Ladytron
Reuben Wu and (Bulgarian born) Mira Aroyo from the UK band Ladytron have been on a DJ tour in support of their newest album, Witching Hour (2005, Ryko/Universal). I called the very hip Jupiter Hotel in Portland to speak with them before a recent gig. When I asked the operator for Reuben Wu, in true hipster form the hipster operator was like Ladytron! Cool!
Ladytrons official website
(L)Auren Suicide: Hey is Reuben there?
Mira Aroyo: Its Mira.
AS:
Hey Mira! Its Lauren from SuicideGirls.
MA:
Do you want Reuben?
AS:
Oh I dont care, Ill talk to you first. Hows it going?
MA:
Its going really good. Its kind of like the last night of our DJ tour, so hopefully were going to celebrate with a few more drinks than usual!
AS:
Does DJing compare to playing as a band?
MA:
Its a very different thing. Playing with a band is definitely more rewarding because youre playing your own songs and youre actually playing and kind of doing a lot more and you express yourself a lot more. DJing is like we give people a good time and make people sort of dance and party. Youre playing someone elses music its not really as expressive. Or as creative.
AS:
Do you ever play your own music when you DJ?
MA:
Yeah we play different mixes and this is kind of a DJ tour to promote Witching Hour so we do play peoples favorites, they really do expect that when they come to see us DJ here. We try and play our own stuff as well for that reason.
AS:
So the people that see you, are they mostly Ladytron fans or people who end up at the club?
MA:
Well its kind of a mixture of both, it depends on the place really. A place like yesterday a lot of the people were Ladytron fans and I dont know what its gonna be like tonight but I would say a lot of the people come because they are Ladytron fans. Its different other places than in America, its more because we havent really toured here for a while so people have been waiting to see something from us for quite a long time.
AS:
Will there be a Witching Hour tour?
MA:
Witching Hour came out in the middle of September so this DJ tour is kind of the beginning of the Witching Hour tour. We're coming out here in April and were gonna be playing SXSW and hopefully Coachella and do some dates around there.
AS:
Yeah online they leaked some names and I saw you guys were on the Coachella list, but sometimes those arent really true.
MA:
Yeah, I hope its true!
AS:
Have you guys ever played any of those festivals before?
MA:
We played Coachella like three years ago and it was amazing being there. It was really good fun. We had to completely rewire the sound system before we played, we ended up going on an hour late, but it was still really good despite that!
AS:
What time do you guys play tonight?
MA:
Midnight. Are you going to come down?
AS:
No, I wish! Im in LA!
MA:
Oh! I didnt realize that.
AS:
So was it was good?
MA:
Yeah! It was really good fun. There was one room of people dancing and one room of people staring at us, but it was really good.
AS:
so what do [the other members of Ladytron] Helen [Marnie] and Daniel [Hunt] do when you guys are off DJing?
MA:
Helen and Daniel also DJ we all DJ but this time its just Reuben and I who are doing it. They are, um, sitting on a beach with a martini in their hands, staring off into the sunset.
AS:
Wow! (laughing) You guys have a cool thing going. Its definitely not the normal hey, were in a band and we have like the drummer and the bassist blah blah
MA:
We do have a drummer and bassist! (laughing)
AS:
Okay, okay! I know, but Im really interested in the fact that its much more than that. You guys play the synthesizers live - you dont use samplers
MA:
Yeah we dont sequence stuff live.
AS:
It brings a whole new element.
MA:
Yeah its kind of a rock dynamic, with synthesizers. Its not really like a lot of the other electronic bands where a lot of backing things are sequenced and triggered off. Theres some stuff that we really cant do because we dont sequence when we play live.
AS:
So I heard that you named your samplers - oh wait - not samplers!
MA:
Keyboards! (laughing)
AS:
Keyboards! Keyboards! Thats what I meant! (laughing)
MA:
We were just bored in a studio one day. We use a lot of old analog synths, we used to travel around with like 15 synths, all different, like 25 years old or more. They are very precious and delicate because they are so old and so hard to find. So just for like live purposes we got a few more of these new synths and everyone programs theirs differently so we gave them names to tell them apart! It was just sort of a rehearsal room joke.
AS:
So are you happy with Witching Hour?
MA:
Were incredibly happy. Maybe six years ago this is sort of what we were trying to be, or what we wanted to be and now weve sort of achieved it! Were growing up and getting used to playing with each other. It takes a little bit of time to find a sound youre really happy with and I think weve managed that. All the songs are quite strong.
AS:
You should be very proud! Ok, Have fun tonight. Have some drinks!
MA:
Thanks! Ill just pass you on to Reuben.
Reuben Wu: Hello?
AS:
Hello?
RW:
Hello.
AS:
So whats up? Hows Portland?
RW: Its cold! We got up this morning and it was really, really hot in LA. Then we got to Portland and its like coming home.
RW: Its cold! We got up this morning and it was really, really hot in LA. Then we got to Portland and its like coming home.
AS:
Thats what I was about to say you guys must have that thick blood.
RW:
I was just about getting used to LA!
AS:
Where did you guys hang out in LA?
RW:
We only got there a few hours before we played but I really wanted to eat some dumplings. So we went on the internet and Googled dumplings, LA and we found this restaurant and we called them up and said do you do dumplings? and I dont think the woman knew what we were saying so she just said yes so we figured since it came up on the internet search it was quite good. We went into this building somewhere in Korea Town, it was on the ground floor of a shopping mall, and I think we were the only non-Korean people there. People were looking at us like what are you doing here? We eventually found this place for the dumplings and it was in one of those food courts, it didnt even have its own dining room!
AS:
So how were they!?
RW:
They were good, okay, they were alright, um, Ive had better.
AS:
Thats very brave of you to type something into Google and then just go.
RW:
Oh, you know, Googling is a common method of research.
AS:
Oh yes, yes it is.
RW:
Before you date, you Google her.
AS:
Is that what you do?
RW:
Oh no, never. Never even thought about it.
AS:
Tell me about this Gang Of Four remix thing you guys did.
RW:
Oh yes, I really like them. The bassist from the band is living in Portland, so hes coming tonight. But we didnt keep his bass in there! So maybe he'll like it or maybe hell just throw a pint of beer in my face. Hopefully hes a chilled-out guy! (laughing)
AS:
So do you dance when you go to clubs?
RW:
Um. Yeah. But it kind of depends on what kind of club and what kind of people are there.
AS:
I dont know, I just had to ask. People are too cool for school sometimes.
RW:
Well we want people to dance! Especially when we DJ.
AS:
What kind of stuff do you like to play when you DJ?
RW:
Music that will make people dance! (laughing) Sometimes its a battle.
AS:
Okay, well I hope you guys have a great time tonight and that a lot of people come and a lot of people dance.
RW:
Is this a radio thing?
AS:
No this is SuicideGirls its a website. Suicidegirls.com.
RW:
Kind of like Myspace-but with girls, right? I need a bit of chalk to write that down. Hold on. Hello?
AS:
Hi.
RW:
Just got some chalk and Im standing by the blackboard.
AS:
Wait, you really have a blackboard?
RW:
Yes there is a blackboard in the hotel.
AS:
Really?!
RW:
Yes, its a hipster hotel. So are you thinking of SuicideBoys in the future?
AS:
We have SuicideBoys! And we would be honored if you would like to be a part of it.
RW:
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