Prohibition's exclusive interview with Bart and Baker

Bart & Baker are a Parisian DJ Duo, dressed in tuxedos and top hats, reviving old 1920s music, scratching 1940s and 50s tracks and making new dance music from vintage sources.

In their own words ......We pride ourselves on reinvention, using elements that already exist like vintage music, performance styles and costume so we were able to please or uncover the swing music shades of rhythms to both vintage fans and modern kids.....

Bart & Baker have released eight CDs through their label Wagram Music since 2005 and sold around 200,000 copies worldwide. The duo have provided remixes for Electro Swing stars Caravan Palace and for artists such as Dimitri from Paris, making appearances at festivals throughout Europe (Bestival, Tomorrowland 2011-2014, Houza Palooza, Lovebox, Calvi on the Rocks and even Glastonbury.)

Before the release of their new album on April 1st, they are preparing to play at Prohibition in Manchester, the city?s premier Electro Swing night.

Like true gents, Bart & Baker have taken some time out to chat to us about the electro swing scene, what inspires them and they have even left us with a preview of the new album!

How did it all start for you? How did you discover Electro Swing?

When we met in 1998 through a network of record fairs, we both shared an interest in jazzy house music. (Baker introduced Bart to Dimitri From Paris, one of the very first examples of Electro Swing.) In the late 90?s we travelled to New York to shop some fine house music vinyls and go to the legendary Body&Soul parties in NYC. When we came back to Paris we thought about producing the same kind of party with varied music tastes, we ended up meeting the Swing Dancers ring of parties and were adopted by them as the electronic ingredient. This was in 2006-2007 and G-Swing?s first electro swing concept album [Swing for modern clubbing] was also released through a major record company. We were at the very beginning of the scene, we suspect.

and who have been your biggest inspirations in the world of Electro Swing?

Our biggest inspirations have obviously been G-Swing. We?ve had the chance to meet and spend time with Romain, the label owner, and A&R for this project. We even played together at Bestival. We saw the start of Caravan Palace when they played small clubs and gave away lots of promos whilst we were queuing. Parov is an influence because he has the highest production level, though we?re not playing many of his tracks to be frank with you, we met with his former sax player, Max the Sax at a festival and he is really a great artist too.

We are eagerly anticipating your new album, what should be expect?

The album is due for release on april 1st, it is a double album of 26 tracks including 13 remixes to be released though Wagram.

Click here to listen to a preview of Bart & Baker's Album

What do you love about the electro swing scene, how does it differ from other styles?

Electro Swing is the ultimate feel-good music. You can?t really get depressed or unhappy listening to it. That?s probably one of the reasons that we first embarked in the Electro Swing movement. We are two optimistic life-lovers and we like to smile to the audience to get everybody having a good time. Not sure we could do that with say?Let?s say, moody techno music.

How has it changed, Electro Swing seemed to really take off in the UK in recent years?

We are in a bizarre situation right now. Some artists from the electro swing scene have broken in to the mainstream with TV appearances and high profile gigs around the world. It seems though some are not branding themselves as electro swing, which is a shame as they have the potential to help support the growth of the electro swing community. That is a real issue because if your leading artists are not supportive of a music movement, that movement simply can?t go on for very long.

We have the same impression inside the electro swing community itself. We have a lot of friends inside of it like Nick Hollywood, Extra Medium, DJ Mibor, Kitten & The Hip, Swingrowers, the guys from Electro swing Revolution and many others but let?s face it, there are a lot of opposing tribes within the community. Some like 4/4 house tracks, some only worship Swing Hop, other Glitch Swing. We?re not sure that all members of the community want to share with or respect the others.

Not to mention the traditional swing dancers, Bart trained for 3 years in Lindy Hop where they only include Electroswing at their parties to get their production budget right because they?ll sell more tickets. This is one of the reasons why our new project is pushing more diverse styles of Electro swing, because that music should not be formatted to be dictated by the tastes of a few.

We couldn't agree more that it is a very diverse genre and should be celebrated as such! We hope you?ll enjoy our residents different styles at Prohibition. The Electro Swing scene is big in Paris, Europe seems to be a hotbed of electro swing talent, how do parties in the UK compare?

The scene in Paris is not so big. We have no huge parties like the ones at White Mink in London. We play electro swing at huge mainstream parties in Paris but we have to spice it with funky and deep house tracks or this wouldn?t work for the audience. Maybe Electroswing will eventually become the spice on the cake of a melodic or funky house DJ set!

I think the UK is the country where the best electro swing parties have been produced so far. The ability for artists and their audience to dress accordingly to the style and lose it is very typical of the UK clubber attitude. The French are sometimes more reserved, afraid of the ridicule and have no tradition to dress up for club parties.

That?s nice to hear! We Brits do know how to party! In a music style which is predominantly composed by sampling the great works of the past how do you ensure that your sound remains unique and stands our from others in the genre?

3 years ago we reached a Groundhog Day situation. Like, every morning there was a new remix of Sing Sing Sing being posted on Soundcloud. We just could not bear it anymore. We took the decision to write our own tunes and also to only produce sample based tracks if the samples were not worn out completely. This is our own little recipe to not be lost and forgotten, I suppose.

We have also made great progress with production. On the two-part album to be released in april we have even remastered some tracks using a new protools plug-in we bought recently to push the productions a little more.

What single night out has been the most memorable for you as DJs or party goers?

Nick Hollywood?s party in Village Undergound for White Mink was quite memorable. Very good memories of this! Being invited by Chris Tofu to headline the Heaven stage at Shangri La and playing to 5,000 clubbers in the mud was also a big memory. We ended up searching for an hour for ourlost car in one of the 25 car parks and walking for miles to enter the right festival door?crazy!!

How are you looking forward to playing Prohibition in Manchester?

We really look forward to it. Firstly because the UK audience is really one of our favourites along with Belgium and USA. You know how to throw and enjoy a party!

Secondly because we have so many new tracks to play including some celebrity remixes - watch this space! We?re very curious to visit Manchester - it seems to have been completely reinvented as a city and full of hope and plans for the future. Very exciting!

Your music consists of 1920's - 1950's inspired tracks, if you had a time machine which decade would you go back to and why?

It ?s always difficult to choose but let?s say, as sound purists, we might dream to live in the period when the Phase 4 stereo and High Fidelity recording were launched. Yes, we would have enjoyed having a stereo to discover those tracks when they were cut in vinyl using the latest technologies.

What is one track that never gets old for you no matter how many times you hear it?

The early Caravan palace recordings, the G Swing tracks, The Cinnamon Girl track from Dunkelbunt and The tracks by Parov around the Charleston Butterfly period.

You have worked with many prolific names on the Electro Swing scene, who are your stand out artists at the moment? Who should we be watching?

Hopefully there are a lot of promising artists yet to emerge onto the scene. In France Jive Me could be the next sensation. We are big fans of Swahn also, we love his production. Same for Extra Medium who is also a loveable person. Gentlemen Callers are very hard working producers from the USA and they are experiencing the same excitement that we remember at the beginning of the scene in Europe. We really wish all of them a bright future. We need your sounds guys!

written by Lucy May Ireland.

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