Autechre buddies and headliners of the first round of Signal parties, Miami-based Phoenecia (Joshua Kay and Romulo Del Castillo) are set to showcase “LIVE!” experimental electronica the way it should be – blood, sweat, one-blow-blackouts and tangled wires.  Swim with the alligators.

Often the domain of mouse-clicking, what’s your “live” stamp on electronica performances?
(Josh) We click many a mouse.  We do not, however, press play and sit there acting like we’re playing as our wave file scrolls across the screen.  Unfortunately we have to stare at our screens, and not the audience.  It is how we jam.  We jam for you. We love you.

(Rom) I HATE uptight producers who don’t play LIVE! Laptop lip-syncers are so fuckin’ boring.  I’d rather watch the news, weather report at that.

(Rom) It’s always live and direct.

(Josh) We haven’t played songs, so to speak, in years, but we do inject bits and pieces of new tracks into our shows.  We prefer to improvise, to keep it linear and flowing.

Any previews on your set up for the tekkies out there?
(Josh) Our word to them is:  Dance or sit the fuck down.

(Rom) We don’t use Ableton live, we use the matrix editor with NI’s Battery/Kontakte and buttload of plug-ins and an Eventide Harmonizer H-3000 and a good old fashioned mixing desk using the “French technique”.

“Phoenecia” – any insights? There’s one guess that you’ve taken the name “from the first culture of the Old World to explore the New”.
(Josh) That works.  We always admired the Phoenecians, their ingenuity and historical obscurity.  But the truth be known, our friend Fernando, who we play with when we do acoustic performances, used to live on a street named Phoenecia, which is the Spanish spelling of Phonecia.

Are Warp / Autechre etc still major references?
No.  But they’re still great friends.  Autechre are still the present and future kings. They will be asked to make the soundtrack for The Big Time Stretch of 2012, you’ll see.

How do you prefer to describe your sound? Journos keep having to invent new adjectives …
(Josh) Uhhh.  We just make music.  We are an accumulation of our influences, just like everyone else.  To give your style a name almost proclaims that it is free from influence.  It’s purely a marketing technique, even if you’re a DJ and you’ve made your first mix tape.  I don’t mean to sound like a grouch, it’s just one of those things we try to stay away from.  I know that Dali was part of the Surrealist movement and then got formally kicked out.  That would be cool if that happen to us.

Craziest / favourite gig?
There are many, top five: PS1 (amazing art museum in Queens/NY); Warp’s Nesh Party (London); Sonar (Barcelona, both times); Gilded Cage Party (S&M Parlour); Brownout release party (with Monolake at Poplife); The entire Magic Bus Tour (20 something shows)

In the pipeline…
(Rom) Massive chunks of ear candy called “Lewd Archives” DVD/CD sometime in 2005 (yes, some of it is lewd).  Lots of exciting Schema releases like the adventures of Venetian Snares and Otto Von Schirach. Two sick-ass remix comps: V/A “Armpit Buffet”, remixes of Otto Von Schirach & V/A “External Combustion”, remixes of Glen Velez. Have a look at http://schematic.net

Where are you focusing your energies right now – in your production or with the label?
(Josh) We’re really focusing on our own work right now.  Sometimes you just have to be selfish.

(Rom) Diabolo lite weight championship

What’s your vision for Schematic?
(Rom) Fiction meets non

(Josh) Friction meets none.

Okay – why Miami?
(Rom) I was born in Lima, Peru and Miami was where most South Americans end up.  Think of Miami as northern South America.  The weather is warm/hot all year round.  Most of the US experience cold ass winters, I can’t handle that.  But Miami is electric, great art scene, food, nature, suburbia.  It’s a fuckin’ blast.

(Josh) I moved to Miami to start over and that’s exactly what happened.  I met my wife there, I met Rom there.  You can go swimming 365 days a year, and Alligators are much nicer than crocs.  There are a million kids making music in Miami.  It wasn’t always that way.  I suppose Rom and I got the first wave rolling in the mid-90’s.  People are pretty open to everything from mellow to morbid.  The scene is really supportive.  Our biggest parties are still held in relatively small clubs.  If you’ve just started making tracks and you catch someone’s ear, it won’t be long before you’re playing in front of an attentive audience. I don’t think electronic music has anything to do with the cold weather in particular.  I think it’s about escaping, creating synthetic environments, like the Beatles did in Liverpool, or the Smiths in Manchester.  In the summertime in Miami, we don’t go outside.  We stay in with the air-con on max and make music.

So after a decade, what keeps the relationship alive?
(Josh) We still argue like people do, but we put a lot of thought into our relationship.  We make sure to speak about our individual goals (in reference to art) on a regular basis and if we can’t find a few ideas to agree upon when we start a track (or turn one or another’s idea into a finished song), then we move on until we find something we’re both wholly in to.  Imagine two people painting one picture.  You have to be clear about the results you desire.  Depending on the project, whether it’s business, or music, we’ve learned to delegate responsibilities to whichever one of us is better, or takes more of an interest in it. We are both very different and have different desires and interests, but the commonalities that brought us together have not only remained, but grown stronger through the years.  When we first met, we bonded through the art we shared with one another.  Since then, we’ve introduced countless new records, books, ideas, and such to one another.  We’re not exactly on the same page, but somewhere in the same chapter.

Ugly dolls / weird toys etc are taking off in Australia as much as anywhere.  What was your collaboration with “Friends with you”?
They are the latest group of geniuses that we had not yet collaborated with.  They designed the album cover for Secret Frequency Crew’s “Forest Of The Echo Downs”.  They’re also part of the “Phobiaphilia” art show we’re doing.  Look out for the angryschemaman destructo-bot toy.

Do you have a main illustrator? Love the Schematic artwork / logos …
Our main homey is Arnold Steiner check www.infinitransformation.com or www.authenticsurvival.com. He doesn’t do everything, but he does a good bit.

How long are you in Australia?  Is this your first visit?  Have you scheduled in some chilling / scouting time?
(Rom) Sadly only until the 22nd of Dec.  It’s been like the Bizzaro world of our own lives.  Ya, we’ll be back (say it like Arnold Schwartzenagger)

(Rom+Josh in harmony) This Sunday we will camp out on the beach with DM Turner meets a crack pipe.

Your take on the future of experimental electronica?
(Josh) It’s nice ‘cuz the rules are missing from the board game and everyone is just doing their own thing.  Yes, there are still many imitators, but they eventually grow out of it. We don’t mind anyway.  After all, it’s just misdirected flattery.

Supported by an impeccable pedigree of local talent, Signal present Phoenecia LIVE at the Corner Hotel Saturday December 18th.  Supports Qua and Cambion live, DJs Quockenzocker and Dave Pham.  Check ITM whatson for more details.