Don't mean Jaxx

>> The second coming of Brixton's Basement boys

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Does fame really change you? Is it harder than it looks? Ask Basement Jaxx. The British duo of Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe, whose "punk garage" sound rocketed them to musical stardom before their first album was even available in record shops recently released a less intense, less pop, less accessible second album, Rooty. The Mirror talked to Buxton about having to live up to the hype.



Mirror: Your first album was so highly anticipated and created such a buzz in the dance music community, I would think there would have been a lot of pressure on you to do something as good or better the second time. How did you approach Rooty?

Felix Buxton: We just took what we had started with on Remedy and tried to make it a little more "ours." The result is, I think, something a little more organic and natural, more raw. We made a really conscious effort to forget about the critics--nothing good can come from thinking about that, anyway.

M: How did you find the vocalists you're working with now?

FB: Normally, we just do it through auditions, but this time around it was quite funny. One of the girls, Mandy, tapped me on the shoulder in the market and asked me if I was who I was and said she wanted to sing for us. So she came in and sang a bit and we hired her. The other singer, Kathy, was an agent in a car rental office where I was to hire a car. She realized who I was and proceeded to sing at the top of her voice right there in the office.

M: How do you feel about the reception of this album so far? I mean, you are touted as the saviours of dance music. Do you feel that you are?

FB: Saviours, I don't know. I mean, we weren't out there to start a revolution, we're just not sticking to the rules, I guess. People get hung up on silly things like the fact that the songs are shorter or the sound is less refined and make a big deal about just to have something to make a big deal of, but it's only music. Kind of like, get over it.

With Ugly Duckling at the Spectrum on Thursday, Oct. 18, 8pm, $27.50