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A1 People: How Soon Is Now-

Author: Benedetta Ferraro
Monday, March 17, 2003
When fictional rock icons Spinal Tap famously called their long player the Black Album, they set a colour bar which not even Orbital dared cross with their infamous unnamed second album (these days referred to by fans as the Brown Album). However, for London synthcore players A1 People, the decision to call their new record The Yellow Album was a quick one.

"We like it because it's a positive, energetic colour, also, there's been a 'black' album, a 'white' album, so yes, a yellow album it was," the band's Simeon Bowring told Skrufff's Benedetta Ferraro.

"And I haven't told anyone this before, but I still own my first teddy bear which was actually bright yellow."

6 years after forming, A1 People find themselves at the centre of the capital's still thriving electro scene, a position Simeon admitted he's more than happy to embrace.

Skrufff (Benedetta Ferraro): How much does it feel like your time is now-

A1 People (Simeon Bowring): "It feels like that a lot actually. It seems like through the rise of electroclash people, especially indie fans and guitar music fans, have discovered electro music. The timing of our album release seems to have been perfect, as it has coincided with people's awareness of electro. We've had a great response so far. Perhaps there was a need for something fresh and a little different, since I feel dance music had become a little homogenized in a sense, but electro has re-emerged as a great alternative."

Skrufff: You seem to be releasing tracks prolifically right now, from the Yellow Album to 4 brand new cuts on the EP, are you feeling particularly inspired right now-

A1 People: "We do. The Yellow Album is very different from our previous LP The Visit and even though all the tracks were written within a year of starting off the album, we've spent a couple of years working to develop this new style, learning new techniques and familiarising ourselves with new equipment. It is a very exciting time for us and in general for the whole dance scene. Hopefully electro will establish itself even more and reach a much wider audience."

Skrufff: From your perspective how much has the electro scene changed over the last 12 months and in what way-

A1 People: "I think it's developing a lot. Obviously Andrew Weatherall and Andrea Parker have been at the forefront of it for years, but I guess if you look at the number of artists making electro these days, it's still not numerous, perhaps 20 people in total… There are, however, more and more electro nights popping up here and there. There's also a big debate going on between those who've been doing it for years and those who think it's something new and are ready to jump on the bandwagon. I don't fall for that myself, I think people are just finding new ways to listen to this music. It's getting bigger, but it's kind of odd when you hear terms like electro-house…"

Skrufff: Your new press release contains a quote from Uncut saying your music 'doesn't require the 'clash to work'. Is electroclash a word you're happy to be associated with-

A1 People: "Well, I don't think we make electroclash as such. I'm thinking of Felix Da Housecat, for example, who made a brilliant record, but has nothing to do with the type of music we make. There's definitely an influence there, but when we started working on our album, electroclash hadn't really developed enough to be considered as a genre. I went to Andrea Parker's house not long ago, and she played me a lot of electroclash, which to me sounded a bit formulated. The limousines, Hollywood, German style beats, the themes related to the early '80's, Berlin… sure, it's quite interesting, but we're more on the electro side of it all, or I suppose 'machine funk' is another term which describes best what we do."

Skrufff: Have you crossed paths with the likes of Larry Tee or been out to New York or DJ Hell-

A1 People: "Not really. I suppose we've been most influenced b
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