Dave 1

It’s been about a week after the Crookers extravaganza in NYC where Dave 1 was providing the beats in Magnum PR’s room. We were able to catch up with Dave over the phone while he worked in the studio in Montreal. We chatted about Chromeo’s recent projects, their influence, a tripped out kids show called Yo! Gabba Gabba, and what lies ahead after the Fancy Footwork tour has ended.

What did you think of the event last week?

Yeah, it was good. I’m happy for those dudes (Crookers). I’m a fan of what they do so I’m happy to see them do their thing.

You guys are going to be hitting a lot of summer festivals soon…

I guess we’re going to do all the Canadian and American ones first and then we’re going to Europe in late August.

Are they any different in Europe than they are here?

Yeah, they’re definitely more of a festival culture there then they are here but at the same time, some of the best festivals are in North America, like Coachella, you know? But the festivals in the U.K. are always a bit of an adventure, you know? My brother’s a dj as well [his brother is A-Trak] and he was at Glastonbury this weekend and he was stranded over there until 5 in the morning and he had to sleep in a tent. You know, and you don’t get that over here.

Do you two ever end up at the same festivals?..

We end up at the same festivals; I mean we did Coachella together. And we did… what else did we do together? When my brother was just doing more hip hop stuff, I guess we were catering to different audiences but now, it’s weird because we get the same audience. So, I mean, there’ll be more. But yeah, we did Coachella together which was a blast.

How did you see your audience start changing? Are you getting more of a hip hop crowd too?

Yeah. It’s strange, they’re crossing over a little bit. It’s more of a mainstream audience sometimes. I mean parts of it you know. People that wouldn’t be into other electronic music but would be into, like Gym Class Heroes or something, you know? But the thing is you can’t criticize your fans and you can’t choose them either. I mean, we don’t care.

Is there any collaboration that you would want to do?

I mean there are friends of ours; French people that have remixed us in the past. There’s a kid called Surkin, we just finished a joint for him. Another guy named Yuksek, we just finished a joint for him. We just did a Vampire Weekend joint. We just did a joint for that TV show for kids, Yo! Gabba Gabba. You know that kid’s TV show?

Say that again?

Yo! Gabba Gabba? It’s a kid’s show on Nickelodeon? If you go on our myspace page that picture of us that’s on there now that’s us on the set of the show.

It’s like the new Sesame Street. It’s great. They have all these bands and Biz Markie is on there. He teaches you how to do beat-boxing. We did a song about how it’s important to wash your hands.

Earlier this month, MIA announced she’ll be quitting touring due to exhaustion? She said she’s still going to be working on music but that the whole touring part has taken a major toll on her reality. Can you see how touring can take a major toll on an artist or on an act?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. We refuse 3 or 4 shows every week. That’s because I’m also in school. Pee and I, since the beginning, we always told ourselves that money wasn’t a main objective for us. It was just to maintain a healthy lifestyle. And we tour when we really want to be touring. And we stop when we feel that it can be harmful but it hurts the exposure of our band. I mean, it sabotages how large we can be. You know? I mean remember when we were on MTV? I think it was in the fall, in October. You know, when they ran those little bumpers of us every 5 seconds? We were on MTV all day. If we had a massive U.S. tour at that time, our profile would have been so much bigger than it is now. And our manager tells us that. But we also know that we would be depressed or we would be fighting all the time or wouldn’t be inspired to work on new material. But at that time? I didn’t know Maya said that because I actually haven’t seen her in a bit but I understand. I perfectly understand where she’s coming from on that because you have to know when to stop. The problem is, nowadays, artists aren’t really making money off other sources than touring because you can’t really make any money off record sales anymore. So, there’s really this pressure to be on the road all the time. Unfortunately, there are going to be more scenarios like these, where artists are just burnt out.

Do you see yourself having any newer influences or new artists that have inspired you musically?

We’re always listening to new stuff. We’re kind of an oddity because if you look at our friends, you look at our peers, our sound is way more retro than them, you know? So, for us it’s also about rediscovering old classics that we draw our inspirations from. So, for me, I love someone like Boys Noize. I mean, I’m a huge fan of his music and I do learn from a lot of the stuff that he does but I’m also really into, like, Billy Joel at the moment. And I want our next record to sound like a Billy Joel record.

And you were saying, rediscovering new classics. Is there any artist that you’ve found that you maybe didn’t know was around from back then?

I mean we were always really big Hall & Oates fans. But I mean, last week, we actually went to Darryl Hall’s house and spent 2 days like jamming with him. It kind of gave me an even greater appreciation for him. Because, of course, I already knew all his songs by heart and was already, like, a massive fan. But to talk to him and to see him play live and to hear all the anecdotes from him, really made me appreciate how much of a visionary he is. I mean, you know, this is the guy; he influenced everyone in modern pop music. I mean, Michael Jackson said “when I heard ‘I Can’t Go For That’ that’s when I decided to copy it and write ‘Billie Jean’.” That’s what Michael Jackson told Darryl Hall. And I mean, when he tells you anecdotes like that and the fact that his mentor was Smokey Robinson. All of that makes you really appreciate him and admire him even more.

Where do you see your next album going, musically?

I mean, it’s still going to be a Chromeo record. Our music has a very clear aesthetic and we don’t stray away from it very much. Off the top now, we’re just thinking of incorporating a little more piano. Maybe more vocal harmonies, you know? There’s always a new challenge we like to give ourselves when we make a new record. The second record was to sound slicker and more accomplished, more mature, and more sophisticated than the first one. I think on the third we’re going to try and give it more finesse and more vocal harmonies. Maybe more ballads, you know? Who knows?

FIN

Wanna thank Dave for taking some time to chat with me and I’m leaving you with a different clip of Yo! Gabba Gabba so you can get an idea of what its like.