Rare FM interview (2005)

Ladytron's Daniel Hunt talks to Robert Dunn and Pavel Oulik about why the new album has taken so long, losing the uniforms, Liverpool and why Pete Burns is probably better than him.

First thing, there's been a delay in releasing this album. It was meant to come out last year. What happened there?

We changed labels, that's all. When we started working on it, we were on Emperor Norton in the US and Telstar/Warner UK and rest of the world. Both those labels imploded while we were making the album. It was a ridiculous helpless situation to be in. We were in the process of demoing it two years ago. We went into to record it April 2004 so it could've been released by that autumn. It was very quick to write and record. It was really quite an easy smooth creative process. Just logistics held it up really, nothing that exciting.

The new album seems to continue in the vein of Light & Magic in that it was a departure from 604 for a darker, less poppy sound.

Maybe, in part of it but I think arguably it is the same as Light & Magic. Parts of that were darker but parts of it were more poppy in a way, like "Evil" or "Seventeen", or "Blue Jeans". This one, and I know everyone says that about their latest album, but this is by far our favourite and a lot closer to what we intended to do and the sound in our heads than previous two albums. It's a lot closer to what we originally had in mind and it's just a lot better articulated. The production's better; the songs are better; arrangement's better. It's also because we finished it a year ago but we still listened to it ourselves, which is probably slightly narcissistic, but if we're not bored of it yet; hopefully other people won't be.

Is it true that when you were touching it up in LA, the production guy thought there were guitars on there?

Well yeah, this story actually came when we recorded a cover version of Tweet's "Oops, Oh My" which musically was totally different to the original. It was just an idea we had on Monday, rehearsed on Tuesday and recorded on Wednesday and it was on the NME Turn On Chart the week after. It's just a little anecdotal thing, but it was all overdriven monosynth on our sound. When we were mastering it, the master engineer said 'I'm gonna tweak that frequency to bring out the guitars a bit more' and we were like 'Well, there no guitars on it'. It's the same thing with this record, like when people heard "Sugar" they went 'they've gone guitary'. The only guitar on that album is that high pitched wailing sound, the rest of is synths and the drums are drum machine. I think people hear a dynamic like that and assume that it's rock and also everybody is waiting for every synth band to commit the ultimate act of betrayal, Depeche Mode style. Like, y'know 'They've gone rock on us! They've gone rock on us! I knew it was gonna happen!' and that's not what we did. This record, in terms of our original root, probably the most influential band on me of the nineties is Stereolab and that's where we come from. Stereolab and My Bloody Valentine. We always got compared to The Human League and Kraftwerk but we were constantly trying to say that that was not what we wanted to do.

This is your first proper tour since Light & Magic in 2003. How does it feel to be back on the road?

It's good because there's only so much you can think about music, especially after such a long time working on this record and waiting for it to be released. Playing live is like the closest you get to manual labour, like working in a factory - it's instantly gratifying. So when you're on tour for a long time you're desperate to get creative again. I think it's very difficult to work on music when you're playing music every night. Thinking about those old songs, you need a break from that. But once you've been thinking about phased high-hat sounds for eighteen months you definitely want to get back on the pirate ship again. Go out there and hammer away.

So how's the tour been so far?

It's been good. It's got progressively better night by night. We remember the Oxford one being particularly good. Aberdeen as well. Glasgow was last night and that's always good. Played in Liverpool... our tour was strangely routed. We made a set of Mickey Mouse ears. We were just backwards and forwards on the M62 for like four days.

How was the Liverpool one?

It was good. Mine and Reuben's families were all out. It was good actually, because normally, loath to admit it but, the Manchester ones tend to be better than the ones in Liverpool.

I remember being at the last Liverpool gig in 2003 and there was a moshpit.

Were you at that one?

Yeah, and Franz Ferdinand supported.

Oh yeah, that little band. It was funny that because we supported them this September. A strange symmetry two years later. We thought they were really good and thought they were gonna do well but we had no idea that was gonna happen.

And Reuben's dad was next to me.

Oh yeah, Reuben's dad was moshing. He was at it again this week.

You played a cover of Cabaret Voltaire's "Nag Nag Nag" on your last tour. Are you gonna do that again this tour?

I dunno, why did we do that? It was just something we wanted to do at that point. It was funny because when we were working it out, we worked out the music easily - it's just two chords, Mira actually phoned up and got Richard H. Kirk's number off a mutual friend to get the lyrics and he was like 'I'm not sure if I remember them' so she was sitting in the rehearsal room on the phone transcribing the lyrics direct from source. We then invited them to Leeds Festival because we were going to play it live but our set was too short so we couldn't even play it and they were standing there at the side. So I dunno, we might play it again or we might just do another cover probably.

You've ditched the uniform outfits. Was this because it was limiting since people generally and the press especially were concentrating on the image of the band?

A little bit, but it's also because they were made for the last record. They weren't the same as the ones we had for the first record. On the first record we were wearing a few different things, but yeah it did get focused on a lot. It was just something that had run its course. And the girls wanted to wear dresses. I suppose it goes with the record as well, creatively the record's free-er. If things get difficult we can always sell them on ebay. Actually there were three sets. There was a green one, a black one and a white one. The white one only got worn once because it looked too much like catering had arrived.

Light & Magic was well received in the US and you played to much bigger crowds. Are you going back there to tour this album?

Yeah, definitely going back in Spring around March-April. This album's gone down even better than the last one. Getting better reviews and a lot more radio play even.

What do you think the difference is? Here you're relatively famous but what's it like in the States?

Well it's the same there. We're famous on a cult level. We sell out a venue like this [Koko] but it's not like cab drivers know who we are so I think it's probably a good level to be at. Over there it's basically the same but the venues are bigger, obviously the country's bigger. Like we've played somewhere bigger than this in New York and Chicago but then they're bigger cities.

Between touring, being in the studio and DJing which do you enjoy most?

It's different because there's so many different ways you can think in terms of music. In the studio, the album is the main thing but once you've thought about a record for so long you wanna get to work in the factory. DJing is just a bit of fun and also an easy way to get to places where the band hasn't been yet. We did Brazil, Argentina three or four times. We haven't played live there yet but we will next year. And we always go to America before we go on tour and do a DJ tour first so it's just an extra element. I think it works for us in terms of getting our name around as well.

Your DJ sets all differ. You're all very eclectic but your styles differ within the band.

Yeah, exactly. You get more Fleetwood Mac with Helen; you get more Os Mutantes with me; you get more Johnny Cash with Mira. Reuben just plays Gabba nowadays.

The British Council set a few gigs in China for you. How was that different to what you're used to?

It was an emotionally pretty draining experience for me even though I really enjoyed it. It was just like so much experience packed into two weeks. We only played four shows and saw so much. I mean if we'd just played Shanghai it wouldn't have been anyway near as weird. It would have been very impressive. But we saw Chungking as well which was completely different, it could have been a completely different country. It was good that they picked us to do it because they could've picked any band out there. But someone, somewhere decided we were taken out there.

You're the representatives of the British music industry.

Well, exactly. They could've taken any four-piece y'know four boys guitar band out there but they probably thought 'What good is that gonna do?' Without wanting to sound too big-headed but maybe they saw in us someone doing something a bit different rather than the regular thing people expect from Britain.

Do you have a favourite moment from a gig and/or DJing?

A lot of gigs on the American tour were really special. The gig in Sofia was very special. Exit Festival in Serbia this year was especially good. And the Champions League final, DJing that and playing Ring of Fire 40 times in succession.

How many fans were you DJing to?

Well a lot of them were still arriving so it was like this river of red coming down the hillside and I was trying to play a John Peel tribute set. So I played The Modern Lovers, "Kicker Conspiracy" by The Fall but I just kept having these guys coming up asking for "Ring of Fire" so I ended up kept putting it on. I knew Pete Wylie was gonna play a cover version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" later on so I asked his permission like 'd'ya mind if I played it now?' and he let me so I put it on and there was probably 25,000. Instantly, all these scarves in the air and everyone singing, I was literally in tears. It was the most insane thing, I'm sure there's footage of me and Gary from The Bandits who was there with us, people were passing us flags. After Wylie's version I had to DJ again so I stuck "Ring of Fire" on again and there was a stage invasion. The stage was just suddenly full of fans and I just looked at the people around me looking on in horror and I was like 'You best just pack these CD players away. I shouldn't play anymore. You should just take it all away now otherwise someone else will take it away for you!'. So I just gave up and then got pissed. And then went into the stadium and took 15 years off my life.

So that was before the match?

Yeah, before the match. I couldn't have done anything after the match.

Yeah, I was watching in my local and I couldn't bear to watch the penalty shoot-out so I had to stand outside.

The only question for me was what was gonna take me first? Heart failure or brain haemorrhage? Or a combination of the two.

It was quite an experience when you're in a pub in North London full of Arsenal fans singing "You'll Never Walk Alone".

Aw, that must have been mad, yeah. Seriously, I've heard that tragically some people did have heart attacks. Like some 22 year old kid from Ireland died in the pub during the game and I'm like fucking hell. And he didn't even know we'd won y'know. What a fucking way to go. I kind of lived in Milan for half of last year because my girlfriend lived there and made loads of Milan fan friends - lost them all. Made a lot of Inter friends now.

What are you listening to on your iPod at the moment?

I suppose just a case of what I've put on it. I put a load of Eno on it recently, and the Clor album. And I uploaded a load of Os Mutantes onto it. But it's quite an old one so the battery life in is like half an hour or something.

Who's the best band to come out of Liverpool? You or Dead Or Alive?

Ah, definitely Dead Or Alive! They were actually a credible band at one point. No one remembers this but what DOA were doing before they got involved with Stock, Aitkin and Waterman, they sounded like The Doors. They were more like The Cult or something like what The Cult were like in the mid-eighties. But then something happened, I dunno what. But I think Pete Burns is laughing all the way to the bank anyway.

What are your plans for the future?

More records. Well tour, this record, then the next record will come out a lot quicker.

So you enjoying it?

Yeah, yeah, more than ever to be honest. The more we do it the closer we get to a definitive thing. There won't be the gap, because we've had so much time off we've already written the next one. It would be good if we could have another record out this time next year. It depends on how much touring we do in the interim. I'm trying to press that we can take a month off and get the new record done.

So you've already got material for the next one?

Oh yeah, there's loads of stuff already there. We just need time to actually record it. So maybe if we can get a month off somewhere between now and next summer we might be able to go in and record it.

Do you think you'll ever get bored of this lifestyle?

I dunno, it's all I've done; I've never actually had a job in my life. Not because I come from any position of privilege, y'know, very normal family. I've just been very very lucky. All I've ever done is DJ and bands so I can't see myself getting bored of it. It's just a case of where you live. If I wasn't travelling so much I probably wouldn't live in Liverpool.

So are you still living in Liverpool?

Yeah, Reuben and I both bought places in Liverpool. It's a good base but if I weren't travelling all the time I wouldn't stay there. I mean I really love Liverpool and it's obviously home but I wanna live other places.

Where in Liverpool did you grow up?

I was born in Crosby but I grew up in the Wirral...

Really? I grew up in Toxteth and Aigburth, but then moved to Crosby where I lost me accent. [For readers ignorant of Liverpudlian geography, Crosby's a bit posh]

Oh, Reuben's flat is in Toxteth. Mine's in right in town, Duke Street. But we both grew up on the Wirral. We just opened a bar in Liverpool actually which makes things a bit more interesting.

I was back home in the summer and I tried to go to your club [Club Evol] but it wasn't on.

Yeah, because we were opening our own place we stopped the night where it was and we opened this new place, it's like a café-bar during the day and a club at night. It's called Korova on Fleet Street and Wood Street, near Probe Records. That's been open two weeks and going really well. It's a lot more satisfying than doing a club night because other people can do stuff in there and it's about making somewhere where it's good all the time and other people can use it. Like on Wednesday night Dave McCabe and The Zutons just turned up and did acoustic. We programme the music in there pretty carefully, the décor's nice and get all our favourite Latin American beers on the bar.

Do you mind if I take some pictures?

Could you take it later? You gonna be around for the gig? Could you take it later because I've basically just got out of bed and look like shit. It's what I've been dreading because all the interviews have been scheduled during loading time so a bit too early for me.

27 October 2005

Source

Chicago Sun-Times interview (2003)

Plenty of hip indie rockers pay homage to the groundbreaking synthpop band Kraftwerk, but few come as close as the Liverpool quartet Ladytron to matching the pioneering Germans' mix of innovative electronic soundscapes, ultra-danceable beats and unforgettable pop melodies.

The group recently followed its promising 2001 album 604 with an even stronger disc, Light & Magic. Now it's touring the States for the first time, with the core members of keyboardists, vocalists and DJs Daniel Hunt, Reuben Wu, Mira Aroyo and Helen Marnie augmented by a bassist and a drummer. I spoke with Marnie by phone from the United Kingdom before the start of the tour, which brings them to Metro tonight.

There hasn't been a whole lot written about Ladytron in the States. Take me through how you came together.

Daniel and Reuben kind of knew each other from Liverpool from DJ-ing around, and they had gone to university there. They wanted to do something together and have a band, but they didn't really know what it was going to be like or what shape it would take. Danny met Mira at a club they were DJ-ing at, and they met me very shortly thereafter through mutual friends. I was kind of into the same sort of music, and I was DJ-ing, but I used to live in Oxford. We met up and got along straight away, and I think that was the main thing. We enjoyed what we were doing and we very much took it one step at a time. We'd do a song and try and release it. This was about four years ago, and the first album came out two years ago. We'd been releasing singles for a long time before that.

As strong as 604 was, it seems as if the group took a quantum leap with Light & Magic.

The first one was more of a collection of songs, and some of them had existed for a long time. This one sounds like more of a record because it was done in a much shorter time and it was done to be a record, whereas the first one we were just doing song by song. With this one, we had more of an idea of what we wanted to do, and also, because we got to know each other better over time, all of our personalities come through more. It just seems to work better.

There seems to be a fascination for all of you with the New Wave era and elements of the sound of acts like the Human League and Gary Numan.

To be quite honest with you, we're not fascinated by that era very much. We're fascinated by the '60s much more than we are by that era. The whole aesthetic thing is more like late '60s/early '70s, a lot more so than '80s. I think people identify with the '80s because of the synths. They came out in the late '70s or early '80s, and out of those came the New Wave things you're talking about. I love Cabaret Voltaire and stuff like that, but I'm not actually in love with Gary Numan. I like Kraftwerk, but they were a really weird band that was making really, really good pop tunes. Basically, we use old synths because we like the sounds that they make.

The sound is marked by your use of vintage analog synthesizers. Is it difficult traveling with those instruments and converting the currency?

It's really difficult traveling, because the synths tend to break down quite a lot. We did a two-week tour of England at the end of last year, and I think we had about three of them dying in the space of two days. They can be fixed, but it's just a bit worrying when you know you're relying on something that's 30 years old and you haven't got another and it's really difficult to find another one of that type. But it's also really difficult when you play because we're not relying on amplifiers, so everything is DI-ed [direct-injected into the sound system], and it's a really complex thing to get it like the records sound live because everything goes through the P.A. There's a lot of technical [crap] like that.

You could use modern samplers to replicate those sounds.

Of course we can sample them, but it just doesn't really feel proper. And also when you sample sounds, you're relying on what you've sampled, but when we do stuff live, we're playing around with filters and stuff like that, and you can't do that when you're using samples. It's more organic our way. We bought this mini-Korg thing, which looks like an old vintage instrument and we thought, "OK, we're gonna sample all this stuff down on to it so in case something happens we have it", but it's just not the same thing. If you have a late-'60s Les Paul, you wouldn't be happy with like a [cheap] Encore [guitar], you know what I mean?

Synth pioneer Brian Eno always talked about the beauty of the early analog machines and their ability to surprise you with the turn of every knob.

Yeah! They change as well. There's no way that you can get the same sound twice. Sometimes it's irritating, and sometimes you get these really great sounds. You can be really frustrated because you haven't got the time to spend 10 minutes before a song trying to get exactly the right sound, but sometimes it cuts through. Like if there's bit where I want it to sound like a really nasty sort of electric guitar, sometimes it really cuts through and fits really good, but other times you press the key and it's this weird noise that's really irritating. Plus they tend to go out of tune.

So there are some headaches.

Yeah, there are a lot of headaches! After the show, we're always going over what went wrong, but hopefully we can cure the headaches.

I remember having a similar discussion with Tim Gane and Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab a decade ago. Do you feel kindred spirit with that band?

We've got the same [roadies], the backline people. [Laughs] But yeah, definitely. They kind of approached pop songs in a way we liked. But otherwise, beyond that, they use quite a different format. I think we're maybe a bit simpler in our approach to electronics than they are. I think they're more avant-garde and we're more common and not as clever.

For Ladytron, it seems to be about the song rather than the sound in the end.

Yeah, for us it's all about the song. I really liked Stereolab when they were all about the song and not trying to be so clever. And we're all about rocking a bit more as well. I think that kind of comes across more live when we're thrashing about.

You've recorded some amazingly effective tunes--singles such as "Seventeen", "Blue Jeans" and "Playgirl". When do you know you've written a song that works?

When you live with the melody in your head before you've actually written it or gotten to record it. And other times, I used to get this when I used to smoke--if I needed a cigarette after a song, I knew I liked it.

Like after sex!

[Laughs] Yeah. But now that I'm not smoking, it's kind of really frustrating. But you just know it, I guess. I like all the songs that we've done, but obviously some of them work more as pop hits than others. But you don't think of whether it's going to work or not; you get an idea and you put it down, and if you like it, then you go with it and hopefully it works for other people as well.

Source

Under the Radar interview (2008)

Mythical Beasts and Masterful Beats

"We're just going to go out and get drunk now", says Ladytron's Daniel Hunt, having recently approved the final master of the band's fourth record. "We've been organizing these album-wrap drinking sessions for about two weeks, and even though we hadn't finished the record, we just kept having them anyway. But this one's going to be definitive".

Ladytron have good reason to celebrate. When the Liverpool quartet emerged in 1999, their suits, synths, melodies, and Teutonic trappings clearly evoked techno pioneers Kraftwerk, leading many critics to deem them a nostalgic novelty act. Then came electroclash, a short-lived, New York-based fad that produced a flurry of like-minded bands, many of questionable quality. Ladytron and other such European acts were reluctantly lumped into this category, but Hunt and his bandmates Mira Aroyo, Helen Marnie, and Reuben Wu were able to weather the subsequent electroclash backlash by disproving their detractors; the band has consistently perfected their live shows and their studio productions.

The latest proof of their superior sonic prowess is Velocifero. The album shares its name with an obscure 19th century opera as well as an Italian scooter hyped for its flair, style, and simultaneously futuristic and classic qualities—all apt descriptors for any Ladytron endeavor. But regardless of its history, the name emerged from somewhere deep within the band's subconscious, initially as the title of a song that was cut from the record.

"The biggest shame about dropping that track was the name", says Aroyo. "It seemed to have a kind of urgency that we thought was relevant to the record. One of the guys who did our album cover thought that it sounded like a dinosaur. Or maybe some mythical beast".

Whatever its totem animal may be, Velocifero certainly has sharp teeth and a vicelike grip. With its assertive synths and rhythmic punch, Ladytron have moved away from the shoegazer echoes that resonated across their 2005 album, Witching Hour, producing a cleaner sound. While Hunt and Wu concentrate solely on their array of keyboards and consoles (save for a little gong action, courtesy of Wu), the ladies in the band continue to do double duty, playing synths and dividing vocal duties. Aroyo delivers her trademark bilingual deadpan (in English and Bulgarian), and Marnie provides her equally powerful yet relatively girlish counterpoint. But while the vocals and melodies have held steady, the rest of the album's sonic atmosphere appears to be in flux.

"It might be more of a departure than we actually realize at the moment", says Hunt. "It feels like a combination of the lessons we learned on the last two albums".

"On Witching Hour, we found a sound that we were happy with for the first time, but as a whole, it wasn't very diverse", adds Aroyo. "We hit on a formula of how to incorporate live drums and bass and guitars, and that's definitely still there—it gave us a lot of confidence and made us push ourselves a bit further. But with this one, we've tightened up some of the rhythmic elements and played with a wider variety of synth sounds, rather than relying on effects, reverb, and lots of washed-out guitars".

Recorded at the Studio de la Grande Armée in Paris, Velocifero was largely self-produced, with assistance from Andy Gardiner (aka Vicarious Bliss) of France's influential Ed Banger label, who had already remixed Ladytron's "Soft Power", from Witching Hour. Though Ladytron give their seal of approval to Ed Banger and the recent wave of hot French electro and hip-hop (Justice, Medhi, TTC, etc.), they're careful not to affiliate themselves with that scene, memories of electroclash still in the backs of their minds.

"We've never really cared about or been part of any trendy movements or felt competitive with other bands", says Aroyo. "We've got our way of working and we push ourselves within that space".

Hunt feels that the most significant outside contribution to the record came in the mix, by Los Angeles engineer Michael Patterson, whose credits include Beck's Midnite Vultures and several P. Diddy discs. But what really steered the band in a different direction was their own creative drive, not only to explore new sonic terrain, but to sidestep repetition.

"The worst situation to be in, if you're in a band, is to feel like you have to make the same record again and again", says Hunt. "That's gotta be soul-destroying".

"We have to amuse ourselves and reinvent ourselves, otherwise it's hard to keep this up over eight years", adds Aroyo. "But when you've been around for four albums, you also have the confidence and the freedom to change, so it becomes easier".

Ladytron's business matters have never failed to keep the band on their toes, with the constant folding of labels and forging of new deals on both sides of the Atlantic. In North America, Witching Hour was released by Ryko, which had bought out their previous label, Emperor Norton, but Velocifero has been picked up by the eager team at Nettwerk.

Having solid support in North America is of particular importance to Ladytron, because despite their distinctly European sound, they're one in a long line of bands whose fanbase is larger and more loyal here than on their home turf.

"The thing that really helps weirder bands like us is college radio", says Aroyo. "That's something that doesn't exist [in the U.K.]. Playlists on national radio are incredibly rigid, and very much orientated towards guitar rock bands with an NME story and lots of gossip behind them, or pre-fab pop, or hip-hop and R&B. [American] college radio is a lot more open-minded".

It also helps that Ladytron tend to tour the U.S. to death, filling up their aftershow time and days off with DJ gigs that allow them to meet even more fans than they would otherwise. With 31 dates set for North America alone to promote the June release of Velocifero, Ladytron have a lot on their plate this year. Clearly, the appeal of playing live hasn't worn off.

"I've enjoyed the last couple of tours a lot more", says Aroyo. "When we started, we thought we'd just make records. We had jobs, we had other things to do, so touring was really far down on our priorities list. Little by little, we realized that we needed to get good live. When we got good live, it really helped us to develop sonically, and touring became a lot more fun. A lot of people who come to shows don't really understand the kind of band we are until they see us live, and then things kind of click into place".

Source

Muzik interview (2002)

A grimy cafe in the worn-out Ancoats area of Manchester is not typical Ladytron territory. Not if you believe that they are the synth-pop saviours of the universe, all Prada-Meinhof chic and arch pop tunes beamed down from the coolest planet in the galaxy.

"Only the best for Ladytron!" chirrups petite, Scottish vocalist Helen Marnie, who is pushing soggy batter around her plate. Her fellow band members, Scouser Reuben Wu, Danny Hunt, who moved to Manchester 18 months ago because he "felt like part of the furniture in Liverpool", and Bulgarian former genetics PhD student Mira Aroyo, sip tea and eat crisps. The setting may be mundane, but Ladytron are anything but. Poised in the space between fashionably famous and properly, TOTP famous, they're out to prove that everything you know is wrong.

"Everything we've ever done has been to be different", says Wu. "We always had the desire not to repeat ourselves".

Since launching the acclaimed 604 on Liverpool indie label Invicta Hi-Fi two years ago, Ladytron have inspired Felix Da Housecat's Kittens and Thee Glitz, caught the fashion world's attention (for the requisite 10 seconds) with their modish uniforms and Eighties-leaning synth-pop tunes and anticipated the entire electroclash blip. Oh, and they're all stupidly attractive, in an elfin, paramilitary way.

"I was in LA throughout the summer", grins pop-obsessed, 26 year-old founding member Danny, "and I kept getting phone calls telling me this electro thing was going on in England. I came back at the tail-end of it all and thought, 'We've missed it, whatever it was'".

Reuben, 26, serene and serious in an art-swirl jumper, nods. "It's a good time for us to put out (new single) "Seventeen". The whole thing has died down and we want to book-end it".

"The fashion people latched onto us, but that's not what we are", says Helen, Mira adds: "I appreciate it, but I don't like it, They want to try and shape the music and that's a problem".

Throughout summer, when a square mile of London believed electroclash would take over the world, Ladytron, named after a Roxy Music track and Britain's leading exponents of updated synth-pop sounds, were silent. Apart from the profile-busting Reading and Leeds gigs, DJ gigs including, oh dear, New York Fashion Week and a suitably intellectual gig at London's ICA, where they provided a live soundtrack to Disney's Tron — a film whose visuals are as stunning as the plot is stupid — they've kept to the background, working on what comes next.

"People say we came round too early for all the electroclash stuff, so while we liked it, we decided to maintain a dignified silence", says Danny.

"We got a lot of press without actually doing anything", agrees Reuben. They look at each other and smile, in an inscrutable, Ladytron kind of way.

They've every reason to smile enigmatically too. Their new album, Light & Magic, leaves behind the monochrome, totalitarian sonics of 604, sounding as if the robots have been taken out of a studio and into late-afternoon sunlight. "Seventeen" may echo the first album's poisoned-candy pop with lyrics like "They only want you when you're 17 / When you're 21 you're no fun", but "Turn It On" sounds like it fell off Daft Punk's Discovery in a far brighter parallel universe".

"It was meant to sound like Salt-N-Pepa", says Reuben, "but ended up more like a booty bass tune". "The top layer sounds like Genesis", deadpans Danny.

"Black Plastic" suggests The Cure taken to Chicago circa 1986 and "Evil" sounds like Saint Etienne crossed with The Human League. It's still autobahn pop, but there's more bass. The speaker-busting album opener "True Mathematics" started as a techno tune ("Techno people like us!" declares Reuben), but will now soundtrack Friday nights at the coolest clubs, especially when the hotly-anticipated Soulwax remixes are released.

In March this year, the band were given a choice: record their album in icy Berlin with remixer Tobi Neumann or in sunny LA with Beck producer Mickey Petralia. "It didn't take us long to decide", says Danny — LA it was. "Not to slag the place off because people there have been making this music forever, but everyone is doing Berlin. Its nice to go against the flow", says Reuben. And to enjoy the sunshine. "The music changed a lot, things just grew", says Helen. Mira agrees: "We wrote most of the songs in Manchester but found that dark music sounds even better in the sun. Joy Division sounds great in an open-top car". Ladytron have successfully coupled this with the very English transformation of sex and enjoyment into a dark, guilty pleasure.

"Everyone said there was loads of bad sex on the last album", says Danny. "There was supposed to be better sex on this one but I think it's probably worse".

Recording in LA is a far cry from their beginnings. In Liverpool in 1998, Ladytron were just an idea in Danny's head. "I told people I was in this band for two years before it existed", he admits. The boys had known each other for years, a friendship cemented in Liverpool's record shops and clubs. Danny ran club night Liquidation at Le Bateau, where Reuben played. The band originally claimed Mira and Helen met on a train in Bulgaria, but, in truth, it was through mutual friends. Now complete, Ladytron speed-recorded the 15 tracks that became 604. The record came out, Britain swooned. Muzik made it our Album of the Month.

The effect was even more marked in America. "We only had about £500 to promote the album there", says Danny. "But it got good reviews and we sold quite a lot without playing live". Things are now set to get even bigger for the 'Tron. "Seventeen" was released in America on tastemaker indie label Emperor Norton (whose current roster includes Felix Da Housecat) and outsold 604 in three weeks.

If Ladytron are studiously mute about their lyrics — "even though they're about real things that happened, we'll destroy the magic if we explain them", says Helen — they're positively secretive about their live show. "We'll have sword swallowers", deadpans Mira. "Fire eaters. Go-go dancers — Helen and I will have perfected our backflips and cartwheels". Yeah, right.

They are more forthcoming about their ever-expanding DJ sideline. Reuben and Mira have just returned from a US DJing tour and Helen is about to join the DJ ranks, too. But if you go to see Danny DJ, beware: "I've got kamikaze instincts after the frustrations of doing a weekly night. Now, if you're not dancing, fuck you! I can go off at a tangent and want to (Master of the Universe voice) destroy all!". Watch out, world...

Source (pages 56, 57, 58, 59) | Scans

Chaos Control interview (2002)

Influences of early synth pop and electro are highly apparent in the music of Ladytron, but they are far from being a retro band. On their debut full length CD, 604, they successfully drew from the past to create a highly unique, futuristic sound. Their sonic palette often sounds like it could have been used to create an early '80s synth pop hit, but things would probably be much different today if bands from that era were able to create such infectious, sophisticated pop music as Ladytron.

Ladytron is comprised of Mira Aroyo (vocals/keyboards), Helen Marnie (vocals/keyboards), Daniel Hunt (keyboards/rhythm box) and Reuben Wu (keyboards/rhythm box). They recently released a new CD, Light & Magic.

The following is an email interview with Hunt.

How has Ladytron evolved from the initial formation to what we hear on 604?

We're more of a band, back then we hardly knew each other, it was all an experiment, we didn't know how things would progress. Now we have our setup better organized, our studio better equipped, for example we part-recorded "Movie" in a cheap studio in the same building as our label Invicta Hi-Fi. We wouldn't have to do that now, it's really liberating, to remove the time constraints of a studio and the opinions of the engineer from the process, to have indefinite time and space to record.

Where does the title 604 come from?

It's the area code for British Columbia... we're glad we've attached this strange importance to that number, it crops up everywhere now. We noticed when we stayed in Hamburg in Germany (in a hotel called "Commodore" - pure coincidence), that the number to phone reception from your room was '604'. Moments afterwards the building had caught fire and we were lucky to escape with our lives. I'm not joking.

What bands would you say most inspired you to make music, and who do you think had the biggest influence on Ladytron's sound?

Personally I can't remember, I suppose when I was a kid I was into Duran Duran and stuff like that, I got introduced to American electro like Mantronix, Newcleus, and Jonzun Crew through my older brother when I was about 10 years old. That was a massive influence, and I still listen to that stuff today, it has far greater mystique for me than English groups from that period.

Liverpool groups had some influence, Teardrop Explodes, Frankie Goes to Hollywood... later on in school I was into Jean Michel Jarre when the other kids were in their soft-metal phases... but I don't think any of these things made me WANT to make music, I think I just did anyway. I can't speak for the others obviously.

What are your favorite pieces of electronic musical equipment, and which do you think has the greatest effect on your sound and/or approach to composing music?

I love my Roland SH-09, it's all over the record. Mira loves her Korg MS-20, Reuben loves his Korg MS-10, But we record on a PowerMac, which has to be the most important item of kit actually. Steve Jobs gets a thank you on our album.

How would you compare the reaction you get from audiences in the various countries you've performed?

National stereotypes sometimes come out. I'd say Sweden was the most insane response so far, followed by Germany, the French are either ecstatic or very quiet, and the Spanish are narcofiends. We have enjoyed everywhere we've played so far, maybe because we never bother playing in England very much.

Do any members of the band have formal musical training?

Reuben and Helen have some classical training which has been completely disregarded in relation to this group. Their parents should be very proud after all that expensive tuition they paid for.

What's you approach to live performance? Do you have some backing sequences fixed, or are you able to play (or at least manipulate) everything live?

We play everything live but obviously we use drum machines and some bass sequences occasionally, things that are physically impossible to play, it would be pointless us trying to use a drummer and a bassplayer live just to fit into peoples preconceptions of what a band should be. We like the fact that our live setup is so different.

Do you think at all about live performance when you are writing/recording songs?

Not at all. I sometimes think "this would be good to play live" maybe, but I wouldn't want to limit our recordings by worrying about how to perform a song, live shows are momentary, records last forever.

How quickly do you tend to write/record? What does the ratio tend to be in terms of time spent composing, crafting sounds, and doing vocals?

Writing/recording/rehearsing is a single process for us, but personally, my songs knock about in my head for as long as possible before they're committed to tape in any way, as soon as you play a keyboard line, I feel like it has been defined, so I try and let the whole song develop in my head over weeks or months before I start building it up. It can happen very quickly, "The Way That I Found You" - Helen had sung that song once, before we got the take that's on the record, the song itself only emerged a week before we mixed the album.

Do you ever find that the electronic musical equipment gives you TOO MUCH control over things, to the point that you're not sure if a song is done?

You just need to keep stepping back and listening, I rarely tinker with something needlessly, I like our directness, I don't want to lose that simplicity on a track just because it's lived with us in our studio for a few months. It can ruin great tunes, you need to discipline yourself, it's the flipside of what I said earlier, sometimes you need to just turn off and go home.

You seem to be in a unique position because there's a heavy early '80s synth pop influence, yet at the same time you have a sound very much your own. What do you think the pros and cons are of people making the association?

Pros: a reference point. Cons: having to justify your existence every step of the way, I think it will not be an issue by the time we release our next album. We also get associated with groups we don't really feel any affinity with.

Our final word is always that we have some influences and instruments from that period, which we use to generate our version of right now.

How do you feel about the recent returns of such early '80s electronic pop bands as Soft Cell and Book of Love?

I suppose it's a little elevated over the cabaret circuit, I'd love to see Soft Cell live, but it's just the past, I hate seeing my idols looking torn down, onstage, caked in foundation...

What's in the immediate future for Ladytron?

European festivals, US Tour, "Playgirl" single, recording next album, laptops on the beach.

Source

The Game Reviews interview (2009)

We recently had the chance to speak with Reuben from Ladytron.

I've been a fan of your music for a while now. Are any of your older songs going to appear on future games?

Hello, nothing planned as yet – but we'd rather our newer songs to be used actually, because that's where we are right now, musically.

Are there any artists that you absolutely idolize and look up to? Did they inspire you to create music yourself?

There are loads – too many to name all – getting asked to support Nine Inch Nails on a European tour was pretty impressive and we've just been asked to play at the Sydney Opera House at a festival curated by Brian Eno this summer. Apparently his daughter got him into us.

Are you excited to be featured on video game soundtracks?

Yes – because it's such a massive opportunity for our music to get to new fans. When you play a game – the music hardwires itself into your head – think Super Mario Bros and all the classic Nintendo soundtracks – then you have all the nostalgia for 8-bit Atari sounds...

Do any of you guys enjoy playing video games? If so, what kinds are you into?

Yeah Danny and I play games – Danny's into the role-play stuff mainly to stop being bored when there's no internet. I tend to play low-commitment games like Need for Speed Carbon and Wipeout. Mira played Second Life once and got accidentally shagged on the beach at a nudist colony.

What kind of music do you enjoy? Any recommendations? Are you perhaps friends with the other bands signed onto Artwerk?

Yeah we are mates with Datarock, who played with us on our North American tour – they are a lot of fun. I'm listening to some old stuff I enjoyed in the 90s right now – an electronic act called Future Sound of London. And a new band from Australia called HTRK.

If you could be featured on the soundtrack of any game coming out in the future, what would it be?

Always loved Grand Theft Auto! Maybe the next one...

Are you going to be writing any new specific songs for games, or do you submit songs you've previously recorded?

Both. We did 3 exclusive tracks for the Sims mid 2008. They were all written especially for the game and we even recorded the vocals in Simlish.

It seems to me that "Destroy Everything You Touch" would work great in an RPG-styled game. Are there any songs in your catalogue that you associate to any video games or films, or events in your life that are special to you?

I suppose they all do. "Fighting in Built Up Areas" always had a gaming vibe to it. We are all big film fans so visual elements are all big influences in the way we put our records together.

What sorts of subjects inspire you to write music?

Life in general.

I know We just got Velocifero not too long ago, but when can we expect another studio album?

Hopefully soon – We have an album in basic form already – we just need to spend some time working on it. Give us a few months.

Thanks for the interview! Is there anything extra you'd like to say to our readers?

Eat your greens.

Source

Beatportal interview (2011)

Taste Test: Ladytron's Mira Aroyo

What was the first record you remember having as a child?
My parents had Beatles, Dylan, Bowie record, stuff like that. I used to have all these children's story records that had music on them too. Some songs and some quite trippy soundscape stuff.

What was the first record you bought with your own money?
Technotronic's "Pump up the Jam" on tape.

Which style or genre of music was your first great love?
My parents' music. The stuff I mentioned before. Then stuff like The Birthday Party, Suicide and krautrock bands.

What was the first concert that you ever attended?
Guns N' Roses, supported by Billy Idol.

What was the first musical instrument that you ever played?
Guitar.

How did you come to start DJing, and what were your first attempts like?
I was a student in Oxford and started a night with some friends playing quite eclectic material. It was a real mix of old '60s music to newer, electronic kind of stuff.

What was the last record (or MP3) you bought? How many tracks/records do you typically acquire every week?
I have more of a monthly shop. Around 20.

What format do you DJ with – vinyl, CD, Traktor/Serato, Ableton, etc...?
CD.

What's the last gig/party you attended where you weren't also performing?
The last gig was by my friend Vice Cooler.

Which track (by another musician) do you wish that you had made?
Most stuff by Vitalic, Brian Wilson or Leonard Cohen.

What's your favorite record from this year that isn't electronic dance music?
Bill Callahan: Apocalypse.

Current reading or last good book read?
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss.

Favorite piece of gear?
My Ricoh GR1v camera.

Favorite city/country/club to perform in?
North and South America.

Which actress would you want to play you in the biopic of your life?
Shelley Duvall in the '70s.

And if you were an actress, which musician would you want to play?
Sun Ra.

One misperception about Ladytron that you'd like to correct.
That we are cold and distant. There is a lot of emotion in our music.

Source

The Stool Pigeon interview (2008)

Helen may still digging her heels in the sand, but the rest of Ladytron are now available in shades other than black.

"We should get our bikes out!" declares Reuben Wu, Ladytron's energetic keyboardist. Mere moments later, he and Bulgarian born singer Mira Aroyo are riding around the East Berlin music venue that will tonight host the latest show in their stamina-defying tour. Zooming frantically and pointlessly in circles, they charmingly resemble over energetic ET cast extras. They appear a fraction of their ages, reeking of nothing more rock'n'roll than good old fashioned healthy living. If they are on something, it's surely berocca.

Ladytron are in the German capital to promote their latest long player, Velocifero, and judging by the look of their swanky jumbo-sized tour bus, they are reaping the rewards of surviving nine years in music. Let us not forget, when Ladytron burst onto the scene via John Peel with their alluring lo-fi art house electro in 1999, they never seemed like a true mainstream concern. Rather, they politely offered the world carefully sculptured hair, jet black uniforms, pale faces and icy demeanours. In the world of pop, that's a foolproof way to project a sense of cool mystery to gullible people. Or get you confused with Suede.

"When we started, we just did it for fun", explains Mira, now perched on a backstage leather couch. "We all had day jobs and no grand plan. We weren't expecting to make a living from the band".

Ladytron's new record smoothly continues their unique portfolio of synth pop with tracks such as 'They Gave You a Heart, They Gave You a Name' and latest single 'Ghosts'. It also encompasses a number of eye opening interludes, such as when Mira begins to vocalise in her native Bulgarian tongue on the opening number 'Black Cat' and the intriguing 'Kletva'.

"We spent about two months in Paris recording and mixing", says Reuben. "We then went to LA to finish it with producer Michael Patterson, who has worked with Beck and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. I think our last record, Witching Hour, was a milestone in terms of us finding a sound that we're happy with. Through a lot of touring, our live sound became very powerful – it had so much energy – and we wanted to translate that into our records, though we're still using the same instrumentation we've always used. We're never going into rock'n'roll or anything like that".

Ladytron have undoubtedly found their niche and are clearly ecstatic about their achievements on Velocifero. "I'd give it four billion trillion billion and 42 out of 10", Mira claims. "It's a harder and louder album than Witching Hour and it's also more diverse and experimental in terms of rhythms. People have in their heads what a typical Ladytron song sounds like, so we just pushed things a bit more. I think we've become more psychedelic in every way".

With Mira's severe crop now replaced with feminine curls, it would seem that Ladytron's once regimented vampiric look has loosened up as well. "Our hair is quite low maintenance", she adamantly insists.

"I think everyone likes to look nice", believes Reuben. "We've always tried to approach how we appear in a different way to normal bands. At the start we all wore black matching uniforms, so we didn't need to worry about what to wear onstage. At the time it really fitted. Now we're more individual".

Ladytron's strong interest in the visual side of things extends beyond the realms of sartorial elegance.

"We like to have control over our artwork, video and record sleeves", continues Reuben. "From the very beginning we used to do our own sleeves and album covers. These days we get other people to do it, but we're still very involved in the process".

"Lyrically, I think we also write in terms of images rather than themes", adds Mira.

Scottish-born Ladytron vocalist Helen Marnie isn't smiling today. Or speaking. She utters not one word until the moment we see a fox galloping past in a nearby field and the boisterous Reuben bizarrely begins to chase after it like it's stolen his Lucozade. Then Helen sharply drops a bombshell on her band mates: "I'm not getting my bike out".

Helen knows I'm miserable now indeed and, thankfully, she's only one forth of Ladytron. It's hard to work out whether she's ill, as her band members apologetically tell us, or just shrewdly carrying on the band's historical unsmiling-we-are-the-robots tradition that the others have abandoned for happiness and colour.

To back up this unexpected development, it is decided that one of Berlin's highly authentic-looking LA style 'beach bars' is the perfect place to photograph them for today's shoot. The band's latest video, directed by Joseph Khan, who has also shot promos for baldy bores Moby, U2 and Britney Spears, similarly goes against their dark electro stereotype and is set in a soft focus desert. "The same director did 'Thong Song'", explains Reuben enthusiastically. "It is probably the most sexy video we've ever done. It was filmed in the same place as Kill Bill 2".

Let's hope Ladytron didn't pay Mr Khan megabucks in advance, as the finalised version turned out to be more conventional than Delta Goodrem. Any shots of Ladytron writhing around in bikinis have been edited out, and what remains is about as kinky as a Pringles advert. On the upside, it features a really cute rabbit, but you don't have to crawl all the way to the desert to find one of those.

Who then, dead or alive would the band handpick to direct the full-length movie of Ladytron's life? "Werner Herzog or John Walters would be pretty good", says Mira, smiling.

And how and when will the Ladytron chronicles end? "I think we've outlasted most bands nowadays", she says defiantly. "We just take one day at a time".

"I try to be nice everyday", concludes Reuben sombrely. "I don't want to get reincarnated as a cockroach".

Club Events interview (2006)

Date: 23rd July 2006
Location: Nessebar
Event: Viva Beach Festival
Text/questions: Elena Ionovska

It's been more than 3 years since the legendary now Ladytron gig in Sofia. Last night's show was part of Viva Beach Festival at the Black Sea. Ladytron played a long set featuring almost every track from their last album Witching Hour ("CMYK", "Whitelightgenerator" and "All the Way..." were the only ones that weren't performed). They also did an impromptu mash-up at the end - Mira rapping "Commodore Rock" (a track from Ladytron's first album 604 which lyrics are based on the Bulgarian national anthem) while Helen singing "Seventeen". On the next day I meet Helen & Reuben to talk about... music, the new album, life, touring, festivals, cats, dogs, whales... All in 15 minutes! A sincere un-edited version of the interview with the cute half Tron.

Elena: So what is your most vivid memory from your gig in Sofia in May 2003?
Reuben: It was definitely the gig and this huge beautiful building, inside like a ballroom, it just looked really really nice and the gig was very good as well.

Elena: And if you have to compare it with this one?
Reuben: Oh, completely different! It's more like a festival vibe. We've never played on the beach before...

Elena: Never?
Helen: We played on beaches but not in Bulgaria...
Reuben: Really? When was last time?...
Helen: About last week!
Reuben: Oh yeah! Almeria! (a Spanish festival at the Mediterranean coast) But that wasn't exactly the beach! It's the first time that we actually see the waves next to us.
Helen: We've done also Creamfields at the beach...

Elena: You've probably played at a lot of similar festivals in the summer in Spain or Portugal for example. Since this is the first time such an event is carried out in Bulgaria, could you compare it to the ones in Western Europe?
Reuben: They have so much in common... It's by the beach, it's great weather... (both laugh)
Helen: Well, it's a big party. Everyone wants to dance.

Elena: Danny and Mira wrote the lyrics for 604 and Light & Magic and in the last one, Helen, you write texts too. How did that come?
Helen: We all write now.
Reuben: It's very collaborative. Danny has always been the main songwriter. In Witching Hour it has been a lot more shared between all of us. It's going to be like that from now on. Which is really good, the third album in, we're still evolving... and it's the best so far.
Helen: The Witching Hour is the most varied of the three and the next one will probably be even more between the four of us, so these are four separate channels of influences that have impact on the music.

Elena: So who wrote "Beauty*2" lyrics?
Helen: I did.

Elena: In "Fighting in Build Up Areas", the Bulgarian track on the album, there are two layers of vocals and they seem different people. Is there another person who sings the back vocals in Bulgarian or it's Mira after all?
Helen: She does all, we don't have a substitute or a guest vocalist. (laughs)
Reuben: The vocal track of this tune has so many layers. It's quite difficult to listen to all of it and identify all as one. But it's definitely all Mira. All the vocals are within the band.

Elena: What about having a new album? Are you planning getting into studio soon? Not long after Witching Hour was released Danny said in an interview, you already have some material...
Helen: We do. With Witching Hour we had so many songs as well. We already had proper songs from some years ago and now we've also got around 15 tracks that are demo tapes and then next year we'll go into studio and work on them.
Reuben: It's always good to start with a whole load of tracks and then decide which of them are going to be on the album, which we'll use for B-sides and which are the ones that we need to work further and put on the next album.

Elena: So, roughly, shall we expect a new album in 2007?
Reuben: Hopefully. We do have a lot of tunes, a lot of demos, it's a question of finding time...
Helen: You can never make promises though!

Elena: What will be the new album sound direction? Witching Hour is considered darker than Light & Magic which is considered darker than 604... Will you continue with that?
Helen: It will be black!
Reuben: We might do a comedy album! Where everything is in major key, we never really do anything in the major key. Maybe we should do a major key album.

Elena: Will you continue to use mainly synths on?
Reuben: Oh, yeah! We're still a synthesizer band. Most of them are breaking down now. We need to find a replacement... We have some new MS2000 but they are only for lives. We have some other old analog synths that we prefer to use in the studio.

Elena: What do you enjoy doing when you're not occupied with music?
Helen (thoughtful): I enjoy...
Reuben: Shopping!
Helen: I don't shop much! (bashfully). I enjoy... going out with friends, taking my dog for a walk...

Elena: You have a dog? What kind?
Helen: (shows something the size of a larger ladies bag and says quietly) ...mongrel.
Reuben: A shitty little mongrel!

Elena: You prefer cats?
Reuben: Yeah, I do...
Helen: Cats are... No, you don't! Cats don't love anyone, they love everyone. Cats don't love you!
Reuben: They do, they love me. They just don't love you! You're a dog person, they know that, they feel that you're a dog person...
Helen: That's a speculation! I've got cats too!...
Reuben: I like animals, I love animals but I prefer cats!
Helen: Yeah... you love to eat them. (referring to "the animals", erm...)
Reuben: So do you!
Helen: But not sharks or... dolphins or...
Reuben: I did not eat dolphin or shark!
Helen: ...whales. (bursts into laughter)
Reuben: I didn't!
Helen: You wanted to!
Reuben: I was interested in the availability of it in Iceland...
Helen: Anyway...

Elena: Oh, Iceland! You did a gig there a month ago or so, how was that?
Helen: Yeah, it was amazing. We saw the Blue Lagoon, we had quite a bit time off, taken a look on culture... drinking culture... (laughter again)

Elena: Since last fall you have a new bass player - Andrea. How did you choose her?
Reuben: She's really good not only because she's a good bass player but it equals the gender balance within the band – it's 3 boys and 3 girls that play live... It's nice when we go out and tour. Because when you have too many boys, things get a little bit unhygienic after a while... It's good to have ladies.
Helen: She's great. When Jon (Pop Levi) left we were all sad about that because he was really good fun. But he wanted to do his own music. Andrea's definitely the right replacement.

Elena: The hardest moment for the band so far?
Helen: The hardest for me was probably before Witching Hour came out. It took us 2 years to get the album out, quite a bit of period of time off where we went through arranging things for that.
Reuben: Yeah. For me, it was that on creative level we had a whole new album ready to come out and it didn't come out for ages. I've felt in a bit of creative slump, we've just done something and waited to come out and we couldn't do anything until it comes out.

Elena: Does being in a band, means you have to make a lot of compromises or it's pretty easy-going?
Reuben: No, it's like having a cake! Definitely, compared to a normal job...
Helen: You always have to compromise doing any aspects of life...
Reuben: Everything is a compromise... When you're playing in a band, it's nice as well. I would enjoy the lifestyle. Getting to travel, seeing places, ok, you're not there like a whole week, you can't really check out the places, you leave on the next day after the gig, but still you do see a lot. For me that's one of the main things.

Elena: And do you enjoy touring?
Reuben: I like it!
Helen: I like most of it...

Elena: I guess it could get tiring at some point?
Helen: It's very tiring! No one's going to say it's easy because it's not easy. But it has benefits – we have a lot of fun, you go on stage every night, perform and do what you enjoy.
Reuben: Over the summer it's good for us because we mainly go out for the weekends and then come back home for 5 days and then go away again. Well, sometimes having an early flight is a bit of a pain but...

Elena: Will there be a European tour after the American tour?
Helen: Probably. We do America September till the end of October, then we have 10 days off, then we do South America in November till December. We're going to take some time off till mid January. And do a European tour in February or after that.

Elena: Are you willing to come back in Sofia?
Helen: Yes, Sofia was real good fun last time!

Source

Repeat Fanzine interview (2009)

Ladytron on Their Past, Present & Future...
March 2009

"In 2001, the first fruits of what would become the new electronic-rock movement began to fall. Ladytron's debut, 604, was an integral part of that first strike. A pristine, analogue adventure of sound and substance, the album would go on to influence the genre itself, while the group quietly made a global impact both visually and stylistically. Ladytron's counterbalance of emotional vulnerability and psychological ingenuity – personified by the opposing vocals of Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo – created their own world that had yet to be fully explored". OFFICIAL LADYTRON BIOG EXTRACT

"Ladytron's doom-laden arrangements feel as accomplished as Radiohead jamming with the Pet Shop Boys". BLENDER

Having perfect symmetry, would be an ideal way of describing Ladytron – who formed in Liverpool in the Summer of 1999 and took their name from a Roxy Music song. As aesthetically, with two bombshell femmes, Glaswegian born Helen Marnie and Bulgarian born Mira Aroyo, plus two Liverpudlian hommes, Daniel Hunt and Reuben Wu, they are one of the classiest, most refined and razor-sharp union's you'll ever lay eyes on! For whether Ladytron are gracing artwork, music videos or the stage (in post-Apocalyptic, Blade Runner-esque, utilitarian military-style uniforms), their cool, calm and collected composure, savoir faire + iconography, has always been sympathetic to their songs and is nothing short of enamouring!

And that's just for starters, as I haven't even begun to touch on the other important part yet – their crisp, chilly and crystalline electropop, with a dark edge and slick polished sheen. Which has rainfalls of processed / pneumatic beats, 'Teutonic Krautrock' motorik rhythms, sparks of treated effects, programmed loops, spiralling synthetic samples, embers of effulgent guitars and galvanised metallic bass. All incased in a shiny cybernetic shell, with the simmering, sexy and sparkling 'signature' vocals shared between dual singers, Helen and Mira (who also sings in her native tongue).

Automaton and euphonious voices that are complete opposites, yet as if by magic, gel seamlessly together. Be it Helen's sweet velvety purr, gliding and caressing your ears with ghostly emotion, or Mira's vampish exotic tones, writhing with icy-detachment and dripping with sensuousness. Perhaps this is because every single word and every single breath, is bolted to luxurious and immaculate songs that sound like they've fallen from the sky. Which when allied with the group's enigmatic / oblique lyrics, could be summarised as an alchemic extraction of beauty from technology – or what Mira once spiritedly coined as, "Electro with a fist!".

At its core then, Ladytron's clean, smart, methodical and streamlined retro-futuristic music, cuts both a resplendent and wistful path, and is fundamentally programmed electronica with a human touch, that's festooned with blips + bleeps and emanates a wintry wonder, clandestine romance and vitality, rocketed by the band's zeal and commitment to craftsmanship. Four tantalizing albums are currently available for your delectation – 604 (2001), Light & Magic (2002), Witching Hour (2005) and Velocifero (2008), along with one DJ mix compilation, Softcore Jukebox (2003). Sterling bodies of work, whose spectrum of sound, elegant precision and vapour trails, will quicken your pulse, evoke shivers of pleasure and enrich your life!

So far, each consecutive release hasn't merely been a continuation of the previous LP, it has been a quantum leap record that's raised the bar, with the group swiftly progressing and growing by "focusing on a balance between pop structures and digitally-edited analogue electronic sound, with experimental leanings". Which at this moment in time, has blossomed into a much fleshier, full-blooded, souped-up and robust whole, that's firing on all cylinders! Adding to this eclectic nature and multifarious output, is the fact that each band member now brings his or her own individual musical piquancy to the table; "We've gotten to know each other's strengths a lot better", Mira once reflected on Ladytron's pool of talent and their close, co-operative relationship.

In this sense, with arrangements, instrumentation, complex circuitry, musical compounds and detail to the Nth degree, that can be pored over, Ladytron can rightly be classed as maestros, scrupulous technicians, modern architects and premier purveyors of glacial sonic washes – the "heavyweight template" or omnipresent bedrock of their sound. As they persistently squeeze phenomenal and innovative creative juices from their hearts and minds. In turn, transferring their inspiration / ideas to synthesisers and producing coruscating tracks, that provide vantage points from which to see how far they could possibly go! And on repeated listens, individually disrobe their multi-layered splendour along with a collision of nifty noises that will leave you smitten. A fact not lost on other musicians or club promoters, as exclusive Ladytron remixes and DJ sets are highly-coveted!

Thankfully, the group's latest long player, Velocifero, has been their most successful to date – helping elevate their status by delighting the faithful and crucially, picking up new fans. And after taking a well-deserved break following the completion of their lengthy 2008 tour + writing songs with Christina Aguilera at her LA home, for the diva's forthcoming album. Helen has very kindly filled in an Exclusive Questionnaire for R*E*P*E*A*T, as Ladytron prepare for a new 3 month tour of the USA and Europe – where they will also be supporting the legendary Depeche Mode on some dates! They have even been personally invited by Brian Eno (one of their biggest musical heroes) to perform at the Sydney Opera House in June, as part of his curation there!

So, by continuing to fuse intrigue with accessibility, many more people are now beginning to wake up to the sound of Ladytron, discovering that they are utterly beguiling and endlessly fascinating, with music that lingers long past listening. And as a meritorious band who need to be seen, heard + felt, and who have their own vision of success, I predict that Planet Earth will soon be witnessing the rise of the robots...

Growing up, what was your biggest source for discovering new music, and can you remember the first press coverage, radio airplay or TV exposure that Ladytron ever had?

I was a regular Top of the Pops and Chart Show viewer, so I guess that's where I found different types of music. I think the first coverage we got, was when John Peel played "He Took Her to a Movie" on his Radio 1 show. And then following that, we got 'Single of the Week' in the NME.

You have long had an extremely devoted / cult following throughout Europe, but why do you think Europeans have always been so drawn to subcultures / dark electro, rock and gothic music?

It's strange how particular pockets across the world just seem to 'get' our music. As well as in Europe, we've also always done really well in the US, along with South and Central America. It's a surprise when you go somewhere for the first time and find a fanbase that has been waiting years for you to come and play. It feels good, but the reason for it – I don't know? Perhaps they just appreciate good music and don't want to conform to the norm.

Continuing with this train of thought, Johnny Marr recently gave a lecture at The University of Salford, where he argued that "Outsiders are the lifeblood of The Music Industry, but too often overlooked". What are your feelings on this?

It's true. 'Outsiders' inspire others to do things, but often don't get the success that they deserve. It's not always the case, but it does happen often. It's like the whole surge in the mainstream at the moment for electro / synth tracks. Everyone has resorted to it, and bigger artists are heavily influenced by bands that may never break through. It's just the way things go. Always will be.

What has been the best thing that someone has ever said about Ladytron?

In China, a journalist asked myself and Mira, "Why we looked like men?" It was funny. The girl was sweet, but just got her words mixed up... I assume.

As a primarily electronic-based group, of all the beats, effects, loops, samples, textures etc. in your songs, which have been the most rewarding to create?

I think every song is rewarding in some way, and when you hear them all come together as an album, then it all makes sense. We don't have a formula for songwriting, it changes from track to track. Sometimes it starts with a lyric, other times a melody or riff. "Predict the Day", from Velocifero, started with a whistle and grew from there.

Has the way you worked changed over the years?

The main thing that's changed over the years, is that we are all writing now. When we first came together, Danny had already written the whole of the first album. It's more equal now and more diverse too, because we're all contributing. We all have studios at home and usually we individually construct a track, then pass it on for someone else to add to.

Would you ever consider stripping away some of the electronica in your music, in order to create more acoustic, organic and pastoral songs, similar to what Goldfrapp did with their Seventh Tree album?

I would never say never – as long as it was a natural progression. I wouldn't want to create anything that was contrived. I really like the way Bat For Lashes has melded her folk-like tones with electro.

The Pet Shop Boys deservedly received ‘The Outstanding Contribution to Music' prize at The 2009 Brit Awards, but who for you, would also be worthy of such an accolade and why?

As a kid, I loved Michael Jackson and Madonna. I think they've both done enough to be worthy. Madonna's new stuff might not be what I want to listen to, but at least she has the ability to change.

You seem to have a very strong sense of self, and have clearly taken great care and consideration over the band's style and artwork. Is this important to you?

It is important, because people will take one look at you and judge you. So it's important you get it right, or at least show how you want to be perceived. We're all interested in design – Reuben previously was a product designer and Danny did a lot of graphic design – so it was natural for us to take an interest in our own artwork.

Your live shows are both cherished and celebrated for their all-encompassing nature, but what type of experience do you hope that you give to your audience?

Audiences differ a lot – it depends where you are and what night it is. We mostly get a lot of happy faces and dancers, but occasionally, we get starers. I'm unsure why they need to stare at us, expressionless. I would hope that people go away from our gigs wanting more and wanting to relive the whole experience all over again. We like to mix up the gig as much as possible to include songs from all 4 albums. It's difficult though to please everyone, without doing an Elton John length gig.

And if you had an unlimited budget, what would be your dream stage set-up?

Lights are the most important part of the stage set-up, so if our budget was bottomless, then I'd fill the stage with all sorts of bulbs and an interactive map as a background. It's a crowd pleaser!

What have been some of your personal highlights / defining moments, during your career so far?

There have been quite a few highs with Ladytron. Just touring the US for the first time was pretty amazing to me. Going to South America, to Brazil or Columbia – where the record isn't even out – and playing to a crowd of over 3,000 people is quite a shock.

When you do have some free time to yourself, how do you like to spend it?

Time is precious, that I know. When I'm home, I like to just settle in – see friends, family, my dog, my boyfriend… but not in that order. I've recently taken up the rock 'n' roll art of Knitting and I'm also into sewing and fashion design.

If you were asked to look after 'Later… with Jools Holland' for 1 week, as well as featuring Ladytron in the line-up, which other 5 acts / bands (a mix of new + old) would you book to appear on the programme?

Bat For Lashes
Kate Bush
Phosphorescent
Fairport Convention
MGMT

Lastly, chips or cream buns?

Most definitely chips.

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The Skinny interview (2011)

With their fifth album on the neon horizon, Ladytron show no signs of putting their feet up. Singer Helen Marnie takes time out to talk "electro music with heart".

Hitting the ten year mark and still sounding innovative and forward thinking is no small achievement in the electro pop world. Whilst many of their contemporaries faded from sight or became niche concerns, Ladytron spent the last decade channeling their underground sound into wider exposure on their own dime.

With that period crystallized in their recent Best Of, the Liverpool-based quartet have put a line underneath their past. With fifth album Gravity the Seducer promising a new direction, it seemed a good time to check in with singer Helen Marnie.

Congratulations on reaching your tenth birthday as Ladytron. Do you feel like veterans?

I wouldn't say we feel like 'veterans', more like a bunch of kids trying to figure out what works for us. We've learnt a lot over the years though and I think this has attributed to our longevity. We've been very lucky really. Luck, hard work and hard touring have made us the Ladytron we are today.

What made you want to take stock of your first decade with the recent Best Of album?

After ten years it felt like we had the right to put out a package that encapsulated us. [We wanted] a brief history of the 'Tron, so any newcomer could pick up the album and know exactly where we came from, and where we're going.

Can you remember there being a point where everything clicked into place and you knew Ladytron were going to have legs?

I'd say the turning point was when we all left our 'proper' jobs. When I was younger I was more into risks like that, so it wasn't a big deal. Witching Hour was probably the album that changed us. It was like a coming of age, we were all writing, coming up with ideas, and I think it presents like that. It was received well and because of that, a massive whirlwind of touring followed. Looking back it was kind of nuts!

Your electroclash sound, if you will, is considered fair game for pop music these days. Does this feel vindicating or just depressing?

Neither really. The mainstream always catches on soon enough, so no surprises really.

Are you able to see a more genuine influence in anyone popping up these days?

It's weird to name people that may or may not be influenced by you. Who knows where peoples' inspiration comes from? I've enjoyed the last two records of both MGMT and Yeasayer. I think they're flying the flag for electro music with heart.

Is it difficult to remain 'forward-thinking' after four albums?

What's difficult is deciding which tracks make it on the album as we always have too much material. With Gravity the Seducer our approach was pretty easy. We'd all been writing, plus we'd had over a year off from touring which really made a difference and cleared our heads. We were all excited to just get back in the studio and hear the new tracks coming together.

It was recorded, I'm faithfully told, in the English countryside. This seems rather incongruous to the Ladytron aesthetic. Can we expect something of a curveball in September?

It sure was, in Kent, the Garden of England. It was great. In-between takes I could go outside and feed the horses in the field. I think people will be surprised by Gravity. It isn't like our other albums. It sounds warm, lush, full of strings, organs and bells. It won't please everyone, you never can, but we're all pretty happy with it.

You originally lived in Glasgow. Will your gig at the Arches be something of a homecoming and how are Scottish audiences in general?

I love coming home to Scotland. I'm hoping to move back permanently. Like they say 'you can take the girl out of Scotland, but you can't take Scotland out of the girl'. The gigs have always been great north of the border. Glasgow audiences always show us a good time. Here's to June 9th!

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