X-Press 2 Interview

This year, X-Press 2 have managed to gain critical acclaim throughout the industry with their album 'Muzukizum' and had possibly the dance hit of 2002 with 'Lazy'. Muzik magazine certainly thought so and recently awarded them Best Single, beating both Underworld and Tim Deluxe in the process. You may have witnessed their 6 deck extravaganza in a festival or club this year and marveled at the technical genius of the set-up.

Virtual Festivals: What are you expecting tonight?

Rocky:  Rowdy. And we've got it! We did one earlier this year at the same venue and it was good.

Have you ever been to Gatecrasher, the club?

R:   (Laughing) No!

Ashley:  I used to play there before it was Gatecrasher. But in the other room - the funky, house bar.

And what do you think of 'Crasher kids?

Diesel: It's just a strange, northern phenomenon. It crosses over now, though. You get a lot of 'normal' people here as well. It's great. The kids are having a good time.

You played the new Tribal Gathering weekend recently. How was that?

All: It was wicked!

R: It was a really good vibe.

D: It was quite an early set. 9-12 in the main room.

R: We were literally the second DJs to play in the main room but it was fantastic. There was about two and a half to three thousand people in there going bananas. As a far as DJ-ing goes, to play to that kind of crowd was superb.

D: What I heard afterwards was that the whole weekend was a complete success. All of the DJs were apparently amazing.

Have you been working on some new material?

D: Yeah. We are at the moment.

A: Slowly but surely.

Are there any more collaborations planned?

D: Yeah....we have.

A: But we're not letting any out of the bag. We can't, unfortunately because nothing's definite yet.

Has anybody let you down that you really wanted to work with?

A: Yeah! Marvin Gaye let us down! (Laughing) Didn't reply!

D: No. The people we contacted on the last album, they all agreed to do it, and for the new album we just sent stuff out to see whether they're up for it or not.

Is there a lot of pressure on you for the second album?

D: No. Well there would be if the last one was any good!

A: The pressure will come later, once the album's made. I don't think we feel any pressure as such. We just get on with it.

D: We're just cracking on and seeing how everything goes.

Would it bother you if it didn't do well in the mainstream this time?

A: No. But the last album didn't hit the mainstream really. The single obviously did brilliantly. The last album was just a cool house album and no more, no less. We obviously keep striving to do better things but once you start trying to infer that you want to hit a bigger market - that's when you lose sight of yourself. It's down to the record company to do that.

D: We've just got to try and make the best album that we can and make the best single, club records that we can. Of course, we want to get it out to as many people as possible. If we can repeat the success of the last one then all the better. It would be fantastic.

With all due respect, you've been about on the scene for quite a bit. Where's the new talent?

A: There are new kids. It's just a lot harder these days. Everything just seems so entrenched.

D: We're always supporting the younger people on the scene, to help them come through. There will be some more new blood, I think.

A: If you look at five years ago. There are certain DJs that weren't around then that are huge names now. Tiesto, James Zabiela, Yousef, Steve Lawler, Danny Howells, Lottie.

R: While people have still got something to say and still sound current then they're gonna be there. That's why we're still here. We're making music that people want to dance to.

D: It's democratic. We wouldn't do it, or we'd do it on a smaller scale because only a few people would be into it. So we'll keep going and we're still well into it. That's the other thing - we're still fans of this music and the whole scene.

Tell us about the new night you've got planned at Crash in London.

D: The night was called Muzikizum but that was the last one and we're moving on from there. So we haven't got a name for when we start back up on March 7th. It's gonna be the same sort of format. Us, and we'll start having guests as well. It's an opportunity for us to be a bit more open, musically. We're not just playing for two or three hours. We do pretty much the whole night and it's a chance for us to play music that you otherwise wouldn't hear us play. It's a good atmosphere, It's a very seedy, grungy acid house venue. The sound system is fucking amazing.

Finally. If we said that 'Lazy' reminds us of Right Said Fred, how would you respond?

A: (Laughing, but slightly shocked) Fuck off. Bollocks! You're a cunt! Which one? I'm Too Sexy?

Just generally, the vocal part...

A: Blimey. You'd better tell David Byrne that. Right Said David!