Could you share the story of how you two met and decided to make music together?
We met a long time ago at this bar in Thessaloniki, Greece, where Vangelis was a resident dj, and I went to perform with my band, one night. We kept contact after that and we were exchanging music, but our love for similar artists brought us working together again, when Vangelis was doing his popular parties and I got to join him and play music a few times. The idea of making a project together came around 2013 in London, which at the time didn’t flourish because of our different lifestyle, but we still kept DJing together sometimes and it was always very easy and fun. In 2020 during lockdown we decided to give it a go again and with lots of time in our hands, we managed to get a great amount of music made.
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind your upcoming EP, “Something To Forget”?
Both tracks are talking about the period and feelings before a break up. When you know that something is not working and you’re still there, trying to make it work, but you actually fool yourself, ending up feeling even more lonely.
In your music, how do you balance the contrasting elements of melancholy lyrics with upbeat instrumentation?
It is something that comes naturally to both of us. Probably because of our various musical references and common way of thinking. Sometimes people pay more attention to music rather than lyrics or the opposite. Depends on the state of mind you’re into, and that’s why we like to keep a balance.
What led to the collaboration between Boys’ Shorts and Iptamenos Discos?
We’ve been friends with Local Suicide, who are the label bosses, before our collaboration, and had spent time hanging out and partying together. We love them and we have a great understanding. We already released our EP “New Era” with them and we were both very happy with our collaboration, so working on a new one was just a matter of time.
How did the remixes by Gabe Gurnsey and Whitesquare come about?
Thinking of artists for the remixes is always a fun process. This time we both came up with the names almost together. We are both fans of Gabe Gurnsey’s music since the Factory Floor days. We met about 7 years ago at a LAGASTA event at Dalston Superstore in London, where he was our guest dj and we thought it was the right moment because “Something to Forget” reminded us a lot of his work. Whitesquare is one of those producers that never disappoints. We absolutely love every production and his music is always part of our sets. We met last year in NYC and we had a fun day together. We are very happy about both remixes, they sound great, and we’re very excited to have them on board in this release!
Reflecting on your journey since your previous highly successful EP with Iptamenos, “New Era”, which marked a significant milestone in your career trajectory, how do you perceive the evolution of your sound?
We think it comes naturally, in a way that we don’t aim for it. Of course it has to do with new sounds, new experiences and even growing older but we also like to incorporate different genres and reference influences from previous decades. We never start working on music having something certain in mind. We like to let the music guide us.
Could you share any anecdotes from the recording or production process of “Something To Forget” that stand out to you?
Something to forget had a lot of vocal processing and manipulation so there was a lot of messing around with fx trying to get sounds that were good on our ears. A lot of chopping and an endless amount of channels which looking back we’re not sure all that was really necessary but that’s how we felt at the time.
What message or feeling do you hope listeners will take away from the EP?
Probably it’s more like a feeling. We believe that if someone can relate to our music or songs, then we have succeeded! We would love for people to understand the sentiment around it, but also to be able to have this transferred on the dance floor through the remixes.
How do your individual backgrounds and experiences influence the music you create together as Boys’ Shorts?
We have been friends for almost 20 years so there are a lot of common experiences and challenges! Working together for so long, has helped us build our relationship through all these years, which made it easier to understand each other in the process of making music. Of course there are days that things run smoothly but other days we might not agree, however we are both open to talk about our visions that come from different perspectives or even our different music backgrounds, and up until now it works!
What role does Greece play in shaping your musical identity?
Our influence from Greece comes mostly from literature, because there are artists we admire and there have been ideas related to their work. Musically we’re closer to West rather than Middle East because that’s what it felt right at the time. Top of the pops and MTV resonated with us back in the late 80s and 90s and that definitely shaped our musical identity.
How do you navigate the intersection of electronic music and queer culture in your work?
Growing up queer in Greece, it was pretty difficult, because society still has a long way to catch up with basic human rights and accepting diversity as part of a whole. Only very recently same sex marriage was finally legalised! We’re proud of our identity and we are glad to be able to build upon the legacy of others who paved the way for us. That’s why we aim to honour them through our work. For example, our name, is a nod to Boy George! In today’s world, it is important to move forward more boldly and support each other. Using music and dance as acts of resistance, we are able to make connections in spaces that unite us and hopefully make a better world for the next generations.
As longtime friends and collaborators, how do you maintain creative synergy and navigate any differences in artistic vision, especially considering the challenge of working from long distance ?
As we previously mentioned we’ve known each other for so long that we have found a formula that works for both. Working from long distance is possibly one of the reasons things are running smoothly, because there is a healthy amount of friction between us that will rarely bring us to a disagreement. We already know we share the same vision and we have been pretty open with experimenting with different genres only cos we think music is a vessel to express how we feel, and we’re not snobs or scared to try new and different things.
What advice would you give to aspiring musicians looking to break into the electronic music scene?
Just keep making music the way you feel it! Everything else will come naturally.
Lastly, what can fans expect from Boys’ Shorts beyond the release of “Something To Forget”?
We’re in the process of making new music constantly. The idea of an album is in the works, but along the way we are planning to release a few EPs, and DJ around, possibly in a club near you!
