Belgium electro/dance music act-cum-rock band Soulwax play Parklife this weekend
When they’re on stage, Belgium electro/dance music act-cum-rock band Soulwax look like a future-retro version of The Rat Pack. Why? Well, that’d be because they’re always wearing dishevelled and party-tired tuxedos. The band’s singer, Stephen Dewaele, is candid when talking about his band’s clothing choice when performing.
“We really like wearing the tuxedos; I think it is part of our ‘look’,” he chuckles. “It’s pretty easy and it looks always timeless which I kind of like. You can take a picture of it and you’ll be like, ‘Oh, I don’t know exactly when that was?’” states a laughing Dewaele, who then self-effacingly adds that his view on their attire may be skewed when he says, “But, I am getting a bit older.”
Soulwax released their first album Leave The Story Untold back in 1996. This was when they were still, what can be best described as, a stoner-rock band. Over the next eight years Soulwax released two more rock albums with Much Against Everyone’s Advice in1998 and Any Minute Now in2004. Songs from the latter of the two were re-recorded and then presented in a nightclub friendly format in 2005 and called Nite Versions.
However, the dance-floor direction of Nite Versions was not a surprise to those who had been following Soulwax closely. That’d be because in 2002 Soulwax released a mash-up album called As Heard On Radio Soulwax Part 2 that would go on to be one of the first commercial releases in an emerging genre of the time, one that has become known as ‘mash-up’.
Nite Versions was an instant hit with DJs globally, in particular the song Krack,which opens with a space blip and Dewaele’s voice presented in an ethereal moan, before giving way to a belly tingling bass swell – a bass sound that is one of the most memorable aspects of Soulwax live show. “Songs like Krack, they were actually songs,”
explains Dewaele refering to Krack’s standard rock ’n’ roll incarnation on Any Minute Now.
“Then we kind of, pushed [the sound] Dave and me, and people who heard it were like ‘Oh you guys should really do your own version of the album’, and that’s actually how we made Night Versions,” he smiles. The ‘Dave’ that he’s referring to is his brother Dave Dewaele, Soulwax’s live synthesiser player and producer who teams up with Stephen to make the international DJ pair, 2ManyDJs.
In discussing the interplay between Soulwax post Nite Versions and 2ManyDJs, Dewaele adds“The funny part with Soulwax Nite Versions is we’ve actually been able to disconnect ourselves from the whole thing of releasing a record, having to tour a record and having to put out new material,” he explains.
“To our surprise, the demand for Soulwax or 2ManyDJs is always so big, we can actually do without having to release something… and on the other hand when you do 2ManyDJs, the fun part is you can actually make remixes and then you play them the next night and get to see what is thought of them by the crowd reaction.” He then adds with a hint of triumph, “You don’t actually have to wait to know what the record company thinks!”
But surely there must be a part of Dewaele that wants to record a full length album as a band, much like the four they did (including Nite Versions)and not just continually release remixes and mash-ups.
“The new Soulwax [material] is going to be the one we’re doing when we’re doing Parklife. It’s probably going to have six to seven new tracks in there, so there’s a lot of new material that’s going to come out,” Dewaele discloses enthusiastically.
“Actually, as we speak, we’re working on the new material because we have to do the first Soulwax show – I think – on Wednesday, and on Friday we’re doing two warm up shows in Switzerland and Germany, and on Saturday we’re doing a festival and it’s like the first proper gig we’re going to do.” He then adds warmly, “Hopefully by the time we get to Australia for the Parklife tour, we’ll play them and they’re ready to go!”
Stephen Dewaele and David Dewaele and the other two Soulwax members – Steve Slingeneyer and Stefaan Van Leuven – obviously have no shortage of festival
appearances, however Dewaele sounds very genuine when explaining why Australia’s Parklife tour circuit is one of their favourites. “The whole Parklife thing is so fun, because you end up spending a lot of time with artists that you know, friends, or people who you have never met.”
Dewaele further qualifies why he enjoys Parklife, “When you take the flights, you’re all together on the flights, and you all hang out waiting for flights. It’s fun; it’s really fun,” he beams.
“Last time we did Parklife it was really good; I think we all thoroughly enjoyed it and we have a lot of friends in Melbourne, so we really like spending time there and Sydney. It’s all nice,” he grins.
SOULWAX are appearing at Parklife at Sidney Myer Music Bowl on October 2 –alongside Missy Elliot, The Dandy Warhols, Mix Master Mike and heaps more, plus, 2ManyDjs have been a late announcement to the festivals line-up. Tickets and info from parklife.com.au.
