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.