Interview: Fenech-Soler

Published on November 3rd, 2010 | Jonny Abrams

Rocksucker caught up with Andrew Lindsay from in-demand electropop combo Fenech-Soler to discuss how it all began for them, collaborating with Groove Armada and sitting in the same room as Paul McCartney…

How did you guys get your big break?

We managed to get our first single out on Alan Braxe’s label Vulture Music – it was quite an early step for us to get something like that with someone so high profile and he did a remix of the track which probably got a lot more plays than the actual single, to be honest. So that got decent radio play and got onto one of Annie Mac’s compilations, so that was a pretty early break for us. The Groove Armada collaboration was probably the next big thing. These are the main things that got us mentioned and got us attention from record labels. Getting our name out there was pretty crucial in terms of getting gigs, getting noticed and eventually getting on the right label.

How did the Groove Armada collaboration come about?

I think the initial contact was from a girl who’s been singing live for them called Becky, who goes under the name Saint Saviour. She kind of made them aware of us and then one of them, I think Tom, came to one of our gigs, which was at a warehouse party. He asked us to play at Lovebox, which is the festival they run. I think they just liked what they heard of us and they sent us a couple of tracks they’d been working on which he put down vocals for. They ended up using one for their album.

What’s the most exciting experience and/or celebrity encounter you’ve had on your musical journey thus far?

I’m not really sure. There haven’t been many, actually. The other boys went to the Q Awards the other day and there were quite a lot of people there. Paul McCartney was at that, which is obviously quite a big one – I don’t think there was an actual encounter with him but to even be sitting in the same room as him at such an early stage of the band’s career is pretty ridiculous! I didn’t actually go to that because I had to go to Bristol to soundcheck for a gig so I was technically working that day. We once played at something which Soulwax DJ’d at which was pretty big for us as we’re big fans of them. N*E*R*D played as well and we got to watch them soundchecking.

Supporting Kelis at the London HMV Forum on November 29th might help to break you into the world of bling…

Yes, hopefully it will! It will be interesting to see how many members of her touring party there are. I would think there will be quite a few, possibly three or four buses.

Finally, could you on the spur of the moment – acknowledging that it could change from day to day, hour to hour – pick your top three albums of all time?

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by Smashing Pumpkins. A Soulwax album of some sort, possibly Any Minute Now. And probably Moon Safari by Air.

Artists: andrew lindsay, fenech soler

About the Author

Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.