STREAMING AUDIO INTERVIEW

Not only are Guns N Bombs blowing up their hometown of Los Angeles with the sort of noisy, feedback-drenched electro that causes structural nightclub damage; Filip ‘Turbotito’ Nikolic and Johnny ‘Love’ Dal Santo are also arguably performing important diplomatic duties for their country, helping forge stronger ties with the USA’s international neighbours. Relations between America and France have typically been quite awkward, and fraught with misunderstandings, but since getting signed to ultra-hip French label Kitsuné in late 2006, Guns N Bombs have been doing their utmost to rectify the situation.

“It’s kind of like when in 1989, Tresor released the compilation Berlin & Detroit: A Techno Alliance,” Guns N Bombs told ITM. “When two cities really appreciate each other, and all these producers in both cities are making similar music and having the same ideas, it’s kind of natural for them to gravitate towards each other, and form this ‘sister city’ kind of friendship.” Diplomacy through noise? Yeah we like it.

When they’re occasionally able to drag themselves away from partying with Busy P and Gildas Loaëc, the Guns N Bombs boys are otherwise keeping busy creating mayhem at home in Los Angeles (as was recently detailed by ITM). “It’s at the point now where electro has become completely mainstream in Los Angeles. It’s ridiculous. My roommate does a Tuesday night party in Hollywood, it’s all-ages and there’s like a thousand kids. It’s unbelievable. One thousand kids on a Tuesday night, it’s completely unheard of.”

We’ll get a taste of that LA craziness when they return in June to perform at We Love Sounds in Sydney, Winter Sound System in Melbourne and more. ITM’s Angus Paterson talks noise and diplomacy with Guns N Bombs.

Guns N Bombs tour Australia in June:

May 29 – Empire, Brisbane
Jun 6 – We Love Sounds, Sydney
Jun 7 – Warehouse Winter Music Festival, Canberra
Jun 7 – Winter Sound System, Melbourne
Jun 8 – We Love Sounds, Adelaide