Simon Marlin and Max Reich burst onto the scene in 2004 with the worldwide club anthem ‘Lola’s Theme’. While many dance artists would simply fade into one-hit-wonder oblivion, the duo managed a successful follow-up single ‘Back To Basics’. This month sees the release of the Shapeshifters’ much anticipated debut album, ‘Sound Advice’. ITM spoke to Simon about V8 cars, dodgy remixes, and that song, prior to their upcoming Australian tour.

What came first for the Shapeshifters – DJing, producing, or owning a record label?

I got my start in nightclubs actually. From there I went on tour, with people like Journeys by DJ and then onto working for record companies and then into management and then into producing. I guess all the experience I picked up from all the previous stuff really helped when it comes to producing. I have always been around producers and always been learning equipment and that kind of thing and it just all evolved into one. Max was DJing first and very soon after that got into producing.

How did you guys meet?

We were both looking for someone to work with – I had a few tracks that I was looking to produce, and he was looking at producing too.

What does the name Shapeshifters mean?

There are two theories to that really. The initial embryo of the idea came from Star Trek believe it or not! Listening to the name and what it meant, it’s quite a spiritual thing as well so we just kinda thought that’ll do, that sounds kinda cool.

Having a UK number one song – is that the pinnacle of success for any dance artist?

Well yes, but for us it’s more about our album success. People have different perceptions of what’s the pinnacle of their career I guess. Most people would be happy with that but we’ve got a lot more to say than just one song.

Vocalist Cookie provides a great accompaniment to several of your tracks. How did you begin your association with her?

When we were originally looking for singers we just put the word out there. We went through a few and we met some very strange and wonderful people! (laughs). It’s amazing that some people actually think they’re perfect really. What they hear in their head is completely different to what everyone else hears. We were very lucky to find Cookie. She walked in the door and within ten minutes we knew she was perfect.

Many dance artists who have a massive debut single suffer from the one-hit wonder tag. Why do so many dance artists only seem to be able to have success for one track?

Most tracks end up happening by accident and (artists) aren’t really that prepared for what happens afterwards.

Were you worried that you would only be remembered for ‘Lola’s Theme’?

No, not at all. There’s always a pressure, there’s always a worry, but we’ve got a great A&R man at the label as well as a great management team who have worked in the industry for years, so we had a lot more support than I guess some people have in the early stages of their career.

Do you ever get sick of hearing, or playing ‘Lola’s Theme’?

No I never do. We have our own special edit that we play, and we were in Miami and (David) Morales nicked it off me and I haven’t replaced it since. We played in Belfast on Saturday and we didn’t have it with us and a lot of people were asking to play it and I felt really stupid because but we didn’t have it! Actually this reminds me – I have to replace it.

There were many remixes on the ‘Lola’s Theme’ single * was there one that you really liked?

There were a lot of unsolicited ones as well. No, there weren’t many I liked, but Eric Prydz did very well. It wasn’t personally my taste but it did do very well. It’s quite an easy record to mix anyway.

Simon, you provided the vocals on the track ‘Really Feel’. What made you decide to sing on the album?

That again was a complete accident. We were doing the record, we did the demo and I sing the lyrics when we do the demos and stuff and Max said “Why don’t we just leave it?” and I was like “Err…” and he made it sound great so it stayed in there.

Who inspires you?

I’m very lucky to have become friends with Nile Rogers from Chic and also Frankie Knuckles and he’s become a really good friend over the last six to eight months since ‘Back To Basics’, and he actually told me how much he liked the record. We played with him at Pacha in Ibiza which was just absolutely out of this world, not only playing with one of our heroes but actually at Pacha, one of the world’s best clubs! We played with CJ Macintosh last week which was another one off the list as well, so we’re quite lucky now that we’re playing with people that we’ve always admired and wanted to (work with).

Your album sees to be a mixed bag of vocal disco-house and Planet Funk-style chilled electronica. Can you define your style of house music to a specific sound?

No, and I wouldn’t want to, because I hate pigeon holing and I hate genre-specific music. Not everything we do comes from the root of house music. We’ve never changed what we’ve done – we’ve always made music to say what we want to say and we’ve never tried to jump on any other bandwagon. I’m really bored of hearing people characterise music as dirty or electro or anything like that. It constantly gets on my nerves. Good music is good fucking music!

Given your commercial success, do you find your music classified as commercial house? What do you think you of this tag?

I guess so, and I guess it’s just called commercial house because it’s successful. The people that get into this debate I do take on board have been very supportive to us and done a lot to help us move forward with what we’re doing. It can get scary at times especially when you’ve had the success that we’ve had, you start to go “Oh God, where do we go from here?” DJs around us like Pete Tong kept on supporting us, David Morales, all those people – it’s been very helpful to us. If those pioneers of house are supporting us then we must be doing something right.

What is the current state of dance music in the UK?

It’s really healthy at the moment. There are lots of new DJs and producers coming through. House and dance music as a whole is really a big radio presence again which is great. The demise of dance music has been very over-publicised over the last few years and we play in clubs all over the world every weekend – it’s absolutely rocking and packed all over the place. We’ve played festivals like HiFi North, HiFi South, Global Gathering and stuff, but you know, it’s just great – it’s really healthy at the moment.

UK listeners can seem quite fickle with new songs hitting number one for only a week and then disappearing – is this frustrating?

The chart here has been changed quite a lot recently with downloads and everything else. It’s quite confusing really because one week downloads sort of predict chart position, then three weeks later it doesn’t. There’s been a bit of flux, and I guess records have suffered for that really. Our last single was not on iTunes the week before and could’ve been bumped up basically. And our initial chart position would’ve been a lot higher, but you know, shit happens. Now things seem to be hanging around in the chart a lot more. For example Candi Staton’s ‘You Got The Love’ was in the top 10 for six weeks. Things are changing at the moment.

Are there any Australian dance artists you are hoping to meet or hear whilst you are in the country?

We’ve just signed one to the label actually – Etherfox. They’ve moved over here now actually. I got to meet them last year, and I’ve always really rated them. Antigone, one of the girls from Etherfox, sings on the last track of the album ‘Instead of Falling’. They gave me a new record, I really liked it, signed it to the label and we’re just about to release it over here. I’m just waiting for a couple of remixes to come in and I think it’s going to do really well.

Do you prefer producing your own songs, or remixing others songs?

It’s fun doing remixes but I much prefer making our own music because we haven’t done that many mixes recently. We didn’t want to give our own ideas away for the album so we try and keep the remixes to a minimum so we don’t overexpose ourselves.

Are there any remixes or remakes you wish you had thought of?

Good question actually. ‘Big Love’ by Fleetwood Mac is probably the one that I’ve always wanted to do and someone did it not so well recently and I was a bit gutted. If you are going to do it with such a great song, make sure you do it properly!

You were last in Australia a few years ago – what do you remember about it?

Hiring a V8 Holden and cruising up and down the coast having lots of fun. I’ve never been in a car that went like shit before!

What can Australia expect from your show? Are there any tracks from other artists you are really campaigning at the moment?

From last time I think people will be quite surprised. To be honest people expect us to play big vocal house numbers all the time but you know we play underground house music. I think we’ve toughened up a little bit since the last time we came over there. Not hard, but a bit chunkier, still really good vocals but just good house music. Of course there is Kurd Mavericks’s ‘Love Sensation’. We’ve got a mix of Crystal Waters’ ‘Gypsy Woman’, the Mike Polo mix of that is absolutely slammin’! There is also Mark Haine’s remix of ‘Last Rhythm’, out on Renaissance.

How would you describe your new album Sound Advice in one sentence?

From the heart.

The Shapeshifters hit Australia this weekend to promote their new album ‘Sound Advice’ and single ‘Incredible’, both available now through EMI. Catch them at:

Fri May 12 – Adelaide, Tonic
Sat May 13 – Gold Coast, Platinum
Sun May 14 – Sydney, Sounds On Sunday
Wed May 17 – Brisbane, Alhambra
Fri May 19 – Melbourne, Room 680
Sat May 20 – Coffs Harbour, Plantation Hotel