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Interview with Lawnchair Generals by Ollie Brooke

courtesy of inTheMix.com.au

You've got a pretty original name, it conjures up the image of retired veterans sitting on the front lawn of their inherited manor, how does this image relate to deep house and how you came up with the name?

Pretty well spot on. When I first moved to Seattle my little apartment was full of gear but low on furniture. After meeting Carlos we put his gear with mine but had nothing to sit on. So lawnchairs it became. At the time there were a lot of people talking about house but not doing anything about it, including us. So it was like a large group of armchair generals. We thought, were sitting in lawnchairs and trying to do our part for house. It just seem to fit.

As a duo you must both influence each other pretty heavily in your DJ styles, especially given that your both in the same genre, how do you maintain your sense of incivility and restrain from nicking each other's tunes?

Well we can't do much about liking some of the same tunes. Our bags share a lot of the same tunes. When we're playing shows the crowd does alot to dictate what we play. More often than not if I think a song is right in the moment there is a good chance he's thinking the same thing.

Your style may be best defined as funky deep house, how does this sit with you? Are you anti the pigeon holing thing or are you happy to be deep house DJs?

I am happy to be a DJ at all. I love house and so does Carlos. As long as people are dancing, I like the music I'm playing and it's being
described as house in some manner then I'm happy and you can call me whatever you want.

When you guys DJ how do you work it? Is it one tune each, does one select while the other mixes, give us a quick run down of how you work behind the decks?

It's usually one of two ways. Most common is we do half hours. We'll switch back and forth every half hour. It gives us both a
chance to "get into the groove", fell what the crowd is looking for and take the floor in a certain direction. Sometimes we get to do
two by fours. That is, we each have our own rigs with two decks, two CD players and one mixer each. We then play simultaneously, allowing more opportunities for creativity. Plus it seems to be more entertaining for the audience. Although two by fours are difficult to set up and require a large amount of space.

"We're DJs first, we make music we want to play", do you find that your DJing has bolstered your production career or vice versa?

Well as it says, we were DJ's before we made music. So our DJ careers as they are now is a direct result of our production. For
us it was making records that got our name out there. It's the production that has made the travel possible. But I like to think we
play well and put on a good show.

As the electronic scene comes out of it's honeymoon period into a more stable sound the house sound seems one of the main trunks that has remained true to a theme throughout, can you elaborate on the strength that house has and why it is currently seeing a resurgence globally?

Music in all forms is cyclical. Sounds come and go but genres remain. Audiences no longer look at house as a fad, they see it as a
genre that changes and grows like any other.

As technology advances and studio software becomes a real alternative to the traditional hardware based setup the sound of electronic music continues to evolve but certain elements remain as they were from the outset, what is your opinion about why the kick and hi-hat 4/4 setup that has endured so well?

Well I'd have to say that it has changed. The current sound of electronic music has become more complex. From drum and bass to
broken beat to hip hop, producers are doing all kinds of crazy things with rhythmic patterns. As for the dependence on the 4/4 time
signature I'd have to lay the blame on the DJ, including myself."Beat Mixing", would be rather difficult if you tried mixing two
records with different time signatures. Of course 4/4 or four on the floor as it is referred to in the electronic world refers to a 4/4
time signature with a kick drum landing on all four quarter notes in the measure. This is one of the defining sounds of house. With out
it, it's not house.

Deep House is pretty minimal at times and can often have very few elements making a huge impact, yet it is not an easy craft to master, what is it that makes a great house track?

Hmmm, that might be like asking me why is Stella so good or what is it about dark chocolate that makes me crazy. But simply put, I would say; a solid rhythm that stands so well on its own you want to listen to it alone all night long, a bass line that hits you in the gut and makes your butt shake and enough funk to move your feet.

There's a definite science behind music and the way chord progressions work, many have mastered it but few can understand it to the degree with which they can push out tracks guaranteed to impact as they'd wish, when you guys put out tracks are you always sure that the big ones are gonna be big or is it more hit & miss?

Well we do tend to road test our tracks before we release them. We play to various different crowds and in different clubs. We also
play it for our friends, people who are honost with there opinions and whom we trust. From there if we dig it, we go for it.

In a recent interview with us DJ Q stated the following;
"To me, one of the primary aspects of the house vibe is that it's more laid back, the energy is kind of a constant buzz, as opposed to the massively dynamic structure of most breaks tracks. House has a different flow, kind of like a train that keeps on chugging, where as breakbeat is a little more like a roller coaster"
Quite a good analogy I thought but in my opinion roller coasters are more fun than trains, what would you say to refute this claim?

You haven't ridden my train.

The digital revolution means a decline in the trusty vinyl format but an overall increase in the spread of great music, do you think this is a worthy pay-off for the potential dereliction of vinyl?

I don't know about a trade off, but I'd would say the digital expansion is a good thing for the free exchange of musical ideas. It
is unfortunate that we are slowly losing the sound of vinyl in the club but I think technology will be there to help out. Higher
quality mixers with better analogue circuitry are making CD's and computers sound better and better as they play the tunes. Not to
mention the increase in hi-end converters being installed as stock on current computers and CD players. It will come down to us, as
musicians and engineers, to prepare the music for a digital life. A life which is far more transparent and honest.

With so many DJs about now and the access to music becoming easier all the time DJs who are of "the grade" find it harder to get gigs due to a saturated market, the old supply and demand. Few club owners have the ability to tell a good DJ from a great one, as indeed a lot of less discerning punters do, would you agree with this point of view and if so what do you think the solution would be. If not then what is it that makes the difference between the average and the great to the point where it's obvious to all?

Well the obvious difference is on the dance floor and whether they come back next week. The subtle difference is in the chatter and
reputation both the club and DJ earn. It is somewhat of a game of patience. Great nights and DJ's take time to grow. It's up to the
audience to let the club and the DJ know whether their doing their job well or not. Gigs have always been hard to get and club owners have always been notorious for not seeing talent.

With venue syndicates growing in major cities you have the situation where many clubs' music policies are controlled by, hopefully, more discerning and enlightened promoters. This makes a change from a time when say clubs promoters were independent contractors. This means there is less variation in the scene in that area, what would you say are the pros and cons of each system?

Well I've seen them both. When I first started DJ'ing there were no indie promoters. All promotion was done in house. I was an employee of several clubs and even clocked in. Many of them owned large collections of music. When independent promoters started moving in on the clubs promising large crowds and even larger bar numbers everyone got excited. Some delivered some didn't. Those who did were patient, could see talent, knew their audience and were lucky enough to find a club that fit what they were trying to do. I like were things are now. Some clubs use promoters some don't. There seem to be more club owners who are aware when they need the help and when they don't.

Traditionally there has been a relatively big divide between the house sounds of different regions, both on a national and international level. Do you find that sounds are fusing more now and is this a good thing?

I think sounds kinda, make the rounds. Something new pops up and spreads like crazy. Especially with the internet. It picks up the flavor of everywhere it goes. By the time it makes all the way around it's something new again. It's kinda cool like that.

You've played in Australia before, how does the Aussie clubber compare to our stateside comrades?

Well the younger drinking age makes for a younger crowd, and more liberal serving times make for later nights. For the most part a
wilder party more often. Use guys are nuts.

The fact that you're doing quite a few gigs over here would indicate that the deep house scene in Australia is pretty healthy, how does it compare to the European, British and US or anywhere else for the matter?

It's difficult to compare because we're only there for a short time. As far as we can tell it's always fantastic everywhere we go. We pop in, play, party and take off. We're never around to see the "bad" times, because when they're bad we don't get booked!

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