“We have a thirst for reconnection with Montreal. We just want to do interviews in French,” confides David Macklovitch, aka Dave 1.
He and his friend Patrick Gemayel, aka P-Thugg, have formed Chromeo since 2002. They met in high school, at Stanislas College. “If I remember correctly, we didn’t like each other too much at first because Pat was jealous that I was a better guitar player than him,” Dave says with a laugh. What was the driving force behind our friendship was the discovery of the same style of music, funk, which we became aware of together. Culturally, we also had a lot of similarities. His parents are immigrants from the Middle East, my mother is from North Africa. We quickly became very close as a family. Our sense of humor was also very compatible. We acted stupid together at school. »
At age 15, they started a funk band and later moved into hip-hop production with Dave’s little brother, A-Track. Chromeo is somewhat of a fusion of the two genres with the addition of various instruments. “Pat joined the talk box, which he had wanted since we were teenagers, and also convinced me to learn to sing. »
We were going to see Jamiroquai at Métropolis, then the following week, the Beastie Boys. We did graffiti together. My brother was starting to scratch. It was a wonderful adolescence spent in Montreal in the streets, in the evenings, at festivals, in the record stores on Saint-Denis Street buying records for 25 cents.
Dave 1
Although their artistic identity was far from being defined, the duo was offered a contract by the Montreal record company Turbo Recordings, operated by Tiga, a friend of Dave. Chromeo saves She’s in Controlwhich was launched in 2004. Powered by the coin Needy Girlthe group performs almost everywhere.
New York opens the doors
In the meantime, Dave moves to New York. He settled there thanks to a doctoral scholarship at Columbia University in French literature. Its new address is also beneficial for Chromeo, who regularly performs on small New York stages. The singer estimates that half of Fancy Footwork (2007) was recorded in New York, as was a large part of Business Casual (2010).
Pat finally joined Dave in 2012. The latter, exhausted after four years of touring, in addition to teaching and his doctoral thesis, put his studies aside in order to devote himself fully to music. The duo records White Womenwhich proved to be a success thanks, among other things, to the play jealous. Building on the success of their fourth opus, which was released in 2014, the pair built a studio in Los Angeles. “Instead of filling our pockets, something we never do, we reinvested everything in the album. We went to find lots of collaborators to do something truly plural. We also wanted a Grammy nomination, and we got it! »
Back to basics pandemic
The tour of Head of Heels had just ended when the coronavirus hit. “It feels like the isolation of the pandemic has forced us to reconnect with our friendship in a really essential way,” says Dave. Furthermore, a reflection began on what Chromeo is in adulthood. »
Thus, the album which will be released on February 16 is called Adult Contemporary. This summarizes the state of mind of Dave and Pat in relation to their status as forty-somethings and the “fun electro-funk” that they have been offering for over 20 years. “It’s a completely crazy paradox,” says Dave. On the one hand, we wanted to rediscover the atmosphere of Pat’s mother’s basement in Brossard. We return to these first sounds on pieces like Replacements Or (I Don’t Need A) New Girl. At the same time, elsewhere on the album, there are brass instruments, a string orchestra and acoustic guitar which give a more mature, more polished and more sophisticated side. As for the texts, the themes concern love life in adulthood,” explains Dave.
We didn’t make life easy for this record. We did everything ourselves, but we did it with fun. We’re an old couple who have a lot of fun.
Dave 1
Two types of shows
Last April, Chromeo participated in the Coachella festival – his fifth. The magazine Rolling Stone praised the group’s new stage proposal. However, he has something else in store for the Montreal public on Thursday.
“We work as much on the scenography as on the music. For us, it’s really part of the experience, like the groups that formed us: Daft Punk, Wu-Tang, Beastie Boys, Dave points out. We realized that what we did at Coachella didn’t translate well to the theater. We put together another thing for Montreal with lots of new songs. It’s a long show, more than an hour and a half, with a scenography that has the same chrome language, the same play of light, but other colors, other tones. »
“Pat and I went out to Métropolis when we were 15. We were handing out flyers out front. To come back there is almost absurd, it’s crazy! I hope it goes well,” says David Macklovitch.
At MTelus, October 19, 8 p.m.
Chromeo’s albums
She’s in Control (2004)
“We were doing anything, but by some kind of magical coincidence, the song Needy Girl had a lot of success in the underground scenes. Especially with the help of Tiga, the music spread internationally in the DJ world. That’s really what got us started. It was still very modest beginnings because we did shows in front of seven people in Pittsburgh. »
Extract of Needy Girl
Fancy Footwork (2007)
“We did this one between Montreal, New York and Paris. We were a little more comfortable with our sound and our sensibility. The release coincided with the big electro wave of 2006, 2007, 2008, when Daft Punk toured North America. It was from that moment that we started to sell out rooms. »
Extract of Fancy Footwork
Business Casual (2010)
” We started Business Casual very quickly afterwards, and the idea was that it would be a complement to Fancy Footwork, which is festive and joyful. We wanted the sequel to be a little more sophisticated, dark and melancholy. We have a ballad in French, then Night by Night And Don’t Turn the Lights On which are more disco and nocturnal. »
Extract of I slammed the door
White Women (2014)
“On this album, there is Ezra Koenig, Solange, Toro Y Moi, and we worked with co-producers to grow the sound and polish it further. We had our first radio success with jealous. In Canada it is double platinum and in the United States it is a track of top 40. A completely unexpected commercial success for us. »
Extract of Jealous (I Ain’t With It)
Head Over Heels (2018)
“This time, we wanted lots of collaborations, as if Chromeo was doing something like Gorillaz. After four albums just Pat and I completely isolated, we wanted other voices, other sounds. Afterwards, we did lots of shows and festivals. We finished our tour just before the pandemic. »
Extract of Bedroom Calling pt. 2 (with The-Dream)