S
omewhere in New York City last week, an entire block was kept entertained by the sounds of two Canadian visitors practicing for their next tour. The guys of Electro Funk duo Chromeo, Dave 1 (David Macklovitch) and P-Thugg (Patrick Gemayel), have toured practically nonstop this summer. But this tour leg is different. They’re changing things up in order to appease newer fans. They’ve added songs off their latest album, White Women, and continue to perfect the setlist mix of old and new. This, of course, means hours spent practicing those electric riffs for their ever-increasing fan base.
“We’re learning some new songs,” Dave 1 says, explaining the wall of sound that came through the phone before we chatted. “Just stuff from the [new] album that we’ve never played before. You guys haven’t seen our new stage design and all the stuff we’ve implemented for this last record. It’s that, plus we’re adding ‘Old 45s’ and ‘Somethingood’ from the album, which are two songs we didn’t play before. Now, in total, we’ll be playing … like seven songs from the new album and then the rest is all old stuff. So more than half of the songs are new stuff and the rest is the Chromeo greatest hits.”
Chromeo has, in fact, been around long enough to have “greatest hits.” White Women is its fourth studio album, dating back 10 years since its debut album, She’s in Control, came out. The new album is actually the seventh record in the Chromeo discography, if you include the three DJ mixes. And you should, because they love those mixes just like their original work. Chromeo knows where and how they started and they understand the importance of those early years as friends messing around on ancient equipment, remixing their favorite tunes. So the boys encourage others to have that same fun with their tracks, too. Soon after White Women was released, they uploaded mixable individual track stems and told their budding DJ fans to have their way with the music. They’re even known to play favorites.
“So many came out dope. I think my fave might be DJ Hoodboi’s take on ‘Jealous,’ ” Dave 1 shares.
“But everybody killed it, from Boys Noize to Dillon (Francis).”
“Jealous (I Ain’t With It)” is, of course, where the money is now for the Canadian duo. The single has blown their last decade of chart success completely out of the water, coming in at a solid 12th place on the Canadian charts. And every time that Johnny Appleseed Hard Cider commercial comes on TV, “Jealous” wiggles it’s way deeper into your ear. Many music lovers might never have discovered Chromeo if not for the single.
“There are a lot of new people now, especially with ‘Jealous’ coming alive,” Dave 1 says. “ ‘Jealous’ is the biggest song of our set now. It’s the biggest song of our career. So that definitely goes over well. I think the songs from the new record are actually the ones that get the most, the biggest reaction when we play live now.”
The crowd may go wild when “Jealous” comes on, but there’s more than just that hit single that makes the girls go crazy. Chromeo offers the whole package: cute dudes who dig fashion and art, wielding electric guitars or standing behind keyboards propped on stands shaped like curvy female legs. Not long ago, the vast majority of Chromeo’s groupies were guys like Hoodboi and Boys Noize. They wanted to talk gear and mixing. For proof of a change, look no further than the guys’ social media accounts. On every other post some girl is offering to have their babies or telling them they’re hot.
“I should read my Facebook comments more,” Dave 1 teases. “I think our whole thing is that people think we’re approachable dudes and so they can just go ahead and say a dumb comment that they know we’ll probably either read it or reply to it or appreciate it. Like, I reply to every single tweet. I feel like if somebody can take a minute to listen to one of our songs or write me that the least I can do is write them back, you know?”
Dave 1 may be answering out of the goodness of his heart, but he’s still genuinely a guy with plenty of swagger and perhaps the true definition of a ladies’ man. The guys are constantly asked about their style and favorite designers and rumors continue about an upcoming fashion line of their own. Earlier this spring, one outlet even queried dating advice from the guys.
Dave’s suggestion? Hit up Whole Foods. But what about when you’re at a festival? What would Dave suggest to the dude who wants to meet that pretty dancing girl three feet over at a Chromeo gig?
“You can’t really even be like, ‘You look dehydrated, you want some water?’ Then she’ll think you have Molly water and you’re like trying to roofie her or something. I think it’s really tricky there,” Dave says. But then, pure genius strikes.
“When we play ‘Over Your Shoulder’ we ask all the girls to get on guys’ shoulders for that song. So there’s bound to be a girl that’s there by herself. So you can just go to her as a guy being chivalrous and say, ‘Hey. Hop on.’ And then she can see that you’re strong and brawny and maybe she’ll never wanna get off.”
The 30-year-old musician has now been part of a band for so long, he admits he’s never really had the chance to hit festivals as anything other than a performer (“Maybe once,” he says, “as a kid with P.”) He’s definitely sure, though, that waiting to hit on a girl during “Mama’s Boy” is not the way to go. Since so much of the crowd they draw now seems to be over-sexed women, what do they need to do to catch Dave and P’s eyes and get invited backstage?
“I think I make a lot of eye contact in the front row and I like a smile and a nice little wave. A little wink,” Dave says. Though, he’s quick to point out that backstage at a Chromeo concert isn’t as fun as you might expect, “Our backstage is really boring because it’s just basically P and I working and making jokes in French.”
The “all work and no play” adage doesn’t really apply here. Chromeo has found a way to make a living by having fun and doing what the twosome loves. The duo capitalizes on its talents, dominating Funny or Die skits or selling a hit song and using promo money to throw a huge, free concert in Boston.
They do it all with smiles on their faces — and a long line of girls and synth nerds beating down their door. ©
CHROMEO plays the MidPoint Music Festival Thursday at the Washington Park stage.
This article appears in Sep 17-23, 2014.
