Many groups have tried to inject a rock and roll edge into the electronic sounds and rhythms that have emerged from the rave scene. The results however, have been decidedly mixed. Some bands manage to take elements from both genres and create interesting music whereas others fall flat on their face. During the past several years, there has been an explosion of new artists who have revisited the idea and come up with compelling results. Groups like Simian Mobile Disco, Justice, and LCD Soundsystem have been commercially successful as well as critically acclaimed. Soulwax, headed by brothers Stephen and David Dewaele, are a major part of this creative tsunami and have put together a highly unique sound and image.

The Dewaele brothers grew up in Ghent, Belgium, where they soaked up a variety of musical influences from many of the surrounding major cities. These influences are displayed prominently on the duo’s compilation As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 2. The project was released in 2002 under their 2 Many DJ’s moniker and features a mash up of 31 tracks from an incredibly diverse selection of artists. This undertaking can be seen as a definite precursor to the success of artists like Girl Talk, who have taken the mash up concept and pushed it into hyper drive. While the brothers have been releasing albums as Soulwax since 1996, the band really broke through in 2004 with their album Any Minute Now. This effort marked a turning point in their career as they started to use more synthesizers and other electronic gear. The album’s three singles, “E-Talking”, “NY Excuse”, and “Any Minute Now”, ended up being big hits and were remixed (by the band themselves) for their remix album Nite Versions. Earlier this year, the band released Part of the Weekend Never Dies, a rockumentary film that follows the band throughout the course of their 2006 worldwide tour.

The group has enjoyed massive success in Europe, where they have rocked major festivals like Melt and Exit. They are eager to expand their audience in North America and should have no problem doing so judging by the positive reaction to their dynamic performances.

Stephen Dewaele sat down with us before their show at the Mezzanine in SF.

Metrowize: Tell me about your musical background. What influenced you growing up?

Stephen Dewaele: Well, when you think about it, influences can come from anything, even music that’s bad or annoying. So I guess from an early age on, things like ABBA probably influenced me even though I never liked them. My brother and I have no technical skills, we can’t read music, so we learned how to compose on our own. We just wanted to make music so we started playing instruments and then later on we started DJing so this is where we are now. There’s no plan to anything that we’ve done, we’ve kind of always stumbled into something, then it turns into something else, and before you know it, we’re touring the world.

MW: So when you first starting making music, what compelled you to mix rock with electronic music?

SD: Well, it was never a conscious thing and it’s kind of hard for some people to understand. I grew up Ghent, it’s a place that’s in the middle between Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne, and London. When I would go out I would hear a lot of French music, then some Simple Minds, then somebody would play Van Halen, and then somebody else would play James Brown. That was completely plausible and for anybody, acceptable. There was a club in my hometown where they started mixing a lot of new wave on slowed down tempos and that eventually turned into New Beat. Around that time a label called R&S Records started putting out House and things like that. So where I come from, mixing everything up has very much been in the water. We never were like “What would it sound like if we mixed Sonic Youth with Daft Punk?” There’s a lot of dance music that has the same attitude as rock music. Having said that, there’s a lot of dance music that I think is shit.

MW: When you’re in the studio with your brother, what are your roles? What do you both excel at?

SD: Dave is the guy who sits at the computer because he’s really good at it. We have developed complementing roles. I think I’m the decider.

MW: So you’re more like the arranger and Dave tweaks the equipment?

SD: Yeah, I’m like “chords, bridge, chorus, do it this way”. I have to say, it’s not as black and white anymore, it’s kind of merging, sometimes I’ll be at the computer.

MW: Tell me about some of your upcoming projects, do you have any new remixes in the pipeline?

SD: We’re going to make a new 2 Many DJ’s record. When we get back home we’re going to start working on producing Tiga’s new record. We’ve got a million other things, there’s always something that comes up. I don’t want to look into the future too much, it can be really scary.

MW: Ok, well I guess I won’t ask my follow up question to that then.

SD: Ha ha, go ahead.

MW: I was just wondering if you plan on taking your sound in any new directions.

SD: I don’t think we will. It’s something we’ve done our whole career, and I’m not sure if we will do anything differently. Although whenever we do a Soulwax record, we always try to push the limits, it’s never the same thing. We often do it without knowing it. So actually, I guess I would have to say yes.

MW: I was watching your film earlier…

SD: And you were bored and wanted to leave.

MW: Ha ha, no, I enjoyed it. Although now it’s kinda awkward because it’s like what can I touch on with you guys that wasn’t covered in the film?

SD: Ha ha, just take anything from the film and use it as an answer.

MW: Did you guys edit the film yourselves? Where did the concept initially come from?

SD: We did the editing with Sam, the guy who directed it. We did the editing in the style that we use with 2 Many DJ’s, where we cut up everything. Once we came up with that, we knew that was how we were going to do films. So, we were very much involved.

MW: I heard it took you around 18 months to complete the film.

SD: Yeah, it took a long time. But in the end, it’s not a good or a bad thing. When people ask me if I think it’s good or bad, I just say I’m really happy it’s finished. I’m really happy it’s out there. It’s a fragment of time in our lives and the people around us. I think maybe in 10 years time, somebody will look back on it and see that it was an honest reflection of what we did and how things were. I think that was our main goal. It’s easy to show people doing drugs and half naked girls but we also wanted to show that there’s a lot of boredom involved.

MW: Yeah, I remember there was a part in the film where you talked about how difficult it was to tour around the world so much.

SD: Yeah, there’s lot of us being tired in the film…

MW: It must be really draining to do all these interviews and photo shoots.

SD: Ha ha, well that’s all ok. I mean, it’s part of it. It’s also something that’s never been glamorous; you don’t usually see it from the artist’s perspective.

MW: Last question. What’s the most bizarre thing that’s happened at one of your gigs?

SD: I think the weirdest thing happened during one of our 2 Many DJ’s shows in Lisbon. We played at this club where they made us our own stage. At the end of the show everybody is going crazy and this guy goes under the DJ booth, pushes me and Dave away, and throws the whole stage into the crowd. He was holding a cross upside down and saying some weird, satanic things. It was very strange. Half of the crowd was like “what the fuck is going on?” and the other half was like “you ruined my party!” so there was a riot and people tried to get him off stage. We were like “What happened?” and then, “Fuck our records just got destroyed!” We still don’t know why he did it, maybe because everybody was going nuts, he got caught up in the moment and felt like he had to do something crazy. The funny thing is, the owner of the club was standing there and he told the guy who booked acts for the club that “I want these guys to play here every month, they’re amazing” then a minute later the satanic guy flipped over the stage and he was like “Maybe not”. We’ve had some crazy nights at this place, it’s called Lux and it’s an amazing venue.

For interviews, videos, and music on Soulwax, check out these sites:
Prefix: Soulwax Interview
Last.FM
Foxy Tunes
Artist Direct