Techno Takeover

Ahead of their DJ act at NH7 Weekender coming weekend,Simian Mobile Disco on what to expect from their music in the near future

The remix of British band Simians Never Be Alone by the Electronic Dance Music (EDM) act Justice put the spotlight on its members James Ford and Jas Shaw. The duo,which has now formed the splinter group Simian Mobile Disco,has backed that buzz up with strong studio albums over the past six years.

Making music that constantly toes the line between mainstream and underground,the two have moved through various genres over the four albums they have produced. What sets them apart from most EDM acts is their live gigs,where they tweak analogue instruments on stage to make music. Its unfortunate that Simian Mobile Discos performance at the Bacardi NH7 Weekender in Pune this weekend will not include a live set. The duo talks about their DJ sets,how Indian food might influence their next album and why the dubstep bandwagon is something they are not keen to get on to.

What can people expect at the gig in Pune?

Were DJing,so it will be strictly techno,and a mixture of contemporary sounds and classics. We wont be playing any of our own older material though,it just doesnt fit with our current sets.

Dubstep is the rage these days,but youve stayed away from it. Would you ever make a dubstep album?

Im not sure that dubstep is the go-to genre anymore,certainly not in the UK various versions of house music are the current favourites. We actually had dubstep acts Joker and Shackleton do remixes for us of tracks from our first album,so were not totally anti-dubstep,but its just not something weve wanted to do ourselves. In the same way we didnt want to do any drum n bass. A lot of the post-dubstep artistes are playing more techno and house sounds such as Ben UFO,Objekt,Blawan,Joy Orbison and are making interesting music.

You can hear those sort of influences in our last album Unpatterns. But

we would never make a dubstep album,no.

Was your last release,Live,a statement that you both do more than just hit play on a laptop?

A bit,yes. But mostly,we wanted

to capture a snapshot of where

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our live set was at that time,as it changes constantly.

What is your take on India being viewed as the next big market for music,and what is the one thing

you would love to do here if

time permits?

India is definitely seen as a growing market in the music industry,and were sure well be playing here more in the future. Its great to be able to take our music to a whole new set of fans who might have never seen us before. Wed love to travel more around the country,but sadly I dont think we will have much time to do that. But

we would like to eat as much Indian food as possible,and try any local strange delicacies that we can name tracks after.

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