The Gearwire interview (2006)

Ladytron debuted in 2001, with the album, 604. Since then, the foursome has crafted moody electronic anthems which can be heard on everything from college radio playlists to overhead music programming at Old Navy.

It's hard to imagine parents with their toddlers grooving along while shopping to songs with names like "Destroy Everything You Touch," and while the group's latest, Witching Hour, has a definite apocalyptic feel, it's obvious those Old Navy shoppers are oblivious to the subject matter, lost in finely crafted electronic bliss.

Ladytron's Danny Hunt says the group usually tagged with an "electro pop" handle, and while Hunt says that may be technically correct, but "pop" and "electro" are genres far too limiting for his taste.

"We're shy of any generic term because we started this group to exist outside of any genres," said Hunt, "They kind of creep up on you though, which is why its important to keep moving and experimenting. When we're being copied or placed in a pigeonhole, we just move another step."

Ladytron seems to have eyes fixed squarely on the future, but for their mix of robotic synth noises, precision drumming, and haunting vocals, the group takes a step backwards in time, not forward.

"We use predominantly old analogue synths, and synth drum sounds, we feed them through other analogue effects." Hunt says. "We use treated guitars and drums too, we like to feel that we're not shackled, that we can act instinctively against advice or expectation, and be ultimately vindicated by the end product."

Ladytron isn't completely stuck in analog mode, but the group has had its share of problems with more modern gear. The group's early flirtation with computers on stage produced mixed results. "In the days when we used to run drums from a laptop, Ableton live, which had served us well for a year straight, decided to re-serialize during sound check in Barcelona. There was no net connection, so we had to dial up through a cellphone back home, to carry out the challenge-response to get a new serial number." Hunt added, "That's the thanks you get for using legal software."

Ladytron's members pride themselves on blurring the distinction between one instrument and another. To this end, the group has an elaborate setup which harkens back to the days of prog rock excess.

"At the moment we have 7 keyboards with us, plus bass, guitar, drums, syn-drums, that is a lot of gear, it's practically Emerson Lake & Palmer, but this is because we play everything live."

Hunt is adamant that creating every single note on stage is much more interesting that taking the easy way out with backing tracks and other on-stage "enhancements". "It wouldn't be any fun for us. When using live drums we always use the original sounds from the record, amazing how much difference that makes."

How does Ladytron work up their live act? After four albums, Hunt says on-stage experience guides the decision-making process.

"We pick the songs that make the most sense live, the latest album 'Witching hour' was written having toured the previous album extensively, so we knew more about playing live, more of what worked, and what to concentrate on, but it is always an ongoing process."

"At the beginning, 6 years ago," Hunt adds, "We had a few synths and a DAT player, we didn't have the resources or the perspective. We felt like live shows were secondary, now we feel they are integral. There is some footage of really basic live shows from 2001 out there online, it is a thousand percent better five years on."

Ladytron's growing pains as a touring unit has given Hunt plenty of wisdom to offer newcomers to the tour circuit.

"Work within the tools at your disposal, look at all the gear you have, not just what you use, and establish whether it can do anything at all to enhance." Hunt says re-purposing old gear can be a huge revelation for a group's live act. "Old effects [can be] used for purposes and instruments other than the intended [uses]. There is lots of cheap gear available now, and very portable."

Hunt takes the opposite approach when recording in the studio. He says smaller is better, but he doesn't always take his own advice. "Bringing and using only the gear you absolutely need, not plugging in effects you never use for example, but to be honest, we're suckers for noise-outs so I never compromise in that regard."

The group's 2006 schedule has been quite busy, with shows in California, Bogota, and Chile, just to name a few. Witching Hour was followed by an extended-play remix disc, and the first three releases have been re-issued on vinyl. There seems to be an unlimited supply of Ladytron at the moment. Only Hunt and company know when they will be ready to head back into the studio to work on new material, but for the moment, the fans have plenty of back catalogue to get through.

Source

Roland US - Insider interview (2008)

Now a well-established electropop powerhouse, Ladytron formed in Liverpool back in 1999 when synth-based electronic outfits were much fewer and farther between. Eight years later, the group is stronger than ever thanks to the recent success of its critically-acclaimed third album, "Witching Hour". With a sound that melds memorable melodies with dance-floor-ready beats and a dark, densely-textured sonic landscape, the foursome have won over scores of fans and made their mark as pioneers in today's ever-expanding electronic music scene. We sat down with Helen Marnie, Mira Aroyo, Daniel Hunt, and Reuben Wu before a recent San Francisco show and talked about the evolution of their music, and how Roland keyboards are helping them create their distinct sound — both live and in the studio.

You have a very devoted, almost fanatical following. Why do you think that is?

Helen: We have done a lot of touring the past four years, so we've gotten new fans on every tour.

Mira: Nowadays, I think a lot of bands have a big first album, and then they disappear, and as Helen said, every album has kind of picked up more people along the way. We've kind of never been over-hyped. I think people had a chance to listen to the music and then see us live. We didn't come and tour in the U.S. with [first album] "604" at all.

Daniel: I think it's pretty rare these days that a band gets to grow over a few albums. A lot of times everything is fully formed on the first album and then your problem is how to follow it. But we've had time to just develop it and evolve. I don't know why that translates into loyalty, but maybe the fact that we've never been mainstream.

Helen: People like that.

How much of the music do you think contributes to that?

Daniel: I think when we started there weren't that many people doing similar things. Now, some of the things that we were doing on the first album are more common currency. Even the synths themselves – I mean, at the beginning it felt like we were constantly having to justify being a synth-based band, and constantly answering questions and coming up against this attitude that a band in a similar position now wouldn't have to justify.

You definitely broke a lot of ground.

Daniel: It didn't feel like it at the time, but in retrospect.

Mira: I think in electronic music at the time, there also weren't that many bands who were actually bands. It was maybe a DJ project and a singer, whereas we were the one thing that gave it an identity because we were four people. And the songs are more conventional songs, rather than beat-driven tracks.

Tell me about when you first started out, what kind of electronics you were using.

Daniel: Right at the beginning, we had a lot of old gear that had just accumulated. Big keyboards like old Crumars and the [Roland] SH-09, and the Juno-6. We used to take all of that out live.

Mira: It used to fall apart.

Daniel: One of them actually caught fire! So we got interested in the analog-modeling synths because we could take them out live and they were reliable, and a little more versatile as well. It's given us a couple more tricks.

Reuben: It's good that there have been synths that have come out in the last couple years which are basically the equivalent of what we used to have. So the equivalent of the SH-2 is the '201. It's the equivalent which doesn't go out of tune.

What is everybody playing right now?

Daniel: Live, I've got a Juno-G and the SH-201. The 201 is a direct replacement of the [SH-]2, and it's perfect. I really like the way it's laid out, and it's simple. It's the basics of synthesis completely laid out in a logical way. I like the way you access the effects very easily. And then the Juno-G I use more for paddy sounds and poly-sounds.

Helen: I'm using a Juno-G also. On this tour, we've used them.

Have they helped you at all?

Daniel: The Juno-Gs have replaced our two MS-2000s. [to Helen] You got into the D Beam.

Helen: Yeah, it's great.

Mira, I've watched you play, and you do lots of realtime control. Do you think you can do that on the SH-201?

Mira: Yeah – I've played with it, and I do think so.

Do you process any sounds through the keyboards?

Reuben: We have when we recorded, but not live, yet. We just like to play with the stuff.

There is a consistency from "604" through "Witching Hour", at least from my perspective. Where does that come from? Is it intentional?

Daniel: It's weird because almost all of our songs are completely different. So I think the consistency is in certain instruments – obviously in the voices.

Helen: It's the songwriting.

Could there ever be a Ladytron unplugged?

Mira: There has been.

Daniel: We did the Harmonium sessions, which was supposed to be unplugged. It was pretty plugged to be honest. We did Jonesy's Jukebox in LA, and had Steve Jones jamming with us on "Destroy". That was fun. We'd probably use accordions if we were going to do it properly.

Mira: I used to play [the accordion] when I was a young girl.

Some musicians argue that computers will one day take the place of synthesizers. Others think that hardware synths will remain. What do you think?

Reuben: Well it depends what you think a computer is. Pretty much all modern synthesizers have computer technology inside them. All it is, is that you've got a musical keyboard instead of a text one.

Mira: A computer is like a sound bank in some ways as well – a sample bank.

Reuben: In terms of actually playing music, we can't use a mouse and build blocks. We always have to play on the keyboard live, because it's just more expressive.

Daniel: I think they serve different purposes. If you're carrying your laptop around with you, and you've got your sequencer and some soft synths and you're putting stuff together quickly – especially on the road – then it makes sense. But it's nowhere near as much fun to play with a soft synth. We've dallied in using laptops live.

You've never really used any sequencing live either, have you?

Daniel: Not really. It's gonna develop in the future. It's like the SH-201 compared to doing something with a laptop – even if you've got controllers, it's still not the same. I can't see software synthesizers replacing hardware synthesizers at all.

Reuben: When you've got a computer in front of you, the screen basically is the face of your keyboard. You have to use a mouse to point the cursor around. You may as well just grab a slider. It's like, the computer is for general use. You use it to go on eBay, you use it to talk to people – it's like a general tool, whereas a keyboard is for a specific purpose, and that's for playing music.

If we could design the perfect keyboard for you, what would it be?

Reuben: I like knobs.

Mira: I think that's something we all want. Something with less LCD screens, more the way that the [SH-]201 is.

Daniel: That's what I prefer about the 201 is that it's laid out logically. Knobs, faders, and D Beam. I like the way that Roland does these updated versions of old stuff. I suppose that started with the grooveboxes, didn't it? Recognizing what people like about the old stuff, and then making a new thing.

What's in the works for the band next?

Helen: We go to Paris on the 3rd, and we'll be in the studio to the end of November.

Anything you can divulge about the new release, what it's going to be like?

Helen: It's weird that people ask that because we really have no idea. [laughter]

Is that common, that you kind of wait until the ending to see?

Daniel: Yeah. We start out with a frame, and leave a space to be filled when we're in the studio and being the most creative. We always co-produce the albums, too. With Jim Abbiss last time and Mickey Petralia before that. This time we're recording with this guy Andy Gardiner a.k.a. Vicarious Bliss. We've been talking about ideas, and he's really on the same wavelength – it's almost like an extra band member. He's a fan, and he has an understanding of what we do. We're excited about it, and we think it could really turn into something good.

When do you anticipate releasing it?

Reuben: Next May.

Question for the fan club, from Dimitri. San Francisco is fascinated to know, how does Mira get her ringlets so perfect?

Mira: By sleeping in the correct way. [laughter]

If everybody could name a Ladytron song that is a favorite?

Reuben: I like "Another Breakfast With You". It's a shame we don't play it anymore.

Mira: I actually really like "Skools Out...".

Helen: "Beauty*2".

Daniel: ...I just don't know. [laughter]

• • • • •

A seasoned keyboard player and analog synth user, Ladytron keyboardist Daniel Hunt recently added Roland's V-Synth GT to his rig, and he sat down with us to share his thoughts and insights on using the GT.

Daniel, what are your initial impressions of the GT?

It seems extremely powerful. I've only had it a short time, but I've played with it, and I actually used it to record on one of the songs on the new album. My first impression is that it's very powerful. I have not used a workstation keyboard like that before. It seems like there's a hell of a lot of things going on that I haven't discovered yet.

I got quite into the Articulative Phrase Synthesis. Very clever. I got a bit carried away with it. I was playing an organ and suddenly I had all these strings swelling and arpeggiating behind it. And then I discovered how to switch the sounds off and just have the phrase synthesis itself. And using it like that I think will come in really handy.

How will it fit into your rig?

I think it's an ideal workstation keyboard in the studio. Live, obviously we take more basic stuff out with us. What I'm intrigued by also is the Vocal Designer. This could be really useful, and it's exciting.

I was going through the patches and there are so many and as you said, it's got the filters, and a good set of classical keyboards. So I think it could be really useful in that respect. I've had to play before with the rackmount version of it [XT]. And I suppose it's like, it reminds me of a hardware equivalent of something like Reaktor. It's kind of modular. That's interesting because we've had other comparisons to Reaktor, to Massive and synths like that.

Yeah, we've used quite a bit of their stuff. They sent us Massive when they were developing it.

Anything you'd like to get into when you have time?

I've never really done that much sampling, to be honest. I've had the gear, but it's always been – for instance, I've got an old Akai, and I just can't be bothered to turn it on anymore. Now I have something more modern and accessible.

In a way, the V-Synth is the absolute opposite of the [SH-]201. If it's gonna have a screen, then I'd prefer it to be as much like a computer as possible, which I think the GT is — rather than buying a keyboard with a 2-line LCD — that just scares the hell out of me. It just feels like a tomb.

I like the computer integration by USB, and also the Mac support is really impressive. I like the way that the Mac is well-supported, because often, even nowadays, you find that things don't have drivers and you end up using third-party stuff. So I was impressed with the editor and the VST integration as well. Cubase is our main platform. It always ends up in ProTools once we're in the studio, but when we're composing we actually use Cubase.

Source

RockSchool mini-documentary

From a promo VHS tape

Rave Magazine interview (2009)

Alasdair Duncan recently caught up with Ladytron's beguiling vocalist, Helen Marnie, to try and unravel some of the mysteries surrounding the band.

Critics often reach for words like 'frosty' and 'chilly' when describing Ladytron's music, but in the presence of singer Helen Marnie, with her warm Scottish burr and sweetly dorky disposition, it's impossible not to feel at least a little sunny. "People say that, when we're onstage, we look like we're not having fun," she says, "and that really annoys me. There's this impression that we always wear black, like characters in a '60s film, but I actually wore a purple top on stage last week!" A beat of silence follows. "Unfortunately, someone stole it from me after the show..."

Fans, be alert: if you happen to see an eBay auction item labelled 'LADYTRON PURPLE TOP – RARE!', the band would very much like to know about it.

The impression of Ladytron as icy and inapproachable comes back, Marnie says, to the fact that they play electronic music. "Keyboards and synthesisers often suggest coolness and detachment, but they can be just the opposite – you can make them sound warm and lovely." While the band use technology, Marnie is adamant that they're not obsessed by it. "We're interested in more personal things – we write love songs, like any songwriter does, but they're not so obvious. We don't like to give too much away."

In its earliest incarnation, Ladytron was a song writing vehicle for founding member Daniel Hunt, who crafted cheeky, low-key synth pop tracks for Marnie and co-vocalist Mira Aroyo to sing over. Four albums in, the dynamic has changed substantially – each new release is louder and denser than the last, as all four band members assert themselves, and this, Marnie says, is what keeps the band's records and live shows so vibrant.

"When we started out, our set-up was really simple," she says, "but over time, we got a bit bored with that. We decided we wanted to take things into our own hands a bit more – we wanted to dirty it up a bit, and make sure you knew that, when you saw us on stage, you weren't listening to the records." This newfound confidence in playing live influenced, in turn, the band's song writing process. "Now, when we go into the studio and record, we're thinking right away about how we'll reproduce the songs on the live stage."

Though Ladytron's music can frequently be heard on indie-oriented dance floors, the band themselves aren't much for going out – in fact, when they return to Australia in June, it's more than likely they'll be spending their downtime curled up with warm laptops. "It's quite embarrassing really," Marnie laughs. "You go onstage, you do a sound check, you go back to the bus and you get straight on the internet; then you have an hour before the gig, so you go play the gig, then come straight back and get on the internet again. It's a bit geekish, but it's a way of connecting with people we miss back home, and with new friends we've met while on the road."

Rave Magazine interview (2008)

Daniel Hunt, keyboard player for Liverpool electro-pop group Ladytron, talks to Alasdair Duncan about embarrassing YouTube footage, recording in Paris, and the ways in which constant touring has changed the band for the better.

When the first wave of eighties revivalism broke in 2002, it's fair to say that Ladytron became electroclash royalty – fashion bible The Face reviewed their early singles with giddy reverence, and they appeared on numerous compilations, including City Rockers' now-legendary Futurism mixtape, alongside the likes of Felix da Housecat, Peaches, Chicks on Speed and Fischerspooner. In the years to come, many of these artists would flame out (Ministry of Sound invested more than a million pounds in Fischerspooner's failed debut album) or fade away, but Ladytron stuck around, and over the course of four albums, their cult-like fan base continued to grow while their dark, fuzzed-out electro pop sound would evolve into something altogether more intriguing.

When writing about Ladytron, journalists tend to reach for adjectives like 'icy', 'wintry' and 'detached', to the point where their reviews have become a game of indie electro word substitution. "I don't mind those adjectives if someone's talking about our sound", Hunt says, when I ask if this bothers him, "but when people call our music 'emotionless', that really bothers us. We play a lot of sad songs, but still... These days, people are so visually absorbed – they tend to look at a photo, and have these very clear preconceptions about what we're going to be like, but when they actually meet us and realise that we're smiling, it's not what they expect".

"We've always been quite awkward, in that we've never been really keen on crossing over", Hunt tells me when I ask about the reasons behind Ladytron's continued success. "We've never changed anything we do to be more commercial. We're not really musicians, we're just four people in a band who often wonder how they ended up in a band. It feels like we've hit our stride now – most bands are fully formed at the beginning, and they have their first album that comes out fully formed as a complete idea. For our first album, people assumed that what we did was the be all and end all, but then we just carried on".

The first Ladytron album, 604, was a collection of stripped back, simplistic pop songs – most of the tracks were composed of little more than junk shop synths and tinny beats – but the lyrics, about cool kids falling in love ("He Took Her to a Movie") and out again ("Another Breakfast With You"), hinted at something more beneath the surface. The band's two singers, Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo, also provided a startling contrast – the former provided heartbreakingly sweet melodies on tracks like "Playgirl", while the latter undercut these with sinister speak-singing, often in her native Bulgarian. Their second album, Light & Magic, built on the atmospheres of the first, and lead single "Seventeen" – "they only want you when you're seventeen / when you're twenty-one you're no fun" – would become the band's signature track in years to come.

Ladytron's newest album, Velocifero, is a different beast entirely. Dark, fuzzy and drenched in feedback, tracks like "Season of Illusions" and current radio hit "Ghosts" rely as heavily on guitars as the band's older records did on cheap Casio synthesisers. More than anything, this evolution in the band's sound comes down to the skills they picked up playing live. "We were spoiled at first", Hunt says of Ladytron's earliest forays into touring, "because up until then, we'd really never had to pay our dues. We never really played a small tour – we started at a big level, and we naively thought that everyone could get away with playing bedroom production music live to big rooms".

"When we toured the first album, we found it really frustrating, to be honest", he continues. "It's not until you put things in a live arena that you realise how constrained they are. Some bands will say, 'fuck it, we'll just go out with a backing tape until we've got to the level where we can tour with proper equipment', but we haven't done that since we were touring our first album, and that's a big part of the reason why it was so frustrating. We had a DAT, and we had synths and vocals, but it just felt like there was nothing breathing. There's footage on YouTube of our first album tour, but if people see it and think that's what we're like now, they'll get a shock".

"Touring the second album was better", Hunt continues, "because we had a drummer and a bass player, and we wanted to make things bigger. Instead of just recreating the album, we wanted to do something that would surpass it. That definitely fed into the third album and beyond – we liked the idea of using a broader range of instruments, and just having a bit more chaos going on. It's about scope; when we play the newer songs live, they always make sense. The older songs always need a lot more augmentation to make sense live, but the new stuff just goes".

How many of the old songs have survived and found their way into Ladytron's current live set, I wonder? "We've ditched some of the really early stuff now", Hunt tells me. "He Took Her To a Movie mutated so much when we'd do it live, it became this big freak-out. That song made sense in 1998 in terms of what was going on then, but it's not relevant personally to me now. It's still a cool track, but I don't really feel a connection with it at all to be honest. There are a couple tracks from the first album where I think, if we were to make a compilation now, they probably wouldn't be on it, because the threads that connect the four albums together exist elsewhere. There's plenty of it on the first album, but it's more songs like "This Is Our Sound", or "Another Breakfast With You" or "Discotraxx", those are the ones we're more proud of from the early stuff".

Velocifero was recorded in Paris with Ed Banger-affiliated producer Busy P, although it is stands out defiantly from the trendy, distortion-heavy techno currently coming out of that city. "We all know Paris quite well", Hunt says, "and it's changed. Even compared to two years ago, when I spent a lot of time there, it's changed. It's blown up into a dance music capital. That's not the reason we went there, though. When people heard we were working with Vicarious Bliss, they assumed we wanted to make an Ed Banger record, but that's not what we wanted to do. We made that clear from the very start. We wanted to work with him more because he liked us as a band, and understood what we were trying to do. We'd have long conversations about The House of Love, My Bloody Valentine, Stereolab and things like that... there's a common pool of influences there, maybe ones that aren't so apparent".

Helen about Ladytron's gig in China (1st May 2011)

This is a message from Helen about Ladytron's gig at China Music Valley International Music Festival Beijing 2011.

Swede + Sour interview (2011)

I first discovered Ladytron pillaging through some old promotion materials from the university radio station. Since then well I guess they have become sort of my favorite band and continue to be to this day present. Last year I got the chance to talk to Reuben Wu about his photography, so to follow-up for this year we talked to bandmate Mira Aroyo whom Reuben previously described as "elegant yet eloquent" in an obscure VHS promo called "Rock School". Read the interview as we talked to our favorite Bulgarian about academia, her beloved motherland and the band’s upcoming record and their illustrious "more-than-ten-years as a band".

Hi Mira how have you been lately?

We are currently working on getting the artwork ready for our next record, doing some promo, DJ gigs and about to start rehearsing next month for some shows. I also have a mini DJ tour coming up in the US in a couple of weeks time.

Last time I heard you were curating an obscure documentary series in London and doing some DJ sets.

Yes, that is still going on. We have a film night showing a great documentary called Sweetgrass next week and I am DJing as well as I mentioned earlier. So nothing much has changed there.

So it's been over 10 years as a band. Ever stop to think about it? You're releasing 00-10 this month a compilation of all things Ladytron. Did a compilation feel inevitable at this point?

It made sense in some way as it felt that was a good time to look back and celebrate us being together and releasing music for 10 years. It is also a way of making a small break between what we have done in the past and the album we are about to release later on this year. Also we felt that some of our albums weren't given a proper distribution first time around and also that a new generation of music fans are listening too our music and they might not be familiar with some of these songs.

There's been a lot of tales and folklore about how the band got together. Did you really meet the boys on a trip to Sofia?

No. That was just a story that seemed fun at the time. It was a long time ago and we were young and needed to amuse ourselves in interviews.

Apparently you were enrolled as a PhD student in Oxford. Seems like a pretty prestigious post did you ever have any doubts leaving academia for Ladytron?

Yes. For the first 3 years of Ladytron I was juggling both, until it became apparent that I would be compromising both if I continued that way. I was young and it seemed a lot more fun at the time to travel the world playing music.

By the way I got bored one day reading academic journals for university and I read your paper. I have no idea what you are talking about. My knowledge of genetics is laughable as a science graduate.

In simple terms it is about how bacteria know when to divide, which is something they do in order to replicate, and make sure they have the right kind of genes in each new cell.

Fans know you as the "Bulgarian" in Ladytron. You first started singing the Bulgarian anthem as something you did for fun when you were drunk but then I guess it stuck and Bulgarian language tracks have been reoccurring on all the records. What inspires you to continue singing in Bulgarian?

The language sounds very different to English, has a different rhythm and so it is a useful sonic tool to have in our arsenal.

I remember reading how ecstatic you were seeing your disc pirated in the streets of Sofia. How are you perceived in Bulgaria and what does it mean to represent Bulgaria on an international stage?

We have played a couple of shows there and the response was great. When we played "Commodore Rock" everyone starting punching the air, so it felt quite touching. Also my grandma and uncle and cousins were in the audience and that made it quite special too. At the same time most Bulgarians don't know about Ladytron and they have some pretty good football players to represent them internationally. I am no match for that.

The members of Ladytron are veterans of touring from DJ gigs to playing together as a band. You've lived all over as well haven't you? Born in Sofia, then Israel and then London. Has that in any way prepared you for the road?

Living in a place is in no way the same as passing through for a day. Saying that, it has probably made me more interested in different cultures and I love traveling and seeing new places. I don't think you could tour unless you liked that. It's a pretty grueling experience and seeing new places and meeting new people is the perk.

Like I mentioned earlier it's been ten years already. How do you keep your cohesiveness as a band giving that everyone lives somewhere else now?

We are in constant contact with each other and we get together when we need to rehearse or work on music, tour, do promo, shoot videos etc. Saying that we speak to each other every day over email as there are always decisions to be made…

There are four members in the band yet everyone has their place in a sort of egalitarian role in Ladytron. How do you divide up the roles creatively?

We don't really divide them. We all do a bit of everything and we all write so it kind of happens quite naturally, without giving it much thought. Over the past 10 years or so we have got to know each other pretty well and we have learnt how to work together too.

Well I guess no one else sings in Bulgarian so I guess your role is pretty easy.

Ladytron is both nostalgic and futuristic at the same time. The band never forgets its use of synthesis but allows itself to be remixed digitally by blogs and what not. Reuben says that Witching Hour was the defining sound of Ladytron. It's kind of hard to say right now but do you foresee any major changes to your sound in the future and what do you envision as the "music of the future"?

We always try to keep things fresh for ourselves and to not repeat songs that we have written in the past. Witching Hour was the first time we felt we made an album that represented us sonically. It was probably where we ‘found' our sound in the studio. It is a good basis to start from and with Velocifero we pushed things further in a certain direction and with the record we are putting out this year we developed things in a different direction again.

Knowing Ladytron I'm sure that will happen. I remember you describing your ideal venue in "Rock School" as being by the sea with beds by the side to snooze off when you're tired. Ever thinking of pulling that off any time soon?

I think I have learnt to go home when I am tired now so I wouldn't need the beds. I'm still up for the beach location though.

Come to Toronto I'll try to best to make that happen. Except we don't really have a sea, just a really big lake. You remember the Harbourfront Centre right? I was there front row haha.

Yes that was a fun show. The setting was spectacular. I remember all the tourist boats passing by.

OK I think I've bothered you enough by now. So one last question and I remember asking Reuben something similar. You're pretty popular among your male fans… anything you want to say to your adoring male fans?

Keep on rocking in the free world.

Thank you so much Mira. I'm such a horrible person that was a terrible joke.

Source

Voxy.co.nz interview (2010)

I would like to invite everyone to the wonderful world of Ladytron music. I am very lucky and honoured to have been able to get an interview with Reuben Wu from the electro pop/new wave band Ladytron. Ladytron are a band from the United Kingdom which came together in 1999. They are Mira Aroyo, Daniel Hunt, Helen Marnie & Reuben Wu. Mira, Daniel & Reuben are DJs who play sets all over the world. In my opinion Ladytron are a band that has changed the electro pop scene of today with their blissfully unique sound. They have a very strong internet presence which has helped give them a huge international appeal. They have a cult following (this is why I want to share) the true success of this band is in hearing them for the first time!

They have toured with the likes of Nine Inch Nails and remixed songs for bands such as Blondie, Gang of Four & Placebo. I have seen them play twice in concert (whilst living in London) as once was not enough for me. They are the future of electro pop music as they have massive appeal to be relistened to without being boring. I am glad that I found them while browsing on MySpace back in 2006. The first single that I heard of them was "Seventeen" off the album Light & Magic.

The band has released four studio albums: 604 (2001), Light & Magic (2002), Witching Hour (2005) and Velocifero (2008) they have also released their first live album Live at the London Astoria 16.07.08 (2009). I would like to thank Agatha from Redbird Management for making this interview with Reuben Wu from Ladytron possible! Please check out the interview below:

Hi Reuben! Thank you for taking the time from your busy schedule to be featured on the Voxy website in New Zealand! It means a lot to me! I am going to ask some questions for you to answer on behalf of Ladytron. What do you think of the current state of modern music? I like the way that Ladytron music pushes forth for new and exciting sounds! What do you think about where you are heading to in the new scene?

I'm really enjoying a few bands at the moment, for example Yeasayer and their album Odd Blood and Phoenix and their album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Also really liking "USA Boys" by Health at the moment and have been listening to the Neon Indian album for a good few months now. The scene is generally the same, most of the music people listen to is generally mediocre with a few interesting bands and artists creating cool stuff on the sidelines and getting attention over the internet and independent media.

When Ladytron constructs a song I often wonder what comes first the layers of the music or are the lyrics thrown out there first for a majority of the songs? How do you guys typically create the music? Is it a lot of sampling each other's ideas in the creation process?

Every song is written differently. There's never one method but we do work individually first and then work as a group on the tracks together in the studio.
Sometimes it's a keyboard riff which develops into a song, other times it's a vocal melody or a lyrically idea. Anything goes.

Are you guys recording a new compilation of songs? Do you have an album title in the works? I heard through the grapevine that there will be some new material coming out soon.

We've just finished two brand new songs which will be included on the compilation which will be coming out soon. It's basically a collection of our own songs spanning from when we started in 1999 until 2010. We're also working on our fifth studio album which should be released next year.

With all of the touring that Ladytron is doing is there a favourite place that the band likes to play? Also what would we expect to hear in one of your own DJ sets these days? I know that each band member likes to DJ & play gigs at various venues around the globe.

We love playing cities like New York and Los Angeles because it's so familiar and full of our friends, but I really love playing places we've never been before. Last year we got to play a show at the Sydney Opera House which was pretty special. I'd really like to play more countries in South East Asia and South America. Visiting NZ again would be great too, I'd love to explore the North Island.

Who are some of the best bands that you have been on tour with that you have all felt that you have shared an experience with? Ladytron has toured with so many amazing bands which one did you have a connection to that was the most memorable?

The one that sticks out in my memories is probably supporting Nine Inch Nails in UK and Europe. Every show was playing to thousands of people most of whom had never heard of us, and I think we gained a lot from it. They are all really cool people and we've made some good friendships from that time. The other one was probably our first ever tour, supporting Soulwax in 2000. It was our first experience of being on the road and although we are not the same band as we were then, it was definitely one of my best memories of touring.

Are there any bands that you would like to collaborate, remix or work with in the near future? I love a lot of the remixes that you have done with popular indie bands as you like to bring out many textures and sounds to a song which makes it highly attractive to listen too again. It is no easy feat!

We really enjoy remixing other artists but right now we're concentrating on working on our own album. In terms of real collaboration I think we will do more of this once the record is finished.

When I was first introduced to your music I had discovered your band online. (On MySpace) Have you found that a lot of your listeners have been exposed to your sound online, and then come to your shows on the strength of your internet presence?

Yes completely, we are very lucky to have quite a global following due to early internet presence amongst other things and this is especially important in countries where our music is not distributed widely. Finding that our very first shows in some countries have yielded huge audiences is a really nice surprise, for example in countries like Brazil, Colombia and even USA and Australia.

Thank you so much for taking the time in your busy schedule to answer these questions! Where do you like to play live the most? Do you prefer playing in music festivals, amphitheatres or indoor venues? I know it may be a different experience for the Ladytron sound in each setup.

We like them all, just so long as we can get a decent sound check!

Wishing you all the very best on your up-coming tours and with the compilation album that is in progress. I am looking forward to the fifth Ladytron album. Thank you very much for answering my questions Reuben!

Thanks.

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