The mysterious lurking force that is Mr Bob Sinclar, cuts a stylish figure, one who’s spent his career ruling the French house scene. Scouring the world for other amazing musicians to work with on new and exciting genre-defying projects. He may or may not have also worked as a spy, playboy, jewel thief and doorman at Studio 54. The only thing we really do know about this exotic and sophisticated individual is that he knows his music from root to tip and quite obviously has as much fun making it as we have hearing it. Whether it’s in the form of his renowned dj-sets, his mix compilations, his arse-shaking forays with Africanism, or his own artist records, he’s had us speechless and breathless since his very first days under the moniker Chris The French Kiss.

As Bob gets set to escape the cold and depressing French winter, for a taste of the free-loving Australian scorcher of a summer, on his fourth Australian tour. ITM’s Semone Maksimovic managed to catch up with the mysterious man behind the persona to shed some light on what we can expect from this elite force in 06.  

It’s 10.20am in downtown Paris as a phone somewhere rings loud through the air amongst the quiet saddened surrounds, it’s a sound some residents have grown to dislike over the last few days – hoping that it wasn’t one bearing bad news about one of their family members being injured or caught up in the suburban riots. It’s a scene Sinclar is looking forward to taking a break from of late, as he eagerly packs his best summer ensembles in order for a bit of Aussie release.”The scene here at the moment is very sad, sometimes it’s very close to you. My partner was born there, he comes from a very very poor neighbourhood, so of course it’s hard for us to take, it’s hard not to get upset about it” explains Sinclar.  “But on the bright side, Australia is an amazing place to be at this time of year, cause I’m cold in France and second cause the welcome I get over there is fantastic. The first time I came out for the Mardi Gras, I got the most amazing welcome. I was surprised how many people knew me, the house scene over there is really big and supportive.” 

Since he was last seen flipping his magic on our shores, ripping up dancefloors across Australia, he’s been hard at work. Most notably on the latest chapter in his Africanism project, in which he was most excited to have met with Gary Pine (lead vocalist of The Wailors).  “I met him in New York in March this year and we did ‘Love Generation’ together, which excited us both, it was beyond what we’d imagined it would be. It’s been big this summer in Europe and it’s still very big, I think it’s done so well because it has a strong feeling of nostalgia, so it’s been helping people to remember all of the good summer memories” gushes Sinclar. 

After the two met in New York, hitting it off instantly, Sinclar has since returned twice to the big apple to continue working with the Wailor, excited about the instant fruitfulness of their collaborating relationship, he’s since been thinking of extending their work into an ongoing project. It’s a jackpot result after putting the word out to his talent scout to look out for a vocalist to work on the new Africanism project with, someone who would stand out of the current flavour-lacking pack, someone who could bring something to him and the project.  “Love Generation was already done and I had it in mind as a main single from the album, so I was looking for a new flavour of singer, something completely fresh to drive it. So my talent scout in New York took on a challenge to find somebody, I was really excited when she told me that she had Gary. After our first meeting in New York, I returned twice to work on different material with him, it’s been going really well. I just wanted a few more tracks on the album to keep the same vibe and feeling throughout the album.” 

Volume 3 also sees Sinclar dropping his shyness when it comes to adding his own vocals, something he’s never done before. He’s always laid down his own backing vocals to help direct the talent, but never let them stick in the final mixes.  “I couldn’t stand my vocals before, cause I sing like a dying cat” he laughs “but this time they went well with everything. So I’m really proud of me, I feel like a singer, a big big superstar” Sinclar purrs half-jokingly in his smooth French accent. 

With a plethora of new material to draw from, is it likely Mr Sinclar will ever be seen moving through from dj-form and taking the path currently most travelled with djs today, as they take on the band approach to translate their material live?  “No, I’m just a dj, so I don’t want to lie to people and have them think I’m something I’m not. But you never know, I want to go really far with this singer. Maybe to release an album with him on a regular basis, but we have to find new ideas to work with. So something like that might happen with us in the future, but right now no.” 

With an eye ever so keenly directed towards Australia right now, he’s excited about the upcoming Defected show and festival appearances. As he looks forward to seeing all of his Australian allies and fans, there’s a little something else he’ll be keeping his eye out for in the crowd.  “I’ll be looking for lots of beautiful and glamorous people, cause in France at the moment it’s very quiet. It’s just been really dark over here lately, everyone’s been really sad because of the situation with the riots and fires, so it’s not really the happiest time we’ve had over here. So I’m looking forward to escaping it for a sunny holiday.” 

Catch the masterful Sinclar as he gets set to hit us full-force down under yet again, with his ever-mysterious, chic playboy charms, when he touches down in a town near you for the following shows:

Sun Jan 1- Field Day, Sydney (SOLD OUT)
Sun Jan 1- Summadayze, Melbourne (SOLD OUT)
Fri Jan 6- Tank Nightclub, Sydney
Sat Jan 7- Summafieldayze, Gold Coast (BUY TICKETS)
Sun Jan 8- Summadayze, Perth (BUY TICKETS)

Bob’s new single ‘Love Generation’ will be out January 20th on Hussle/EMI.