The Glitch Mob “to play electronic music like a rock band”

Los Angeles is an adventurous melting pot for bass-oriented dance musicians. A decade after the Oliver Stone-directed Doors movie, the experimental desert trips seem to have a live revival. The Glitch Mob trio follow the legendary band into the nowhere to clear their mind for their upcoming album. Similar to their fellow producer Eskmo, they’re also thinking about enthralling live acts, turning their controllers towards the audience while presenting something genuinely unique. After their debut full length Drink The Sea and a slew of remixes, they’re currently on tour. We caught up with them before their gig in Budapest, a killer set that had the club bouncing with live drums and some new tracks.

Could you say something about the album writing process in the desert? Was it as experimental as we know it from the Doors movie?
Justin Boreta: Yeah, in a way definitely. The main thing about going out into the desert is that there’s so much inspiration out there. It’s really a magical place.

How have you changed musically since the last album?
Edward Ma: I think we’ve just progressed, grown a little bit. We don’t look it as change really. It’s more an evolution in progression. It’s just growth.

Are you touched by any bass-driven music?
Edward Ma: Yeah, definitely. There are tons of amazing artists right now who are making really awesome bass music.
Josh Mayer: There’s a lot of great stuff in our home town, Los Angeles.

Like Eskmo for example?
Edward Ma: Eskmo is a really good friend of ours. Actually he lives right around the corner, we hang out all the time.
Justin Boreta: It was the plan for him to come out to the desert too, but he’s busy with the Welder project. We like Skrillex too, he’s from Los Angeles. The Swedish House Maffia comes from time to time as well. So it’s not just bass music.

When will the next album come? What kind of challenges have you faced during the writing process?
Justin Boreta: The next album comes out sometime next year. It’s hard to say, because it’s not finished yet. Right now we are writing sketches, the skeletons of songs, so right now it’s just a bunch of ideas. The main challenge is that we have so many ideas, and we just have to pick one direction to focus on.

Is it hard to pick that future path?
Justin Boreta: Actually it’s not so hard. It’s more about holding on to the vision, about a feeling where everyone wants to go. That’s part why we’re going out to the desert, so we can clear our mind and really just focus on what we wanna say with the album.

Can you give us more details?
Edward Ma: Well, It’s gonna be epic and very celebratory.
Justin Boreta: Drink The See was more like a listening album with poems about introverted feelings, and the next is gonna be rather extroverted, focusing on the outside world.

That’s why you did the Daft Punk remix, to prepare for this new mood?
Edwad Ma: Yeah, you could say that. It was a huge honor to do a remix for Daft Punk. When we got the e-mail asking us, we immediately said yes.

How would you describe the mood of the live shows?
Edward Ma: Adventure dance music.
Justin Boreta: We try to play electronic music with an energy like a rock band. So we just go crazy and have fun. The more fun the people have the more fun we have, so we get crazy.

But you still play pure electronica, don’t you?
Edward Ma: Yes, of course.

What instruments do you use on stage?
Justin Boreta: The heart of the whole thing is called Lemur. It’s a touch screen interface that we use as our controller. We also have Roland V-Drums….actually it’s a pretty basic set. There isn’t any special gear, it’s more like the kind of way that we use everything which is pretty unique.

Published November 01, 2011.