PALGN: How did the band get started, what were your initial goals and ideals?
Datarock: The band started because we wanted to have some fun paying tribute to a number of our favourite bands. The scene back then was very open to humour, and nobody had any commercial aspirations. DATAROCK was taking a piss at everyone including ourselves in an embracing, inclusive way. Us and the audience had the same role in that effort. It was all about reconstruction. For us, the audience. Even the promoters, guards and bartenders. We wanted to change the world. Or at least the perception of it. DEVO was our number one guys, and we even twisted around Talking Heads, Laurie Anderson and contemporary club stuff. Electro clash was in the air and we wanted to bring it down by bettering the illness. It was a hilarious cause it sort of worked. We reached our four year ambitions within half a year...
PALGN: At first, Datarock performed in front of small crowds at various clubs. Now, you play in front of crowds as large as 17,000 and are featured in videogames which are played by millions of gamers around the world. What would you consider to have been your first big break?
Datarock: The first real mind opener to the potential of the band was being booked to play main stage at Sónar Festival in Barcelona, Spain. Not only were we well received and interviewed by BBC Radio One and Brazilian national TV. We even met British radio legend and career maker John Peel as our fan, and next day we even got the larger portion of the press although artists such as Björk played the same day as us. That gig was booked based on a 3" CD burned by ourselves in 400 copies, hand painted and put in jewel cases ordered separately from Miami for our very own ridiculous pleasure. The recordings were made at a local studio in less than three hours, we had added a game we wrote ourselves and even included a video we produced with a buddy of ours. DATAROCK were not normal, but those tracks and that gig took us to the next level: to infinity and beyond.
PALGN: Why did Kevin O'Brien and Tom Mæland choose to leave the band?
Datarock: Kevin left before we even started, but Tom left cause he didn't like touring after a few years. Kevin moved back to his hometown Boston, and Tom left to pursue his career as a programmer and designer. They definitely left a gap, but me and Ket-Ill were always the songwriters and joint driving force, so we still miss them, but them leaving was never a big obstacle.
We must admit, those jumpsuits are incredibly stylish.
PALGN: You're currently scheduled to tour Europe and Australia through February-March this year. As a relatively new band, what's it like being able to travel to all these different countries? Do you try/plan to indulge yourselves in the different cultures?
Datarock: We're trying to make the most of every place we visit, but the tour is all about the show, not being tourists, so sightseeing or whatever is never a must unless we've got plenty of time. We always make sure the food is local cuisine though, so every day we'll get some taste of where the hell we are. Right now we're in the middle of the European tour, and we're talking 18 cities in 8 countries in 18 days. Your bound to be disoriented somewhere or another. Indulge ourselves in the different cultures we'll have to do when we're senior citizens.
PALGN: EA Trax is often associated with upcoming bands and exposes new talent to millions of gamers worldwide. Are you pleased to have been given the opportunity to be a part of EA's videogame franchises and how do you feel this will benefit the band?
Datarock: Over the next couple of months tens of millions are gonna hear our tracks doing exactly what they love doing, relaxed in their own surroundings with their identity interlocked with the setting of encounter. What more can an artist ask for? This is a substantially more attractive way to reach out to a new potential audience than forcing your sound on folks in commercial radio, adds and TV. We're touring as much as possible, but live shows can only reach a limited number of ears, so we're thrilled EA included us. We're pretty sure games are the last physical medium for commercial sale of music to be honest, so it feels great being part of the last frontier.
PALGN: How did EA Games approach you when they asked if they could use your music?
Datarock: We actually sat down for hours on end with music executive Steve Schnur and his team at SXSW talking about music and new media in that intense, personal mid nineties kind of way. We totally clicked and every time we're in LA we hook up. No one asked for us to change our sound or anything. They just pick the ready-mades right off our debut.
Remember to listen for the Simlish version of 'Fa-Fa-Fa.'
PALGN: We understand you've recently re-recorded 'Fa-Fa-Fa' for an upcoming Sims videogame. What makes this particular recording special however, is that new lyrics were created to correspond with the Simlish language in the game. How involved were you in re-creating the lyrics and what was it like trying to sing, what's best described as, gibberish?
Datarock: After agreeing to re-record it in Simlish I was sent a ready to go "translation". It didn't fit the number of syllables in the melody so I called the guy who wrote it. All he said was I could do whatever I wanted phonetically. The only thing was, no sound should be to close to an intelligible word. They let us hang on to our precious little "FA" though, and coming up with the rest of the gibberish was very easy. Singing it was a weird walk in the park, but it worked out pretty well.
PALGN: With the exception of The Sims, have you had to alter or create an entirely new song for other videogames?
Datarock: No. The only thing is they wanted to use a remix for one of the games, but that’s what remixes are made for, so it wasn't a compromise or anything.
PALGN: Outside what we've discussed, what other projects have you been involved in?
Datarock: We've been talking with Gerald Casale of DEVO about writing a game together. We wanna make a full circle with music, a video, a series, a game and action figures to go with the franchise. Then we'll add a perfume and brand of clothes with yellow overalls and red track suits.
PALGN: Where do you hope to be in the next 10 years?
Datarock: In the studio, on the road and on the stage.
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PALGN would like to thank Datarock for taking the time to answer these questions. For more information on Datarock, you can check out their official website by clicking here.
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