Voyeur might still be in uni, but they’ve caught the eye of everyone from Annie Mac to Pete Tong with their Santigold and Bombay Bicycle Club remixes. Wonderland chat to the two likely lads and grab an exclusive preview of their Rob da Bank-requested remix of Dan Le Sac’s new single, Memorial, featuring the vocal stylings of Emmy the Great.
How did Voyeur begin?
Benson: I met Leo when moving up to Leeds, he had some nice hip hop tracks. We ended up working on a track together and it went from there…
What are the benefits of working as a pair?
Leo: We make better tracks together, we are twice as thorough and we both have our different knowledge of music in general. Benson plays drums and I play guitar and keys so naturally we click musically.
What are your influences?
B: It’s difficult to answer, probably Dilla, A Guy Called Gerald, Lauryn Hill, Kerri Chandler, MCDE, George Fitzgerald….but also going out and seeing a set which leaves me confused at the end.
Have you always been making this kind of music?
L: We started out making faster 2-step-py tracks.
B: Yeh, then we were listening more and more to housey stuff, so our tracks drew influence from that.
What are you working on at the moment?
L: We have just finished some tracks for an EP for Kerri Chandlers new label MadTech. We wrote one of the tracks in a day but spent the next two months fiddling about with it.
What’s your favorite vinyl you own?
L: All of them, but recently – N/a.3 (Maya Jane Coles / George Levings / Alex Jones) – Juxtaposes
B: At the moment, the new Dillatroit EP.
How did you guys get into DJ-ing?
B: My cousin was DJ-ing in clubs when I was young and he just got me into it.
L: We were residents in Leeds at Absent Minds supporting DJ’s like George Fitzgerald, Arkist and Scuba.
Where would you most like to play?
L: At a Roller Disco.
B: I’ll second that!
Who do you hold the most respect for in the music industry?
B: Would be rude to pick out just one…
L: Burial.
How do you begin to remix a song?
B: We’ll take a listen to the stems of a track, and then just start picking out the key parts of the track that we like. Once we got those, we feel it’s about changing them up to fit in a track that we feel represents our sound.
What is it you love about house?
L: The soul music still left in there…
B: … And that four to the floor.
What DJ would you have at your party?
B: Greg Wilson.
L: Kerri Chandler.
What have you got planned for the near future?
B: Playing at Hackney Fringe Festival and Dimensions Festival
L: The Dan le Sac remix and the EP.
Where would you like your music career to take you?
L: To the nicest places possible…
B: …With a big sound system!
Words: Christabel Reed