Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip burst onto the scene with ‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’ three years ago and have since followed up their breakthrough single with the received albums ‘Angles’ and ‘The Logic of Chance’. They make their second Electric Picnic appearance this September and singer Scroobius Pip is looking forward to it..
So you guys are playing at Electric Picnic in September, looking forward to playing Ireland?
Definitely! Ireland is always great for us. We ended our last tour over here and it was the perfect end! And we played Electric Picnic a couple of years back so can’t wait to get back!
For a live act that likes to really engage with their audience are there particular benefits or difficulties to playing a festival?
Festivals just present different challenges, which is a great thing. It makes each show slightly different. For example, we were in Brittany doing a festival recently and the gap between stage and crowd was quite big. There was however a little ramp at the front of the crowd so that meant that, in my over excited state, i could do a splendid stage dive in there!
I’ve read in other interviews that you enjoy the touring experience. Any chance you’ll eventually turn into stereotypical jaded musicians and moan about ‘life on the road’?
Totally! We do that too! But, every time touring starts to get too much, a gig will come along that will energise you about it again. Not to sound like we are sucking up, but, the Ireland run did that last time round. We had toured England which had been AMAZING, but then we went straight on to a tour of Europe which, whilst it was great, started to get a bit draining. So by the time we got a night ferry to Ireland we were pretty tired of it all! As soon as we did the first show on the run over there though it was like starting a fresh! Places like Galway and Cork just had such amazing energy. And Dublin and Belfast are always great.
A quick Google search of you guys reveals that no-one really sits on the fence when it comes to your act. Why do you think that is? Does it bother you?
Its fine really! I like the fact that we are doing something that divides people. Its a positive thing! Obviously it can be harsh sometimes when someone is particularly scathing but i think the key is to not go looking for it! If you get someone moaning on twitter or on a website you read or visit a lot then that’s one thing, but to go hunting it down on google is just foolish!
You are fairly prolific Twitterers (Sorry I hate myself for using that word) do you see it as a promotional tool or just a good way to kill time waiting at the bus stop/airport?
It’s both really! But i think, the fact that we enjoy it and tweet so much, makes it a stronger promo tool. People pay more attention to the promotional stuff when it’s not the only thing you ever do on there. It’s a great way to connect with the audience and just talk (rubbish mainly).
I’m going to make a big generalisation here, but hip-hop artists tend to bring in a lot of guest acts. That hasn’t really be a feature on your first two albums. Was that by choice? In the future are there any acts you’d like to collaborate with?
I think it’s because we have never really sat comfortably as a hip hop act. The way we write and perform is very much like a band. We have planned to have more guests in the past but it just never seems to have happened. We write on the road a lot so, if you are trying out songs live, you can’t really leave a big empty gap! It seems, when we have intended to have a collaboration, we end up just finishing the song ourselves.
Any plans to go back into the studio in the near future?
Not immediately but not too far off either! After this year’s touring we are both looking at taking some time off the road (our first in 3 years!) and maybe working on some other little projects to broaden things before coming back together to work on the third album.
It’s been over 3 years since ‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’ first started getting airplay. What have you learnt about the music industry since then? Or is that just a ridiculously broad question?
It’s impossible to start the list! We spent a lot of our time early on self-managed so that was a HUGE learning curve. It’s crazy to think we have only been in the music industry for 3 or 4 years. I am genuinely starting to feel like a veteran but I guess that’s just because we were both that touch older than a lot of bands when we started out in all this. We were a little more level headed from the start and have therefore learnt an awful lot in that time!
Do you ever discuss an end point for the act or would you like to be still producing records together 20 years down the road?
We have never discussed an end point, no. For me i just don’t think it’s something i have considered! As said, there are other little side projects i want to dive into over the years but it always feels as if they will just be short holidays from the day job/career that is Le Sac vs. Pip.
By Kev Donnellan
