“They don’t like interviews or a lot of DJ gigs…” It’s not the best thing to read before interviewing someone. This concerns me. I know that Chris Hoeffl has been making music since the early 1990s. I know his music in different incantations, and who he’s remixed. You might know his music with groups such as The Heartbreakers and Stars on 33, and you’d have to have been living in outer-Mongolia meditating for about 18 months to have missed ‘Discopolis’, produced with Lifelike. Released in 2005, it’s still a fave in clubs across the globe. You could tag is a “club anthem” now. However, in the face of this success, he is notoriously private and thrives on mystique. This doesn’t do much for my confidence at providing a good rundown of what we should expect for his impending tour. He prides himself on surprising people. And of course, he turns out to be surprisingly very easy to speak to.
The thing that strikes you when talking to Hoeffl in relation to his alias Kris Menace and the pending Australian tour for We Love Sounds, is his over-riding passion for everything he does. It’s a passion to do what is right for his heart at all levels. This passion extends to architecture, sexy girls and good food, I also find out. I also learn that his parents considered moving to Australia at one point, though this will be the first time down under for him. Having fun and maintaining creative freedom and independence are his focus. In fact, that’s the basic ethos behind Compuphonic, one of Hoeffl’s independent record labels. He tells me that is why Kris Menance was created; “Kris Menace is just for Compuphonic, Work-It Baby is for my friends. I was very young when I started making music. I decided with Kris Menace that it was something to do just for my heart. Totally for me… to experiment and try things”. Which then, does Kris/Chris enjoy more, remixing or song-writing? “That’s an interesting question. I really enjoy both sides. I enjoy the challenge of remixing… you have to work with constraints. I enjoy making music. But with remixing I like the challenge. I like to be challenged”.
Obviously he rises to these challenges, as he’s had Robbie Williams, LCD Soundsystem, AIR, Princess Superstar, Tracey Thorn and Rosin Murphy of Moloko request his remix magic in recent times. Working and being sought after by people of this stature, you have to wonder what his dream event to play at might be? “That’s a really weird question, [because] you know I once was a promoter for parties and events for up to 8,000 people? It all got a bit too big, lots of promoters fighting, and that’s why I am happy doing what I do now. It’s a big part of why I do what I do now. But if I could do it the way I wanted, Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk and Prodigy would play and [there’d be] limited tickets to 3,000-4,000.”
By now you should be surmising that Kris Menace really likes to do things in his own way. How then does the extended success with Discopolis sit within this frame, and does he feel any pressure to repeat the single’s commercial success with his soon to be released album? “Really I try not to think about the results, it was a surprise success for us, unexpected. The results will not be the same [for the album]. I don’t feel the pressure to repeat the results. I’ve been producing music for a long time, and learnt lessons that you can’t expect things to work, it will always be different.” This may account for the slight delay in releasing the new album, with Chris informing that his much-anticipated album is probably going to be released “two to three months” after touring in Australia. “It was already ready. (Laughing) But I decided to rework it. I want to get a mixed balance between songs you can listen to anywhere, say in the car, and really hardcore stuff”.
If songs such as ‘Voyage’ and ‘Fairlight’ (with Fred Falke) are a taste of what’s to come, it will definitely be worth the wait. And hopefully, his time in Australia might provide him with some inspiration. He tells me he is “into trying things at the moment”, and just back from snowboarding in Austria, he wants to try surfing while out here, as well as checking out some wild animals. To wet the appetite further for the impending album release, there are some yummy new remixes out by Kris, such as Princess Superstar and Larry Tee’s ‘Licky’ and Tracey Thorn’s ‘It’s All True’. In the meantime, however, what can we expect in Australia when he tours? “Ok, a lot of remixes, re-edits. We (with Alan Braxe) have being doing a lot of remixes, [so] expect that. Hopefully, as well, lots of surprises and some new music”.
Kris Menace tours Australia with Alan Braxe in June:
Fri 1ST Jun – We Love Sounds, Adelaide
Sun 3RD Jun – Ministry of Sound Sessions, Perth
Fri 8th Jun – We Love Sounds, Melbourne
Sat 9th Jun – Platinum, Gold Coast
Sun 10th Jun – We Love Sounds, Sydney
