RS: It also really fits with this recent, big dance rock
movement, which sort of turned into a more electronic movement, where
you have artists like Robyn and you have, of course, Justice, doing
really synthy kind of poppy stuff.
Paul Robb (of Information Society): Yes. Although I don't know if I'd necessarily say Justice
is all that poppy but, I'd say that finally people are trying to catch
up to us. Everybody still worships Kraftwerk, which was one of our
founding influences, and it's no sin to be an electronic band anymore.
I think there's room for people like us and bands like Justice and
Chromeo and Boom Bip and groups like that. I love that, the new
creativity that's coming out of electronic music because it's not just
your standard boom, boom, boom house, dancefloor, or techno rave.
These are real songs. There's been an explosion of good electronic
music lately and that's one of the things that inspired us to come
back and make some new music, because we really started liking some of
the stuff we were hearing again.
RS: When you're working on music, do you normally start with the
track or do you start with vocals, or how do you write your songs?
Paul Robb: You know, it varies from song to song. Sometimes we start
with a track, like a drumbeat or something. Sometimes it starts out in
a more traditional way, with a chord progression, and sometimes I just
get an idea, like a title that sounds good, and then I go on to build
a track and a lyrical structure around the title. So there's no
particular formula, it just happens organically and differently on
each song.
RS: Very cool. If there ever was a band that was meant for the
internet generation, it's you guys and I just love the way that you
all have embraced MySpace and everything. How does it feel to be able
to reach your fans in a more direct way now?
Paul Robb: Well, it's funny because we tried to invent our own ways
of doing these types of things, a long time ago, putting computer
programs on our disks. God, I can remember being on Prodigy before
there really was much of a world wide web. We've always tried to be
innovative in the way that we connect with the fans and, you know, it
took this long for the tools to be made available. (For example, our)
website means people can send emails or communicate with us, and
there's a pretty good chance that someone in the band is actually
going to see it. And in reverse, I've sent eMails to people that I
admire or that I want to work with or other artists, and it's amazing
how you can actually find people and communicate with them in ways
that you never could ten years ago.
RS: Time to go on the more difficult side. You just came out
loud and proud as a synth pop band. Would you state the same claim
about being a freestyle artist?
Paul Robb: Our relationship with freestyle has always been odd. I've
read some things on different freestyle websites, saying that
Information Society was never really a part of the freestyle
community. I think what they're saying is that we're not Latin, which
is undeniably true. But I stake my claim to Information Society as a
freestyle act. You really can't believe that freestyle would have
developed the way it did if Running hadn't existed. I mean freestyle,
what is it anymore? It was, I think, a pretty short-lived movement and
it's not particularly vibrant anymore. I think it kind of got stuck in
a number of clichés, and I also think the world of dance music kind of
moved on, even in New York, Miami. And it's sad to me because
personally, I've always felt better with syncopated beats, you know,
freestyle/electro kind of beats, but what are you going to do? People
want the heartbeat, they want that four on the floor kick drum. I
still have great memories of freestyle, but I don't think it's
particularly valid anymore, it's not saying anything new.
RS: I think that's a common perception.
Paul Robb: But I loved it back in the day, and I think we played our
part in it. I also think it was the kind of thing where we
unexpectedly went and became a pop band so fast that we weren't really
in the freestyle scene for very long. A couple of years we were
playing freestyle clubs and then suddenly, boom, we were playing
theatres and arenas and whatever, and then we weren't in the freestyle
clubs anymore. Any time that happens with a scene, people kind of want
to disown you because they feel like you're not one of them anymore,
you've gotten too big for your britches.
