Flashmob: “House is house, it’s a soul thing, a spiritual thing”

If you consider yourself a fan of clued-in contemporary house music, then you’ve mostly likely around been wowed by Flashmob at some stage over the past few years. Indeed, the Italian heavyweights have seen their stock soar in recent years, a fact that’s attributable to some frankly huge releases on the likes of Get Physical and more recently, the all-encompassing house music behemoth that is British imprint Defected Records. It’s a signing that’s worked wonders for them too, as they’ve quickly climbed the ranks to become one of the scene’s most cherished house duos. We caught up with them recently to talk about their career thus far, and what lies ahead…

I want to start by asking about Need In Me, a track that opened up a lot of doors for you. Did you have any idea at the time how pivotal the track would become to your career?

Not really no, and I think “Need In Me” has been just as pivotal to us as “Brick House” and “Ninety Five” have. Dj T brought us into Get Physical Music and that record was the starting point of everything. When we gave it out at DC10 it got a massive reaction and suddenly we had loads of people playing it. So I guess that was the pivotal moment for us.

I think “Need In Me” brought us attention to the overground as well. If you listen to our productions before and after “Need In Me”, you’ll realize that the song is only one of our faces; especially if you listen to what we are producing right now.

How long were you producing at that stage then? And how do you look back on the track now? Do you still play it?

We’d both been producing for 6/7 years at the time. I look back with great pride on ”Need In Me” because we love it and we love that people love it so much. We can play it at Watergate or at any underground party and it always works. And of course we still play it. Simon Dunmore, who is a bit of a mentor for us, gave us some very precious advice in Ibiza last year. He said: ”Always play your tracks boys”’ and since then, we have.

It might seem obvious to do that but we are always evolving the dj set and sometimes you take directions that don’t lead to your productions. After ”Need In Me” we changed our style a bit, it’s always like that, and there’s definitely an element of luck to creating a big tune. You go silent for a while and then you come out with a new and fresh angle to your sound …

How did it end up getting signed to Defected? How did that help?

It got signed to Defected because of Andy Daniell, the A&R of the label, who had previously licensed “Brick House” and asked us for some music. “Need In Me” stayed on our studio desktop for three months, and then I,  Alessandro decided to send it over without telling Danny, doing something that had never happened before. Anyhow, believe it or not Danny woke up that day and one of the first things he said was: “we should try sending that tune to Defected after all…” and I just started laughing! 

How did you two first get together? Was it through a shared love of music? 

We actually met on the internet exchanging music, nothing more to it then that.

It’s amazing how many partnerships are formed that way now. Where are you at now in terms of your production styles? Where do you want to be?

I’ll leave that for you to discover through our label that is coming now. All I can say is that you’ll be surprised.

You were born and raised in Italy. Was it a good place to grow up for house and techno music?

Italy in the ’90s was one of the best places in the world for house music and techno, so yeah, absolutely.

And what was your earliest introduction to electronic music? What do you make of the scene in Italy now?

We both play multiple instruments. That is where it started for us both. Italy is getting a little better now for us. Since we last had an interview the Italian market has opened up for us big time and we are lucky to play really underground events like Guendalina, Fragola (the summer Tenax events), Nice To Be, Cafe Loco, Juice, Dok Show, Take It Easy and I hope I am not forgetting anyone, but there’s been a few recently! 

You’ve released on a host of cool labels. What is it about house music that you love so much?

House is house, it’s a soul thing, a spiritual thing…I’m sure you know how that one goes!

Do you try and keep your releases to a few select labels?

Yes, up to now we have released on Get Physical Berlin, Defected, Exploited Berlin, Off Berlin and we are about to release a single on Cajmere’s label Cajual, and a remix on DC10‘s queen Tania Vulcano’s label Isgud for a track coming for their resident Rene. Exciting times ahead.

I also wanted to ask about your latest EP. What was the inspiration behind it? And how did it come about?

Our next EP will be on our label but I cannot say anything just yet. Keep your eyes and ears peeled though!

What’s next for Flashmob?

Freedom of expression – no more, no less.