Azari & III Pre-Lovebox Interview

Tantalising for the tonsils but easy on the ears, nu-disco Canadian electro band Azari & III
(pronounced Azari and third) have landed in London and are due to play Love Box festival at Victoria Park this August.

Azari & III have been cutting some serious shapes into the nu-disco scene over the past couple of years. In 2010 the band collaborated with British dance/punk act, Friendly Fires for the release of, ‘Stay Here’. And it’s not just the airwaves that have been invaded by the disco dance act, viewers were shocked when track ‘Hungry for the Power’ hit YouTube served up with a video depicting more gore, sex and violence than a Friday night on Bethnal Green Road.

TLW caught up with Azari & III’s Fritz Helder and SYF (Starving Yet Full) to talk Shoreditch, tubes and why they are not Ga Ga for the ‘Hungry for the Power’ Queen of the Scene.

Welcome to London, have you been before?

SYF: ‘It’s my first time in London, we went to Shoreditch and Soho which was really fun.’

Fritz: ‘I have been to London a couple of times, being Canadian everything in this city is just so wow! There is this amazing sense of history and authenticity and everything is so big, shiny and sparkly. I loved east London with all their little outfits and looking all cool, it was fun to see that. But, I love the touristy stuff too like the London Eye.’

SYF: ‘Yeah, we went to Regents’ Park and there were so many tourists and the dudes that stand on the podiums looking like statues, then they move – those guys are amazing!’

What’s your favourite music venue in London, do you have gigs lined up?

Fritz: ‘We are playing Lovebox in August, so we are really excited about that. We have heard some great things about it. We are also playing Heaven too.’

What is the scariest thing about London?

Fritz: ‘The opposite driving.’

SYF: ‘Oh my God, that freaks me out!’

Fritz: ‘It’s like, I know I should be looking the other way, but I actually look the wrong way. I am always nearly getting run over by bicycles or honked at by cars. The tubes are frightening, it is so deep down compared to most undergrounds in the world and the escalators seem to go on forever.’

Do you know we have the longest escalator in Europe at Angel?

Fritz: ‘Wow! I don’t like being that far underground and they are really old.’

SYF: ‘I wanted to say, I didn’t get a chance to get on those double-deckers as well, I’d like to sit up top at the window!’

How would you describe your music?

Fritz: ‘Obviously it’s electronic-based, but it’s a little bit of everything really.’

SYF: ‘We try to bring in every little element of who we are. We do reminisce, but we are not trying to emulate anything.’

So, the video, ‘Hungry For the Power’, do you like to shock?

SYF: ‘Yes we like to shock!’

Fritz: ‘In that case we did, we had no budget and no help at all so we kind of had to make something that was either funny or shocking. Funny isn’t so easy, so we went with shocking. There is a lot of cheekiness too though! On YouTube they cut out the sex but they left in the violence, killing prostitutes and eating people is OK, but sex is not!’

Who are your musical influences?

Fritz: ‘Emotional, authentic musicians, for me it’s like Grace Jones, Prince, Stevie Wonder.’

Which bands do you love and hate at the moment?

SYF: (to Fritz) ‘You’re going to get us into trouble!’

Fritz: ‘I don’t know if I can name just one that I love, I mean there are definitely bands that I hate…

Go on…

SYF: ‘I can’t believe you are about to do this!’

Fritz: ‘I hate Lady Ga Ga.’

SYF: ‘Oh My God!’

Fritz: ‘Put it down, she needs to know it. She needs to hear it from somebody.’

Why?

Fritz: ‘I just don’t care, it’s bullshit. It’s like she started off this one thing, I was fortunate enough to play at her CD launch three or four years ago and then to see her evolution into this gay saviour, it’s just such crap. It’s like they bought your records so now that’s your market and you are going to make that music, it’s the whole Erasure, Pet Shop Boys Nineties gay music, it’s so forced, so contrived.’

SYF: ‘What is gay music anyway?’

Fritz: ‘This whole Nineties gay sound, that’s what this new album is she is just desperate and she’s hungry.’

She’s hungry for the power?

Both: ‘Yes!’

What about the Friendly Fires?

Fritz: ‘They were really good, they are super talented and their show is amazing and they have always been fans.’

What do you think sparked off the nu-disco revival?

Fritz: ‘I think people just wanted to dance again.’

SYF: ‘People just wanted to feel what they were dancing to, you know what I mean?’

Fritz: ‘It’s a little more sensual and a little more human a lot of the music before this was a lot more chemical.’

Tell me something that you’ve never told anyone before…

Fritz: ‘I really don’t like crowds or partying! I would rather be at home on the coach.’

SYF: ‘But you’d miss it [partying]!’

Fritz: ‘Yes, but I really am a home bird.’

Favourite animal?

SYF: ‘Gazelle.’

Fritz: ‘I like big cats, like cheetahs and lions.’

SYF: ‘You kitten!’

Azari&III’s album, Azari&III is out August 1 2011

Azari&III will be playing Lovebox festival in Victoria Park on Sunday July 17.