Hardware, software and Pink Floyd: an interview with The Glitch Mob

Hardware, software and Pink Floyd: an interview with The Glitch Mob

26 October, 2011
by: Lowri

Let's get it poppin' like it's new year's eve...

The Glitch Mob are Justin Boreta, Ed Ma and Joshua Mayer – aka Boreta, edIT and Ooah. The group began life as triple trouble on laptops – knocking out huge remixes and DJing as one big glitchy unit. They were in first wave of LA producers to be labelled 'glitch hop'. Huge, rude glitchy sounds, gangster samples, lasers, crunky club bangers. West Coast sensibilities. And then, last year, The Glitch Mob 'went live'. They produced debut album 'Drink The Sea' and took it on tour, with instruments. Fast forward to now and they have their second album in the pipes – and are currently on another European tour. We spoke to Ooah about their new material, that difficult shift to 'live' and their refusal to be pigeonholed.

How's the tour going?

The Euro tour has been epic. We're having a blast and grateful to all of the fans who've been coming out to the shows.

When I first got into your music you were a DJ collective – you've since 'gone live'. Is the new material a much more collaborative effort? Or is there still a division of duties, as it were?

When The Glitch Mob first started it was more of a producer collective where we mostly DJed our own songs. That evolved into us making music together and then obviously performing our music together. Nowadays we pretty much only perform songs we write together, but we still release mixtapes like More Voltage, which showcase some of our individual efforts.

Instrumentalists or producers – does it tip more one way or the other? What prompted the initial shift from DJ outfit to live group for 'Drink The Sea'?

We’re both instrumentalists and producers. When The Glitch Mob first started out we were mostly making dancefloor bangers with interesting sounds. With 'Drink The Sea', we had more of a story that we wanted to tell with the album. That’s why all of the songs are full of emotion, drama, dynamics and cinematic song structures. It was just a reflection of what all three of us were going through at that point in our lives.

Your sound is incredibly epic, and rocky, with synth hooks which sound like distorted guitars almost. It's difficult to determine how these sounds are made – whether recorded live or digitally produced. Is this what you are aiming for?

Yes, that’s exactly what we were going for on 'Drink The Sea'. It ended up being much more of a listening album as opposed to a dancefloor album, and we were going for a timeless sound. We wanted the listener to get lost in a world where you couldn’t figure out if the music was made today or if it was made 30 years ago.

I read in an interview somewhere that you liken your sound to a modern day, electronic hip hop version of Pink Floyd. Are there any other rock influences you'd care to mention?

Sure. We love The Beatles, Led Zepplin, Hendrix, anything. Jack White, Radiohead, Nirvana, and the list goes on.......

Your new EP 'We Can Make The World Stop' is a slight departure from the Glitch Mob sound fans have become accustomed to. I’d say some of it sounds quite Ed Banger – especially the beginning of the title track. What can we expect from your next release? Electronically realised rock, glitch hop, laser bass.... the music press have long tried to pigeonhole groups in an effort to describe them to listeners/ readers. It may sound trite, but how would you label yourselves...?

We can’t give away any details on the new album. All we can say is that it will be epic and it will be a little more celebratory than 'Drink The Sea'. To answer the second part of your question, we’ve never looked at our music in terms of labels. We’ve always just done our own thing and looked at it as three guys making music together.

Some of your remixes are permanently on my playlist – obviously 'West Coast Rocks' is a Glitch Mob anthem, and the Evil Nine 'All The Cash' remix you did. And you've just done a remix for Tron. Are you still interested in doing this type of production?

We love remixes. We generally feel that albums are where we get to try something new and express and explore new ideas, feelings and emotions. However with remixes, we feel that’s always an opportunity for The Glitch Mob to just drop a straight bangin’ crowd slayer. And we always have fun doing that.

Are you still involved in the DJ/clubbing scene in LA? There are loads of amazing sounds pouring out the West Coast and infecting the UK – I imagine the same occurs vice versa. Do you notice any British electronic influences in the US?

Nowadays the Glitch Mob mostly plays staged theatres and music halls. Unfortunately our stage set-up cannot really fit into any of the clubs in LA. However we still make solo appearances at places like Low End Theory. LA is a very inspiring place for music in the US right now. A lot of musicians have relocated to Los Angeles over the past ten years and it’s an exciting time to be living there right now. As far as the Brits influencing the LA scene, I would have to say Los Angeles gave the UK the 'beats' scene and the UK gave us dubstep.

Without being too reductive, you have successfully fused the live and the DJ/producer show. Do you think technology is holding you back as it advances too slowly or allowing for greater experimentation as it races ahead? Ableton has obviously had a massive impact on DJ culture. Are there any other software or tech developments which you feel would have such an impact?

Technology is definitely not advancing too slowly. Every day there is some new gear or software that can greatly change your game. It’s safe to say that the music tech world is alive, well and healthy. Aside from Ableton, the greatest music tech development to happen since Pro Tools, Autotune and Ableton would have to be Serato. Although we don’t use Serato, their impact on the music world is undeniable. They are the gorilla champion of their corner of the music tech world.

Favourite bit of kit at the moment?

All of the new Native Instruments gear. As far as hardware goes, we’re glued to our iPhones and iPads.

Finally, we publish a feature called Dancefloor Bombs – can you give us acouple of failsafe bangers?

Nero - Me & You
SebastiAn - Love In Motion (Skrillex Remix)
Congorock - Babylon (Dub)
Toddla T - Watch Me Dance (SebastiAn Remix)
Porter Robinson - Spitfire
The Freestylers - Cracks (Flux Pavillion Remix)
Noisia - Tommy’s Theme
Feed Me - Blood Red
Chromeo - Night By Night (Skream Remix)

The Glitch Mob are playing at Spectrum at Electric Brixton on November 5th.

Lowri