20 years since they launched their club career, DJ duo Benoelie and Mo (aka the Glimmers) are amongst Belgium’s best known music stars, spinning mashed-up melanges of disco – old and new – to audiences all over the world. Prospering in particular since electroclash opened clubland’s doors to eclectic mixing, the pair have become regular headliners at London’s Fabric, for whom they’ve recently completed their first mix CD. Taking in everything from LCD Soundsystem to Roxy Music and Human League, the mix demonstrates perfectly why they’ve thrived in today’s anything goes musical climate, though geographically the picture’s less clear.

“Most of the time people think we’re from the UK,” they laugh, denying they’re ambassadors for Belgium culture. “Who knows why,” they continue, “People associate us with the music we play and don’t really pay much attention to where we come from.” Rejecting cultural stereotypes, they also deny suggestions they’ve got anything against Germany, with Berlin one of their favourite spots. “Berlin is a city like London or New York, everybody gathers to these cities from all over the world, so if you want the real Germans maybe you ought to go to cities like Munich or Hamburg perhaps,” they say. “Anyway we know many Germans, we have lots of German friends and actually we’re playing in Berlin next week and we can’t wait.”

Skrufff: I guess you had potentially thousands of tracks to choose from for the compilation, how did you start?

Glimmers (Benedetta Ferraro): It hasn’t been too difficult for us to put this compilation together. These are the tracks that we particularly like amongst those we’ve been playing out, it’s music that is tried and tested that has been keeping us busy for the last six months.

Skrufff: What is the process of doing it together; how much do you agree on every single selection and also where each track fits in the mix?

Glimmers: It’s more about the feeling… we just try out different tracks and get inspired by them. It’s a very natural process. We never argue on the final choice because we always choose the tracks together, even if they have a different style or came out in different periods, we both love them to death, or they would never make it to the final selection.

Skrufff: DJing is still dominated by solo spinners: what is it about playing as a pair that you prefer?

Glimmers: We started playing together twenty years ago and perhaps we were the first in Europe to do so, very rarely we play alone. There’s more interaction with the audience and it’s more fun playing together, because on your own every two seconds you have to look into your box and choose a different record whereas in two you can be surprised by the other’s choice. We feed each other and we even amaze each other occasionally. I prefer the way we do it: two brains and four hands.

Skrufff: 3 or 4 years ago you were lumped into electroclash, where do you see the Glimmers fitting now, how much do you follow new trends, if at all?

Glimmers: We’re interested in trends, in paying attention to what’s happening, but we don’t actually follow them very much. The whole electroclash incident happened because we’ve always played a varied selection of records, we’ve always had an eclectic style.

Skrufff: You seem to be getting more and more successful constantly, with people knowing you more and more, how much can people’s expectations force you to compromise?

Glimmers: It depends from which set we’re booked to play and from the responsiveness of the crowd; if the audience is not moving you’ll use anything music wise to make them dance. Two weeks ago we played the Electric Chair in Manchester and it was one of the best nights we’ve ever had. You could take that crowd anywhere you wanted and they would be so responsive. It’s different every single time you play, but if you can manage to establish that feeling with the crowd, it can really work magic, despite the fact that you only have a couple of decks and some records to do so.

Skrufff: What’s the line between cheesy and classic? Would you ever play a Madonna or a Kylie track?

Glimmers: It could happen. It all just depends from the crowd you’re playing for; you’d do anything to get them moving. Both Madonna and Kylie have had great tracks out and the reason why they’re commercial is because so many people like them. It’s always nice to be able to balance popular and unknown tracks and everything else in between and using them as the right tools at the right time to suit you.

Skrufff: Do you ever get punters rushing to the DJ booth asking to change a record or with a particular request?

Glimmers: It can happen, not so much for changing records but for requests yes. Maybe they have a song they really like and they want to hear it, but at least they’ve always been polite about it.

Skrufff: Have you ever cleared dance floors?

Glimmers: Lots of times. It wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t taken risks. Every time we’ve cleared a dance floor it’s because we’ve tried to take the audience somewhere, other times the dance floor didn’t clear, instead the audience went crazy and we could have taken them further and further. From time to time you have to clear the dance floor and start all over again.

Skrufff: What do you make of DJs like Tiesto and Paul Van Dyk?

Glimmers: We’re not in a position to comment simply because we don’t really know much about them, we’ve never seen them play, we don’t know their music, so it would be unfair. Many people like them so they must be good. We started DJing at the same time as they did perhaps, but maybe they stuck to a particular genre and they’ve been catering for that genre ever since. We’re more old school type DJs, we play music for people and we try to have a party.

Skrufff: What’s the closest you’ve come to splitting up? Ever had any major rows in general, or actually when you’re performing?

Glimmers: There was one time, maybe thirteen years ago, one of us didn’t show up for a gig but that was it… we’re over arguments.

FabricLive 31, mixed by The Glimmers, is out now on Fabric/Inertia.