Do not disturb The Shapeshifters

Do not disturb The Shapeshifters

1 June, 2009 | 10.16AM

• Written by: Terry Church
• Filed under: Music News: defected, the shapeshifters

Simon Marlin and Max Reich walked up to the glittering door of mainstream success once, and peered over the precipice.

In their hands was a completed album, full of radio friendly house music that had been commissioned by the major label EMI.

All they needed to do was hand it in, and EMI would make them stars of the UK dance scene. They would be the biggest duo in house music. They would be the new Groove Armada. They never handed it in.

At the last step, The Shapeshifters threw away their album, pausing only to remove the title sticker from the CD. It was called ‘Do Not Disturb’ and they stuck it onto the door that they never walked through.

It was The Shapeshifters’ worldwide smash hit ‘Lola’s Theme’ that brought them to the cusp of the mainstream in 2004.

Ironically, the lyrics of that record spoke of the realisation of inner change. ‘I’m a different person, turn my world around’, applied to Marlin and Reich themselves, who, off the back of ‘Lola’s Theme’, had found themselves in a very different world to the club scene that they came from. “We never planned on ‘Lola’s Theme’ being that successful, it blew up all on its own,” says Simon Marlin, from his home in West London. The track was named after his wife Lola, as it was her record collection that inspired the initial idea.

“After that record hit, we were living in a different world for a while. A grey area started to appear and we started to question our motivations. ‘What were we making this music for?’ Was it for the clubs or for the radio?’ We didn’t want to look back and go ‘shit, we wish we had never released that’. That had happened once before with a single called ‘Pusher’, where we were cajoled into doing something that we didn’t want to do by the record label. That was a mistake, and we realised that ‘Do Not Disturb’ would have been too.”

House is a feeling

EMI is not the only pop music entity to have been turned down by The Shapeshifters. Britney Spears was refused a remix, as was English pop singer Alesha Dixon. “We turn down 95% of the remixes that we get asked to do,” says Marlin. “If we’re not feeling it, we simply don’t do it.”

That same philosophy applies to the duo’s record label Nocturnal Grooves which has just seen its first compilation drop. Mixed by the pair, ‘Nocturnal Grooves Volume 1’ draws on the many different roots of house, morphing from deep tech influenced house (Roy Mclaren), to funky disco grooves (The Beginerz), piano-laden vocal moments (Hagenaar & Albrecht), stripped back house (Mark Trophy), and progressive (Mardel).

As Marlin says, “We’ve always been about many styles. It’s all house music to us, whether it’s got a progressive groove, a housey groove, or a techy groove. If we like it, we’ll play it. If we like it, we’ll sign it.”

Nocturnal Grooves has been quiet for the last couple of years. “We weren’t able to give it the attention it deserved, so we drew back from signing stuff as we didn’t want to release anything without giving it the proper care and attention,” says Simon Marlin.

The duo recently entered a partnership with Defected records. The house giant now looks after Nocturnal’s distribution, allowing the boys to concentrate on “signing stuff”. That means plenty of new names, as Marlin confirms that exposing up and coming artists is incredibly important to them. “Helping new talent is what it should all be about. We have to embrace new technology and new artists otherwise the scene will just die,” he says. “There are guys on Nocturnal like Roy Mclaren, who is a really well trained musician that could go all the way if his productions were a little tighter. Stereo Soul System are really talented. Dave Floyd and Pookie are another duo from Serbia who are excellent. We want to help as many of these guys as possible.”

Dance music’s ideals

A passion for dance music bubbles beneath Marlin’s words. Despite The Shapeshifters’ commercial standing - he admits that “most people probably see us as quite commercial” - he has an idealistic view of dance music. “Some of the artists and the public have forgotten how radical things were in the early days,” he says. “People forget how shit clubs used to be, how everyone was beating the crap out of each other at football matches [before dance music came along in the UK]. The VIP mentality has started to creep in. People are getting complacent. They’ve had it good for too long. They’re not doing parties for the right reasons. But maybe the recession and a bit of hardship might actually be good for the scene because it’ll force them [fakers] out. At the end of the day, it should be only about the music.”

The Shapeshifters’ fondness for the fundamentals of dance music showed in their remix of Orbital’s debut single ‘Chime’ from last year. Originally released in 1989, the rave anthem was brought up to date with kicking house beats. “We wanted to show our respect for the beginning of the scene, the feeling, and the culture,” says Marlin.

Video: The Shapeshifters ‘Chime’

The respect for dance music’s ideals also extends to the forefathers of the scene. For a radio show recently on Galaxy FM, The Shapeshifters interviewed house music pioneer Frankie Knuckles. “We first met Frankie when he called us up out of the blue after ‘Back To Basics’ came out. He called simply to say that he was inspired by our music. When you’re as important as Frankie, that’s the kind of phone calls you can make. We were very flattered and expressed our mutual appreciation. In this scene, it sometimes happens that you respect a guy for his music and then when you meet them in person you realise they’re a complete idiot. Frankie isn’t one of those guys. He’s one of the nicest blokes I’ve ever met.”

I’d rather play in a sweaty box to 200 people who knew their music, than to a club of 2000 pouting wannabes.

Nocturnal nights

The duo’s disaffection for the mainstream surprises. However, it’s more than just words. They are committed to avoiding the path of least resistance as defined by their currently homeless club night Nocturnal Grooves. For eight years The Shapeshifters hosted a regular night at popular London club The End, which closed in January. Because their night was one of the venue’s most popular, the boys have since had a number of offers from clubs in the capital hoping to take on its reins of success. The Shapeshifters turned them all down.

“We were offered Pacha but we don’t want to do anything there until they sort out their crowd issues,” says Marlin, who expresses a number of times in the interview that he has a disliking for the faux VIP, bottle service culture. “I’d rather play in a sweaty box to 200 people who knew their music, than to a club of 2000 pouting wannabes. It’s the same problem with Matter - there’s a lot of weird people in there, at least, for us as we’re used to playing for much smaller and more intimate crowds.

“We don’t want to go back to the newly revamped The End as we think that might be a mistake. Our relationship with that club was through all the staff there like Layo and Zoe, and all the bar staff. They’ve all left now so it’ll be a completely different experience. Plus they called it The Den - that must have taken them fucking ages to come up with that name.”

Partnership

The story behind The Shapeshifters is one of partnership. They are one of the longest running duos in house music - for 12 years Simon and Max have been working together, and their relationship is just as strong as ever. “As corny as it sounds we’re more like family than best mates. He’s got his own friends and I’ve got mine. We don’t feel the need to hang out all the time, and as such, we’re not in each other’s pockets. When it comes to work, it’s work, and that has probably helped keep our partnership going,” says Marlin, who goes into the studio every weekday with Reich from 11am till 6pm.

In the studio, Max takes care of the technical wizardry. “He does all the drum programming, and I’m not ashamed of that. He’s the absolute bollocks. Within five minutes he can have a drum loop going that sounds exactly like what I asked him for. I write all the lyrics and play most of the keys.”

He does all the drum programming, and I’m not ashamed of that. He’s the absolute bollocks. Within five minutes he can have a drum loop going that sounds exactly like what I asked him for.”

The pair gutted their Maide Vale studio recently, which they’ve occupied for eight years. “We were thinking of buying our own studio, but the rent is cheap as shit because we’ve had it for so long. So we decided to refurbish it instead, and we’ve completely rebuilt it. We got new monitors, new isolation, and acoustics. Technology changes a lot in eight years,” says Marlin, with a laugh. “You know, we A & B’d some new monitors against our old ones and the difference was staggering. We actually have four new tracks coming out on Defected soon that basically came about because the new monitors sound so tight. Hey, I know we’re known for putting the whole kitchen sink in our tracks with saxaphones, keys, strings and all, but sometimes less is more. But not in a minimal kind of way. We’d never do minimal!”

The red carpet, for now, remains on the horizon as Marlin and Reich follow their own yellow brick road. They understand that the rabbit hole is a one way ride, and the door to the mainstream must remain closed from their side for the sake of the music. ‘Lola’s Theme’ made them different people. It took them up, down, and the world around. But for The Shapeshifters, it was always, only ever, about the nocturnal groove.

Upcoming US tour dates

June 3 – Scottsdale, AZ @ Cream Stereo Lounge
June 4 – Vancouver, BC @ Republic Bar
June 5 – San Diego, CA @ SPIN (GIANT Presents)
June 6 – Los Angeles, CA @ Vanguard (GIANT Presents)
Oct. 1 – Washington, DC @ Ultra Bar
Oct. 2 – Chicago, IL @ Spy Bar
Oct. 3 – Miami, FL @ Mansion

• (8) Comments
• (3431) Views
• Get 'Nocturnal Groove Volume 1'