RS: One thing I noticed that really impressed me; I saw you
backstage tuning your own guitar and setting up your own equipment.
It really impressed me that you were that hands-on getting your gear
ready.
Mylo: Well, I just have never seen the point of having a guitar
tech. I don't understand why bands, when they get to a certain level,
they feel they want to pay somebody full-time to come and hang out and
tune the guitars occasionally. It's just like 'how freaking lazy can
you be, surely you would want to tune your own guitar because that way
you'd make sure it's right,' and it just seems like a waste of time
and money, really. I mean, by the end of it, our touring personnel
was four people and the band, and for me that's plenty, and that
doesn't include any kind of guitar tech or crap like that. We are
happy to reinvest all the money we got on really cool stuff, like for
our last UK headline tour when we were playing big venues like the
Brixton Academy in London, it sold out five thousand people. We spent
every penny we got from that on the production, and that meant getting
an amazing light for the screen rather than paying for all kinds of
crew to come and hang out with us and carry out guitars for us. So I
think that you can find better ways to spend the money than that.
RS: There's something really real about you. Do you see
yourself as coming from more of a rock background, or more of a dance
background. Or rather, who are your influences?
Mylo: Growing up, I was into everything, really, and the the first
bands I played in when I was about twelve years old were at school
doing covers of the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, EMF, and that kind of
thing. I've been into techno since the very beginning and always
followed it, even though I wasn't a DJ or a huge record collector.
I've always been a clubber and liked to get into the spirit of it,
putting things together in different ways. So yes, I'm influenced by
everything I hear.
RS: How important do you think your live sets were with
promoting your album and getting the point across that you're not just
a DJ, that you actually make the music?
Mylo: Yes, I think doing the live sets was hugely important - we did
so many of the live sets in the UK and all around Europe. We had the
fans in the UK, and we got to thirty thousand going out doing those
live shows. Conversely, by the same token, in the US we've only done
like three live shows and one of them was completely disastrous, so
we've really only done two. So breaking the record in the US is much
more difficult, and I feel kind of sad about that, but it wasn't my
intention that the record wasn't going to get a proper release in the
US until almost two years after it had originally came out. It's a
difficult position for RCA, who are trying to promote the record now
because a lot of people who are kind of into it are already aware of
that record in the US, but the vast majority of people haven't. So
it's kind of crossing over from one community that's already bored
with it to other people who haven't heard of it; it's something which
is virtually impossible to do. There are people who just DJ and get
huge success, thinking of Fatboy Slim, but they're pretty rare. I
don't think there's any replacement for touring with a live band if
you really want to promote an album, but I'm kind of through with that
now, the band is on sabbatical at the moment. They're all doing their
own projects and we're supposed to be back in Glasgow making the
second album.
RS: With what you just said, the new album you're working on -
is that somehow related to Recall? What's your relationship with
Recall Music, the new digital label?
Mylo: The first CD was released on several different labels as it
went around the world – beginning in the UK in May 2004 and making its
way to the US in 2006. In fact, we set up a new label called
SisterPhunk, which was a complex deal involving Recall and V2 as well
as Phunk, who are a very underground dance promotions company in
France.
