small budgets…

Well, from a completely objective perspective, they’re all done really well, regardless of budget constraints.

Yeah, but it’s always a struggle. It’s always a fuckin struggle. And looking back, it’s really… they’re always a nightmare. It’s hard, man! There are not that many videos I see from other bands that are, you know, phenomenal. So it’s hard to kinda fight for that spot all the time.

I don’t know… there are some, but they’re few and far between, ya know? We should be getting the “Momma’s Boy” video next week. It’s all hand drawn animation, black and white -very different for us.

So you have the “Needy Girl,” “Tenderoni,” “Bonafied Lovin’,” “Fancy Footwork” and now “Momma’s Boy,” but there are quite a few amateur ones on YouTube that fans have done too.

Yeah, but we’re really into that.

People interpreting your music?

Yeah, whenever we get emails like, “Can we use a song for a school project or video?” we always say yes. Another thing we do is, we gave out a bunch of acapellas, and that’s why there’s like hundreds of remixes, unofficial ones. But some of them are great! Some of them are better than ones we paid money for.

I remember as a hip-hop producer, how happy I was when I’d buy a 12-inch and there’d be an acapella cause I could put it over my beats, ya know? And I wish things were as interactive back when I was producing hip-hop like they are now. So I just try to encourage any kid that’s on the come up. We’ll give ‘em our parts and be like, “Have fun, go crazy.”

How did the relationship with Surface to Air come about?

Well, the relationship with them came about when I lived in Paris. When I moved to Paris last year, I was going to help them launch Vice [magazine] in France ‘cause, you know, I’ve been working for Vice… Well, I stopped this year, but I was working for Vice for like 10 years almost. So I was gonna help them launch it and the publisher for Vice France at the time was the boss/owner over at Surface to Air. On top of that, he was also an old friend of my boy Willo who used to be my art director and business partner at Audio Research. So I kinda knew him and we clicked and I was like, “I’d love for you to do the album artwork.” He was really into the idea and it was a phenomenal thing. He’s one of the only guys whom I’ll let dictate a concept. It’s the first time we weren’t really hands on for a project with that cover [Fancy Footwork] and we were thrilled with how it came out. It actually felt great to be able to delegate and get results that we love. Then we did the “Tenderoni” video, and now, we’re actually doing a clothing project with them.

Other than the “Tenderoni” video and Fancy Footwork album artwork, what else is in the works?

I don’t know if you saw, but they just did the leather jackets for Justice…

Yeah, those turned out dope.

Yeah, we’re doing the same.

Your younger brother A-Trak (who is also Kanye’s Dj) is now quite heavily into production and really building a following for himself and the Fool’s Gold camp in that aspect. How much overlap do you see in your fans now that you’re a bit closer in terms of the style of music you guys are both producing?

That’s a good question. A lot now, I feel like… man… It’s hard to evaluate, but I feel like most of his fans now are into us as well. I mean, my brother is constantly switching and constantly building.

It kinda reflects back to his ability to go from playing a show with Kanye and then the next night rocking a big ass electro crowd.

He does both! Real talk, my brother is the only guy in the world that Kool Herc is gonna see and give props to, and the next week, he’ll be chilling with Steve Angello in Ibiza, or the Ed Banger dudes and then the following week, he’ll be with Jay-Z. That’s his life. The pictures on his blog prove it all. He’s really the only kid that can do that.

Yeah man, he’s been credited with introducing Kanye to a lot of shit.

Yeah, that’s true! You can tell… everyone can tell, but not taking anything away from Kanye because Kanye is open. But yeah, that’s what my bro does. He bridges the gap. That’s what his label does. It bridges the gap between dance music and hip-hop music.

And by the way, that’s nothing new!! Because if you look back at AV8… I remember when I had a record store I thought AV8 was wack. Remember those party records?

Yeah, the party break records, right?

Yeah, that label was founded by Armand Van Helden, that’s the “AV.” I thought that label was wack ‘cause I was such a hip-hop purist, but they were really like dance meets hip-hop. And even that label Nervous put out dance records too back then.

And they were doing all the Boot Camp Clik stuff at the time too.

Yeah, it’s nothing new but you just gotta stay in touch and reintroduce it to the new generation.

Do you and your brother ever holler at each other to get opinions on what each of you are working on?

My bro? He’s like the third member of Chromeo. He’s the first to hear absolutely everything we do. We’re extremely closely involved. I speak to my brother five times a day – everyday, and I’m also the first to hear anything he does.

Have your parents had the chance to see you two rock shows together?

Not together, but there’ll be a show with Kid Sister and us, for example, and my brother is involved, etc.

One thing that was cool in January is that my brother and Kid Sister played a show here at the Natural History Museum and then two days later, we had our headline shows at the Bowery Ballroom two nights in a row. My parents flew down. They went to the Natural History Museum and saw my brother and Kid Sister and then Kanye came out!! And then, they came to our shows too!

Any potential for a Chromeo/Kid Sister collaboration in the future?

Well, I’m involved in her record but more on the behind-the-scenes tip.

Kinda like exec producing the album?

My brother is doing that but I’m helping him. I helped him pick a lot of the beats. It’s actually gonna be a really good record. She’s good, she’s a real rapper and she can spit. And that’s important now, man.

I’ve been listening to hip-hop as my main thing since ‘92 or ‘93 – since the Pharcyde’s first record, or Tribe. And now is the first time I’ve seen, more than ever, that there is a real fuckin’ generational crisis! A generational turnover in hip-hop. All the guys I grew up listening to feel old, left out and disconnected and they can’t connect with a new generation. And there’s a new generation that doesn’t give a shit about them. I mean, you saw on YouTube – that’s really what was at the root of the whole Soldier Boy and Ice-T thing, ya know?

Well yeah, its one of the only genre’s of music that doesn’t always hold all the artists of the past in high regard. Like the Rolling Stones get a lot more love than any act of relative significance in hip-hop.

I know, yeah, but at the same time, I think part of what defines hip-hop is that it’s this sort of youthful thing. Like punk music, I don’t know punk well aside a few more commercial bands, but for example, bands like Green Day were really cool when they were really young and then they kinda became older and more…you know, corny. In hip-hop, it’s gotta stay young!!

I remember being like 19 and Nas was 24-25 maybe, and he was like the older brother I never had. Nas, Q-tip and Buckshot: They were like the older brothers I looked up to. I admired them. But if you’re a kid who’s 15 now, 50 cent is like 35! You can’t relate to him! Like who is he, your step-dad? You can’t relate to that dude.

Haha… Yeah, no doubt.

So what’s happening now is, you have 100,000 kids that related to fuckin’ G-Unit ‘cause they look like a bunch of bodyguards, but there’s a 1,000,000 kids that related to Weezy cause he’s like your fucked up older brother if you’re 16!! You know, he’s 25 and you love him!

I think that’s a really interesting thing that’s going on in rap music right now – this generational crisis – and it fascinates me. On the Ice-T and Soulja Boy thing, I was riding with Soulja Boy all the way… and I grew up on Ice-T! I don’t even like his music but Soulja Boy is so much smarter.

The kid’s definitely got some hustle.

It’s not even about hustle, though! He made it work for himself using the technology that all these old fuckin’ has-beens don’t even know how to work! And he connected with all these shorty’s and he’s the man for that. And you know, Kanye’s still connecting and Weezy too. That’s why Weezy’s album sold like that. The kids picked it up.

The only dude who’s been around – and that’s why Kanye said he’s the greatest of all time, which I’m really starting to believe now, is Nas, man. He’s got the secret to eternal youth.

Yeah man, he’s still so dope and relevant!

Yeah, but it’s not only that. I know it’s a superficial thing to say, but he still looks fresh. Like Jay kinda looks corny now, but Nas looks as fresh as when he first came out… He looks 21! And what’s dope about Nas is that he does his own weird thing every time, and it’s so hit and miss – but it doesn’t even matter anymore. He kinda invented his own genre of music and now whenever there’s a new Nas album, I’m like, “Oh cool! New Nas album!!” I always buy it ‘cause there is always weird shit on there. He’s like a fringe artist now, but that’s longevity. Nas is the greatest.

Ah man, I can’t even count how many times I’ve had this debate! But yeah, agreed. I know a lot of people who would definitely choose Hov between the two – but not me. Nas has had his questionable moments but never supremely wack or anything. Stillmatic was crazy to me.

Yeah!! Stillmatic was incredible. I was thinking about it, and like, Stillmatic was crazy, but Lost Tapes… remember that? Insane!

Yeah man! some amazing shit on there.

The only wack album was the double one.

Street’s Disciple? Yup, too much filler.

Yeah, but it had “Just a Moment,” that joint with Quan, and dude’s got some classics… “Made You Look” is a fuckin classic!

On his last record, I didn’t really like “Hip-Hop is Dead,” but I loved that song about the old school, “Where are They Now.”

Did you hear the remix he did with everyone on it?

Yeah, but they were so wack…haha.

Yo, but you gotta give it up for him putting that together! He went and got dudes like Positive K and Das Efx…

Ya! Like where does one find Positive K nowadays?

Haha! This is true!

When he mentioned Red Head Kingpin, for someone like me, that’s like the best feeling ‘cause I know.

And I love his new joint, “Hero.” He’s spitting hot shit on there, and the “Sly Fox” one too. I love him. I’m a Nas fan, man.

Alright alright… haha, back to the questions. Your hometown of Montreal is considered somewhat of a creative breeding ground for music and has spawned some of the most progressive and successful acts out of Canada and North America for that matter. What’s your explanation for that?

To me, it’s good karma; I don’t really know what happened. But to be fair, a lot of those dudes you’re probably referring to are not originally from Montreal, like Win Butler from Arcade Fire. He’s not from Montreal he’s from Texas. But still, it’s a gorgeous city with cheap rent. It’s easy to live and blossom in, and you can get the government grants and stuff.

Yeah, it’s an environment conducive to a developing artist’s lifestyle. You can work on your stuff and still live relatively comfortably.

Yeah, straight up and down, it’s like Berlin.

I did an interview with your Modular label mates Cut Copy and asked them the same inevitable question to wrap the interview up: What’s your take on the current state of the music industry?

Cut Copy? Those are my boys, man. I like those dudes.

But yeah, I think it’s great. I think it’s the best. I’ve never been more proud to be part of the music industry. I’ve been doing music my whole life and I mean, it’s a bit of a cliché, but now all the labels that used to bully and jerk artists, they’re all getting jerked and they’re all getting bankrupt and everybody is getting fired! They’re all going under and losing their jobs, and I can just sit back and laugh and make money off shows.

That’s always how artists signed to labels have really made their money.

Yeah, it’s all from touring, it’s not from record sales. I don’t know anyone that makes money from record sales, but it’s better that way, it’s becoming increasingly artist controlled, and there’s a shift in media. I really can’t wait to be older in 20-30 years from now and tell people that I lived through such an important paradigm shift. It’s fascinating… It’s fuckin’ fascinating!

Its like, I’ll be at my lawyer’s office and we’ll talk about certain deals, and I’ll be like, “Well, why don’t we do this?” And for the first time, the lawyer will be like, “Yeah, why don’t we?” There’s no precedent anymore. We can do whatever we want; there are no rules anymore.

No doubt, the Cut Copy guys mentioned it’s like the Wild West now, but if you can hold your own and push your own stuff…

Yeah, or even work with the label in a very cooperative kinda way.

Yeah, like, still own your masters and let them do the distribution.

Yeah, exactly. That’s a great idea.

Alright my man, I think we got some good stuff here.

Was that good?

Yes sir.

Cool

For More on Chromeo see:

Chromeo Official Website

Chromeo Myspace Page

And be sure not to sleep on the Chromeo’s jam session with Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates to be aired August 15th. Go *here* for more.

Recently Killahbeez.com had the opportunity to interview Reggie Youngblood of Black Kids. We took this opportunity to talk about their influences and styles as well as discussisng their current tour throughout North America and Europe and the upcoming album Partie Traumatic, which is coming out on July 7th in the UK and July 22nd in North America.

Let me start off this interview by saying that I recently saw you guys in Vancouver on April 29 and it was a crazy show. Vancouver crowds are generally known to be a bit mild, but you guys really got the whole crowd into the show. How was the whole North American tour? Were there any standout cities in particular?

Reggie Youngblood: Aw, thanks! The North American tour was criminally fun. We had just left the winter behind in the U.K. and everything was sunshine and flowers in the States. D.C. was quite good and so was San Francisco and Seattle. Oh, and Portland. Really, it was all wonderful.

You guys were part of another band called Cubby previously. What made you guys decide to move away from that and start Black Kids?

RY: The problem with groups previous to Black Kids was that the vibe tended to be way too severe. A bunch of guys posing on stage real hard. It got stale.

How did the rest of the group come together?

RY: Well, the above-mentioned staleness had to be addressed and rectified. In my mind, the solution was my younger sister, Ali, and her partner in crime, Dawn. I was right for once.

How did you come up with the name “Black Kids” for the band? Was it inspired by something or does it signify something?

RY: We came across a racist euphemism and considered using that as our moniker, but we thought it better to go with the blatant “Black Kids.” Actually, we still weren’t too sure about it, but it kept popping up in a “freaky Friday” sort of way, so we took a hint from the universe… We like how the name can be seen as trivial or contentious, depending on the person. Really, it’s just a name.

A lot of people have said that the band has the sound and feel of the Cure, but when I listen to your tracks, I can definitely hear some R&B, funk and soul influences. What artists or bands would you say influenced the group?

RY: Well, you’re right. We are very fond of ’80s R&B and funk, a la Prince or New Edition. Aside from that, the influences are too vast and varied. I usually cite Sparks, New order, the Smiths or the Magnetic Fields, but groups like Weezer and Starflyer 59 also figure in quite a bit.

Back in November, the band was featured as the “Artist to Watch” in Rolling Stone magazine. What was that like to get a spotlight featured on the band? Did you have a sense of “making it?”

RY: It was odd, but nice. I don’t know if we felt like we had “made it,” but we felt like we were finally getting somewhere. Remember, us boys have been playing in groups for over a decade (though it doesn’t sound like it).

The band recently participated in this year’s Coachella. How did that go? Did any of you get a chance to check out the other bands? Any highlights or stories?

RY: Honestly, it was a somewhat shaky gig for us. Don’t get me wrong, we had a blast and others seemed to enjoy it, but we felt like we had performed much better in the U.K. Coachella was the first show on the U.S. tour. All the subsequent shows, thankfully, surpassed our expectations. Hopefully, they’ll give us another crack at it next year!

How was the 16-city tour with Cut Copy? How did the band hook up with Cut Copy?

RY: Heavenly. I’ve got serious man-crush on those boys. They’re as lovely as can be. The hook up was easy (we have the same booking agency), but in addition, we’ve been long admirers of the group. So, we were eager to tour with them. I think we’re going to do some sort of “collaboration” on a TV program.

HAHA…that was actually my next question. Any possibility on a collaboration project between Black Kids and Cut Copy?

RY: Ha! Obviously, but we might also do some remix trades.

Your album, Partie Traumatic, drops on July 7 in the U.K. and July 22 in North America. What can people expect from it? Will there be any tracks from your EP, Wizard of Ahhhs? Are you reworking those tracks?

RY: In our minds, Partie Traumatic is a collection of 10 quality singles. For real. Yes, some of the Wizard is on there and improved upon.

We’ve asked all musicians this question when we interview them, so here goes: What’s your take on the current state of the music industry?

RY: This might make me sound apathetic or simple, but I honestly don’t dwell on it. It’s not my nature to. I have a precarious knack for writing pop songs. I have no desire nor ability to comment on business. But… we did set out to make a record that people would feel compelled to go out and buy and not regret it. Maybe this sort of thinking would take care of any ailments the industry is experiencing.

So what’s next for Black Kids?

RY: We’re playing everywhere imaginable and making up some new places to play, too.

Cool. Thanks Reggie for your time.

So there you have it, another exclusive interview from Killahbeez. Be sure to check out The Black Kids upcoming album Partie Traumatic, as Reggie said in the interview “…is a collection of 10 quality singles” and after hearing Wizard of Ahhhs I definitely wouldn’t doubt it.

*Edited by Michelle da Silva

People who know me on even an acquaintance level are well aware of how passionate, critical and even borderline asshole I can be when it comes to opinions on music and giving out my self-proclaimed coveted stamp of approval – so any insinuations of a fluff piece can be checked at the door.

With that being said, my proverbial ink pad has almost run completely dry with how much I’ve been frantically stamping away at everything Australian trio Cut Copy has put out ever since I became aware of them earlier this year. They’ve been around for a minute now, so I had some backtracking to do once I was introduced to their recently released 2nd full-length album In Ghost Colours and its inspirational precursor Dj set So Cosmic.

After digging up some of their previous and equally amazing material, I became even more interested in how these guys put together such a distinctive album this go around and I was able to squeeze in a sit down with them to remedy that curiosity just a few hours prior to their April 29th, 2008 show in Vancouver, B.C.

Click on through for the exclusive interview.

How did the three of you originally meet and how long was it before the group came about?

Tim: We were kind of just all friends. Dan had started Cut Copy as a studio production solo project and we just all knew each other through various people. Originally, I used to live in a small town around South Wales and Dan used to come up there on holidays and stuff. Then, we both separately moved to Melbourne. I went down there to go to art school, and yeah, Dan kinda started writing Bright Like Neon Love. He kind of got us around to add, I guess, the more organic sounds to the record that he’d written the majority of on the computer, and it just became what it is now.

So, were you guys were heavy into music since childhood?

T: Never played ‘till later on…

So no classical training or anything like that?

Mitchell: No, not like playing instruments.

Dan: That’s almost the opposite of our approach. Ya know, the whole point of this is, we kind of just taught ourselves to play instruments. That’s the contrast between the sort of perfect studio stuff and the sort of loose and live aspect of Cut Copy that adds a dynamic to the music.

In Ghost Colours plays through much like a mixtape in terms of cohesiveness and transitions from one song to the next. How much did having a DJ in the group play into the executive production of the album?

D: I think that’s probably not something I would’ve thought of if I wasn’t into DJ’ing and mixtapes. Perhaps the idea or just the way its put together is sort of reminiscent of maybe all the records, like Tangerine Dream or, you know, records where the whole side of a piece of vinyl would be continuous music you could zone out to and get into that way. It’s not so much beat-matched, but it does flow.

This album seems to have more vocals relative to its predecessor Bright Like Neon Love. Did you find a huge difference in the creation process this time around considering you had to write more lyrics?

D: Yeah, I think so. I don’t even know whether it was something I really thought about. It just seemed to naturally turn out that way. A lot of the stuff with this record wasn’t really some sort of master plan for us. It’s just the way things turned out. The fact that the record flows together is just something we ended up doing. It wasn’t a decision from the outset. Same with the extra vocals and probably the more layered guitar stuff and live drums – it just happened really organically and crept up in a way I guess.

You guys give a lot of credit to other artists for inspiring your music. What is some of the music you had in heavy rotation during the period In Ghost Colours came together?

D: I guess with the guitar stuff, My Bloody Valentine and some of that Shoegaze guitar sound. Lots of Krautrock as well, Cluster– a lot of those bands. I guess current dance music in general as well. A lot of the DFA stuff, which we were pretty inspired by and obviously having Tim (Tim Goldsworthy – DFA’s in house producer and LCD Soundsystem member) as a producer on the record as well. I could probably keep going…(Laughs)

It’s endless I suppose… That being said, the album has a very retro/dance feel but still sounds very much ahead of the curve. Did you go out and really hunt for new/vintage gear and synths to capture that particular sound?

M: Going over to the DFA studios, they’ve just got so much gear there that you can’t nearly get through it all really.

T: They did all the hunting for us.

M: Yeah, and there’s always new stuff arriving. They’re always just buying, collecting and hoarding stuff. Yeah, there was just so much for us to experiment with and to get new sounds out of and sort of adapt to what we’re doing. So yeah, a lot of that was done for us, but I mean, also, Dan bought a bunch of new synths.

D: Yeah, I spent all my money on sort of three synthesizers – probably $7,000-$8,000 worth. They ended up all over the record. I think it helps the particular kind of music we make. Buying new gear and that sort of thing almost shapes the way a record can sound. The creative rush you get just finding something new can end up influencing the sound of the record. So I think, yeah, the equipment probably played a big part.

Some of the interludes were recorded and cut from four track tapes. Any particular reason you guys went analog for these sections of the album?

D: Umm, I guess it’s sort of nice to have a contrast of lo-fi and hi-fi stuff to a record -different types of recording on an album. A lot of my favorite music is really poorly recorded. Like Guided by Voices or Ariel Pink – amazing songwriters where the studio polished aspect is left out. I kind of find that side of things interesting, so I think it’s sort of nice to have a bit of contrast of different recording sounds in there.

You guys just played Coachella – How did that go? Any artists that stood out to you guys out there? (Note: Prior to sitting down, the guys had mentioned that they hadn’t had much of an opportunity to watch other acts at Coachella due to the fact that they had shows in San Francisco and Portland the following nights before reaching Vancouver)

D: We had a great show. We didn’t really get to see anyone else (laughs). We can’t really speak for any of the other ones. But yeah, it was obviously quite hot in the middle of the desert, but apparently, the day that we played actually wasn’t that hot compared to usual. It was really good, like the crowd was jumping around and going nuts, and it was sort of everything we would’ve hoped for from a first show like that, so we were really thrilled with it.

Did the crowd seem really familiar with your music? A lot of people singing along and such?

All: Yeah, yeah.

D: We had a full tent, so we couldn’t have asked for more.

As I’m sure you guys know, once you play at SXSW and Coachella, you’ve pretty much “arrived” in North America. Having the new album debut at No. 1 back home in Australia and a fan base rapidly building in North America, is there any particular region you guys plan to target next for touring and exposure?

M: We’re going to come back here in the fall. We’re doing our tour now and our shows have all been really good. A lot of people coming out and enjoying the shows, enjoying the record and I mean, yeah, it’s really great for us. We like being here, and later in the year, we’re going to come back and just see some of the people that came to the shows this time around come back again and add some more songs from the record and keep working on our live show.

Are you guys thinking of maybe hitting Europe a lot more?

T: Well, our record is coming out in Europe really soon, so we’ll spend a lot of time there… In the U.K., obviously, hopefully Asia – kind of everywhere. That was always the idea when we put the band together. We’d take it as far as we possibly could and kind of get to every corner of the world that’ll have us.

Right, right, they call you and you guys are ready to go!

T: Yeah!

M: Except we want to make sure we get around to making the new record.

Are you guys already working on a new album?

D: Well, we got our touring and then some solo records.

Dan, you designed the album artwork. With Cut Copy’s international profile growing exponentially, do you still find time to work on graphic design?

D: Not so much at the moment to be honest. I mean, I have in the past. It’s been a while since we worked on this record at home. When we’re back in Australia, I work as a designer. I’ve got my own business that does a lot of artwork for MTV and sort of various other people. It’s sort of something I have to step in and out of. Obviously when we’re touring, it’s a bit hard to run things. But yeah, definitely when I’m at home, it’s sort of good having that totally separate creative outlet. It kind of keeps you a bit refreshed. I think doing that and coming back to music and vice versa, you sort of end up hopefully cross-pollinating a little bit.

What about you guys? Do you have other focuses besides music that you’re quite heavily involved with?

M: I’ve got a web development business sort of similar to him (Dan), and yeah, it’s pretty similar in that respect.

T: I’ve studied Fine Arts at university, but yeah, kind of like everyone else, I don’t really have that much time for it. Like, I’ll do stuff at home but never to the point where I could get an exhibition or anything together at the moment. Plus, I’m kind of actually learning stuff about music at the moment. I kind of spend every second I’m not touring trying to learn something new to apply to the next record or whatever. Its kind of a full time thing at the moment, but certainly the visual aspect of Cut Copy is a very important one. We spend a lot of time with artwork and visuals for the show. At times, it’s just as important as what we put on record as well.

And of course, the inevitable… What’s your take on the current state of the music industry?

T: It’s not much of an industry anymore. It seems very open.

D: It’s kind of like the Wild West!

T: Only the strongest survive!

D: I think that the internet has blown it all open. Like blogs, file sharing and all that sort of thing.

M: It’s a tougher thing for producers, but I mean, for bands playing live… there is a really good audience for bands playing live at the moment. There are some upsides for it, but as far as record labels, I guess its tough conditions for them – trying to make money with less people buying records these days.

Personally speaking with regards to you guys, I was exposed to Cut Copy purely via online.

M: Oh yeah, a lot of people are.

D: Well, just commenting on over in Europe, our new record hasn’t come out there and we had people singing the words to all our new songs and that sort of thing. So it’s like, you don’t need a physical record out for people to know about you. For a band, it’s great, but for a record label, it’s not so good. But I mean, hopefully people will still buy our record (laughs).

I think a lot of it is, when fans know a little bit more is going to the artists, I think they’re more inclined to purchase. I guess that kind of keeps you guys on your toes to put on a really good live show.

All: Yeah, yeah!

Cool, I think we’re good, thanks guys.

All: Cool, thank you.

And so there you have it people, an interview with Cut Copy, the band that created In Ghost Colours, a masterpiece musical journey that a lifelong Hip Hop head ranks amongst his top albums of all time – right up there with Nas‘ Illmatic, Biggie’s Ready to Die, Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt and even Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Yup. For Real.

For more on the group check out their blog at cut-copy.blogspot.com or hit them up on Myspace at www.myspace.com/cutcopy.

*Edits: Mona Alice Oakenfold aka Michelle.

Yes yes..I know I’m a bit late on this – was too caught up with MGMT’s “Kids” to even notice the crazy concept for this video (“Kids”, which i might add is another great song by them which you should also check out if you haven’t yet heard).

Anyways, peep the YouTube video for “Electric Feel” and you’ll notice a little mouse pointer going left to right on the bottom of the screen… Why you ask? Well, its just one of many different video’s YOU the listener can direct by clicking any varying combination of colored pads. Apparently there are 629 to the 229th power possible combinations in all so you better get lit and get crackin shaaawwty.

To direct your own version, go to HERE to MGMT’s site and to their myspace page HERE

What a fresh concept, not to mention a really dope song….aaahh I wish i was going to Coachella.

Coming up next week is the Coachella music festival, which takes place out in Cali between April 25 – 27. AJK has been trying to convince me that we should head down to this, still currently mulling over whether or not I can take the time off work to go down to this. Recently added to the lineup is PRINCE!!! Man there’s no doubt in my mind this is going to be a great festival, so should you be lucky enough to be out in the California area, most definitely you need to check this out. Other acts include, but not limited to: Fatboy Slim, Diplo, Santogold, Cut Copy, Portishead, M.I.A., Mark Ronson, Little Brother, Uffie, Justice, Chromeo, Simian Mobile Disco and Kid Sister with A-Trak to name a few. Visit www.coachella.com for more info.