Flashmob Exclusive mix & interview

Music

"A flash mob (or flashmob) is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a place, perform an unusual and seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, and artistic expression. Flash mobs are organized via telecommunications, social media, or viral emails." So says wikipedia. How do you fit into this description and why.

Flashmob seemed like the perfect name for us because in our way of seeing what we do, yes we fit into this description/definition.

Nowadays a big part of the promotion in dance music events is done on the internet and this kind of promotion will be more and more predominant as time goes by and that's how we see it too.

In the current state of digital sales charts, illegal downloads, and countless egos, Flashmob are the voice of the opposition. Bringing underground back down to earth and away from commercial exploitation. No unwarranted releases, no shameless self promotion, and no disrespect. These are the virtues to which Flashmob bind themselves, virtues that have in recent years become more and more rare. With releases on Get Physical and Defected under their belt and an appearance at MoS this weekend, Flashmob stepped forward to drop a rather shiny lil' ole R$N excluisve mix… we had a little chin wag with 'em too… check the mix while you read:

You guys seem quite mysterious; I wasn't able to find out much about you – just your music. Where did you grow-up and what was the music scene like?

We are quite mysterious and we choose to be, you are right.

We've been in the industry for a while now but we prefer not to talk about the past and concentrate on our future.

I am happy all you found on us is our music and none of that ego shit you get these days: we think music says much more than words.

I, Alessandro, grew up between Milan and Liverpool; my mother is a Scouser and her parents were from Ireland of course (Cork I think … and the name was Doyle) .. My father is from Milan and so I was raised between these two very different cultures.

I grew up with Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Bronski Beat on one side and early Industrial techno on the other.

I, Danny, am half French, on my mother's side, but raised in Cassino, near Rome. A land famous for having an incredible number of Djs and even more for The Montecassino Abbey famous for being destroyed erroneously by the Americans in World War II thinking the Germans were in it.

I grew up listening to Prog Rock and Rock music and some Techno 🙂

How did the two of you meet and what inspired you to produce music together?

Let's say we really met by chance and It seemed quite natural to us to become a team straight away.

We were interested in the same sounds and we completed each other very well.

You describe yourselves as "the voice of the opposition" to the current state of the music industry of "illegal downloads, and countless egos". It's certainly fair to say that integrity has become a valuable quality in music. Would you say that you have a love – hate relationship with the industry you work in?

Yes exactly.

I suppose you could say: "Don't hate the player hate the game"

What elements would you say give music integrity?

To show integrity a record must be true, it must come from the heart, and it cannot be considered finished (which they never are!) if the producer is not 100% sure he has reached the top quality he's capable of.

Complete the sentence: I'm proper techno because…..

Because If I am a record I am faster, stronger and harder than a House record.

The two kicks in Techno that have been used the most are TR808 (Plastikman, for example, has used this very very much) and the TR909 with a tape distortion – Jeff Mills was one of the fathers of this. If you add to this a crispy hit hat and the typical Acid Bassline TB303, you get Techno baby.

Are you a kick drum, hi hat or a snare? And why?

We are two, but we feel like all these three elements you mentioned, and we often have "Mr. Swing" for dinner.

It's peak time at a party, you are lost in the music, you shut your eyes; what do you see?

I am not interested in what I see when I close my eyes .. I am interested in what I see when I open them … and I always hope it's a dancing and smiling crowd .. that is what we have always been dreaming of since we were both kids.

Most annoying person in dance music?

Those people that wanted to control us but were not doing enough to be able to do that job!

Fantasy house party – who's on the guestlist?

Carl Craig, Kerri Chandler and Inner City.

Best party city in the world?

It depends what's happening in the pace you're going too … you get some shit gigs in amazing places and fantastic ones in places where you wasn't expecting to have fun ..

Which nationality parties hardest?

We recently went to a party called "Neutra" in the center of Italy and the people were nuts, we just couldn't go home! Something like five last records … incredible love to them!

DJ or musician you'd most like to party with?

I would have loved to party with Freddy Mercury but I'm late on that one. Maybe we'd have a good time with Kerri Chandler; I'd love to see his collection of turntables, he'd certainly could give us some lessons!

Rave related iPhone app they ought to invent….

An App that recognizes tracks so everyone could know what you're playing, like a Shazam but for Djs. (Ps if someone has not yet done this ..)

Should DJs educate or entertain? You're not allowed to say 'both'.

I think we are there to entertain, but please note we will do it our way: people that will come to our shows will find coherence between our productions and what we play during a gig.

Who are your musical heroes? Past, present and future.

Spider Man, Batman and Superman. But let's never forget that only Superman is the pure superhero, since he doesn't have to transform into Superman, but always is. Seriously, we love the Depeche Mode, Jean Michel Jarre, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Vangelis, Mike Oldfield, Dream Theater, Royksopp, Queen etc.

Talk us through the mix you put together for us.

The mix is a random selection of what is in our music bag right now …

Both your music and your attitude towards it has a no-nonsense quality about it. Is this something that extends to your general approach to life?

100% yes for both of us. That's why we get along so well.

And this weekend you'll be taking a break from the sunshine for a night at one of London's most famous nightclubs, Ministry Of Sound. Have you been before? Are you looking forward to it?

We have never been to Ministry and we can't wait to be there. It's one of the best clubs in the world so we will do our best to put it on fire … see you there and thanks.

Flashmob play Defected In The House at MoS this weekend. Full details here.