Exclusive Interview: Lexicon Avenue

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Depeche Mode fans may recognize the name Lexicon Avenue for their remix of Dave Gahan’s “Dirty Sticky Floors”, but they have been making music together for years. Lexicon Avenue is a DJ and production team made up of Scott Bradford, Chris Scott and Mark Armstrong. They have done production and remix work for various record labels and have traveled the world with their busy DJ schedules.

Their remix of “Only When I Lose Myself” is well known among Depeche Mode fans and they just recently released a promotional remix for “Behind The Wheel”. Lexicon Avenue’s Scott Bradford was kind enough to answer some questions from Empty World 3’s Element about being fans, their remix work, as well as their current projects.

Your remixes for Only When I Lose Myself and Behind The Wheel were fantastic! Would it be fair to assume that you are pretty big fans of the band then?

Yeah we are all huge fans and have been since we were kids. In my opinion they are the greatest band in the world

Were you commissioned by Depeche Mode to remix or were these remixes that you made as fans of the songs?

We did them as a promo tool for the Miami Winter Music Conference and the reaction and feedback they received was amazing. Dave Gahan then asked us to remix one of his solo singles “Dirty Sticky Floors” which was an immense honour.

When you go into the studio to start working on a remix, do all three of you go in with ideas for the remix in mind or is it a less structured atmosphere where you can bounce ideas of each other and experiment?

Well it works both ways really. Some times we have a set idea of what the mix needs then other times we go in and just go with what sounds good.

Your remix for Only When I Lose Myself took a soulful, down tempo track and turned it into a dark, progressive house track that really worked. Was it a challenge to move a song like this into a more dance oriented direction?

No not at all. I think Dave Gahan’s vocal has that sort of feel to them any way. A certain dark and trippy quality I think that is a large part of the bands appeal.

It seems like there was some controversy surrounding the Only When I Lose Myself remix. There was a rumor floating around that it was released without your permission and I was hoping you could shed a little light about this story. Also, did Mute Records contact you about this remix getting out and what was thier reaction?

Yeah we still to this date do not know who released the vinyl. At first we were very upset, but now we just laugh about it. I do hope I find out some day though just so I know. Howard at Mute was very supportive of us as he has been into what we do for years.

Your new remix for Behind The Wheel gives one of their classic singles an electro, tech house feel. Was that a song you just wanted to see updated or are there more details behind this remix being made?

Well its one of our all time favourites we just wanted to do our take on it and make something we could play in our sets.

Remixing a fan favorite must come with some added pressures, was that something you felt when you were making this new remix for Behind The Wheel?

Yeah we had to get it right and make sure we were all 100% happy with it. The good thing with it being just a promo mix was the fact that if we felt it was not working we could just walk away as we had no A+R guy breathing down our necks or deadlines to meet like you do with most remixes.

In 2003 Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan released his 1st solo album, Paper Monsters. The 1st single released from it was Dirty Sticky Floors and it included your remix. How were you picked to remix and do you know if Dave was pleased with the mix?

From what we have been lead to believe the band heard our Only When I Lose Myself mix (Paul Oakenfold played them it apparently) and that’s where the idea of us remixing Dave Gahan’s solo single came from. I know Howard at Mute had a lot to do with it as well.

As much of an honor as it must be to have your remix of Dirty Sticky Floors officially released by Gahan, would you have preferred to have officially remixed a Depeche Mode single instead?

Ha, ha a tricky one to answer. If I’m honest then I would love to have done a DM mix and I’m sure mark and Chris would feel the same, but you’re right in saying we were honoured to do Dirty Sticky Floors. You never know perhaps our dream will come true one day.

Beside busy DJ schedules, Lexicon Avenue’s members all seem to have other projects going at the same time. What can you tell us about some of those projects and is there any new music or remixes we can look forward to from Lexicon Avenue?

Well myself and Chris also record as Little Green Men, Third Movement and Kobyashi, we have some new LGM tracks ready to release early next year on our Forensic label. Chris also records as Echomen and Mooncat with some new stuff out early 2006. Myself and Mark have released tracks under the name Bush People and we are due to record new material in January. We are also going to record with Alan Bremner from Brothers In Rhythm. As Lexicon Avenue we are putting the finishing touches to a remix for Dave Seaman’s Audio Therapy label and there’s a remix of a cool vocal track called Elektrify by Spector out on our Forensic label next week. We will also start work on a new mix cd early next year.

For more information on Lexicon Avenue, please visit www.lexiconavenue.com

Interview by Glen. (C) Empty World 3. Do not steal this article without giving full credit and a link! Photo appears courtesy of Lexicon Avenue