The exceedingly good Amsterdam duo
Boys, welcome to the DMC world. Iason, it is well documented that your first foray into the world of music was learning the violin. At which point of your life did the draw of electronic music start to draw you in and what artists were you listening to dance wise?
Iason: “I started getting into hip hop in ’92 I think. We were all into basketball (I was tiny and lousy at it) and the hip hop thing was more my area, so I got turntables around ’94 and started to play. One day at some vinyl record fair I bought an Ice T vinyl, which turned out to be the techno mixes. I thought that was quite cool so I started to search for techno next week, which led to…”
Is it true that you started to DJ on your grandmother’s record player?
Iason: “Yes. I spent some ridiculous hours practicing and making mixtapes in my bedroom, upsetting all the other family members with my new loud ‘hobby’.”
Not many people know this, but your studio played a very large part in the start of acid house in Holland…
“Ha ha true! Without giving everyone the location of our studio, our building used to have lots of illegal raves. When we mention our studio location to 30-plussers, there’s always this twinkle that comes up in their eyes!”
When you met producer partner Coen, you joined forces to form the pop band Systex – did you decide the pop route wasn’t for you?
“We don’t see it that way. We’re both big present and past pop lovers, especially Coen who has a background mainly playing in pop / funk and rock bands as a lead singer. Just at the moment we’re quite busy with our dancefloor driven material. But who knows what we’ll be doing in ten years. It’s all music in the end, and just as creative to be busy with a pop song as it is to make 1 bar loop techno. Our ‘They Are Among Us’ album is also quite in the area where pop meets electronic music.”
What is each other’s best qualities in the studio?
Iason: “Coen is a killer synth tweaker.”
Coen: “Iason has a ‘DJ mind’.”
What are the big 10 tunes you are spinning right now?
“In random order…
Out Hut – Put It Away Dad
Extrawelt – The Next Little Thing
Tony Senghore – Feelsso
Arveene & Misk – Out For More
Fatboy Slim & Riva Starr – Get Naked
Mr. Federick – Cheers
Switch – I Still Love You
Kolombo & LouLou Players – This Is It
DJ Sneak – Big Band Jam
Nat Self – Mr Monkey (Mason’s Private Mix)
You obviously never knew what you were sitting on when you made ‘Exceeder’?, it was a B side for a Dutch label. When did you know something was up…?
Iason: “It was made on my kitchen table with just a mac as we were in the middle of moving one studio to another and couldn’t plug in all the gear. Indeed, it was just a b-side, we first even didn’t want to release it as it felt a bit too ‘obvious’. It once again prooves you don’t need a fancy studio to meek a good record. The turning point when we noticed something strange happening was when we started to get phone calls from all sorts of labels we liked that all wanted to license this track. We then chose for Great Stuff and the rest is history…”
Iason, you once admitted that “some DJs are hunters or fishermen, and everyone seems to do good things now. I was always playing the violin, and at a certain point I was also combining that with my DJing.” What was clubbers reactions down on the dancefloors when one of their heroes started playing a violin mid set?
Iason: “It was fun for a couple of years and I have been touring with it around the world for quite some years before ‘Exceeder’ happened, which helped as all the travelling was never a new thing for me. At some point I felt it was enough and I decided to leave the violin at home, and just concentrate on our own productions.”
You joined Tiesto on a world tour after he saw you playing in Peru, I can remember you playing during ‘Lethal Industry’. What was his initial thoughts on what you were doing and how you could work together?
“Yes he saw me DJing and playing violin somewhere in Peru in 2004 and called me the next week. He really wanted to do something with the violin on his next concert, but felt regular classical trained violin players didn’t understand the vibe of house music, so he was happy to work with me because of this. We were looking for angles and I made a little loop of ‘Lethal Industry’ and started to jam on top of that which he digged. It was a cool learning experience, not in the least because I could also be his warm up DJ for his world tour at that time.”
A new single out ‘Le Big Bob’ – tell us about the tune and the remixes…
“It’s the last release by us our own Animal Language imprint. Its great to have your own label and be able to release whatever you want, whenever you want, whatever way you want. For Le Big Bob we asked In Flangranti, Disco Of Doom and Luke Walker for the remix, and as an Animal Language tradition we added our so-called Refurb as always. Refurbs are our own self made non-dance reinterpretations of our releases. Every track get’s one and it’s too much fun to make. It can be anything from Jazz to Polka to speed-metal. You can get the idea here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKvd9wWEnrk
What was your summer anthem in 2011?
“Arveene & Misk – ‘Do You Like Disco’. Check out the refurb as well for a hint of Coen’s rock alter ego.”
Talk us through your extraordinary live show, the visual effects are obviously very important to you – what can a clubber who has never been to a Mason show expect?
“We’ve created a system with a bunch of people (Deepred.tv) that enables to synchronize all our ableton clips (the program we perform with on stage) to video and every lightbulb in the club. So whatever sound we play, the video and programmed light that’s ‘attached’ to that goes along happily. We stay completely flexible: we can let’s say play a hi-hat pattern in reverse on half speed, and the lights and video that are part of that pattern will blink in reverse as well. It’s also quite cool we don’t need truckloads of equipment, we just travel light within airline luggage regulation, and just program a few hours at the venue before each show. Ow and we bring a baboon and lots of instruments. It took us about a year to get it all up and running, so we’re happily touring now! You can get a glimpse here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KWqn_FAHTc
You have remixed some dancefloor giants including Moby, Robyn and Martin Solveig – what remix over the years are you proudest of and how does it feel when you sit down and pick away at a fellow producer’s pride and joy?
“Remixing is always good fun, as you have a lot of material to start with. To name one, we quite like the one we did for Gabriella Cilmi a few years back (that went quite unnoticed). You have to be careful not to overdo it though, as there should always be enough time left to work on your own originals.”
You spend so much time together on the road and in the studio, what is each other’s most annoying habits?
Coen: “Iason bothers me with stuff like interviews all the time when I’m making music.”
Iason: “Coen forgets stuff, like gigs or interviews.”
Which country outside of your home country give you the best reception?
“We play a lot in Brazil, which is always good fun. Crowd wise, Ireland is also quite high up the mad-ravers-list, as well as Austria which we found out last week.”
So we come back to yours after the club, what are the 10 Back To Mine tunes you spin us to carry on the party…
Metronomy – The Bay
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – Garden
FPU – Time Safari
Johnny Jordaan – Bij ons in the Jordaan (Iason’s Kafe Raver)
Shy Child – Open Up The Sky (Mighty Mouse Remix)
Rodion & Bottin – Shooting Star
Siriusmo – Femuscle
Alden Tyrell – Rendez-Vous At Rimini
Daniel Maloso – Discoca Cavern Cola
Munk – We Don’t Care
Best live show of 2011?
“James Blake, saw him in Paradiso yesterday, impressively beautiful.”
What is the finest record you have ever played to a dancefloor?
“Dr. Dre – ‘Wit Dre Day’.”
With artist, dead or alive, would you like to collaborate with in the studio?
“Hmmm…off…eeh…well…Prince? Beastie Boys?”
What is planned studio wise in 2012?
“There’s gonna be a Refurb album, with a whole stack of our Refurbs, released on Animal Language. And we have about 24235235 track ideas ready to go, so we’ll keep you posted on those!”
Mason ‘Le Big Bob’ (Animal Language) is out now. Buy it link – http://bit.ly/tmHsZZ
‘Le Big Bob’ video – http://youtu.be/z9JzBmb1O5M
www.youtube.com/masonanimallanguage
www.soundcloud.com/musicofmason
