Web Interview – Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip
The Essex-born pair Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip are pioneers of spoken word electronica. Their barnstorming track Thou Shalt Always Kill became an underground hit after receiving heavy airplay on national radio stations last year. More recently, they released their debut album Angles, and are set to take their inimitable material to a selection of festivals around the world.
M Online managed to grab a few words with them during a rare period of respite…
Where did you get your names from?
PIP: Scroobius Pip comes from an Edward Lear poem. It’s about a creature that wakes in the jungle and doesn’t know what it is. It tries going with the lions, then the fish and so on. In the end it realises it is simply the Scroobius Pip and doesn’t have to be anything else.
DAN: I used to be called DJ Sackboy, which was an ideal name for a squat party DJ and came from having had several hernias when I was younger - but it’s not quite right for an electro/spoken word pioneer so it got cleaned up and became Dan le Sac.
Why the ‘vs.’?
PIP: We get asked that a lot. Originally it was just a name we put on a MySpace for the remixes Dan had done for my solo songs. Then, when we started working together we decided to keep it, because when you listen to the tracks it has the sound of two different acts coming together, but neither changing their style of compromising.
What first inspired you to take up music/poetry/performance?
PIP: Just a love of music really. I was going to gigs from the age of 15 and spending all my money on that. I would buy CDs at an almost unnecessary rate and I worked in a record shop for five years - all of that just seemed to make a natural progression into doing this for a living.
DAN: Much the same as Pip really but there is a little hatred in what I do too. I used to look at some bands out there and think: ‘If this pile of cack band can do it, why can't I?!’
Is spoken-word the new rock and roll?
PIP: Haha. Let’s hope so - but then rock ‘n roll was the new poetry! In the days of Byron and that lot they would put most of the rock ‘n roll acts around today to shame with their drug fuelled, philandering ways.
Who are your heroes?
PIP: There are a lot of acts that have influenced me along the way. Directly I would look at spoken word and hip-hop acts like Gil Scott Heron, Rakim, KRS One, Sage Francis, Chilly Gonzales and Saul Williams. But acts like Rancid, Minor Threat, Glassjaw, Prince and Kate Bush have been equally as influential.
DAN: There are a few crossovers between mine and Pip's heroes, people like Sage Francis and Saul Williams, but my ears were tuned into people like Joy Division, New Order and Kraftwerk from a young age. My teenage angst was expressed through Aphex Twin and Squarepusher, much to my parents’ annoyance.
What are your most prized possessions, music-related or otherwise?
PIP: Hmmm that’s a tough one. I recently got a Raleigh Chopper that I’m rather pleased with. Music related it would have to be my modest collection of vintage microphones.
DAN: Difficult question, three things constantly pull my attention: (1) A Casio VL-tone synth my lady bought me for my birthday, its naff and fantastic at the same time. (2) My laptop - just because I spend most of my time in front of it making beats. (3) A vinyl copy of mine and Pip’s album, just because it represents so much to me.
What’s the greatest gig you’ve ever played?
PIP: There have been so many great ones it’s impossible to specify. Just going out on stage each time and getting to do what you love is amazing.
DAN: My current favourite is the most recent one, out in France at Eurockeenies. Pip did a huge stage dive and lost his wallet, only to find the guy who nicked it dancing drunkenly under a tree waving it about! It was a good day all round.
What has been your favourite moment whilst on tour?
PIP: Ha-ha, sadly its normally finishing the tour, but then within a day of being back I always miss being on the road again.
DAN: The best moment recently wasn't really to do with me. Pip was about to go on stage with Mark Ronson at Z008 and I couldn't help feeling protective of him as he stroked his beard nervously side-stage - he killed it though!
Where do you see yourselves this time next year?
PIP: Hopefully finishing off a second album! We are trying really hard to resist writing new stuff as we have only just put out our debut album, but in the New Year we will be taking some time off to write.
DAN: This time next year Pip should just be hitting the celebrity gossip pages for his affair with Scarlet Johansson or Christina Ricci.
Is there anyone you’d like to collaborate with?
PIP: Prince? Kate Bush? It’s good to aim high…
DAN: See I just aim a bit lower than Pip - Micachu, Kid A, Flying Lotus could all teach me a thing or two!
Pip, please could you reveal the secrets behind your formidable beard growth?
PIP: Persistence. Ha-ha. If you can get past the horrible looking mid point of beard growth then it’s plain sailing from there on. I also make sure I shampoo and condition this badboy regularly.
www.myspace.com/lesacvspip