Crack

The musical equivalent to having hot sex, with lots of chocolate and ice cubes involved, is watching Chromeo and Hall and Oates jam together.

Watching the classic pop icons and the new pretenders to their throne play out I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do), in Daryl Hall’s log cabin studio in his basement, is a testament to Chromeo’s current stature in popular music.

Impeccably presented and styled, David 1 and P-Thugg are the epitome of cool in a music world saturated by gimmicks. Hip-hop boys by nature, but now matured into one of the most insatiably funky and groove-laden acts on the planet, Chromeo’s world looks as effortlessly suave as David 1’s specs and his tailored dinner jacket.

Set to release their third album Business Casual, Crack caught up with David 1 to get to the bottom of their style, their influences and what kind of a buzz you get from playing with Hall and Oates.



How did you guys first meet?

We met in high school, became best friends and have been inseparable since we were 15 years old, and I’m 32 now.

So when was Chromeo officially formed?

Chromeo officially came into being in 2002. This is our third album, before that we did other stuff. We produced hip-hop together in Montreal and DJ’d at the high-school dance.

Hahaha!! Crack could well imagine you two suited and booted spinning tracks at your high-school dance.

Well that was us! It’s not hard to imagine because that’s what we did. We loved it.

So where did the name Chromeo come from?

I had the idea when I was lying in a girl’s bed one morning. I thought you could mix chrome and Romeo. The chrome is the tough guy thing and Romeo is the lover boy thing. P-Thugg is the chrome, he’s got his toys and his synthesiser talk box and I’m the Romeo. Everything about us is a dichotomy, that’s why we called the new album Business Casual. One side of us is laid back and smooth and the other side is us in suits ya know.

So what have you guys gone for on the new record then?

We just tried to take more of a sophisticated approach to our song writing. The new record sounds a lot bigger than the last one. It’s less about the hooks and more about the production and the song writing. We wanted to focus on harmonies a lot more. There’s like a seven minute song, there’s a lot of piano and there’s a string section. It sounds quite orchestral at points too. All the while, we still wanted to keep that catchy essence of our music as well.

Where did you record?

Between Montreal and New York. I live in New York and P lives in Montreal. We mixed with Phillip Zdar who does all the Cassius stuff. He’s been collaborating with us for a while.

It’s easy to spot your influences from the off, like the 80’s funk thing you have going on in your records. Anyone in particular you would cite as a major influence?

80’s funk was our thing and we came out at a time when it wasn’t trendy to make that kind of music. What was trendy when we came out was Bloc Party – Banquet. We did Needy Girl. They are both very different. When we came out the second time, Justice was the trendy sound and we did Bonafide Loving. This time I don’t even know what trendy is. Maybe it’s dubstep now. We’ve tried to follow our own path. I don’t think any of our songs sound like dubstep.

How do you feel about the big revival in 80’s music, soul and funk at the moment?

There has been a recent revival, but we have been doing that from the beginning. But before we did it, Daft Punk did it on their Discovery album. When we started, we were hip-hop kids; I had no idea who the fuck Daft Punk were. I thought it was rave music for people who popped ecstasy. Then I heard the Stuart Price Les Rhythmes Digitales record. It just sound like a modern take on funk. I was like “this is great”! So when we started me and P wanted to push it even further so we were actually singing, so we are artists not producers, like Hall and Oates.

We checked out your live hook up with Hall and Oates with you guys playing in Daryl Hall’s home studio. It looks incredible!

You’ve got to check another one when we were actually playing together live. We played with them at this festival called Bonaroo. It was one Chromeo song, and then one Hall and Oates song. It went on and on. They were singing our songs and we were singing their songs, it was insane.

That must have been a huge moment for you.

Definitely. I mean we were giving them shout outs in so many interviews, we hoped at some point they’d hear about us. Sure enough we get an e-mail saying: “What’s up this is Daryl Hall’s management do you want to come and jam with us?” It was a great show of respect from different generations.

You also did a great job with the recent DJ-Kicks record you released earlier this year.

You know on that record we tried to make no compromises. It was almost like we were subverting the DJ-Kicks series. A lot of those mixes are very German, very serious and very cerebral. We were like “fuck it, we’re just going to play funk for an hour.”


We have to ask, do you work as many tricks with the ladies as your lyrics suggest?

People think all of our music is about love; it’s not. Most of our songs are about fights and fighting. Momma’s Boy is I can’t be with you, I can’t make this relationship work. I try and have this quirky approach where I explore all the facets of a relationship rather than just being like ‘hey baby come here’! We try and do something that is quirky and sincere at the same time. I think it charms people.

In a similar vein, I think your image charms people a lot too. You are very cool and easy on the eye.

That’s just us ya know. If you catch me in the street, you’ll catch me in those clothes. When we lived in Montreal, me and P were like the odd couple. People in clubs in Montreal would get a kick out of me coming in all tall and skinny and P would come in all super hip-hop. It’s just how we are.

You guys have almost become fashion icons.

You know that band Hurts? They are like Chromeo super fans and they came up to us and said we were a massive influence on their image. It’s amazing people think that.



Tune: You Make It Rough

http://www.myspace.com/chromeo

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