Words by Josh Jones
Photos by Dan Wilton

So on a blazing hot Saturday at Glastonbury Festival, ‘SUP caught up with Canadian duo Chromeo for a brief chat just before they went on to rock out the dance stage. They were a bit jet-lagged but looking forward to a European adventure as they’re hitting up most of the festivals around the continent this summer, playing to new crowds and spreading the Chromeo vibe before their third album Business Casual drops in September.

How are you guys?
Dave1: We’re chilling, we just got here. I’ve been in Europe for a few days but we just got into England a couple of days ago (yawn). Still a bit jetlagged!

So this is your first proper show?
Dave1: Yeah, for this run of festivals it is. I don’t know what it’s gonna be like. I hope it goes well.

The last time I saw you guys was two years ago at Bestival and I was trying to climb up a laser beam. It’s the last thing I can remember of the whole weekend.
P-Thugg: (laughing) It’s all a bit of a blur after that!?
Dave1: That was a really muddy festival – it was a fun show though. I really enjoyed it.

Do you like doing the festivals over here in the UK?
Dave1: Yeah, yeah we do – it’s kind of a grind doing all the festivals back to back but we’re used to it by now so it’s all good. We’re on at five this afternoon and then we have to leave to go to Istanbul really early in the morning

So you’re not gonna get to hang around the whole weekend?
Dave1: Nooo, we’re not gonna get to have the whole Glastonbury experience, but I guess we knew that when we were coming in so we’re gonna have to make sure that the show is good.

Have you ever played here before?
Dave1: Once, but in a really tiny tent and in very unpleasant conditions. It was a couple of years go and it was really, really wet.

It only goes one of two ways with British festivals – sunny like this or fucking awful.
Dave1: Yeah – I think I’ll take this.

So what are you up to while you’re here? Just live stuff?
Dave1: Yeah we’re just doing tours. We’re doing a bunch of festivals in the UK and the rest of Europe. We’ve not really played any of those shows in continental Europe before so it’s all about building a presence and set up the album coming up out in September.

You guys are pretty fun people – you must go down well with the festival public?
Dave1: Yeah – at least I hope so.
P-Thugg: Well you wouldn’t remember after Bestival!

Ah man – I remember you guys… it was the last thing I can! Are you still doing your Phd Dave?
Dave1: Yeah man, it’s going well. I hope to finish it this year. I’ve got a lot of work to do on the record too, so we will see. Right now I’m involved with the album all summer and then hopefully when Fall comes along I can get back to it.

Is the album completely done?
Dave1: It’s all done, it’s out in September, right at the end of the festival season – which is why we’re doing them all!

Where are you two based now?
Dave1: I’m in New York and he’s in Canada.
P-Thugg: The city of Canadia! I’m still in Montreal. It’s great there – if you’re into records, there’s great shops. There’s really good food, really good strip clubs.

Great tits in Montreal. Come to Montreal for the tits!
Dave1: Terrific tits. We’ve got the tits.
P-Thugg: That’s what the Americans go there for.

You said you’ve not played that much in continental Europe. How are you finding your music is translating in these places?
Dave1: I dunno really. We’ve done a lot of stuff in the UK, obviously, but we really don’t know about the rest of Europe. It’s all about having a good release and having a proper set up, which is what we’re trying to do with this record.

Which ones are you playing at?
Dave1: We’re doing some in France, then MELT, Exit, then back to the UK for Lovebox in London.

What do you prefer? Shows or festivals?
Dave1: I’d like to say normal shows, but some festivals can really go off and that feels amazing.

What’s been your favourite gig ever then?
Dave1: I would say that our best gig ever would actually have been in the UK and was when we played at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. It was such a big thing for us. It’s a beautiful old venue – it was such an amazing feeling to headline that night. Obviously Coachella was big, and actually last New Year’s Eve, when it was just us and we played to 2000 people in LA. That was a pretty big one.

Where’s your favourite place to play?
Dave1: LA’s cool, London’s cool…
P-Thugg: For some reason I always really like to play San Diego. I just really like that place. And Vancouver and San Francisco are cool places too.

I’m going on a West Coast road trip in October – where’s best for me to go?
Dave1: You need to do the Pacific Coast Highway, just get on that between LA and San Francisco. You’re right on the water and it’s beautiful.
P-Thugg: And you can get burrito’s on the side of the road.

Is ‘breaking’ the UK important to you?
Dave1: On the last record we did pretty well and we could do headline shows everywhere. We really want to build on that for this record.
P-Thugg: We had a great trilogy last time we were over here. We headlined Scala, KOKO, and Shepherd’s Bush.

Did you know that Charlie Chaplin used to play on the stage at KOKO back in the day, when it was a theatre? It was his home stage. That building’s 110 years old.
Dave1: Woah! That was such a pleasure to play to, like I said we want to take those shows and build on them while we’re over here, so hopefully we can do those types of shows again.

So you’re about to play your Glastonbury set – what have you got planned?
Dave1: Well this is actually our first show out in the UK and part of this tour, so we’re gonna go through the classics really, really fast with short transitions. And get the big songs from the last two records to remind them and just keep moving.