When will.i.am
ruined a
perfectly good
Dirty Dancing
ballad, that was
the straw that
not only broke
the camel’s back,
but gave it a
damn good
shafting too. We
had to do
something, so we
started Pegasus
as a guise in
which we could
make beautiful
things again...
cont... Wall’ multi tracks and the big
ones from Whitney’s first album for
good measure? We’ve actually done
incredibly well and to be honest, the
more we’re hearing the new breed, the
more I’m getting excited about the next
lot of singers coming through.
Did anyone ever turn down an
offer of a Freemasons’ mix (name
and shame)?
I can hold my head up and actually say.
we’ve never offered, we’ve only ever
been asked. Although, there is a
magnificent Emile Sandé bootleg of
Heaven on the studio drives
somewhere. You would be amazed if we
told you who we’ve turned down
though ;0
On Shakedown 3, Venice In Peril
is my favourite track as it samples
one of my favourite pieces of
music, if you had to pick, what
would be your favourite
“Freemasons” song off
Shakedown 3?
I’m so glad so many people have picked
that up! I was utterly, utterly obsessed
with the track as a teenager, after
hearing it at a warehouse party in the
very early 90s. I have always wanted to
cover it, but only now has the sampling
of strings got so incredibly accurate I
felt we could do it justice. As for
personal faves, I love so many of them.
Lyrically, I think Sea of Fire is total
genius - ‘Here comes the thunder
valentine with stormy kisses’...Emma
had visions of Henry VIII’s battleships
on fire off the shore of the white cliffs of
Dover. But also, HANA (a local
Brighton artist) has written one hell of a
song in True Love Survivor. But you
know we love our girls, and Amanda’s
Let It Be Me, Bailey’s The Fall, Jude’s
Paradise, and In The Blue have not
been off the stereo. However, simply
because it was amazing to record our
friend doing that incredible Gravityesque ad-lib in our studio and, because
of the fun we had writing it with her
and Ben Onono, it has to be us and
Katherine Ellis’ Cold Light Of Day.
Any big names lined up for a
future Freemasons’ remix, and
can you give us a little hint?
For the moment, after months of
endless work on Shakedown 3 it’s time
to tour, rest and recuperate, so all that
we have right now, we give to you on
this release!
What has been your personal
favourite Freemasons’ remix you
have done?
I can’t pick one - Whitney for the look
on our friend Scott’s face when we took
him to the studio to play him the
finished mix (to call him an enormous
Whitney fan would be painfully
underestimating the situation - I’m
convinced he had a draw full of
restraining orders), but also Deja Vu
Beyoncé. I remember calling our
manager and telling him it was going to
be career changing when we completed
it (how right we were), but my love of it
is very personal. It was the first time
we’d got the sounds utterly bang on Disco colliding with House and a set of
chords even Nile Rogers could have
been proud of. To see so many smiling
faces of so many crowds over the years
when it’s played and know you’ve made
people happy, I’d take that over any
success any day, month or year. Now,
‘Ring the Alarm’…there’s another
chapter!!
Sum up Shakedown 3 in 3 words
or less
Blood, Sweat and Tears.
Freemasons ‘Shakedown 3’ is available on
triple CD from 4th August, with digital
version including all available tracks and
edits out on 1st Sept.
AUG / SEPT 2014 | THEGAYUK 69