How British dance duo Basement Jaxx redefined house music

For the past decade, UK dance duo Basement Jaxx has been a force to  reckon with. Fully embracing the post-millennial generation with their brand of elaborate-yet-accessible house music, the Jaxx (Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe) helped define a new variety of music marketing by exposing (some would say exploiting) their hit Where's Your Head At through the mediums of television and film, while still creating one of the decade's most renowned, forward-thinking music videos.

Are you excited about coming to India for your first performance here?
Felix Buxton: I am really excited to perform here. I've heard a lot about India but have never been there, so it's new to me.

Lately you’ve been DJing a lot, how has that been?
It's nice to be DJing. A live show is a massive production. Generally, there are about 18 people traveling around. I choreograph the show, instruct them, and am the sounding board. With DJing, it's just me and Simon and it's easier.

Which have been your most memorable performances?
Well, with the live show, it would be headlining Glastonbury in England and playing in Korea for the first time. We had no idea whether the people in Korea knew our music; we were overwhelmed by the response. 

What do you think about the way that music is changing?
One massive change is that suddenly people get a lot of music for free. Everything now is a quick fix. Which is why a lot of the music in the pop charts at the moment won't last at all. The way people experience music is going to have more do to with 'live'. Recorded music has slightly had its day. It'll always exist, but I think it's more about people coming together, like this festival Bacardi NH7 Weekender (coming up in India). The music we hear will become more and more free. So rather than artists owning everything, let's play it everywhere. Which is how music used to be centuries ago — musicians were there to entertain people and to create an atmosphere. Maybe with people living in big urban centres, we might be close to people, but in a way there's more loneliness and depression and people feeling lost, when actually, when people lived in communities we didn't have that, so it's kind of a modern disease and the way people can come together is through music festivals and events.
 
Your single Romeo from the Rooty album has a Bollywood-inspired video. How did that happen?
I had heard so much about Indian culture while growing up in Leicester. So when we met the director for this music video, he mentioned Bollywood and I was immediately sold. I was also hoping to go to India for the video. I wanted to be dancing at the back of the video but that never happened!
I love the joy and the colour and the music and dance of Bollywood. I think Bollywood fits well with the view I had of the Basement Jaxx world — of having fun, happiness in life, vitality and passion.
 
Can you tell us about your musical collaborations with Yoko Ono?
Yoko Ono was one person I was interested in as a person, rather than a musical thing. I was interested in her view of the world. Probably because I think with the whole wave of the hippie era, there was a belief that we could make it a better world. And that belief got lost and then dissolved. I see a parallel with dance culture and acid house to the whole summer of love. So I feel we've lost that a bit — and we've come to more dark and cynical times.

I was very interested in her views; she's got more experience and wisdom. It was strange because I ended up writing all her words. And I remember one critic in America writing — "this is so very Yoko Ono, it could be no one else." But she didn't write it! But what was amazing was that I wrote something and she read it like it came from her. So in a way, we completely related on an artistic creative level somewhere.