RS: So you've done lots of remixes of different artists, is
there an artist you'd like to work with that you haven't worked with
yet?
Simon Langford: Oh God, so many. Because each of us has varied
history in terms of what we've done stylistically, that has sort of
given us the level of success with the variation in what we do. Some
of the mixes are very breakbeat-influenced and others have a trance
feel. So what we really enjoy doing is kind of bringing those
different elements together so there's a few people we'd like to work
with that probably, to be honest, wouldn't be interested in working
with dance producers. For me, personally, there's Norah Jones,
because I think her voice is fabulous and I'd love to work with her.
I know Julian would like to work with the Pet Shop Boys. In terms of
modem producers and other dance producers, Seamus Haji. It could be
anyone who can bring a different influence and insight in.
RS: Of all the records you've remixed, what's been the most
challenging and most difficult?
Simon Langford: I think from a personal point of view, I'd have to
say the remix we did for the Sugababes. It's a ballad and to make
that fit in an up-tempo funky house thing was really quite difficult.
The technical difficulty in trying to make the vocal sound good was
one aspect of it and that took probably two or three days to actually
get those vocals because we had to slow some of them down and we had
to speed some of them up. The ones that we sped up had that really
kind of wobbly vibrato on them so that literally a case of going word
by word in a piece of software called Melodine where you can kind of
level out the vibrato and stuff like that. It took so long but I
think in the end it was worth it, it's still one of my favorite mixes.
RS: What's been the easiest one you've done or was just like a
no-brainer?
Simon Langford: Energy 52 "Café Del Mar." We were skeptical because
it's such a classic record and it's one of those ones where if you
mess it up people will hate you forever. Surprisingly when we first
got this mix to do, both Julian and myself were kind of like 'oh sh*t,
should we even bother doing this?' We actually got to the point
where when All Around the World said to us that we want you to do this
mix, we said, we'll have a go at it but if we don't think we can
deliver it, we're just going to like say no. But that actually came
together really easily and I think it's because both Julian and I
really love the record and have heard it so many times, back to front
and inside out, and so it almost felt natural to do that.
RS: There's certain artists that you've worked with more than
once – Leanna, Bananarama, Dannii Minogue. Who, on your list you've
worked with already, would you really like to work with again and do a
second single with?
Simon Langford: I'd love to do another mix for Basement Jaxx because
their style is pretty special and unique. They blend all these
different elements and every track of theirs has got this spark which
is fantastic to work with. They are well written songs as well.
RS: I just got the Freemason CD – Shakedown, which has two CDs of
all their remixes and productions, Freemasons for two hours. Any
ideas of doing a Soul Seekerz CD with all of your productions and
remixes?
Simon Langford: Depending on how "Party for the Weekend" goes over
here. Jason from Positiva, as all labels do I expect, has expressed
an interest in developing Soul Seekerz rather than this just being a
one-off with them. We've got probably three or four Soul Seekerz
tracks that we're working on at the moment that are in various stages,
some are instrumental and some we're getting top lines on. One of
them, we've settled on the top line and it's in final production.
We'd love to do an artist album and in terms of the remixes as well,
we'd definitely love to do it, but I wouldn't even know where to start
in terms of picking out sort of ten or twelve remixes out of all the
ones we've done. We've done quite a few.
RS: I've got to ask you about Ashley Tisdale because she's
really big over here in the US and she the next big, huge new artist
like Jennifer Hudson. What was it like working on that project?
Simon Langford: That was a good project to work on. Most, I'd say
probably fifty percent of the time when we get remixes, the label's
got some idea of what they're expecting, either a kind of another
track that they've heard that's kind of big or one of our previous
remixes that they really liked. Probably two thirds of the time we
get some kind of guidance from the label as to what they'd like.
Every now and then a label just says you know what, do your thing.
That was one of them, we had the absolute sort of free reign on that
and that one's actually ended up a bit kind of darker and more electro
just because of the sort of attitude in the vocal. I don't really
know anything about Ashley Tinsdale, to be honest, but her vocals are
amazing. We never really find any of this information out, it's
always like, 'right, this one's for Warner's and for a girl called
Ashley Tisdale' and they send to me a thing on it. That's the only
downside with the remixing, it it's very kind of impersonal I guess.
RS: Do you normally just get a CD or DVD of the vocals and not
really now who the singer is?
Simon Langford: Yes, sometimes it works like that, but it's always
nice to get a bit of background because then you get more of a feel
for, where you should be heading with the song.
RS: What would you like to say to all the fans out there of the
Soul Seekerz?
Simon Langford: I am constantly amazed by the messages through the
MySpace page and various sort of eMails we get, by how many people
outside of the UK have actually heard of us. To everyone, UK fan and
worldwide fans, thank you for the continued support and it's an
absolute pleasure to get the messages and the eMails that are saying
how much enjoy our stuff. "Party for the Weekend" seems to have hit
a chord with people and they're saying that it really sums up the
weekend. It's a pleasure, we make music because we love it and
getting those eMails makes it all a lot more worthwhile.
