What made you decide to put out your records on your own label, Disco Powerplay?
The benefits are having complete artistic control, being able to put what you want out, getting remixers of your own choice, choosing the artwork. When you put music out via a third party you’re lucky to get any of this. The music industry has changed beyond recognition and the majors don’t have the power or money they once did, so in this day and age the DIY approach is always the best way in our opinion, unless you have a like-minded soul who believes in what you do.
You’ve got three albums coming out this year – what are they all about?
We have this edit LP due in early February, an original music LP via ESP Institute in NYC and a remix album of the original LP at the end of the year, plus a ton of other stuff including a mix CD. Also we’ve just started up a new label promoting other people’s music that we like. This will range from full on 4/4 dancefloor gear to ambient noodling. Already in the bag are five releases penned for this year including a collaboration with our sisters-in-arms Alice Russell and Jo Marshall-Fraser, and her inspirational gospel singing pals.
What appeals about the album format rather than more singles?
I guess the freedom to stretch out and show all sides of the Soft Rocks sound. Unfortunately in the download world we live in this doesn’t seem to be the case anymore, as most people just pick and choose what songs they like rather than listening to it as it was meant to be – as an entire piece of work – which is a shame.
How do you keep the balance of keeping things fresh and still having that classic Balearic disco sound?
Keeping it fresh to us means not being pigeonholed into one sound or genre. Every day we find inspiration in new and old music so it’s relatively easy for us to keep things moving along without too much of a struggle. It helps with having four of us in Soft Rocks as you always have someone to fall back on if you’re struggling to keep the faith. Disco is a very loose word to us so the music on Disco Powerplay can range from Africa right the way through to the moon.
Are you re-editors or producers?
Both. We were originally only doing edits when we first started but the obvious progression was to make our own music which we are now mainly concentrating on. It’s obviously been a big learning curve and the more you get into it the more you want to get out of it.
What’s the difference between a re-edit and a remix?
With a re-edit you are usually working within a rigid structure and chopping and changing things around to make them sound better. When you do a remix your world’s your oyster and you can use as much or as little as you want from the track and then build your own vision of what you think it should sound like around it.
Which DJs and clubs play your records?
From the likes of the old guard DJs like Andrew Weatherall, Trevor Jackson, DJ Harvey and Rob Da Bank to the new breed of Tim Sweeney, Prins Thomas, Lindstrom and Todd Terje. More importantly to us is that we get a lot of support from the record-buying Joe Public as they’re the ones that keep us going. You can hear our music in establishments as far away as New Zealand to Horsemeat Disco’s Eagle boozer in South London. We don’t DJ in the UK as much as we would like – especially London – but we do get to to play all over the world; last year saw us in various locations like Moscow, Helsinki, Ibiza, San Fran and New York.
FYI
ALBUM: ‘Disco Powerplay’ out on Disco Powerplay, Mon 14th
WEB: myspace.com/softrocksrecordings
RADIO SHOW: deepfrequency.com
