Soulwax Interview

As a musical artist or group, pulling off one sound is difficult - but then remixing your own music and others into a completely different sound - multiple times over, is talent. Belgium born Soulwax who also play alternate styles as the band Too Many DJs, has created and accomplished a new genre helping meld alt rock music and house mixes into a style taking over the UK by storm.

The US is about to finally get a taste of the sensation as Night Versions - a remix of their own material hits the shores. Tracks like 'e-Talking' have already been honored in the clubs across Europe for some time now.  So we had a chance to find out why they think the house rave scene in America is so delinquent, how they are able to perform so many different sounds within one collective, and how attitude makes the music.

Pensatos.com: Soulwax is so many things, what with it's alternate form 2manyDJs; explain the multi-dimensional alter-egos of the group.
Soulwax: We are all slightly deranged but socially adept - musically talented mutant freaks. We don't like being boxed in and are currently questioning, probing, experimenting, and transforming the musical and human landscape.

That wasn't really the answer I was looking for...
Soulwax does everything from writing and playing songs, producing and remixing.  2manyDJs is a DJ/Mix duo. They're different entities with the same people. Hah!

Rock outfits doing electric cuts simply sound flat and almost circus-like. How do you approach your layered club and rock cross pollination - like 'E-Talking' or keep it simple like 'I Like To Move It' with the perfectly timed "James Brown is dead" comment?
It just all seems to work and is a slight reference to the days when new-beat was king.  It's good to have a 'Fuck you' attitude of rock or punk and the raw dynamics: buildup, breakdown of dance music.  ...and a bit of good taste.

You’ve been compared to the likes of Duran Duran and Tiga – who I understand you are friends with; how does that sit with your vision and style?
We've produced some of his first record and are currently working on his next.  I think Soulwax or Too Many DJs are very different from Tigas sound.  It's alot of fun to be making music with him.

How did your most recent project, Night Versions, come about?
There was always the idea of making a 'Daytime' record - which was Any Minute Now and the 'Nightime' record - Night Versions. We rock by day, dance by night.  We really live in both worlds; Kyuss by day Daft Punk by night. Only after completing the Night Versions record did we realize that we could actually pull it off live.  We are confused...

I'm glad I'm not the only one. So let's get back to basics. The US is just now getting a taste of Night Versions. What have you been working on since its UK release and the US release a half year later.
We've been touring a lot and playing loads of festivals. Building a new website, remixing Robbie Williams and the Gossip, producing local Belgian band Das Pop's second album, started production on the new Tiga material and started a new band with different members.

Keeping busy. One of your current projects you didn't mention is the Radio Soulwax project; a film you've been shooting over the summer. How did that project come about?
We felt it could be nice to film Radio Soulwax 'cause it is pretty unusual for a rock-band to remix yourself, tour, and play live the remixes as a band DJ as Too Many DJs and bring along that Night, other acts, and DJs.  We've been shooting since the beginning of the summer and it promises to be something weird.

How do you guys plan on releasing the film?
We want it to be played in cinemas and of course on DVD.

David and Steven, growing up together how did you both reach this point with music?
It's not really a story it all just happened. Dave forced his best friends to play drums and Steph just came along and started singing. Too Many DJs  the same way.

As brothers, who is the responsible one and the wild child?
David is the responsible one, Steph the wild child.

Explain your feelings on the 'Mash-Up' - a sound style your created but a label put on you by the press and industry.
We hate the word and feel it's a shame this is the term people ended up using. It's just technology allowing you to mix two different tracks and with some talent you can make them sound like something new. A logical progression from what Grandmaster Flash started.

What's your take on the techno house rave music scene today? What differences do you see between Europe and America's scene?
Dance music is a very direct form of music.  It has crossed over to the main stream all over the world except in the states where it is still scene as gay...