Bloody Beetroots interview + Exclusive Live June mix
Mark | May 31, 2008 | 12:02 pm
The French kickstarted the rockin’ electro siege, then the Germans stuck their oar with a techno twist and now the Italians want some of the action – and arguably, as the Portland label Italians Do It Better proclaim, they’re doing it, erm, better. The Bloody Beetroots (aka Bob Rifo and Tommy Tea) are at the forefront of this Italian wave: Bob, who heads up Bloody Beetroots productions, has done 28 remixes in a year, and in their live incarnation they’ve toured the US and are about to set sail for the rest of the world, but not before they take their bangers to Snap, Crackle & Pop at SIN this Thursday. They tell it like it is, in an interview between Frankfurt, Mexico City and Bassano del Grappa, no less!
We’ve been waiting ages for you to come and play in London – what’s taken you so long?
It is indeed our first time in London as The Bloody Beetroots, but we have been here before under different names. It took us ages because we took a longer trip through US first, as our label Dim Mak is based there. The other main reason is that we wanted to chose where to start from in London very carefully, and Snap, Crackle & Pop definitely the place to be.
Your mates Crookers played the same night in January and smashed it – what can we expect from your live set?
Our live DJ show involves a lot of noise and human interaction. It sounds pretty much like letting your washing machine speak.
You’ve said that your live set is a cross between rave and punk – why do you think the rocker kids love dancing now?
Our live DJ set takes on various styles as our influences really range. Rave and punk are combined with Italo disco, techno, electro, old school and hip hop. These new rockers on the dancefloor have changed the way we live in the nightclub. They want to experience their daylight sounds in a nighttime version, which we happily provide.
Because you create rockin’ party electro, many people align you with Daft Punk, even moreso because you wear masks. What do you have to say in your defence? What are the masks all about? It must get rather sweaty in there…
It is definitely sweaty. Often we have been associated with Guy & Thomas because of the masks, but we are not robots like them; we come from Marvel comics and we throw superheroes’ parties on another level of seriousness.
In your opinion, is it more difficult to set make yourselves unique in electronic music than in other music styles?
It’s surely harder in electronic music due, to the sound’s strongly inflated rhythms and because it takes deep cultural roots and talent to develop that in a original way.
Are duos more powerful in electronic music?
Our duo allows to have a stage show and for us that’s vital in order to have a great type of interaction with the audience. It’s energy mirrors the reason why we exist as The Bloody Beetroots: to stop people hanging around ‘The Pubs of Boredom’
How would you describe your music?
It’s Continuosly evolving, like it has its own life.
Do you associate yourselves much with the ‘French touch’ scene?
We take strong influences from the French Touch scene, referring to projects like Le Knights Club of the first Crydamoure, but we only associate partly with because we take that sound together with Italo Disco.
Are you and your Italian contemporaries the new Ed Banger crew? Have you got what it takes to knock them off the top?
Ed Banger’s a family, a very united team. This does not happen in Italy even though we are trying to do it: an example is our fellow Congorock who’s the new Fool’s Gold talent and has been produced by Bob [of the Beetroots]. But we support Ed Banger’s Uncle Pedro and he supports us too.
What have you got that they haven’t?
The masks and Italo Disco.
Who else do we Londoners need to watch out for in Italy?
Giulia (Fucked From Above 1985) and Turbo Krapfen are the best example of the cohesion between fashion, graphics and music in the Italian crew, but musically it’s all about Congorock and Cecile.
Bob, you’ve done 28 remixes in a year. Has that been the priority for you? Do you prefer remixing to creating your own purist mixes?
My priority has been to create an infectious system and sound so that The Bloody Beetroots are seen on a global scale. Both my remixes and purist mixes are living out of the same life. In the remix case, it is a study of the artist and his own culture. For original tracks, I dig into our own culture. The focus in both cases is on the details, which make them uniquely Bloody Beetroots.
Can you afford to be selective with who you remix now?
Yes, I cannot remix something we dislike. But at the same time, I never avoid the chance to investigate into something, even if it doesn’t touch me in the beginning.
How did you get involved with your label, Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak?
Through JFK from MSTRKRFT, who helped us like a brother and got us to another one, Steve Aoki. We started on Dim Mak last April and the involvement is evolving right now through the many facets of The Bloody Beetroots [live DJing and production] project. We love Dim Mak because it’s run by people who try to promote music that would not usually have space (nor visibility) in a country that deserves some noize, and they demonstrate that there is demand for it. We reckoned it was worth the effort to cross an ocean to deliver what we do.
What can we expect from your album, and when is it coming out?
There will be an EP out before the LP and it will be the first chapter of a adventurous musical journey and will explain some of our connections with the Italian arts of the past century.
You’ve said in another British interview that you haven’t had your best night out yet – what’s the likelihood that it’ll be your London show?
If they let us on SIN’s roof terrace then we’ll say London!
Interview: Kate Hutchinson
Check out their latest June mix, for a sliver of what to expect from their live set:
Tracklist
great interview! mosdef looking forward to the albums. enjoy the
dasMetzger | May 31, 2008 | 11:09 pmgreat interview! mosdef looking forward to the albums. enjoy the show in london… seen them twice here in chicago, and they absolutely destroyed.
[...] oar with a techno twist and now the Italians
re sliver mirrors | July 22, 2008 | 5:56 pm[...] oar with a techno twist and now the Italians want some of the action ??