inthemix | Features | Justice: Webster's Dictionary defines them as 'so hot right now'

There’s no denying that French duo Justice ( Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Auge ) pretty much embody the literal meaning of the term ‘so hot right now’. Releasing a steady stream of dancefloor destroying singles and remixes in the lead up to their eagerly anticipated debut album – which dropped mid-way through 2007 – many wondered whether the duo would collapse under the mountains of hype the media and fans were heaping onto them by the truck-full.

Are they the new saviours of dance music? The next in line to inherent Daft Punk’s crown? Does Kanye still want to shank them after they “stole” (err, rightfully won) his award for ‘Best Video’ at the MTV Europe Awards last year? None of these questions and more answered in ITM’s exclusive Justice interview ahead of Parklife this month! After a few false starts, Tim Hardaker finally got the chance to speak with Xavier as he visited the toilet and his local bar…

Hi Xavier, how are you doing? Thanks for speaking with me.

I’m just in the toilet, so I have to flush away [flushing sound]. Sorry for the noise!

You’re a very, very hard man to get in touch with.

Yeah, I am sorry… [sound of flushing, again] I have to do it again, the shit still remains! Yes sorry about before, there was a scheduling problem.

That’s ok, I imagine you’re pretty busy at the moment and have a lot of people wanting to speak with you.

No, not really. But everybody just happens to call at the same moment!

[Xavier enters a very noisy room all of a sudden] Can I just ask a favour before we start, are you able to turn the music down in the background? It’s a little hard to hear you.

Oh, I’m sorry, I am in a bar so I cannot turn it down!

OK then! You guys toured Australia for the first time in January of this year on the Big Day Out tour. How was that experience?

It was really, really good for us. Especially the side shows. The Big Day Out was one thing and was really cool, but the side shows in smaller venues were really cool. Everybody will tell you the same thing, it’s more fun to play the small venues. We had the best tour of our lives in Australia. It was a great experience.

Was it surreal to be somewhere so far from home and see thousands of people going crazy to your music, considering you didn’t have an album out at that point? Did you have any idea you guys would be so well known down here?

Definitely not! We had no idea. In Australia, you couldn’t really be any further away from France. It’s the exact opposite side of the world. It is something we have to keep reminding ourselves about, when we’re far from home and people recognise out music. It’s just crazy.

I heard that you guys even went out and got your first tattoos while you were on the tour?

Yeah, proof that it was really cool y’know! It was a real tour, so we did a real rock’n’roll thing. We were so happy to be there, so we did something to remember it by. We were in Melbourne. The three of us [Gaspard and their manager Busy P have the same tattoo in the same place on our bodies.

You’ll be back in September for the Parklife festival, touring live this time. What’s the Justice live show like?

When we’re mixing DJ sets it’s kinda different music to what we produce. When we DJ it’s all about playing real party music. We’re trying to make people dance, by any means possible. The live show is dance music at some moments, but there’s also pop moments, piano moments, smooth moments. It’s always different.

I’ve read interviews with you guys where you’ve openly said that you’re sick to death of Never Be Alone, is that true?

No, we’re not sick of it!

Comparisons have been drawn between Justice and Daft Punk for almost as long as you guys have been around. Do you find it annoying to be compared to another act that came before you, or is it something of an honour to be placed next to them?

It would be rude to say it’s annoying, because if you told me 4 years ago when we started Justice that we’d be compared to Daft Punk, I would have been really happy! The thing is, though, in the last 10 years there’s been a ‘new Daft Punk’ every 2 months. We’re just one more of them… 6 months before us it was Mylo, and before that it was Digitalism. I’m sure there’ll be another ‘new Daft Punk’ in a few months. Daft Punk were called the ‘new Chemical Brothers’ when they started 10 years ago anyway! I understand why people make the comparison, but I think it’s pointless.

Maybe one day there’ll be a ‘new Justice’?

There’s already ‘new Justices’! It would be so annoying for them. At least if you’re the ‘new Daft Punk’ it’s kinda cool because they are so famous, but when you are the ‘new Justice’ you just have to kill yourself!

Justice’s mega-debut album † is in the stores now, and you can catch them playing live at the following dates!

Fri 21 Sep: Academy, Canberra (DJ set)
Sat 22nd Sep: Parklife, Melbourne
Sun 23rd Sep: Parklife, Adelaide
Sat 29th Sep: Parklife, Brisbane
Sun 30th Sep: Parklife, Sydney
Sun 30th Sep: Afterlife @ Hordern, Sydney (DJ set)
Mon 1st Oct: Parklife, Perth

Can’t get enough Justice? Check out this clip taken from the launch of their massive Waters of Nazareth single!