This week I interviewed L.A.S.E.R., a name that has been featured on Metalectro a few times with their tracks. L.A.S.E.R. is an anglo-italian duo, which formed in Northern Italy during late 2006. The official acronym for their name stands for “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation”. The duo has already released a number of original tracks and official remixes for many artists and labels and is currently working on their new EP “Bad Stories”. So, I hope and to find out what else we should expect by them in the near future.
01. Hi guys! Would you mind introducing L.A.S.E.R.?
L.A.S.E.R. is an electronic music project that was born a few years ago, originally inspired by the french scene. It’s still evolving within our search for sharp and edgy new sonorities, and we try not to be conditioned by the “trends”.
02. You grabbed our attention with your track “Alpha Centauri Mind Benders” at first, one of your early tracks. What was the feedback you got for it and would you say it played an important role in shaping the L.A.S.E.R. sound as we know it today?
Feedback is usually positive but we’re extremely conscious about the fact that there’s always room for improvement. “Alpha Centauri Mind Benders” is definitely a raw track and to us it still sounds fresh despite the years! Obviously as time goes by our sound is getting more refined but our ideas, which have evolved too, maintain their roots in our past, therefore allowing our tracks to be quite recognizable despite the “genre”.
03. What are your influences/music backgrounds? Were you involved in any other projects/bands before L.A.S.E.R.?
As stated before, the french scene has been a huge influence for us but our “historic” background is rooted strongly in hip hop and in 90s music.
Talking about other projects there is “Blasteroids”, an LP that we made in collaboration with some of the most talented italian rappers, and “Kim Avey”, an electro-punk duo that we produced.
Regarding current and future projects we started to act like a secret society: everything is hidden and mysterious but in plain sight for those who know where and how to look. 😉
04. You have been doing quite a few remixes as well as original tracks. Do you prefer writing original tracks or remixing and why?
We definitely prefer laying down original tracks because the end product comes entirely from us and for the better or for the worse (theological dualism that we don’t buy into and that we hope will disappear soon) we’re always proud of it. We also really enjoy doing remixes tho’, since they inspire us and boost our creativity being based on the solid grounds of the original track.
05. Apparently you are also involved in a record label if I’m not mistaken? Would you like to tell us a few things about it?
TUNABLE Records, a flexible platform born to track and release the freshest tunes of the electronic scene.
Do we need to say more? We just aim at high quality, hopefully great music and no limits regarding musical genres.
Keep an eye on us and we will cheer you up with some big surprises!
06. Speaking about non-L.A.S.E.R. activities, are you involved in any other projects at the moment or do you produce music only as L.A.S.E.R.?
As producers we constantly create music for us or for other people but we also like to keep secrets as much as possible.
Obviously this doesn’t count for L.A.S.E.R.!
07. What would you say is your biggest music achievement/highlight so far and what your worst/most embarrassing moment? (Personal or as L.A.S.E.R.)
Our curriculum is pretty much spot on. We’ve had the great honour of sharing the stage with huge legends such as Roni Size, Noisia, Skrillex (we played back to back with him!), Erol Alkan, Kavinsky, Crookers and many other famous (and not so famous but still pretty damn good) artists.
We produced all kinds of records, songs for tv adverts, videos and we hope this is just the start.
Our worst moment has to be a sudden freeze that plagued our pc, caused by the huge amounts of humidity in the club. The funny thing is that the humidity was generated by the massive crowd in the audience, and that place was too hot for us humans too!
08. Back to your sounds and lately we’ve been hearing quite a few dubstep tracks from you, as well as some great electro, like your remix of Hack The System’s “End Game”, out on Jet Set Trash or Geometry’s “Triggernometry”, out on Dreieck Records. Would you say you’re slowly moving into a more dubstep direction?
We try to evolve constantly. Old L.A.S.E.R. tracks and ideas can be related to dubstep before it went mainstream. The genre was still underground.
After Skrillex detonated the scene, new ideas and inspiration emerged, that’s for sure.
We experiment, as a way of life.
09. Do you prefer working only with computers/sequencers or do you get your hands dirty playing and recording instruments? Do you use samples and what’s your opinion on sampling and copyright?
Samples, samples and samples (even our own stuff).
We’re not musicians, even if one of us played keyboard for more than six years.
We like microsampling and this is what we do with L.A.S.E.R.
There’s nothing wrong with sampling but we also think that in the creative process the original samples transform themselves into something totally different.
Obviously when a track reaches huge success by copying unashamedly, some questions come to mind.
We’re not interested in doing that, and we always “treat” our samples to transform them into something new.
10. If your studio was on fire what would be the first thing to save?
Our souls!
11. What is music for you and what do you think about the way the music industry is changing?
Music is a form of life and deserves respect like any other lifeform in this universe.
The universe itslef is music if we look at it from a strictly vibrational standpoint.
The music industry, like any other “human label”, is of course a big fat lie.
In this business (horrible term) adaptation is a must and sometimes you need to do it without thinking too much about it.
What matters is the love and passion you put into what you do and that’s it.
12. Do you believe that an electronic music artist can earn his/her living from music nowadays?
We don’t have a proper answer. If you work your ass off looking for well payed gigs, it is possible. Otherwise you need to be part of a “well connected group”, just like in everyday (for most of people) life.
13. You’ve been playing quite a few live shows, what’s the most memorable on-stage/backstage moment would you say and why? If you could pick one artist to share the stage with, whom would you pick?
Skrillex’s live act and the back 2 back we played with him. Self explanatory.
14. What do you think is the best thing about working with each other and what the worst?
The best thing is the constant sharing of ideas and the growth that is a natural effect of this process.
The worst thing is the time we lose when our opinions diverge, which often leads to procrastination, in particular regarding the concretization of a track.
But we’re improving.
15. You’re currently working on a new EP, what should we expect to listen to and when? Would you mind sharing some details with us (release date, track titles, remixers, etc.)? Give the readers something to look forward to…
Dubstep, dubstep and more dubstep. 😀
Bad Stories EP will be released on TUNABLE.
We haven’t got a release date yet but we will have one soon.
It will feature three original tracks: Bad Boys, Bad Girls, Bad Stories.
No remixes, since this is an “experiment”.
16. What other plans do you have for 2011? (live shows, releases, remixes, etc)
We’re planning on many gigs and a lot of releases! Opening the label has faced us with many duties and problems, that often seem “too much”. But we will succeed!
17. What are you listening to lately? Any tracks/artists you recommend?
We listen to stuff that we like, it doesn’t matter if it’s jazz, metal, drum and bass or irish folk music. 🙂
We’re also focusing on our stuff and following a few artists for our label.
We’ve already discovered quite a few talents!
18. What do you like to do when not in the studio producing music?
Live life and breaking boundaries, in any field.
19. What do you think about the Metalectro blog and the music featured on it?
It’s worth of respect and consideration. You can tell there’s a huge amount of work behind it. Also the electro tracks you promote are always full of positive surprises!
20. Something else you’d like to mention and we forgot to ask?
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