10 years at the forefront of house music – exclusive interview with DMCWORLD
Simon, Max welcome back to DMCWORLD and firstly, congratulations on the 10th anniversary of your musical partnership. You two first met when Max was at the label Downboy and went over to Sweden to DJ. Can you recall what your initial thoughts on each other were?
Simon: “Haha Dan, now your asking – that was a while back! I actually met Max for the first time in ’95 when I was looking to sign records for Downboy. In all honesty my initial thoughts on Max were…this guy is talented. I think Max probably thought who is this madman, he comes over here and wants me to move to England and make an album based on a cassette! Luckily I was proved right.”
Max – You’re the tech head, Simon you take care of the melodies and songwriting. Have those boundaries changed much over the past decade – have you ever fallen out over a track for instance?
“We’ve had our moments but nothing that serious that it resulted in us feeling we were still not working towards a common cause. I think it’s healthy to disagree sometimes cause it makes the compromise that much more interesting on the record. It’s what’s good about working in a partnership, you get a sound that’s always evolving and another ear to bounce off.”
‘Lola’s Theme’ was the track that put The Shapeshifters on the worldwide map. The track didn’t take long to create and you knew it was pretty special straight away right?
“Well we knew we liked it, but we never dared think it would go on to do what it did.”
So you road-tested the tune at The End, came back to the office after Christmas and the ansaphone was flashing…
“That’s right! The reaction to it at the End that night was the first indication that we might have something! and yes after the Christmas break that year it all went a bit mad.”
The music industry has certainly changed a lot since then. Record shops have disappeared, vinyl has gone, the whole promo system has gone digital. But these are really exciting times for us all with so much music about…
“They are exciting times and one has to evolve with it and embrace it but we do miss the record shop culture for many reasons but mostly as you could rely on those guys in the store to filter out the fodder, our biggest bug bear with the digital age is quantity over quality culture, we still buy 95% of our music these days even though we receive 100s of digital promos cause you have to still should dig deep for those really good records and also it’s great to still support the artists making them.”
Let’s talk about the ever evolving sound of house music – the last 6 months has seen a big change in the vibe out there. Thoughts on the scene today…
“We are really pleased things have slowed down and the groove is back, unfortunately EDM as it’s known took a lot of the soul and integrity out of dance music which unsettled us greatly and we refused to jump on that bandwagon. But the inevitable wind of change has blown and people are looking for more depth in there house music again which suits us fine.”
The new album ‘The Shapeshifters Analogue To Digital…And Back Again’ is out June 24th. Talk us through the exclusive and original new tracks…
“As always we look to work with new and interesting voices to keep things fresh and we have done two records with the brilliant singer songwriter Kirsten Ana – ‘Happy’ and ‘Come Closer’. Also another equally talented lady Natalie Peris from Croatia on ‘Universal Love’ who we also brought in YouTube sensation Davos to play keys on. Then we have ‘No Holds Barred’ and ‘No Need No Body’ which are much more trackier affairs and are already doing the business for us on the dancefloor.”
I love the fact you are very picky about who you remix. Tell us about the moment you decided to remix Empire of the Sun…
“My good friend Anton Partridge and I took a drive through the Nevada Desert en route to a show in Vegas and he had ‘We Are The People’ on his iPod in the car. It was just on in the background, I’d never heard it before and the sun was setting as Vegas suddenly came over the horizon. I immediately turned it up and I had a bit of a moment to it to be honest. When I heard that guitar riff and vocal I immediately knew it was a special record. I asked what the hell is this, I love it. They were pretty unknown at that stage and I called Virgin the minute I got back and asked to do it on spec – luckily they loved what we did and it got a release.”
The album features remixes from some of your favourite artists – they must have loved to get their teeth into that lot. Who’s remix sent tingles down your backbones?
“I know it’s a bit of a cliche but I genuinely love every remix that was delivered for us, everyone really put the time in and you can feel they took pride in their work so to pick a favourite would be impossible.”
Where are some of the territories you are now enjoying spinning in that weren’t on the clubbing map a decade ago?
“I guess eastern Europe would be up there. Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia etc. are all still great places to play and 7 years ago when we first went was not on most peoples’ radar now you cant move for festivals over there. India is really exciting place to play also, love it.”
What are the plans for Ibiza this summer?
“We are playing for Pacha a couple of times on Saturdays and we are also going to be announcing a new residency at Bomba which is really exciting, more on that real soon.”
How has Ibiza changed over the last 10 years?
“It’s always been evolving. Ushuaia was a game changer and mixed things up a bit, Bomba will do the same – it’s all healthy for the island and more importantly…for the house music fan.”
What is coming next from the mighty Shapeshifters studio…
“We are already working on another album and experimenting with our sound again. We are inspired by the changes going on at the moment, we took a step back, re-charged our batteries and aim to keep on trucking into the next decade.”
A toughy, but have a go. Pick your favourite 5 clubs from the last decade you’ve rocked…
“Pacha Ibiza, Aquarius Zagreb, Loveland Amsterdam, Tube Belgrade, Air Tokyo.”
Fuck me, not a bad list! And finally then, you two had some previous experience in the industry before you joined forces so knew a few of the pitfalls which would come your way. What advice can you give to the thousands of aspiring Shapeshifters producers reading this?
“Stick to what you believe, make the music you love and be humble with it.”
Thanks guys. Appreciate your time.
“Thanks Dan. Hope you are good and thanks for the support DMC has given us over the years.” Simon & Max.
The Shapeshifters – ‘Analogue To Digital…And Back Again’
Release Date: Monday 24th JUNE
DISC ONE
1. Only You (Little Boots Discotheque Remix)
2. Helter Skelter (Audiowhores Remix)
3. The Shapeshifters & Davos feat. Natalie Peris – Universal Love (Original Mix)
4. Lola’s Theme (2013 Remix)
5. Incredible (Full Intention Remix)
6. Come Closer (Original Mix)
7. Back To Basics (Director’s Cut Signature Mix)
8. Happy (Original Mix)
9. Instead Of Falling (Something Good Remix)
10. The Shapeshifters & Shermanology – Waiting For You (Mercury Remix)
11. She Freaks (David Penn Remix)
12. No Holds Barred (Original Mix)
13. Frankie Knuckles & The Shapeshifters – The Ones You Love (DJ Spen & Gary Hudgins Remix)
14. Sensitivity (Nic Fanciulli Remix)
15. No Need No Body (Original Mix)
16. Chime (Laidback Luke Remix)
DISC TWO
1. East & Young feat. Tom Cane – Starting Again (The Shapeshifters Remix)
2. Little Boots – Broken Record (The Shapeshifters Vocal Remix)
3. Soulmagic – Someone Like You (The Shapeshifters ‘Du Jour’ Remix)
4. Mr Mike – Let’s Do It Again (The Shapeshifters Remix)
5. Human Life – In It Together (The Shapeshifters Remix)
6. G-Club feat. Haze – Faith (The Shapeshifters Remix)
7. Frankie Knuckles pres. Director’s Cut feat. Jamie Principle – I’ll Take You There (The Shapeshifters Remix)
8. Empire Of The Sun – We Are The People (The Shapeshifters Vocal Remix)
9. Danny Howells & Dick Trevor feat. Erire – Dusk Till Dawn (The Shapeshifters Remix)
10. Christina Aguilera – Ain’t No Other Man (The Shapeshifters Classica Remix)
11. Moby – I’m In Love (The Shapeshifters Maximal Remix
Links :
Official Website: http://www.theshapeshifters.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theshapeshifters
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/theshapeshifters
Twitter: https://twitter.com/UKShapeshifters
Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/theshapeshifters