the interview

The interview took place on the 30th of September 1999 at Christophe Monier's studio: l'Atelier de Musique Électronique (Paris, XI). It was like an old friends' discussion between Christophe Monier, George Issakidis, DJ Pascal R and me (Steve Lhomme). It lasted about 4 hours. Here are the most valuable things that were discussed during this conversation:

meet

Christophe met Pascal at the Locomotive (a club in Paris) in the late 80s. They were interested in the same girl that night and finally became friends. George met Christophe in 1993 due to the Eden fanzine. George was very interested in working for the fanzine. As Christophe was taking part in it with other people of the French techno/house scene they finally met there.

start

Christophe was the first to start publishing records. His solo project was called Nature and released few tracks on various label. The Micronauts (Christophe and George) made their first track "Get Funky Get Down" in 1994. It was first planned to be released on Loaded but finally ended up on Phono Recordings. "Back To The Bioship" has been created / recorded in one week because Phono wanted one more track for this 12". Impulsion released a few records on Fnac and Loaded first. Pascal and George also did a few records with their own names.

influences

Everything from this century and a few from the past century. Every style of music is welcomed. We even listened to an ancient Greek CD during the interview. Pascal seems to have a big rock/punk background.

studio

They all have their own studio at home (so-called home studio). And they record their own stuff separately at home. But when it comes to recording an Impulsion or Micronauts track, they do it in Christophe's studio. They use a lot of digital equipment: from the synths to the mixing desk including effect processors and their G3 Mac. Everything is controlled via a MIDI interface and finally recorded live into a DAT tape.

work

For their solo project, they work on their own at home. But for the Micronauts and Impulsion tracks, they always work together (Christophe + George or Christophe + Pascal). Nothing is done without the approval of both guys for each project. And when they're not sure about an idea, they drop it! According to Christophe, The Micronauts is based on using synth sounds while Impulsion is more sample/loop oriented.

compromise

None. They just do the stuff they are best at and the stuff they like to hear. No matter if it's done to be sold or not. They will never record a filtered house record unless it becomes less popular.

live

They have already done loads of live shows with Impulsion but with few personal enjoyments. They don't plan to make anything like that in the near future. It's very hard to get their sound in the studio so it would be a mess on stage.

DJ

Pascal is a DJ regularly. He mixes in lots of places, including Radio FG where he plays different dance styles every week depending on his mood. He's getting more and more fame in the DJ world (he played recently before Leftfield) and now has a career in the UK. Christophe and George are also DJs. They currently have a residency at the Turnmills and soon at Fabric (as soon as it is opened) in London. But they don't beat-mix records, because they don't know how! So their DJ work is mostly based on finding the right record at the right moment, the records that are good from beginning to end.

collaborations

Their first collaboration that ended up on a record was with The Daft Punk. The Daft Punk were mixing at the same party and had yet only released "The New Wave" on Soma (which we listened to in the studio). They came to The Micronauts and told them they would like to remix "Get Funky Get Down". It finally happened. Then it was Pizzaman, the project between the two guys from Loaded and Norman Cook (now most famous for his Fatboy Slim project). Impulsion and The Micronauts were releasing their records on Loaded at this time and Impulsion was asked to make a remix for Pizzaman. They finally did "Trippin' On Sunshine". The Micronauts met The Chemical Brothers in a French radio station when they were still The Dust Brothers in 1995. They gave them a copy of "The Jazz/The Jam" which quickly became a Chems classic at the Sunday Social... It seems that Tom and Ed are huge fans of The Micronauts. They proposed them to remix "Block Rockin' Beats", have put it and "The Jazz" in "Brothers Gonna Work It Out" and were up to sign them on Freestyle Dust. It seems that it's Darren Emerson and a guy from Junior Boy's Own who decided to ask The Micronauts to remix "Bruce Lee" from Underworld. They don't seem to have close contact with them. Impulsion's new single (in the UK) "The Trip" is also remixed by DJ Pierre and it seems that it's already a classic in the clubs. Everyone seems to enjoy/dance to this remix.

sex

Music is about sex. We all agreed about that...

interview music theme (475 kB)

thanx to the three guys for their time and help