Skiddle chats to Dutch D&B trio Noisia

Dutch Electronic trio Noisia take some time to chat to Skiddle about all things Noisia, from collaborators to pigeonholing, and the recording process to OMG BASSLINE CREATURES. 

Hello Noisia and many thanks for taking the time for an interview...

At what point in the evolution of Noisia did you guys know that you were onto something special with your music?

When we started liking what we were making. Years of messing around predate that. I think we were getting confident around the same time we were getting some exposure - around the ‘block control ep’, 2004-2005.

You are pretty diverse in the material you put out, but if you had to pick a genre to work with, which would you stay with and why? Also, do you ever find people trying to 'pigeonhole' your style?

There’s always people that pigeonhole you and for them there’s always a reason to do so, and also always a need. So shit happens. But if we had to do it ourselves, it’d still be d&b.

You've done a lot of stuff and collaborated with lots of interesting musicians, but how did you end up working with Robbie Williams, and what was that like?

Well, it was just a remix, we never met or spoke to him, his management commisioned a remix and we made it!

And who would your ideal musical collaborator be - could be anyone?

Justice, Prodigy, Daft Punk maybe?

What about working on games? You guys put up a whole load of heavy material for the Wipeout series, how did you get into that business and what was that like?

It’s awesome. We are currently doing another soundtrack, much more grand scale this time though! We love games and working with an interactive environment is really challenging.

If you had a limitless budget, what kind of project would Noisia create? Also what would your dream gig to play be?

A limitless budget? Probably try to help solve some big problems on our planet, the ones that can be solved with money that is. Dream gig would be a complete integration with audio and visual, pristine sound, and a crowd with patience and energy at the same time.

How do you find the energy for the huge amount of DJing you guys do?

Right now we don’t do as much as we did. When we did do a lot of DJing it was often eating into our time in the studio together, cause you need some time off after a big weekend.

What direction will you take the group next?

We are building new studios. When they are built, maybe another album, see where that goes?

How do you put a track together from start to finish, what's the creative process like? What inspires you?

Anything and everything. Drums or bass are quite often a starting point, but also sometimes in more melodic or riff-based stuff the riff comes first. To us the music is the sound, so we do ‘mixing’ or ‘engineering’ stuff from the get-go instead of afterwards.

After a hard day's touring/writing what do you guys do for relaxation?

Thijs plays chess and Fifa, Martijn plays soccer and Call of Duty: Body Odour, Nik plays badminton and Battlefield 3

If you guys had to work as a team in another business (that wasn't music related) what would you pick?

A sandwich shop!

Which song are you most proud of?

The Tide i guess, it was a milestone for us, first release on our own label, etc.

Customary stupid questions time. Make ready. (Hoeven niet allemaal beantwoord te worden)

If Noisia was a hairstyle, which would it be and why?

Bald probably, since two thirds of us are bald most the time

If Noisia was a type of bird, which would it be and why?

An owl. Bubo-bubo aka Great-Horned owl.

If Noisia was a city, which would it be and why?

Groningen yo!

If Noisia was a style of martial arts, which would it be and why?

Probably Systema, cause it looks like drunk people but actually they are super hightech advanced body control bredrin who are lethal and stuff.

If you ran the Noisia bakery, what kind of starchy goodness would you put out?

We’d probably make pastries that no one likes, except for the people who make pastries themselves

If you operated a Noisia nuclear plant, what would you do with all those gigawatts of spare energy you'd have at the end of the day?

Store it in batteries.

If you operated the Noisia genetic engineering lab, what would you do with all that conveniently arranged genetic material?

Make a OMG BASSLINE CREATURE OMG

If you operated the Noisia synthetic hair factory, what would the best selling wig be?

A platinum one, that plays our latest platinum hit record while you wear it.

If you all started a legal firm so that you could go on  extended legal crusades and fix all sorts of problems in the world, who would you sue?

Montesanto cause they are evil, I saw a documentary.

If you established your own country, what it be called and what would the national anthem and its main export be?

Groningen, ‘Groninguuuh’, Groningers.

If you for some reason were booted out of your home country, what place in the world would you LEAST like to go to?

A place where there is no air, like underwater or in a vacuum country.

OK - time to pick your favourite...

Breakbeats or bass drops?

Breakbeats

Homing pigeon or homing missile?

Homing missile with big smoke trail

Facebook or facepalm?

Facepalm. But it´s nice to talk to friends from yonder.

Photoshoot or photobomb?

Photoshoots can be fun

Burgers or hotdogs?

Burrguz.

Tea or beer?

Tea.

Satan or santa?

Buh.

Chainsaw or chaingun?

Can't choose!

Organic or synthetic?

Can't choose either!

Liquid or dubstep?

Dubstep

Substance or style?

The sound is the music and the music is the sound is the music is the sound.

Going on holiday or going on tour?

Holiday.

TV or gaming?

Gaming.

Yes, or No?

NooooOOOOOOO.

Thanks for your time!

Interview: Jack Oughton

Find out more about Noisia here

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