How did you guys meet and decide to collaborate?
Bonnie: We met backstage in Paris at a party where I was playing alongside Local Suicide which are Franz’s friends.
As we love each other’s music and spend quite some time together, the idea to collaborate came naturally.
Franz Actually, we already started working together previously on a great “side project” EP of Bonnie, where she sings in french on it. This EP hasn’t seen the light of day yet, but it will come out at some point, and it felt indeed very natural that we wanted to do a collab EP after this first project.
Could you tell us about the creative process behind the two tracks on your EP, “Out Of Control” and “Trust The Process”? Did you work remotely or together in the studio?
Franz: We did mostly everything together in the studio, “Out of Control” started in Bucharest (more on that later) and we finished it in my Berlin studio. The synths on this track were made almost exclusively on the SH101 from Roland, which I had just bought for my live sets and I wanted to explore more, it’s really a great, simple and powerful little beast of a synth! “Trust The Process” was mostly done at Bonnie’s studio in Marseille, with the help of her Korg MS20 and Sequential OB-6 for the synths. For the vocals, since we started doing “Out Of Control” with Bonnie acting as the Chorus singer, and me as the Verse singer, we thought it was funny to switch things around for… “Trust The Process”.
What inspired the themes explored in the EP?
Bonnie: We first did « Out Of Control » during a week in Bucharest where I was playing at Control Club, and where the end of the night became a bit, out of control.. we decided to make a vocal that was enticing us to let everything go and get wilder than wildness can ever be.
Regarding « Trust The Process », it was an obvious choice for us as we use it in our daily life to remind us in the simplest and catchiest way to have faith in ourselves and trust the process of everything we do, in other words, to Just Do it as a famous sneaker brand would say.
What are the influences behind the EP?
Franz: I’d say a mix of darker and progressive techno-disco / dark disco inspired by AFFKT, Rafael Cerato, Snyl blended with lighter and more playful Indie Dance a la Dombrance, Luke Alessi, Whitey…
How did you approach the task of blending your individual artistic voices while maintaining a cohesive sound for the EP?
Bonnie: We both like to use our voices and I think it was kind of an evidence that we wanted to blend them. To maintain a cohesive sound, we treated them in a similar way in both tracks so it can be distinctive.
Franz : As far as for the music, we both come from a very similar musical background and entered the electronic music world through Rock and Disco. Bonnie tends to release darker stuff than me, I tend to release more “spiritual / heady” stuff, we both are big fans of groovy rhythms, so I think that you can definitely hear a blend of all of these characteristics in these 2 tracks.
Tell us about the decision to release the EP on Franz Matthews’ label, HIFI/LOFI?
Franz: Bonnie’s label Critical Monday is definitely more established than my burgeoning HIFI/LOFI label, but as I was in the process of wanting to put more energy into the label and start to release music more regularly, Bonnie kindly suggested that we do the release on my label, and I kindly accepted, in exchange of promising another collab EP on her label in the future 😉
Can you share some details about the remixes that will be released later? What made these artists the perfect fit for reinterpreting your tracks?
Bonnie : We can reveal the first remixer: it’s Phunkadelica! They did a great Italo-disco vibe re-interpretation of « Out Of Control » that we are really excited to share.
Regarding the second remixer, we can’t reveal his name yet but it’s a French artist, he has an amazing Live Set based on a super original concept, and all the remixes he has done so far are dope. Can you guess?
Bonnie Spacey you live in Marseille, Franz Matthews in Berlin, what are the scenes like in your respective cities and has that influenced your sound?
Bonnie: There is a really nice scene with talented DJs in Marseille, but as I spend half of my time travelling, I won’t say that it influenced my sound more than the other places I visit. What I do enjoy here then, is the quality of life: the sun, the generosity and multiculturalism of the people, the sea, the smells… This city is like no other and it inspires me a lot when I’m finally home making music.
Franz : There’s already been much said about Berlin, but what I always feel is the incredible amount of different musical constellations that this city has to offer, and also that, even if the prices are rising astronomically over the last years, it is still a city that allows experimentation like no other does. I’ve been living here for 10 years now, so it would be a lie to say that it hasn’t had any effect on my sound 😉
You recently did a tour together in Mexico, can you share some highlights or memorable moments / anecdotes from the tour?
Franz: Well, what I remember mostly, is that Mexicans like it hard haha! And also that they are the kindest people, we really had great times with great people there, you know who you are.
What is also interesting, is how things start to simply happen once you’re over there and start meeting people. In Europe we tend to usually book things quite a long time in advance, and in Mexico, from one week to another, a lot of things can change, and you might suddenly play at a huge venue or event even if it wasn’t planned in advance. Long story short : always stay a bit longer in Mehico, and don’t make too many plans 😉
Looking ahead, do you see this collaboration as a one-time project, or is there a possibility of further collaborations in the future?
Bonnie: As Franz said, he owes me an EP for my label Critical Monday, as it was the deal from the beginning 🙂 So expect new music from us.
We are also working on a cover of a track we both really like, which is « Week-end à Rome » by the one and only Etienne Daho.
Any future plans you’d like to share with us?
Franz : What Bonnie just said 😉 But besides that, I’m really looking forward to releasing my next remix of Vhyce’s track “Out Of The Blue”, which will be out on July 14th, and also to play my electronic live again at Mensch Meier in Berlin on August 5th!
Bonnie: I have 3 tracks coming out this summer on Side Up Works, Sapient Robots and Under The Threes, and others on the loop that will be out later 🙂 Also excited for my next gig in Lyon on July 13th alongside Joyce Muniz!
