Five Minutes with GrandMarnier!
Five Minutes with GrandMarnier!
08-03-16
By Michael Kelly
We caught up with GrandMarnier from cosmic French electropoppers Yelle ahead of his VIP guest DJ set at Shake Yer Dix next week. He’ll be the filling in the lazerpit sandwich, spinning an eclectic set of electronica and a stack of other killer tunes he’s got hanging around. Plus there’ll be resident Michael spinning the night’s trademark mix of electroclash and nu-disco from the likes of Fischerspooner, Todd Terje, Cut Copy and Peaches.
Upstairs there’ll be disco, eighties and espessso martinis with Hackney-based pop princess Ronika and hot mess Ruby Waters from Ridley Road Market’s notorious DRAG-E-OKE. So tighten that jockstrap, hoist those bangers up and perpare to shake yer dix, shake yer titz! Join the event here! We caught up with GrandMarnier to see what he has in store for us...
You guys are known for your amazing, colourful, crazy music videos… do you have a personal favourite?
I would say the last one we made, for our song Moteur Action. First because it's 100% homemade with friends at home with zero budget, and also because of the idea of the edit itself, it's a one and a half minute music video made of the original song and the remix version by SOPHIE and A G Cook! But I love them all, we give so much energy for every single video we make.
Which tracks are you shaking your dix to at the moment? Any guilty pleasures?
Very weird to say that but I would say the future Yelle songs, which we’re in the process of making right now. I don't like the idea of guilty pleasures! It reminds me of this useless battle between mainstream and indie music, funny and serious music. As soon as you love something, it's all fine, no guilt!
If you had a time machine and could go dancing anytime, anywhere, where would you choose?
I think I would be in the mid eighties at the Palace in Paris, when house music became something here.
We saw you guys crowdsurf at Village Underground (awesome gig!) last year… do you have any random crowdsurfing stories? Have you ever been dropped?
Oh yes. People try to grab your dick, your balls, your ass, as much as possible. So now I always go on the back! I have never been dropped. As soon as I see it's less packed, I ask the crowd to follow me!
Madonna or Prince?
Prince
You’ve just been on a trip to Cuba after an action-packed 2015. Any tips if we head over?
So many tips actually but if I had one, I would suggest you to go the country side, in little villages. Everyone is so nice, everything is so peaceful, animals everywhere, very simple way of living. Very inspiring and relaxing.
If you could collaborate with any artist, living or dead, who would you pick?
Kanye West so then I can write a book about him and it'd be a best seller.
Are there any favourite French artists or bands we should know about across La Manche?
It's really different from dance music but everyone has to listen to Totorro.
Can you give us a sneaky idea of what you’re got in store for us at Shake Yer Dix?
I think I will play a lot of Yelle! I will make a giant Yelle smoothie to give yer dix some good energy.
Catch GrandMarnier at Shake Yer Dix on Friday 18 March from 9pm-3am.
Five Minutes with GrandMarnier!