RS: Very cool. Then on the exact opposite side from something
very serious, something very nonsensical. What does Witchi-Tai-To
actually mean?
Diesel: As far as we know, Witchi-Tai-To is a Native American Indian
chant. I don't know what the actual definition of that is but I think
it's a positive chant like a good luck chant possibly. That's the
background that we got because we looked into it. We were really into
this song by this 60's group called Harper's Bizarre, who had a really
big hit called "Feeling Groovy." There was a track on their album
that my friend turned me onto called "Witchi-Tai-To" that we really
liked and wanted to cover. When we went to see who is was published
by, it led us down some different paths and we ended up finding a guy
called Jim Pepper who told us that he got the song from a Native
American Indian Chant. It goes way back and that's basically what
that song is all about.
RS: Well that's from the 60s and moving into the 70s, on the
"Killer 100" song there is a loop of "I Feel Love." Were you feeling
disco when you made that record?
Diesel: We're always feeling disco. Yes, it's not actually the
Donna Summer loop but it's meant to sound like that. We got an old
analog keyboard and did an arpeggio sort of sound. We're really big
fans of Giorgio Moroder, so we tried something different. It's like a
Giorgio Moroder record but with darker lyrics.
RS: I could see that. Then moving forward to the 80s, the
tracks from Kissing the Pink definitely sound like updated 80s
records.
Diesel: Our inspirations come from everywhere – 60s, 70s, 80s, etc.
Regarding Kissing the Pink, we were doing a radio show on national
Radio One - the national radio station for England. We were doing a
dance show and played a Kissing the Pink record. The guys eMailed the
show saying they can't believe we're playing their record on the
radio. We made contact with them and said we really love your old
stuff and thought we should collaborate. So we collaborated on three
songs with those guys because we got on really well with them.
RS: I always see so and so versus X-Press 2, like Missy Elliot
versus X-Press 2, let's say. Any chance of Kissing the Pink versus
X-Press 2 where you take on their old stuff too?
Diesel: Maybe, that's always a good idea. It all depends how we're
feeling. A lot of the things that we do aren't really planned and
just happen because there's just a feeling towards doing these
projects or ideas. I'll never rule it out, because there's so much
good stuff in their catalogue to recreate or to cover.
RS: Going back to Witchi-Tai To, you worked with Polyphonic
Spree and they were such a buzz band for a while. How did you hook up
with them?
Diesel: It's the same thing again - very similar to the Kurt Wagner
and David Byrne situation. There are certain vocalists and artists
that really resonate with us as a unit, and we see a lot of
similarities in David Byrne and Kurt Wagner and Tim DeLaughter, who's
the lead singer of Polyphonic Spree.
We are big fans of the music - Talking Heads, Lambchop, and Polyphonic
Spree were a real breath of fresh air. They came on to the scene and
I thought they were incredible. Being a big Beach Boys fan and here
was this group that was just intense with an incredible front man.
The song Witchi-Tai-To is such a deep record and I remember when we
had the idea to do the cover version, we were thinking who do we get
to sing it. Tim was the obvious choice. We never met Tim,
unfortunately, but maybe one day we will. The track was done kind of
transatlantic.
