Remix masters and DJs extraordinaire, the Freemasons are coming to Australia for a few very special gigs. Along with Paul Oakenfold the duo will keep the crowd thumping and pumping until the sun comes up on Mardi Gras. Then, they’ll fly west to play the Court’s Overflow. OUTinPerth’s Megan Smith had a few questions for the pair before they reached our fair shores.
Seeing as you are the Freemasons, is there a secret handshake?
No, but there is a silly walk.
You are coming to Australia to play the one and only Mardi Gras – besides your set, how will you partake of the festivities?
We’ll be off to see the parade obviously, as it’s brilliant! There is a wonderful Freemasons tribute float organized by some MySpace people Russell [Small] got to know – we can’t wait to see it and will pop down and wish them all our best before… Who knows we might even get kidnapped by them and end up in the parade!
What sort of set are you planning for Mardi Gras? Do you approach playing a gay party differently from a regular gig?
We always try and play slightly differently depending on the night, even the venue sometimes.
You have been enormously successful with your remixes – what is the biggest misconception the public has of remix artists?
That they get paid royalties. The number of people who think we are both millionaires after the Beyonce remixes always amuses us. Please don’t think that we’re complaining though as we’re certainly not – It was such a privilege to do [the remix] and our career changed forever… But remixers only get fixed fees 99% of the time.
Can a remix ever be better than the original?
Yes it can. This goes right back to the good old days of disco and the pioneers of club mixes. Some of the 12″ mixes coming out in New York in the late 70’s and early 80’s were just amazing and had so much more raw power than the radio versions. That style of remixing has always inspired us – we always make a point of turning down remix work if we don’t think we can do a good job of it.
How do you know a track is ripe for The Freemasons touch?
It’s a democracy, so we both have to love it, or love the vocal. That’s the single most important factor – that we love the song. If we don’t we will eventually go mad if we have to listen to it thousands of times whilst working on it.
You have released under a few different names – why? Is there a difference between something released as the Freemasons and something released as Alibi or Walken?
Alibi is the name of another pub in Brighton and a friend said he’d give us free beer if we named a record after it. I might now point out that he promptly sold the pub and we have yet to get our just rewards…. Walken was in homage to the actor Christopher Walken and was/is a slightly more electronic based project.
What’s on high rotation in the Freemasons stereo at the moment?
Ladyhawke’s album, my friend Pete Heyward’s compilation Still Life, and his Band – Goloka ‘s new material, which is fab.
Do you consider yourselves more studio or live artists?
A cunning mixture of both.
What word do you most hate being used to describe you or your music?
I don’t mind whatever anyone wants to call it, although I do get annoyed at one thing – dance music has a little collection of producers and DJ’s with their head up their arses. They are only interested in what’s painfully fashionable and jump ship every six months when a new style comes along. Most recently they all went minimal after having only just started making electro records. This bunch don’t like what we do. One even said to me once, ‘It’s not real dance music is it?’ I then pointed out to him our tracks were more musical than the bleepy nonsense he was ‘knocking out in 3 hours for beatport,’ and thousands of people were dancing to our stuff every weekend. His response was simply, ‘Yeah, but you’ll never be number 1 on Beatport will you?’ I just felt sorry for the poor chap – that was the total sum of his ambitions.
Megan Smith
