2manydjs are a clubbing institution. You have a reputation for XXXL sets that are big in size, scale and sound. We’re guessing your New Year set will be the biggest and best ever?
Stephen: (laughs) Well, you know how we like to surprise people. So, maybe this year, we’ll do something really small. (laughs) No, we’re up for it. It’s going to be huge. This will be our Gatecrasher Birmingham debut and we don’t want to let anybody down. We want to make sure people have a good time and enjoy a great party. People have high expectations – it’s up to us to deliver.

As a dj, what’s the biggest difference between playing a set on New Year’s Eve, compared with any other night of the year?
Well, to be honest, we don’t do anything any different. People want us to play for a reason and we make sure we don’t let them down. The biggest difference is the crowd. Their expectations are through the roof because it’s the biggest night of the year. New Year’s Eve is the one night in the year when people do drugs – or, in some cases, where they don’t do drugs – it’s the one night of the year where they dress up, it’s the one night of the year where they hit the town. You get a different crowd, it’s not just clubbers, it’s people from all walks of life. The crowd makes a huge effort, so we do as well. We don’t do things differently, but we try to make sure we take into account that the people who are there aren’t necessarily regular clubbers.

And will you be dressed to impress – white suits, shirts and black bow ties?
Man, I love the white suits and bow ties. I hadn’t actually thought about what to wear, but now that you’ve mentioned it, I think we might. It would look cool.

You and David have a reputation for being among the world’s hardest working djs in clubland, both as 2manydjs and Soulwax. Do you ever slow down?
(laughs) I wish we did. This year has been crazy. We’ve been mixing a new album, we’ve been on the road. Our life is split between the UK and Belgium, we are based half in one and half in the other. We’ve just got back from a tour of South America. So, no, I guess we never stop.

How do you balance performing as both Soulwax & 2manydjs? And can we ever expect a return of Flying Dewaele Brothers, Samantha Fu or Kawasaki?
I think the point of doing so many different things is that it keeps us on our toes. We need to keep it fresh. One thing plays off another. I mean, you know, you get into a band so that you can get fed up of being in a band. That makes you want to be a dj, so that you can do different things. Having lots of projects keeps us on the edge. It fuels our creativity. Whenever we do one thing, we start to get bored – but that’s okay because there’s always something else to do. I love all of the things we’ve done, because they are different animals. Djing is much easier than being in a live band. It’s fun – and it’s nowhere near as tough.

You’ve said you’ll never release another record is that true? Is this down to clearance issues?
Well, we’ve been working on another record and maybe we’ll release it. But I don’t know what format it’ll be released on. We are up for the challenge of making a new Soulwax record; maybe it’ll be one long song, or maybe it won’t be a song at all. Look, the thing is this: if I said now that we wanted to do a reggae record, then you can guarantee that further down the line we’d change our mind. So, honestly, who knows. There’s no point trying to pin me down, I can’t even pin myself down to a deadline – though I’d love to.

Instead of a CD you have released 24hrs mixes on Radio Soulwax, tell us about that?
I think that that came out of an idea to make mix albums of stuff that we liked. We didn’t want to just work on dance, we wanted to do whatever we wanted. So we went for rock, Brazilian music, electronic music and covers that we liked. We accompanied it all with visuals. There used to be album sleeves, which people would associate with music, but that seems less important now. So we wanted to spend time on the visuals too. It’s been quite a success and I think we’ve had 21 million hits and sold 270,000 apps. It’s strange because the record industry has changed. It’s cool to think we’ve had so many hits, but that’s partly because we release our music for free.

And how do you feel about the fact that people can listen to your music – and often you don’t get paid.
That’s the way it is. I think it’s up to us to make it a bit more fun. The fact that people get music without paying creates challenges. I like the evolution. Music could have become too boring and too corporate and it’s up to musicians to come up with new stuff. 24 hours was our way of shaking things up.

The multi-platform aspect of the project of the radio was really important? With mind-blowing visuals, apps etc?  Tell us about the process? Who did you work with on this?
The visual aspect has always been very important to us. Especially with the radio, we actually tried to make the visual component a very important element. The visuals had to be bigger and better. I think the idea of us fusing the material that we play and putting it on a screen and animating it seems to be a good thing. I’m wary of bands who don’t do animations or dvds. It’s fun when we play a small gig, because we can do whatever we like. When we’re playing a big gig, we’ll have the visuals lined so, to a certain extent, we’ll know what we plan to play, so that they match up. But there are times when we’ll just play different things, or when we’ll just forget. We adapt. When we were in Columbia and Mexico, we came up with different things for the fans there.

Did the project allow you to explore other aspects of your creativity?
I guess, I’m just into anything that excites me.

You remixed for a bunch of people, like Gorillaz, The Klaxons, Kylie Minogue, Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem and many more. Any plans to do more of that work?
We haven’t done remixes for a long time, in about a year, mainly because of our radio work. For us, remixes have always been about being able to mash up other people’s music, that’s our motivation, we like to smash it up. It’s a bit like an exercise. The only rule that we is have is that when we do a remix we have to be able to mix it in one of our sets. We have to be able to play it to our audience.

When you play Gatecrasher in Birmingham, you’ll be playing to a huge audience. How much do the clubbers inspire you?
A lot. We respond to them a lot. But I love playing really small places when you can see people, it’s really nice to be able to feed off people, you can tell by their faces if you screwed them up a little bit. I love that. When it’s big gigs, you’re just on stage with two guys. It’s an amazing feeling when you hear the roar, but I still feel it’s crazy that the fans are in awe of a couple of guys on stage. All we are doing is playing other people’s records.

Which djs do you rate?
I like a lot of djs out there, so many man. But at the weekend I like to do something completely different so that I can escape.

Your popularity went through the roof after your mixtape As Heard On Radio Soulwax Pt. 2. It mashed up things that nobody had thought of putting together before, from Salt ‘N’ Pepa’s “Push It” to Stooges’ “No Fun”, and Destiny’s Child’s “Independent Woman” over 10cc’s “Dreadlock Holiday” to Dolly Parton’s “Nine to Five”. Are you proud of that?
I don’t look at it like that. I’m not proud that we managed to bring together such different styles. That’s not what we’re about. We like the attitude of the music most of all. I think in our heads there’s no difference between a really old Chicago house track and hardcore punk – they have the same fuck you in the music. That’s the reason why we’ll mash something.

You’ve a legendary record collection. Have you had to rent storage space yet?
(laughs) The record collection is a big, it’s almost embarrassing. We just came back from south America, where we did a tour. I promised we weren’t going to buy any more but we came back with boxes. How many do we have? More than 10,000? Way more, way over that.

And how was South America?
Amazing. It is arrogant to think that people in Mexico wouldn’t react to these things, they have the interent, they have their finger on the pulse. I don’t have one place in the world that I like more or less. The internet makes the world a bit smaller because people in Australia can find out about us. People can just go crazy and react the same way everywhere. People may have different attitudes and trends in different places, but everybody loves music.

The music industry is in a state of flux. What changes do you see on the horizon?
It’ll be interesting to see what is going to happen. Changes in music used to be about creating a new sound. But now it’s more about creating a new way of listening; it’s not just about the music, it’s about it being free, or about it being digital, or being on iTunes. The whole industry has changed completely. Young kids get it, they’ll continue to change things. When I look back at our careers, I see how things are now so different. When we started playing with Soulwax, we’d do a soundcheck and we’d get bored because we were fed up of house music in clubs. Sometimes, we’d play to nine people and eight of them would hate it, but one guy would rip the place up when we’d play The Stooges. We’d think, yes, that’s got to be good. I loved playing the really small clubs because it was so exciting. I relished the spontaneity.

You’re got time to play one last record, before you go, what is it?
I love things that are one-hit wonders, because they drive people crazy. But it would be Ace of Spades, by Motorhead, that would do it for me.

What is the best gig you’ve ever played?

That’s a hard one, no, no, there’s been too many that are memorable – I can’t single out one.

When and where was your best ever new year?
I haven’t had a new year off in the last 15/20 years and they’ve all been amazing in different ways. I can’t imagine not playing on New Year’s Eve, it would be too weird. I’d have to try and find a way of doing something to capture that buzz.

What does 2012 hold for you both?
I just hope that it’s a year that inspires me musically, I just hope we can carry on making music.

Any New Year’s resolutions?
To still be playing this time next year.

HOW TO ENTER

This is really simple – just go to our new Fused Publications Page on FACEBOOK and LIKE us. Then write under the GATECRASHER NYE Comp post “I want to win NYE tix to Gatecrasher” and we’ll pick 3 winners! EASY!

1 winner will win 3 x pairs (6 tix) to bring their mates while 2 runners up will win a pair each.

Deadline is 5pm on Friday 23rd December.

Full line ups and ticket details on www.gatecrasher.com

The album began with two friends hanging out in someone’s house and just throwing ideas around. Slowly, these thoughts merged into melody and an album was born. Although it was never Burrows or Smith’s intention for it to be a Christmas album, ‘Funny looking Angels’ developed a melancholic reflection which was both sad and warming, themes which they felt contributed to a wintery and therefore, Christmassy album. Once they realised the album would be a festive one, tinsel was strung, bells were rung, drums were banged and the Christmas theme was complete. It was surprising for two artists who had not worked together on an album before, “to knock out a Christmas album in the summer months in someone’s attic in Hammersmith”; but it was this odd journey which gave the album its name. ‘Funny looking Angels’, a song by Birmingham band ‘Delta’ was chosen, not only for the love of the song and a tribute to Smith’s Brummie roots, but because the title became an apt description of the album’s journey.

The album serves as a reminder to all to appreciate the true value of Christmas. Smith believes that Christmas should be a time of tradition instead of a desire to “spend, spend, spend”. Smith’s love of the traditional at Christmas quickly became apparent during conversation. To Smith, Christmas is the one time of year when everyone has the opportunity to spend a significant amount of time with the people one loves. He can “spend time in the pub with friends” who he has not seen for a while or “sit around the table with family”. For him, the festive season is relatively “small scale” but with all the trimmings of Christmas Cheese. A real Christmas trees is a must. Socks are acceptable presents; although everyone hates receiving them, there is a sort of fondness for the gift because what would Christmas be without receiving unwanted socks? And then there is the Christmas music. “I love the Pogues [‘Fairytale in New York’] but I hate that Wham song” although, he admitted somewhere deep down, (really deep, deep down) he secretly likes it just because… well… “It is Christmas”. You have to accept the cheese in its every form. Even Wham.

The album itself is one of nostalgia and reflects on the cracks in the year gone by but is filled with a naive hope for the year ahead. Smith believes that great Christmas songs do just that; bring people together and causes them to reflect on the past and one’s future. Although some songs in the album are sad, there are uplifting melodies and each song is presented festively using traditional Christmas instruments. “The album is a bit rough around the edges… a bit shambolic” he explained, but this is part of its appeal. This album has been stripped back to basics like Burrows and Smith believe Christmas should be; “You can even hear the sounds from outside,” he said, explaining at times you can hear birds singing or the rain against the attic roof. But both the sad and uplifting songs, with their Christmas bells and drums evoke a certain, melancholic and hopeful feeling which is what Christmas does to everyone.  ‘When the Thames Froze’, written by Smith when the students were protesting is a reflection on last year, while ‘Rosslyn’ and ‘The Christmas Song’ (with Agnes Obel) conform to what one would see as more ‘traditional’ songs. Smith’s particular favourite however is ‘This Aint New Jersey’, a song which both Burrows and Smith wrote together equally. Smith explained that both he and Burrows are “two different types of writers but this song is one where our styles overlap, and the result is “exciting”.

The collaboration of these two fantastic artists has succeeded in creating a moving album with an important message. And for all you fans, this will not be the end of the partnership; there are plans to do another album in the future. In the meantime, enjoy the beautiful ‘Funny looking Angels’. This album is not aimed at a particular audience, but at those who enjoy a traditional Christmas and the music of Burrows and Smith. While the album does not have answers or a scientific analysis as to why the world is the way it is now, it does celebrate the most important things at Christmas. Family, friends and hope.

Danann Swanton

Images taken by Bianca Barrett

The calendar will include 12 months of Strummer’s most inspirational quotes, previously un-seen images and hand-written artifacts from his personal archive; some that have never been seen.

Strummerville will also be releasing two Joe Strummer Christmas cards this year. One is Joe’s last hand-drawn Christmas card (Strummer would send hand-drawn Christmas cards to his close friends every year) and one is an as yet unseen photo of Strummer, taken by Bob Gruen in New York, when Joe was giving money to a homeless person (pictured top).

The Joe Strummer 2012 calendar and this year’s Christmas cards and will be available for purchase from 11.11.11.

All proceeds from the calendars and Christmas cards will go to the Joe Strummer New Music Foundation: www.strummerville.com

Re-vamping the tired club-night formula through social, sartorial and artistic rebellion BANG BANG invites colourful characters

DJ sets by: mini moderns, Brian Duffy (Modified Toy Orchestra), Mazzy (Chicks Dig Jerks),  THIS IS TMRW

Experimental performance installations:
‘Re-make/ Re-model’ – Joey Vivo and Roseanna Velin

‘Pop is Dead’ – Vincent Gould

‘99 Red Balloons’ – John Napier

BANG! BANG! concludes Trevor Pitt’s Sleeve Notes project at VIVID, which spawned the unforgettable Cum Clubbing and Get Bent!

SAT 12 NOV | 9PM | BANG BANG, Admission £5. Advance tickets available from ticketsellers.co.uk

Photographs by Joey Vivo

“I’d been doing Death In Vegas solidly since I was at art school,” says Richard.

“Because I was doing the artwork and the videos, it felt like it was taking over my life. I didn’t feel like there was anything else. Everything got a bit heavy. Our tour manager died while we were on the road. I just needed to step away from it, which was at least part of the reason I went to New York. When I got there, I went to college, to study large-format photography, which has been a big influence on this record.”

Some of Richard’s darkroom favourites include Alec Soth, Joel Meyerowitz, Stephen Shore, Philip-Lorca deCorcia, William Eggleston, Larry Clark and Diane Arbus. He explains how studying influenced his music:

“Desolate Americana landscape work was mainly what I was taking and doing a lot of traveling on the road. This always has an effect on me musically as your traveling such long distances, thinking so much.

These huge panoramic views go on forever, Long songs which are not over-crowded with music that it giveS you space for visual thought. I think there’s always been that sense of space in my music, like that open expanse of light you don’t get anywhere else but in those wide open spaces. I think it’s in all the music I like, and those great American photographers I like.”

However Richard believes you have to go way back to the 60‘s to find examples of bands that mix music with stunning visuals to produce exciting live shows. “I think you’d have to go back to Grateful Dead and early Pink Floyd. [I] can’t think of anyone who’s blown me away with a visual performance. Lots of people spending shit loads of money but the visuals are just crap.
But as for record covers I think it would have to be Robert Frank’s cover for Exile on Mainstreet. I would spend hours looking at it when I was a kid, the edgy Americana photography interspersed with band imagery; it just looked so fucking cool. In fact the photo that I shot inside the cover of Scorpio Rising was a direct homage to that sleeve.”

Having worked with a host of guest vocalists on earlier albums Fearless was keen that the new release wouldn’t be bogged down by the cult of celebrity. “I was sick of getting questions about what it was like to work with Iggy (Pop) and Liam (Gallagher)  and felt like that overshadowed Scorpio Rising. Obviously it was fantastic to work with such people but it wasn’t all the records were about. So yes I decided to hand in an instrumental record and it be purely about the music. Then I did Black Acid, started to sing myself, and made a conscious decision not to work with a load of guest vocalists on this album.”

So, why the decision to make a new Death In Vegas album now? “I have amassed so much material over the last seven years it seemed the right time to gather it all up and start putting out some records. While I was living in NYC I was putting stuff into two camps; Black Acid and Death in Vegas. As soon as I moved back to London from New York, where I’d been living over the last six years or so, I realized I wanted to release again as D.I.V.”

Trans-Love Energies is released on 26.09.11.
Death in Vegas are on tour during early December, 2011.

Traveling the world with their mobile art party; DJ’s and creative types are mixed with dancefloors and art galleries to design art projects in real time. From Robot costumes to stop motion graphics, silk screening and, our favourite, Stag Head Sculptures the collective rock up and get down and dirty with the sticky tape and PVA glue.

Spins & Needles is a mobile art party that travels to different cities around the world. First conceived in Montreal in 2003 by designer Melanie Yugo and DJ Jason Pelletier, they threw the first event in 2005 in pop-up style as a way to create a temporary space for creative types to get together, listen to music and make stuff. It quickly caught on; since then over 100 events and workshops have been produced in the US, Canada, UK and Europe, serving up local and international DJs playing the freshest underground beats mixed with cutting-edge art/design projects.

Heading to Europe in September with their ‘Surrealist-themed Soiree in London they invite you to enjoy “frantic film, and unexpected collage and drawing projects”.

When: Monday 5 September, 7 to 11 p.m.
Where: The Book Club
Cover: £6
With DJs Jason Pelletier + guests

Other European dates include:

Berlin: Thursday 8 September: Spins & Needles at Backyard Berlin
Barcelona: Friday 9 September: Spins & Needles at Cosmo Gallery

This free downloadable 12” of ‘Gangsta’ gets the Adrock (Beastie Boys) treatment while the other remix on the 12″ comes courtesy of Cut Chemist.

Tune-Yards next play in the UK at the End of the Road festival on the 2nd of September and is also playing Brixton Academy in support of Beirut on the 16th.

Listen to Gangsta.

MOBILE CINEMA & WORKSHOPS

You are welcomed to get onboard and watch archival and Heavy Metal related short films in the Vintage Mobile Cinema; a 22‐seat picturehouse‐on‐wheels that has been restored to its former glory. Juneau Projects will join them for DIY musical instrument workshops where you use cardboard and add electronics to trigger sound samples, then take to the stage and play!
Thursday 1 Sept | 3pm – 8pm | Queen Square, Wolverhampton (Vintage Mobile Cinema only)
Friday 2 Sept | 10am – 4pm | Dudley Museum & Art Gallery
Saturday 3 Sept | 11am – 4pm | The New Art Gallery Walsall
Sunday 4 Sept | 11am – 4pm | Haden Hill House

NIGHTS OUT

Heavy Heads
Walkabout, Wolverhampton
Thursday 1 September, From 8.00pm
A night of short films and musical trivia, including Heavy Metal Bingo and Name That Riff. If you want to stick around for some head banging practice, weekly club night The Redeemer will take over the decks from 10.30pm until the early hours.

Between the Hammer and the Anvil
The New Art Gallery Walsall
Friday 2 September, 6pm–9pm
A special event that will include live music from Gentlemen’s Pistols, a Silent Metal Disco, Patch Jacket film programme of live footage, promos and cult shorts, tours of the ‘BE TRUE TO YOUR OBLIVION’ exhibition and a special performance by Mark Titchner.

FILM

Metal on Film
“Brace yourself for a juggernaut of Heavy Metal cinema, blazing a trail across the Black Country with an awesome programme of documentaries, rare archive, late‐night horror and special guests”.
Venues will include the Light House Cinema in Wolverhampton, New Art Gallery Walsall and The Public in West Bromwich. A screen pass is available for £25 for all the films. See www.homeofmetal.com for full details as some screenings are free.

This is a very small selection of events taking place – there’s plenty to choose from on the website and most events are free to attend.

Located among the stunning landscape of the Cornbury Estate, Oxfordshire, Wilderness will be a weekend of freedom and inspiration for all free-spirited festival lovers on August 12-14.

The multi-arts festival will include the likes of Skye Gyngell from Petersham Nurseries Café, Sam and Sam Clark from Moro, The Old Vic Tunnels, Antony and the Johnsons, Laura Marling, Daniel Johnston, The Low Anthem, Intelligence Squared, The Idler, The Wilderness Spa, boutique camping plus much more.

Visit  www.wildernessfestival.com for further information.

For your chance to win tickets all you have to do is re-tweet the comp @fusedmagazine on Twitter or like our new ‘Fused‘ page on Facebook and we’ll pick a winner from our  fancy big virtual hat