We speak to Jonny Mac of Warriors of the Dystotheque to find out all about his musical inspirations, where we should expect his band to go and much more in a new and exclusive interview. Read on to find out what he had to say...
For those who may be new to your music, how best would you describe your sound?
Experimental. Electronica. Lo-Fi. Dystopic. Edible. Jazzy. Technoodles.
What challenges have you faced in the music industry so far?
None really as we've not approached this with any great expectations. We have over 15 years in the industry as DJs and artists having played all over the globe and alongside many of the top artists on the planet so have witnessed the highs and lows of what comes with the whole music game. As long as we are having fun and enjoying what we are doing we're all good. What will be will be we guess.
How difficult would you say this career path is in terms of making a name for yourself?
It's almost impossible but I don't think any of us picked up an instrument with the main factor being fame and money. We don't wanna get up on a stage and sell our souls for some panel of judges to tell us what to sing, what to wear and what to say, screw that. We just have a love and a passion for music and enjoy the artistic creativity that comes with writing great music that we fully believe in. We don't have The X Factor, we hope!
How important is it for you then to have creative control over the work you produce?
We wouldn't do it any other way. Like we were just saying it's about being artistic and creating what we want, not what anyone else wants from us. We are a band and we don't need a suit telling us that we would sell more records if we sounded like X, Y and Z. Luckily our record label Tigre Fair let us get on with it and are fully supportive of our music and everything that comes with it.
Where do you draw influence and inspiration from for your work?
Portishead, Massive Attack, Death In Vegas, Andrew Weatherall, Chemical Brothers, PWEI, LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, Ennio Morricone, Lalo Schifrin, The Cramps, Link Wary, Unkle, Com Truise, Aphex Twin, Shawn Lee and Frank Zappa.
If it's deep, dark, dirty, experimental or lo-fi, then it's probably influenced us. We like to take risks and do what we want. We also take a lot of influence from film. The Warriors, obviously, and other dystopia films like Mad Max, Bronx Warriors or 2019: After the Fall of New York. The band name came from the play on words 'Dystopia' and 'Discotheque' (or bad/wrong library if you read it literally), with 'Warriors' making it sound more like a film belonging to this era.
If you could collaborate with anybody going forward, who would you choose and why?
Well we jave just last year worked with Graham Crabb from 90s indie dance legends pop Will Eat Itself. PWEI were a major part of shapping Jonny and Sean musically. Jonny met Graham back in 2000 and has been good friends with him since then and we got him to lay down some vocals for one of our album tracks 'Weirdoes'. We are also recording at the moment with another massive name from the early days of indie dance in James Atkin from EMF, so we've been lucky enough to work with two major artists already in our infancy.
Tell us a random, funny fact about you that not many people know.
Jonny has images of Sean slightly inebriated from New Year's Eve, 2001, trying to gobble a turkey that was liberated from a battery farm. They'd just got back from DJ'ing at an outdoor gig in Coventry City Centre, alongside Bentley Rhythm Ace and Jean Jacques Smoothie. Sean got everyone kicked out of the Hotel after party that was kindly laid on by the City Councilfor the event. He started rubbing a Crème Caramel in his face because he thought it felt funny, and after being told to behave, he started a massive food fight. Some people saw the funny side of it, and others had to sleep rough. Needless to say that was the last event they'd done for the city.
Do you have definitive aims or goals for your career going forward?
We want to get the album out next year and get the show on the road. With us being an internet band, Mike and Nick in New York, Sean between Coventry and France, Jonny in Ireland and all the vocalists being guests from UK and USA, the logistics are a little crazy, but it's half the fun and it would be pretty cool to be the first internet based band to win the Mercury Award.
What should we expect from you in the coming weeks and months?
Our next release Return To Coney is released on March 4th on Tigre Fair across all digital platforms and we are running a very very limited edition transparent 7"vinyl. Return To Coney is a reference to The Warriors movie and the final scene where they make it back to Coney Island. We actually wrote and named this song back in March 15, but just a few months ago the Warriors actually Returned To Coney after 36 years (so this is as a good omen!)
The b-side, Escape from Coney, is a different take on the same base track. Escape is more of a nod towards soundtracks, and has a nice Ennio Morricone feel to it. Also on the digital package we have remixes from Miaoux Miaoux, Attrition and Candi Bianca.
We have just finished a couple of remixes. One for James Atkin/EMF for his next release 'Love Blind'. It's a bit of slo-disco groover, which will be released March 11th.
The second is for FinalPulse/Rob Northcott. Rob regularly works beside Murray Gold of Dr. Who fame. The original is like a soundtrack to a sci-fi flick. We delivered an energetic cinematic remix for this one. It's called Spacewalk to Triton and is due out in February.