Christian and Danny welcome to the big bad world of the DMC World. Saw you down at The Wall of Sound 15th Anniversary and knew straight away you were going to fill our ‘One’s To Watch in 2010’ category. You look great, play great and have amazing vocals. You live up in the North West, a few streets apart – where did you first meet?
Christian: “I’d been on a trip to Madrid and Paris and been writing down some lyrical ideas for songs. Then got back to Liverpool, headed straight into the studio where Danny had been working on some tracks. Danny heard the tracks, played me his ideas and we both just connected – was vocoder love!”
A fantastic story surrounding how you came up with your name…explain…
“I Was driving to a gig in Manchester in my new car and from out of nowhere, some kids threw a breeze block off the bridge on the M602 and smashed into my car. I was so gutted as I had to ring my dad who had just lent me the money to buy it! I said to him, “dad you won’t believe what has just happened, some kids have just thrown a brick off a bridge”. I thought that would make a great name, so there was at least one positive out of it.”
Who were your early musical influences growing up as kids?
“My big brother’s musical collection had a huge influence on me. He was always playing Kraftwork/Bowie/Duran/Human League/New Order and the he worked at Cream so was hearing the best new dance at the time from Oakenfold to The Chemical Brothers, Underworld and Daft Punk. I think when I first heard ‘Bug Powder Dust’ by Bomb The Bass, I thought, I want to make music like that.”
These days I presume there is a different sound blaring out of your ipods? Who?
“I listen to everything on my ipod, I have to hear something new everyday. At the moment I love Friendly Fire’s album, but have also been listing to some early Roy Ayers albums and still love my Justice album.”
Did you come from musical household’s – music blaring out all the time – what did your parents think of your chosen careers?
“Ever since I can remember there has always been music blaring out of the house, my mum loved music and my Dad loved Electro – he was always playing Human League in the car and my brother had so many CD’s and records. I always had something new to listen to and all mine and Danny’s family have been really supportive of us doing music, we’ve both been really lucky. My mum up until recently always lent us her Volvo estate to go to the gigs in! The same Volvo that my brother used to use on the Cream tours, so it’s seen some action!”
Best album ever made?
“For me U2’s ‘Actung Baby’ – it covers dance/rock/alternative and has fantastic lyrics and production. The album’s mood and production had a huge influence on me.”
J2k from Rolldeep asking to make music with you, ‘Anywhere But The Middle’ – are collaborations the way forward for you or are they just stepping stones to the bigger stage?
“I think they are great if it’s for the good of the song, with ‘Anywhere But The Middle’ we had been struggling to come up with a good middle 8 and when Jay got involved it just took the song to another level – he really understood what the song was about.”
Tell us about how the Japan record deal happened…
“Some DJ’s over in Japan had been playing mixes of \Y don’t U’ and ‘Pop Star’ which they had ripped from our myspace – and the next thing we get a message from a label in Japan asking if we wanted to release an album over there. We said yes got on a plane – it was AMAZING, still seems like a bit of a dream.”
How hard a road has it been getting to a situation where you can now see the finishing line, you seem to have had some major help along the way from people who have spotted a big talent?
“The best thing about about this year is everything has been a natural progression, we worked really hard on the songs and just put them out there for people to hear and we’ve been so lucky in the response we’ve had. For me an Danny, it’s all we have ever wanted to do and to be getting the chance to do it with a label like Wall of sound is a dream and people like Clint Boon making it his one to watch on his drive time show, plus Trevor Fung doing a remix was like, this can’t be happening…”
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music?
“Dirty Filthy Electro Pop.”
How the hell did you get to support Gary Numan on stage?
“Someone who works with Gary heard about us and checked out our myspace, then came to check us out in rehearsal. The next day, it was like, ‘do you want to open for Gary Numan?’ Again an amazing experience to open for someone who has crossed so many generations and is still doing his thing.”
The late Tony Wilson described you two as having “the mouth of Liverpool and the swagger of Manchester” – do you agree?
“Would be rude not to! It was an honour and yep, can’t disagree with that.”
Everton or Liverpool?
“Ha Ha – Liverpool
Shit, oh well moving on…(up The Toffees by the way)
Who at the moment, do you think are the greatest band in the world?
“Just been to watch Depeche Mode and hey, they were mind blowing. Of all the UK bands, they never get the credit they deserve. A masterclass performance by a band who has been there done that and are still at the cutting edge of music.”
What was it like working with Chemical Brothers’ producer Steve Dub in the Aliensound Studios?
“Again another dream come true. Steve has produced some of the finest dance music there is so it was a privilege and he really brought out the best in the tracks and got where we were coming from.”
What’s the latest with the Wall of Sound connection…?
“We recently performed at a Wall of Sound Party and it’s moved on from there. It’s the perfect Christmas present to sign with a label like Wall of Sound, it’s amazing when you look at the acts that have been on the label and the ones that are currently on it – and meeting Mark was when it all made sense, his enthusiasm for music is amazing. He lives and breathes it, he’s the last music renegade. To be on Wall of Sound is the perfect musical marriage.”
What can we expect from you in 2010?
“We just feel so lucky to have the opportunity to do what we are doing. Last year was an amazing year, so hopefully we will release the album later in the new year. Get out playing as much as we can, we’ve also just been taken on by the ITB agency which is great.
Tell us your feelings about the whole hilarious/weird Simon Cowell story where he ordered your video to be taken off the air…
“I understand the show makes good TV, but you have to question the motives of why the people who go on the show want to be famous – where do I begin with Simon Cowell? I’m made up he’s seen the video. At first I was really frustrated and gutted when our facebook got taken down but also felt good as we where doing something worthwhile. And with the end result seeing x-factor didn’t make it to Christmas Number 1, it was even better. For me it was just great to see the UK still care enough about music and the point of the song ‘Pop Star’ and video was to say – this show has nothing to do with music what so ever it’s just a glorified karaoke marketing racket’.
