INTERVIEW: Chromeo
- Posted on April 15, 2008 5:09 PM
- 0 comments
Interview by Zarina Raja
Chromeo are the product of a childhood friendship and a shared love of creating Funk-fuelled Electro beats.
David Macklovitch and P-Thugg, Chromeo’s dynamic and culturally diverse duo, founded Chromeo a few years back after beginning their friendship through a whirlwind of beats and melodies in a high school band.
Chromeo have just played a sold-out gig at London’s Koko. We got to chat to P–Thugg, who plays the key board and synth, about their new album Fancy Footwork and why their Arab/Jewish backgrounds have zero importance within their friendship and their career.
You have just arrived in the UK. How is the jet lag treating you?
Oh, I’m good with it.
It’s pretty impressive that you managed to do a gig on the day that you flew over?
Yeah, we’re used to it.
How does London compare to New York?
London’s great you know. To me, it is all on the same level. The crowd is always great here.
Have you had a chance to get out and about in London?
A little bit yeah. Our favourite night in London is the YoYo in Notting hill.
David is doing a French PHD. How does he find time to study in his already packed schedule?
Well, you know, we work very hard. We have been friends for a long time and I have always known him to be a very hard worker. We work non-stop around the clock. It’s fun when you are doing what you like.
As you said, you have been friends since you were kids. When was the first time that you made music together?
We started our friendship with music. We met because I was in a band in High School and Dave was the guitar player.
What was the first piece of music that you made together like?
Wow, that was a long time ago. Usually, people say that it was pretty bad, but I think it was pretty good considering our age. It was still Funk but more organic. It had a classic drum bass guitar. Now, Chromeo are much more electronic, but along the same lines.
Have you got an old recording of it anywhere?
Of course we still have it. We used to make albums on tapes. We designed the cover by hand and then photocopied it.
As kids in High School did you ever imagine that, in a few years time, you would be selling out London shows?
No. Never. Never. Chromeo started out as a fun hobby but now it has got a bit bigger than we anticipated.
What did you listen to while you were growing up?
At a very young age, from 0-10, it was the MTV video hits generation. I was a bit different as I came in from Lebanon. When I came to Canada I was already eight-years-old so I didn’t get the whole MTV thing. When I got to America, my first album was Michael Jackson’s Bad. I never went through Thriller and all that – I rediscovered it later though. David and I have similar tastes but different roots. Dave has a lot of Rock ‘n’ Roll knowledge because that is the stuff he grew up with. I grew up with Arabic music until age seven or eight and then I came to America.
Your MySpace makes a point of saying that Chromeo is the most successful Arab/Jew collaboration. Do you ever discuss politics and religion or do you deliberately side step it?
We don’t really notice it or talk about it. It just doesn’t cross our minds. There are way more important things. It is interesting because when we do talk about it, or we go to each others families, we find similarities which are even more fun. We don’t even think about it so we just put it in the bio as a fun fact. It’s such a big deal to other people.
At the end of the day, you are just two mates in a band.
Exactly.
Your new album is out at the beginning of May. If it was to represent one feeling, what feeling would that be?
Happiness…and dancing.
Take me through the making of Fancy Footwork. Did it go as you had anticipated it?
For the second album, it is always going to be hard and a big process. You go back and forth a lot. Overall, I think it went pretty good. The process is different for every song. I do a demo at home and then send it to Dave and he listens to it. If he likes it, then he will write some lyrics to it, if not, then we kill it. Or sometimes, he will sing stuff to me over the phone.
Is a finished Chromeo product the same as the idea that you start out with?
Not always. Sometimes you have ideas in the studio but you kill them.
What is your favourite track on the album?
Momma’s Boy.
What would be the best song off of the album to play full blast in the morning on the way to work?
Probably Fancy Footwork or Bonafied Lovin. In life, all artists included, I would go with More Bounce to the Ounce by Zapp.
What do you want people to get out of your music?
I just…well, the general feeling of…I don’t want to sound all happy and gay, running through fields of flowers…but we just want people to feel happy and positive. We just want them to have a good time.
You have Coachella and Gatecrasher lined up. Are you familiar to the festival circuit?
Yeah. There are positive and negative aspects to playing a festival. You get to reach out to a whole new crowd and that. It is usually very well-organised. It is, however, always great to have a room full of your own fans. Sometimes you feel you are being pushed into something.
America don’t do the festivals like the UK do. Are you going to be around to get down to a UK festival?
Yeah, we are doing Gatecrasher and Reading and Leeds.
Related Links
Buy Chromeo tickets
Tags
Post a comment
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.seatwaveblogs.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2855
