Exclusive interview with Brazil’s coolest supergroup with a new album ready to rock
Interview : Dan Prince
Iggor the world knew you as the drummer of multi million selling death metal band Sepultura, thank goodness for our dance floors though as you finally grew bored of the whole rock/metal sound and turned to electronic music. Was this an instant new passion or had you been listening to our sound for a while?
“Music in general always interested me. While in Sepultura I have always researched different beats and styles. For many of Sepultura tracks I’ve used Hip Hop and electronic beats. I’ve always been into industrial and other electro beats so turning into electronic music was a natural process for me.”
What is it about electronic music you found/find so interesting?
“At one point I found rock was boring. There was no more challenge, it sounded all very much the same for me. Around 2004 when me and Laima started going out we found on the dance floor a lot of cross over between different styles. A lot of people from different backgrounds trying to make something sounding new. We loved that.”
You have got to be the most rock & roll figures in dance music right now, Steve Aoki and his cake throwing looks like a pussy cat compared to you lot. However, things may have turned out differently for everybody, Iggor – what’s the story with the job at the Museum of Modern Art you were going to ask Laima about and how did she change your mind…?
“Haha! That’s funny thanks for the compliment. We started Mixhell as a fun thing. At the time I was invited to DJ as a celebrity thing, I loved the feeling to chase the crowd. To make some friends and some enemies with the music I DJ’d. Laima would frequently come and give her opinions and ask me to drop some tracks…at that time she was working at the MoMA in Sao Paulo and I had recently left Sepultura. We were sure we wanted to do something together either in arts or music. After a while I convinced her to give up arts and we started making music.”
Who thought of the name Mixhell?
“Me. There was a crew in LA called Mixwell after that tape brand Maxwell. As our mixes where not great at that time we called ourselves Mixhell.”
Laima, your sister was a DJ and you used to play around with her equipment in her bedroom. What was the initial dream, producing or DJing?
“I used to play some guitar as a teenager so I went to university to study music but it was so theoretical I got bored. Fine arts was a lot more fun so I swapped. Music was always with me though, I loved to make my own sets on music software to sound like I wanted. DJing came after, it was not a dream, it happened, having the equipment around and friends such as 2manydjs to watch and learn made me very into it.”
How did your sister feel to see you go on and become such a big DJ?
“It’s funny she has always been supportive and you know what? Before I started DJing I had already invited her to work with me at the museum. So today she has my job there!”
Over in England, most people for their weddings book in a £100 a night DJ who turns up in his van with a couple of light boxes and some old dusty decks. You however turned on the style with your lavish affair booking 2manydjs. What sort of set did they play?
“Steph and Dave are more then only 2manydjs for us, they are one of our best friends. We didn’t want to have a wedding party so we got married and rushed for a 15 day vacation off on the beach with our 5 kids. When we came back the Surface to Air crew had prepared a surprise wedding party for us, can you imagine? Steph said he would come and they did! They came as guests but also did an amazing lovely set, with all our favourite tracks and the best part was, they dropped recordings of a bunch of friends that couldn’t be there such as the Crookers, Tiga etc sending us best wishes in the middle of the set!”
So the new tune ‘The Way’, talk us through the tune…
“The Way was made as an edit for us to play drums on top. Laima recorded a synth line inspired on a disco track we love. It worked so well live that we decided to turn into one of our tracks. Next thing was to invite another sweet friend Tyler Pope from LCD Soundsystem who did an amazing discoish vibe bass line. Then we thought we needed vocals and Laima was not confident in singing so we invited Deidre Muro from NYC. Back in the studio we worked with our long time partner Max Blum (who plays bass with us live now) and finished it. A crazy video was made with a very cool Brazilian crew.”
Your record labels Sunday Best/Boysnoize want us to come back and talk to you about the album in a month or so, but before we do that, give us a brief insight into your long player…
“OK so we took a long time to actually make an album simply cause we didn’t feel we needed one. DJing, drumming, remixing and putting out singles seemed enough. After doing that for some time we thought we had to take Mixhell to the next level, make music which wouldn’t be only club oriented and that made sense for an album. We had a lot of tracks we started before so we got them, invited some friends to participate and Gui Boratto to co produce and mix it. Along with this decided to go full on live bringing Max along as a live bass player. It is a good album to listen in your car, on the iPod and in the club.”
Tell us about some of the cool young producers coming through the Brazilian scene now right now…
“We have been away for sometime but we know some cool stuff as the Cariocas from Selvagem and a house DJ called Wehbba.”
Ah we love Wehbba at DMC! What is the current top 10 you are spinning…
1.Daniel Maloso – Boney
2. Mixhell – Exit Wound (Savage Skulls Remix)
3. Mumbai Science – 1975
4. The XX – Sunset (Jamie XX Remix)
5. Pirupa – Somebody
6. Simian Mobile Disco and Biceps – Sacrifice
7. Mathias Aguayo – Rrr
8. In Flagranti – Headrush
9. Koen Groenenfeld – Afterburner
10. Pachanga Boys – Meet the Boys
You have Brazilian AND Italian blood rushing through your veins. Does that ever cause any heated moments when partying?
“Of course! Sometimes I break walls, MPCs but never someone! Ha!”
Iggor – drumming and DJing is no new thing, James Ford from Simian Mobile Disco and James Murphy from LCD Sound System for example also drum. Is there a connection you think with the beats?
“For sure! I see no disconnection!”
What do you miss and what do you not miss about the days with Sepultura?
“I miss the tour bus. But I don’t miss the drama of being in a band.”
Tell us some of the big festivals you are looking forward to this summer…Glastonbury must have been fun…
“Glastonbury was fun! Bestival should be amazing. Right now we are driving to Pohoda Festival in Slovakia that seems amazing too.”
Best ever festival experience as Mixhell…?
“SWU in Brasil and Glastonbury of course.”
Brazil is second only to Ibiza for real party action, your home country is going through the roof at the moment. Where are some of the cool new places you’d recommend to our readers coming over…?
“Ha! Its crazy down there but there are still too many commercial clubs so we’d recommend a real electronic great club in Sao Paulo called DEdge or for a more chilled environment, Bar Secreto where we got married.”
A few years ago you were re-telling the story about when you were doing a sound check at a festival and you put a Justice record on, the sound guy shouted over he thought your record was fucked up, which you saw as a great compliment! You said back then, “if our music is fucked up we don’t care, we are raising all the limits”. That was 4 years ago, what is your philosophy on your music in 2013?
“My philosophy still and always will be about breaking barriers and trying new things.”
You have toured with the likes of Soulwax, James Murphy and Erol Alkin. Any of these dawgs rival your days on the road with Sepulutra for rock & roll behaviour?
“Actually these guys are way more rock n’ roll then most metal dudes I toured with. All I can say is that we have a great time on tour.”
It may not be good for our image, but Mixhell really love…
Max – Big Bang Theory (with my wife)
Iggor – To eat dead animals
Laima – Cachaca! (Alcohol)
And finally Iggor and Laima, just how important is genius producer Max Blum to the group?
“Max has been working with us since the beginning from 2006 till now he was in the studio. Everything we do we split in 3, it has always been like this production wise. The new thing now is that he is on the road touring with us to make the live experience even greater. Spaces was a 100 per cent made with Max, sometimes he would start a track and send us and sometimes the other way round.”
| Website | http://www.mixhell.info |
|---|
