Drop Out Orchestra Interview

Thanks to the help of one Dicky Trisco, I managed to get some questions to the two guys behind Drop Out Orchestra. Their 6 track EP of original Disco 'The Power Of Music' is currently in stores and doing the rounds with a bunch of underground heavyweights. Check out clips of the release after the words if you havent heard them yet; my favourite by far is 'The Blue Train'.

Here's the interview, it went rather well i think...

Tell us about Drop Out Orchestra, How did you meet and decide to work together? Who does what in the group?

Right now there are two of us, Gary Baldi who djs and does most of the studio work, and Inko who is the guitar and bass player. We've known each other for years, and we've played on each others tracks a lot. Somehow the idea to bring the electric bass to the djs booths came up, and we took it from there.

I am loving the 6 originals release, as well as all the remixes that you guys have put through File Under Disco. Are they brand new tracks or have they had a longer life? How did you guys decide who would should remix your tracks? Did it concern you what the artists you chose might do with the originals?

Glad you like em. All six are brand new, we wrote them specifically for this project, we wanted to make an ep with a special sound - lots of live instruments, lots of strings, no vocals.
We listen closely to what the remixers do, but part of the charm to us is not to have too many opinions on what their work, but rather let them play with the parts as they please. The end result is usually more interesting that way.

I see you have been touring all over the place, obviously playing out is a very important thing for you as artists. Would you say the music you make is designed primarily for playing out? I mean is the dance floor the main reason you make music?

Yes and no. Most of our tracks are made to fit our performance, others are more pop oriented with vocals, but we don't play them so much live. We'd get bored if we did only the one sound all the time.

What's it like working with File Under Disco?

Fantastic. Mr Dicky Trisco has to be one of the most professional label managers in the business, and we've seen a few.

Please tell us about your biggest musical influences and some of your absolutely favourite records.

Gary Baldi: Biggest musical influence has to be Kraftwerk, Beach Boys and Chic. Records I always return to are Trans-Europe Express, Pet Sounds, the first two Ramones albums and Madman Across The Water by Elton John. Among the dance records I still think work today and that I still play out would be Brothers by DAF, Number One by Ray Mang, French Kiss by Lil Louis. And Over and Over by Sylvester is simply untouchable.

Clearly File Under Disco is all about current original disco productions, it's an exciting project given that so much of the Disco we get to hear is in a re-edit format (i have no issue with the basic premiss of doing re-edits of course). Tell us do edits actually play any part in influencing the way in which you make your particular brand of Disco?

We only make edits to play out. Sure, some of that stuff is cool but we much prefer original stuff. There's a lack of good songwriters in our genre. Where are the Gamble & Huffs, the Thom Bells and the Arthur Russells of the 2010s?

Lastly could you tell us what your game plan for the next year is. Where to from here?

We'll be touring a lot, making new music - probably turning to more vocal stuff for a while now - and perhaps we'll be trying out new tricks for the live set.
Thanks for the chat, nice one.