CM>>> When someone visits your website, he sees first of all your faces and a chain which forms a heart. The chain is locked by a lock with a 13.01 or R(ochelle).01 on it. What’s the secret behind this picture? Maybe I need some new glasses?
Rochelle>>> It's a "P.01" = Product.01! The lock is over my heart. If you unlock that chain you will find what Product.01 is about. In a world where money means more than people's lives, I live from my heart. Simple as it is, it can be a pretty challenging way of existing. There's a lot of pressure to give up on dreams and love - for what? It's not worth it to me.
CM>>> Rochelle you are from Australia (I’ve also read that you have roots in Austria.) and Adam’s from England (with Italian roots). Where did you first meet? What was the reason to move to England, I mean so many people dream of a life in Australia? Can you also tell me something about your roots in Italy and Austria.
Rochelle>>> I was born in Austria and grew up in Australia. My Oma/Opa, etc..lived in Austria so I spent a lot of time visiting. But my home is Australia. Still, I was wrestless with the music scene there - lots of guitar based music, etc...so I took a one way ticket and a suitcase and went on a hunt. America, Europe, etc...and once I landed in Munich recording for Warner I was told that they import the kind of music I want to do, so I’d have to do cheesy umpa-pa pop for them...I asked them where they import the music I want to do from: they said UK. I said 'ok import me from UK' packed my bags and left. As it turns out they were talking rubbish as Hell was in Munich back then! Anyhow, to cut a very long story short, by living in London via Zurich, I landed in a Brighton squat. Marc and I met thru mutual friends in Brighton. At the time I was working on other projects (music / films) and being offered some pretty big things but was so incredibly dissatisfied with the soulessness of it all. As soon as I heard Marc’s music I knew he was IT. I rang him up. He was up for trying out a track, but we were both quite busy so managed to get together a couple of times in 8 months. Though, those times were quite inspired; for our very first recording we did Sheepskinz (which will most likely wind up on our debut album), where we bought helium balloons so that I could sing with a non-processed squeak! It was a showdown on who could be more stupid. I think I won. Then my brother died and I was ready to pack everything in and quit music altogether, as life was realistically going nowhere on all levels and I wanted to be in Oz not the UK (like u say....!!), and suddenly Marc was putting all these loops under my nose and we began /Product.01 properly. Once we both committed soley to the band suddenly everything came together quite fast and the response kinda surprised us. Our demo landed on Radio One within a few months!
Adamo:>>> All my family is from Italy, but most of my parents’ generation uprooted and went to check out other parts of the globe. I have cousins as far away as Australia and Bermuda. My mum and dad met at a club in London's west-end called Les Enfents Terrible. I think my dad must've hung around there too much as he was a bit of a naughty boy. I was born and raised in London, but spent most summers in Italy or visiting my faraway cousins. I don't feel fixed to any country and would happily spend the rest of my life checking out the rest of the world.
CM>>> So how does it come to found product01? Why did you choose this name? And in when did you start Product01?
Rochelle>>> We began properly in 2003. Marc used to call me a product as I dig my products very much thanx...skin, hair, this, that (all organic / animal test free I'd like to add!) and I was trying to convert him. He had
pretty impressive BO! So when he said 'what the hell are we gonna call
this thing?' I joked 'Product???' We laughed and that was that - had to
be there. Don't u always!
CM>>> On the paintings and in the video Adam acts like a monkey. Is it am obsession? Do you dream of being a monkey?
Rochelle:>>> He's a chimp actually. He doesn't bite / scratch as hard as a monkey...and his hands hang below his knees - I kid u not.
Adamo>>> It’s true - I have long arms, and I like to swing around and do flips at every opportunity. I was trained as a gymnast and acrobat when I was younger so that explains the physical side, as for the mental side - lets save that one for the psychiatrist.
CM>>> On the pics and in the video you also show a TB303 and SH101 from Roland. Do you still use these instruments in your studio? What kind of Equipment do you use for your productions?
Rochelle>>> The 303 is one of our lethal weapons. But over to Adamo… He's the Product.01 lunatic bleep department…
Adamo>>> I've had that 303 for 13 years. It’s absolutely trashed. But still bleeps loud and clear. It’s got a curious red button that someone put on to randomise the patterns and a pen lid where one of the buttons fell off. Yes, there are 303 lines on quite a few records - tiny bits on HOG, loads on the Clone remix, Loads on Hot Trap, some of the remixes. My fave is the Nord G2 modular synth - it’s the absolute mother of all bleeps
CM>>> You released several EPs on different labels. What’s the reason that you changed labels so often? Any plans for a complete Product01 Album?
Rochelle>>> We have released things with labels that have approached us one way or the other - basically licensing tracks to them, so essentially we haven't changed labels. We just like to spread the love and don't want to have ourselves sold to one label lock stock and two smoking barrels -YET! We definitely plan on having our debut album out in 2006. It's 99% complete. Before that we will be releasing the 'Hot EP' which is our third release on Product.01 Records. It's already getting loads of DJ support and top reviews. Plus one of the hottest exploits of this summer has been our collaboration sessions with Laz from SuperStonic - a.k.a. naughty young Lexi's producer. The fruit of these sessions is 'Access', coming out on SuperStonic Records in January. Our remix for Larry T featuring Princess Superstar will be out on Holon Records, Germany, very soon also. And we have a few other things up our sleeves.
CM>>>> The outstanding “Heart Of Glass” EP is unbelievable. Is Blondie one of your musical heroes? Why have you chosen THIS song?
Rochelle>>> Needless to say, Blondie's 'Heart Of Glass' is a brilliant track, and we felt we could do something different with it - perhaps bring it into the future? We just wanted to do something fun, and shake up the usual routine of writing our own stuff. When we were in Oz driving to Sydney, in the middle of the dessert, entering bushfire areas, I was just like, “u know, we should really do that track as a joke if we get out of here alive!!!” Interestingly to me, after we did it, I read an interview with Chris Stein saying that it was an album track they never planned to release as a single because it doesn't have a chorus. It doesn't have a formula. Amen!
CM>>> You made several remixes, and the list of artists you’ve worked for is amazing. I am very curious how it came to the remixes for Adam Freeland? Did you met him somewhere before?
Rochelle>>> No we hadn't met Adam before. Basically we pressed up 15 whites of 'Heart Ov Glass' that we couldn't even afford to pay for. I forced a 12" into Andy’s (at Skint Records) hand, and he has been a Godsend to us ever since. He gave us some addresses of people he felt might be into our sound, Tommie Sunshine, Tiga, Tom Magic Feet, Marc Moore, Adam Freeland...blah... to be honest, at the time I had no idea who any of these people were. A complete and utter spring chicken off the tourist boat from the land of never, never with a list of addresses. In one week we heard back from most people. Tommie Sunshine called us from the States. Skint gave us the International Pony remix, Tom Magic Feet crowned 'Heart Ov Glass' EP of the month in Jockey Slut. Tiga and Mark Moore charted it. And Adam Freeland asked us to remix 'We Want Ur Soul'. With that remix money we were able to pay for the whites and get our first Product.01 EP out by 2004. Things were really changing in a very magical way. Then Adam took us on the road with his band Freeland for his UK National Tour... it was an awesome time.
Adamo>>> Adam Freeland phoned us up and he was really hyper, totally making me blush about how much he was loving the Heart Ov Glass track. He then played me this early version of We Want Your Soul over the phone and was like - "Marc, can you remix this track so its as fat and #%&*ed up as Heart Ov Glass?" So I said, “Sure. I'll make it sound like a
sledgehammer hitting a crack smoking R2D2 robot - and he said - "Do
it!!"
CM>>> Rochelle, how do you have this great voice? Did you take singing lessons when you were a child? Was it always your dream to become a singer?
Rochelle>>> I had no plan to become a singer. I like to party and as a singer it's so boring to have to be the first home if there are gigs coming up, but I've learnt the hard way.............u can't pack your voice in a little
box for the night like u can a keyboard! In a nutshell, I was a pro actress, dancer, and model - started quite late really for that kind of thing, by the world’s standards anyhow. I was 11. But I picked it all up very fast and was working right away. Then I was asked to audition for a band when I was 17. But, my now best friend, Femi (She's the dancer in Return of The Jedi that gets thrown down Jabber The Hut’s trap after her little dance!), was needing a temp replacement and to my shock I got the gig with this band, who were huge in Melbourne at the time. I had 2 days to learn 16 songs and was freaking out. The other girl in the band was an utter bitch and didn't help me in the slightest. Irony is when Femi returned the bitch was booted and I stayed! Thou I learnt on the job, from there I figured I’d need singing lessons if I’m to embark on a singing career! I had some amazing and respected teachers...but no matter how many lessons u have nothing helps u find your actual voice more than experimenting daily. I haven't had a lesson since leaving Oz 8 years ago. This leg of my journey has been all about finding myself as a singer and songwriter in a more personal way.
CM>>> I know you can’t compare it, but what do you both like more: studio sessions or live performance?
Rochelle>>> Well I don't have to glam up for the studio....which makes me feel more male / primal! It also feels more peaceful and like a sort of meditation whereas gigs are so much about sharing every ounce of myself in such a physical way. But I have to say I love both in different ways. We test out our tracks live before we finish them off in the studio, as it helps us to know what works in a track. I love the edginess of live and the fact that no matter how prepared u come, you just never ever know what will happen...shit happens!
Adamo>>> Studio means getting totally immersed in my own world - and that can be totally fantastic fun. I can forget about speaking and what's going on in the outside world. Live means going somewhere new, meeting new people and hearing our music really bloody loud and having a party. So as long as I’m in the right mood, I love both. It’s especially intense when we drop a brand new track in our live set for the first time. I'm so itching to know how people feel about it I can't wait to get to it. One thing I don't like about playing live is when I need a piss half way through - that's agonising. It’s not like I'm a DJ and I can put a record on and go to the bathroom. I don't get this problem in the studio.
Rochelle>>> Playing at the Astoria in London when I was in Dubstar, I got locked in a loo during a song I wasn't singing on, and ended up in that loo for another 2 songs until someone found me... I suggest a beer glass if you're a bloke. Then make sure u hand it to someone you don't like.
CM>>> Besides your Remixes are there any musicians or artists you dream of collaborating with?
Rochelle:>>> Tom Waits, David Bowie and Prince to name but a
few.....................
Adamo:>>> I'd love do something with Beck, Tom Waits, Jalal and many other vocalists who speak and sing with humour, character and could handle working with a chimp.
CM>>> How would you describe your sound and style to someone who never heard Product01 before?
Rochelle>>> Song-based vocal-charged electro-techno-breaks. People often tell us we have our own sound. I guess that's good!
PS. it's Product (DOT) 01 = Product.01 !
CM>>> Ahem... What do you need for a perfect day in your life?
Rochelle>>> Chocolate & cheese, vodka, making someone laugh, Prince's Purple Rain LP, a hot deserted surf beach in Oz and sex - in no particular order.
Adamo>>>A perfect day for me is something wonderful that I haven't experienced before, I like a different thing every day - routines kill me - even good ones - a good day is where I get a bit of action in all departments too - physical, mental, spiritual and creative - plus a decent amount of laughs. I can't live without fun and laughter - even if it means winding up some unexpected victim. Beautiful days don't involve money in any shape or form!!!
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Interview Michael Mück
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