Basement Jaxx have evolved into a full-on flamboyant stage act, which they're bringing to Dublin next month, they tell Kevin Courtney
THEY are one of the UK's most successful dance acts, serving up a high-energy highball of beats and breaks, and completely overturning the old guard of house music with such crossover pop hits as Red Alert, Rendez Vu, Good Luck, Bingo Bango and Where's Your Head At? They've managed to keep the music interesting through collaborations with such varied vocalists as Dizzee Rascal, Siouxsie Sioux, Meshell Ndegeocello and Lisa Kekaula.
They're also one of UK dance's biggest live draws, thanks to a stomping show that's part rock extravaganza, part Brazilian beach carnival. They've bagged numerous dance music awards, and even grabbed a Grammy for their third album, Kish Kash. And now they've released what is probably the party album of 2005: a singles collection that takes us on a magical, mushrooming mystery tour through their wildly variegated back catalogue, from early single Fly Life right up to their most recent, U Don't Know Me.
Just last month, they headlined Glastonbury, providing a suitably colourful and beat-heavy replacement for Kylie. Not bad for a band whose name sounds like a downstairs toilet.
"We weren't even supposed to be playing Glastonbury at all," says Simon Ratcliffe, who, along with Felix Buxton, makes up dance music's most dynamic duo. "We played there last year, and there's an unofficial rule whereby you're not supposed to play there two years in a row. They wanted the Scissor Sisters to come on before Kylie, but they couldn't get them, so they asked us to do the slot. And then she got ill and had to pull out, and we were bumped up to the main slot."
Your average shy DJ would probably demur at an offer of Glastonbury glory, but Basement Jaxx have evolved into a full-on, flamboyant stage act, complete with guest singers, musicians, brass section and - more often than not - a troupe of gorgeous dancers with giant feathers sticking out of their bikini bottoms.
While his musical partner is happy enough to hide behind the decks, Ratcliffe gets more of a kick out of playing guitar and singing onstage, so stepping gracefully into Kylie's size threes was no trouble at all. And by the time the band hit the stage for the festival's Sunday night finale, the rain had cleared, the mud had solidified, and the tropical sun had made a comeback.
As a tribute to the absent Kylie, the duo did Can't Get You Out of My Head. Coldplay had already done a version of it on their headlining slot, but you can bet the Jaxx's version was much more scuzzed up and spazzed out.
It's a fine culmination of a journey that began in 1994, when Ratcliffe hooked up with Buxton in Brixton, South London. Both shared a passion for the US house music sounds coming out of Chicago and the latino dance styles emanating from South America, and both were products of the homegrown punk and rave scene.
Armed with this heady cocktail of influences, they set up a monthly club night, Rooty, in their local Irish pub, and began working together in Ratcliffe's basement studio. Their mission: to make music that really jacked and to - paraphrasing Armand Van Helden - "take house music and fuck it up the ass".
They began releasing records on their own Atlantic Jaxx label, then signed to XL in the UK and Astralwerks in the US, releasing their debut album, Remedy, in 1999. It was just the remedy for tired, boring old dance doldrums, and it set clubland alight at the turn of the century, giving hope that this whole dance thing might well make it into the next millennium.
Since then, Basement Jaxx have established themselves as the dominant force in UK dance, leaving such eminence grises as The Chemical Brothers, Orbital, Underworld and The Prodigy looking like relics from the last century. Singles is both an attempt at corralling their contrary back catalogue into something resembling a cohesive compilation, and a chance to cash in on their Grammy win and canoodle up to a wider audience in the US.
"One of the reasons for doing the Singles album," says Ratcliffe, "is that when we were playing festivals, we'd find that people knew all our songs from hearing them on the radio, but didn't realize they were all done by the same band. I'll admit we were a bit nervous about doing a singles album - it feels a bit premature, and some people might think it's a bit arrogant, but we were keen to make it clear that this is not some Greatest Hits thing. It's really about saying, this is who we are and this is what we do.
"We do want to sell records, but we also want to do ourselves justice, and this is a good way to tie in with our live show and give people a taste of what they can expect when they come and see us."
So far this summer, Basement Jaxx have rocked Hyde Park in London and Roskilde in Denmark, and will be bringing their clubbed-up carnival to Benicassim in Spain, Pukkelpop in Belgium and, of course, Marlay Park in Dublin on August 20th. Each gig promises to be a riot of colour and sound, and a collision of influences from all corners of the earth.
In fact, it would be doing the duo an injustice to call them DJs - Buxton and Ratcliffe are more like the ringmasters in a rhythmic circus filled with acrobatic vocals, breathtaking sonic stunts and eye-dazzling spectacle. If Ibiza were Las Vegas, then Basement Jaxx would probably be Caesar's Palace.
"We have so many influences to draw from, so many things we can do onstage, that it allows us to really explore a lot more possibilities in the live show," Ratcliffe says. "We never really attached ourselves to one group or genre - we just stayed in our own world, drawing from everything we liked, so we always managed to sound different from what other acts were doing. It means we can steer away from easy classification.
"Dance music in general is fickle, and there doesn't seem to be much substance, so we look for singers with personality, and character in their voices. It doesn't matter if they're well-known or not - as long as there's something there."
Basement Jaxx play Marlay Park, Dublin on August 20th. Singles is on XL Records
