International Pony - Interview

13 June 2003

International Pony - Interviewed
International Pony Interview

International Pony, in case you didn't know (loser), have just released, 'We Love Music' the most funkadelic record of the year to date.

Based in Hamburg they are three, DJ Koze, Cosmic DJ and Erobique; your buddies at Contact Music chat with the latter as he checks out Soho's record stores; subjects ranging from the true meaning of SOUL, German humour, knock 'em down English music journo's and the making of the classic album. Skies maybe grey but the sun it always shines in Erobique's world.

And Pony it aint!

International Pony Interview   @ www.contactmusic.com
Contact Music: Hey! What are you guys up to?

Erobique: We just had a look at the Cargo night club where we will be playing tonight in honour of our album, very excited about all that. Now we are in Soho, looking in all the cool record stores you guys have.

(There follows a brief interlude in the questioning whilst Contact Music gives very bad directions to the Rough Trade Shops, and then back to business)

CM: What do you make of the excellent press 'We Love Music' is receiving?

E: Very, very good, we are really quite pleased. Today we are reading the reviews, people have really got it, there is a lot of humour on the record and you have really understood that. What is important to realise is that where lots of other bands take the piss out of the music we are not taking the piss out of the music we are taking the piss out of ourselves. We never expected the UK to recognize that.

CM: Were you nervous about the possible reception?

E: We weren't nervous at all, English music journalists are well known for putting stuff down, but maybe this is changing. Lots of German fellows are now appearing in English music magazines, like Miss Kitten, they are starting to appreciate our simplicity, how we are minimal and to the point.

CM: Soul plays a major part in your music, what does it mean to you?

E: Many different things, many different answers, but it is so important to all of us. Soul is on the one hand a style but much more importantly, it is warm music, which you can lose yourself in.

CM: How did you three become one?

E: The others knew each other much longer than me; they used to put on hip hop parties together. Before International Pony we worked in different professions, but then we got serious, I learnt the keyboards and we all worked very hard to get to the level we are now at.

CM: Why does the chemistry between you work so perfectly?

E: The thing is that we all have great respect for each other and none of us are very vain. Often in classic bands, everyone tries to outdo each other but we work together. To produce something that is one you must work as a unit.

CM: When you sat down and began to write 'We Love Music' what were your hopes for the end product?

E: We wanted to go back to the days of the classic album, a record that works as a whole, to take modern music but to produce something timeless, a body of work with a beginning, middle, and end. So many albums these days have great tracks but lots of filler; ours had to be a journey. To achieve this we collected about thirty or forty songs and selected those, which fitted perfectly, together, this took longer than the recording process, but as you see, it was worth it.

CM: Do you see the forthcoming single, 'Leaving Home', becoming that mythical thing, a crossover summertime anthem?

E: It is up with the best of what we have done and yes, it is a summer style and is my favourite because it sums up the mix we have between soul and techno. Maybe it will be a crossover song, my sister who is a big fan of all those MTV bands likes it, and they love it in the clubs.

CM: Your funk/soul techno aesthetic draws comparisons with Daft Punk. Would you agree?

E: They are amazing, yes, but we were disappointed with the last record 'Discovery', we loved 'Homework' very much but 'Discovery' was too boyish, too clever, and too technical. It wasn't made for girls; music must always be made for girls.

CM: Where now?

E: Back to Germany, we hope to go to Europe in the summer though. The music we make isn't meant for the dull skies of Hamburg or your London, it is for the sun of Spain Italy, or even South America and I see us there.

Contactmusic

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