CHROMEO INTERVIEW
Last month we were introduced to the next chapter in music from Chromeo. “Don’t Turn The Lights On” is the second single on their LP set for release on September 14th entitled Business Casual. They are currently on a tour until the end of August in support of the upcoming release. We got a chance to chat with Dave on the phone before his set last night in Boston about the album, the state of music, and cultivating their brand of imagery.
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You guys have a new album coming out soon, “Business Casual”. What can we expect and do you have any personal favorites on the album?
In both our cases, our personal favorite is “J’ai Claque la Porte”, which is the french ballad on the album. It’s sort of a new “Momma’s Boy” if you will, being something different from our more traditional sound that we’re really proud of and happy with.
I could tell from the video it had more of an upper class feel to it.
Yea, exactly. We just put out another video yesterday, we’re just trying to go somewhere we haven’t gone before. There’s something a little more darker and sexier about it. The last record was really bubbly and fun.
Is dancing a big part of you or was it something you learned for the video?
My friend, I’m going to disappoint you greatly and if you hang up the phone I completely understand but there’s a dance double in that video. He’s also 1 foot and a half shorter than me and when we finished the video, Pete and I were convienced that everyone was going to be able to tell. Sure enough, nobody was.
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What’s the wierdest thing that’s happened to you guys while on tour?
Recently, we went to Serbia and played an amazing festival over there, it was one of our favorite gigs. But the whole experience of getting into that country, our crew waiting at the border in the middle of the night for hours and having to bribe people to get in. This wierd hotel which was really chic but in a very sorta soviet post communist era way with the hookers in the lobby.
That was slightly surreal. A little David Lynch meets Soviet block. Not to mention the fact that you couldn’t get ketchup at the restaurants.
What gear and do you guys use for recording and live setups?
A bunch of 80′s and late 70′s analog equipment. Anything from the Moog and even more modern emulators of those vintage synths. We definately try to keep everything vintage.
Chromeo has a very defined artistic style. What are the main inspirations behind the visuals of the band?
All the 80′s and 70′s iconography. We would sit and look at record covers for hours and obviously in the 70′s and 80′s they had different technologies. Something that would be more on an arcahic technologoy of creating album covers where you would have to actually do some collages, manually cut, superimpose stuff and get really striking results.
There’s a design company called Hypnosis and they did a bunch of really classic early 80′s album covers. That’s a huge influence on our aesthetic. Anything from that all the way to Classic ZZ top, Micheal Jackson, Robert Palmer movies, to 90′s Hip hop actually.
Anyone recently you would say you grab influence from?
No, I think we admire other comtemporary bands that are equally as stylized as we are even though there style is different. That could be anyone from Daft Punk, to Kayne, to Justice, to Vampire Weekend. They all have really defined styles and make strong stylistic choices even though it looks nothing like us. That’s what we really respect.
What kind of animal are you and why?
A girraffe cause I’m tall and skinny.
Today with electronic music, just about anyone is able to produce a track in his or her room and throw it up online. Do you think with music being so available, it has decreased the shelf life of singles, albums, and the artist’s overall time spent in the lime light?
No, I don’t think so. I think it’s great from up and coming musicians to make their stuff available and heard. I think we all benefit from it because we hear stuff that we never had access to before. I don’t think it really hurts established artists because first of all, they have a bigger promotional machine behind them for better or worse so they can afford to stay in the lime light longer. Obviously there is a huge amount of information out there but I think it’s up to us to learn how to filter through it and select the stuff we deem the most interesting.
Where did the name Chromeo come from?
I came up with it one morning quite a few years ago and it’s a mix between Chrome and Romeo.
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[audio:http://OhhSoFamous.com/Music/Chromeo - Night By Night (Midnight Conspiracy Remix).mp3]
Other than getting Lindsay Lohan out of jail, what is the most important thing we need to fix as a society?
Education system and Health Care.
Is there sense of a brotherly rivalry between you and A-trak? Has it been a driving factor for your career choice?
No, there’s no rivarly, we’re extremely close and we work together on everything.
What is the best advice you an offer to upcoming musicians?
Perseverance and integrity. I don’t want to get preachy but if there’s anything that anyone can learn from the career we’ve had is that if you keep doing what you do long enough people might not take you seriously at first but then there’s an enormous amount of respect that comes with that perserverance and continuity.
Favorite Saturday morning cartoon as a kid?
I didn’t watch alot of them. I guess Roadrunner.
~Ohh! So Famous!
80's, Analog, Business Casual, Chromeo, Don't Turn the Lights On, Electro, Famous, Indie, interview, MIDNIGHT CONSPIRACY, Night By Night, Pop, Remix
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