Fabrice and Sebastien; two inconspicuous men hailing form the south of France, average guys living lives amongst us but when night falls, their true identities are revealed. They are… Stereoheroes! Here to save our dancefloors. And what are they here to save us from? Boring and repetitive dance music! “We were so pissed off by the music in clubs, carbon copy DJs playing minimal sounds for zombie crowds, it was time to do something to bring back the energy we liked in the past.”
And they’re in the country rescuing our dancefloors right now. ITM talks to the Stereoheroes.
So Australia knows you as two handsome DJ guys from the South of France – one living in Australia and one currently in Hong Kong. Two Stereoheroes separated by water – what’s the deal?
Well, you did your homework, that’s totally true even if we like to consider ourselves more as producers than DJs. It’s actually no big deal. Stereoheroes is a new project we started 6 months ago and one of us had a plan to come to Australia even before we existed so here he is. The other one didn’t want to stay alone in France so he took a plane to Hong Kong. We have some informer friends over there telling us that China needs to be saved from super-villains.
Can you tell us a little bit about how you guys met and gave birth to Stereoheroes?
The true story is we met at an party when we were very drunk a few years ago. Since then we did a lot more parties and drank a lot more, but since we decided that we’re too old to go to clubs unless we are in the DJ booth itself. And since we’ve both been involved with electronic music for so many years, we thought it could be so much more fun to do something together.
Also, we were so pissed off by the music in clubs, carbon copy DJs playing minimal sound for zombie crowds, it was time to do something to bring back the energy we liked in the past. We took an engine to dig a hole under our building – the Stereoheroes’ cave was born. You should stop by for dinner sooner or later, we’ll show you the pictures from our holidays.
Where did you pull your inspiration for the sound of Stereoheroes from?
We like to consider our sound as a mixture of all our influences. In the past we hung out in clubs as much as we did in illegal parties in the French forest. I think you can hear that in our sound, this special blend of dirty beats and mainstream sounds. We love house and hardcore, Detroit techno and French touch. But after all, we tried to do our sound, the music we would love to hear on the dancefloor. We always keep in mind that we do tunes for DJs and their audience, it’s all about dancing, screaming and getting naked. We don’t try to do emo tracks to pretend something. Right now we focus on the party!
I saw you guys at We Love Sounds last month, was that your highlight in Australia so far?
Yeaaaah ! That was amazing. We were a bit afraid the place could be empty because we played the opening set for Trashbags, but after 15 minutes the room was packed with only happy people and we had so much fun. We even gave all our clothes to the girls in the first row. We were so happy but we went home without our shirts, hats, glasses etc. Anyway thank you all for waking up early and being there dancing at 12pm! We discovered that we now have a huge fanbase in Australia and that’s amazing! But we had so many great parties here and we would like to thank everyone who trusted us to rock their nights. Trashbags first and then Pistols and Hearts, The Music People, Firstkiss, GPO, Moulin Rouge, Havana Club, Sounds on Sunday etc (sorry if we forget anyone). It’s a great country with awesome nights, we definitely hope to come here every year from now.
And I believe you just got back from Japan where you played in Tokyo. How did you find the scene over there?
We played for Teenage Kicks there. It was incredible! The city is one of the most exceptional places we’ve ever seen. And the scene is great, they play a lot of European sound mixed with some Japanese stuff and are really good DJs. And we’ve been really surprised to meet a lot of people knowing our work. Japanese people have also a great style. We loved it and we already want to go back!
Did you need to save any dancefloors while you were there?
Every dancefloor needs to be saved! People need heroes. But OK, we have to say we weren’t often confronted to our worse enemy here: minimal boring music. You love it dirty and up tempo in Australia. Hi-five for that. Come on, raise your hands! You have one of the best audiences we’ve met so far, Australians know a lot about music and about how to party.
Speaking of saving dancefloors, what are your special Stereohero super powers?
We can see people naked even if they wear a pair of jeans! X-ray powers are really cool. But we’ve also got the ability to make an entire room put their hands up, that’s the best power ever, we love it! We can change into animals too, but you will have to come see us live for that.
Also, is it true that not one person from France dislikes Daft Punk?
We’re starting to think that no one in the world dislikes Daft Punk. For a little story, we were in Singapore a few months ago. And the guy at the hotel reception, without knowing anything about us, told us “oh you are French? I love Daft Punk.” That’s just crazy, not a football player, not a writer or a painter. Daft Punk. But we can definitely understand that. The live show is incredible and their music speaks to everyone. They are the most powerful electronic robots stars in the world!
So now our dancefloor appetites have been wet by tracks like Washout and Boom Slang, we’re excited to hear what’s next… Have you got any hints for us?
We will keep making the kids dance! We have a new track coming with our Las Vegas based vocalist Teen Wolf who is a really cool guy. And a lot more (we hope) bangers to come in the few next weeks. Including cool remixes. We can promise no goth music, only dancefloor calibrated shit !
Do you plan to hang out here in Australia with the emus, wombats and koalas for much longer, or are there dancefloors in other parts of the globe that you plan on saving in 2008?
We love wombats, koalas, kangaroos and all those funny animals you’ve got here. But sadly we have to go back to Europe soon. We have this residence in the best party of Norway starting in September and we don’t want to miss that. But we will be back soon. Everyone in Australia reads ITM, don’t they? So all of you festival promoters, just think of us when you book your next lineups! Your festival needs French heroes too.
Get in on the Stereoheroes action before they fly away…
July 18th – Favela, Sydney
July 19 – Candy’s Apartment, Sydney
July 20th – Sounds on Sunday, Sydney
Nosirrah says...
STEREOHEROES ARE THE SHIZZLE!!!!