RS: When you put this album together were you thinking let's
work with lots of different interesting people to put the CD together?
Diesel: Yes and no really. When we approached this album, we wanted
to do more vocals and more songs - we didn't just want to make
instrumental club tracks. We knew that if we did want to do more
songs then obviously we would need to get singers because none of us
sing. It was a case of having to write up a mental list in our heads
of who we would like to work with and we were quite lucky because most
of the people we wanted to work with agreed to work with us and we
were really pleased with the results.
RS: Very cool. When you did the track Lazy with David Byrne,
did you have any idea it would get as big as it would?
Diesel: No idea, really. We knew that by getting David on the
project that we were taking a risk in a way and testing ourselves.
Even to this day, I think back to when David agreed to sing over the
track, that we were thinking 'god, what if this goes wrong?' How
embarrassing would that be to finally get your hero and work on a
track and it doesn't work out, where do you go from there? So it had
to work. I think sometimes it's good to put yourself in those
positions where it's do or die. Thank god we didn't ruin it, because
I don't know if we could live with ourselves.
RS: Did having the big pop success change you in any way?
Diesel: Sort of yes and no. It definitely influenced the way we
approached out second album. It probably added a tiny bit of pressure
to us because it's a hard act to follow. It's a great song and what
do you do after you've done a record like Lazy? So it was kind of
tricky.
RS: Are you involved at all with the videos that are made?
Diesel: Kind of. We don't get lots of videos made but for Lazy, we
basically wanted someone good because it was a great song. We were
hoping to get Spike Jonze because he'd done all the Fatboy Slim
videos, but we were told he was busy, so we got one of his friends, a
guy called Howard Sure, to direct it and we're really pleased with the
results. We do have certain say and we're told what the general idea
is. The different video directors pitch for the particular project and
then we look at the scripts and we say what we're into.
RS: What was the thought behind the cartoon video for "Give It?"
Diesel: We liked the idea of having a go at animation and we were
shown some rough sketches, and we liked the style of it.
RS: Did you find it humorous when you were approached to remix
Britney Spears?
Diesel: We did. It was one of those things, quite out of the blue
and interesting. It's always a challenge because they're out and out
pop records and the idea is to try and make them cool for the dance
floor. We think we did quite well with it, although we have to say we
prefer to play the dub.
RS: When you're doing production, what software do you work in?
Diesel: Logic.
RS: When you DJ out, do you use CD, vinyl, or a laptop?
Diesel: We don't use laptops, we're still using vinyl and CDs.
RS: Would there be any way you could do a live tour with all the
artists that you have on the CD?
Diesel: That would be very ambitious but I would never rule it out.
We were basically making the records as we went. After we completed
it we were thinking that it would ne impossible to actually tour this,
how would you get all these people together? It would be very, very
difficult, but it would be a great thing to be able to pull off, even
if we just did it for one night with David Byrne, the Polyphonic
Spree, Rob Harvey from The Music, the guys from Radio Four, Kurt, and
Kissing the Pink - it would be fantastic.
RS: Is there anything you'd like to say to all your fans out there?
Diesel: Just to say thanks for supporting the album and that we'd
really like to come to the States soon. We'll hope to make that
happen maybe next year.
Posted August 28, 2007
