The Whip interview part 2

Bruce: Well, yeah, but we don’t have enough friends yet in Europe.

IKRS: Soulwax are from Belgium, so you can bring them along!

Bruce: [laughs] That would be cool.

IKRS: You’ve worked with French label Kitsuné in the past. What is their reputation, and how important is that compilation album they bring out and on which you’ve featured twice?

Bruce: Yeah, they’re really nice guys. And it’s really good for us to get involved with them. They just got in touch on MySpace and wanted to work with us. So it just went from there. And they put our single out and they did a compilation as well, so it’s been good. And especially in Europe and Japan they’re definitely big, and being on a compilation definitely helps a lot down there. And they’ve dj’ed at gigs a few times and they’re nice guys. And dress smartly, they’ve got their fashion label as well.

IKRS: Really, I didn’t know?

Bruce: Yeah, they really started out as a fashion company and started doing music and stuff like that. They’re really snappy dressers as well.

IKRS: You got clothes as well from them?
Bruce: Oh, just the records, I’d love to get the clothes, they’re snappy dressers, but just the records though.

IKRS: Earlier you said you’ve already got a few new songs. Do they sound in anyway different from what you did on your last album, or…?

Bruce: I think they sound a little bit dancier. Just a bit dancier. We’re working on them right now. [someone plays music, Bruce laughs] We’re working away at the moment. That’s what it sounds like.

IKRS: So it’s going to be more dancefloor oriented?

Bruce: Yeah, just a little bit, but there’s still songs in there. We always make sure that there’s a good song behind what we’re doing, and not just a beat. We want to put a little bit of song in there so you can listen to the album at home, and not just in a club. That way you can listen to it in different environments and it still works.

IKRS: How important are lyrics in electronical music and music like yours?

Bruce: Yeah, pretty important. I mean, I try to get as much as possible in, but sometimes with a lot of lyrics it sounds a bit confusing, so to kick up the vibe we sometimes cut things out. Like ‘Trash’ was this song with loads of verses, and it had really deep lyrics. And the song just didn’t sound as punchy as it could, and not as dancy, so we just took the loop of the “I want to be trash” bit, that’s all we kept. But originally it was just this long, boring song. We just kind of cut it up. So yes our album took criticism by cutting out loads of lyrics, but it’s all for the benefit of the song.

IKRS: Because I would guess that, to make it dancier, you would need a bit more repetition than you would making other music.

Bruce: Yeah, and sometimes people criticize the repetition, but they obviously don’t get what we’re doing. Making dance music. Kind of a fine line to tread, and we’re in between different places so people get pissed off sometimes, but we’re happy with what we’re doing.

IKRS: I’ve read that you’ve done film school, and a lot of people I interview have some sort of art background. Whether it is film school, or fine arts or whatever. Do you think that all the arts are connected somewhat?

Bruce: Yeah, I think it’s all being creative really, you know making music and film. I just really like creating arts really, and they definitely are linked.

IKRS: Do you still use what you’ve learned in film school for, for example, your clips or the stage decoration?

Bruce: No, no, we should do that, we should start getting more involved in it. We just kind of left that to different people, the videos and things like that, but it is definitely something in the future that we like to get into at some stage.

IKRS: Well, from what I hear I guess you’re a busy enough man already.

Bruce: Yeah, yeah, that’s what I mean. We just didn’t really have the time.

IKRS: You want to say any last words to our Dutch audience?

Bruce: Yeah, just that we are looking forward to coming there and having a party in December. Looking forward to having a good time, having a hoot.

IKRS: Okay, great, then I’ll see you in December.

Bruce: Brilliant mate, hope you say “hi” then, thanks a lot!
IKRS: Okay, good luck with the recording.

Bruce: Cheers mate, bye bye.

We want to thank The Whip and Francesca Skirvin for making this interview possible. The images are from the band's MySpace. To get back to part 1, click here.