Interviews
BIG QUESTIONS: MASON
- Words
- Interviews
- Big Q
The Dutch duo behind some of the cheekiest electro-house of the last few years answer the same questions we ask every month....
What did you both want to be when you grew up?
Iason: A sound engineer, one of those ponytailed dudes in a black shirt. Not a rock star.
Coen: A rock star.
What’s the worst club you’ve been to?
Iason: People tried to beat me up in some middle-of-nowhere club in China for playing songs with English lyrics. I have no immediate plans to return.
Coen: Too many come to mind.
What’s been your worst job?
Iason: I was a pot-washer for six years. It paid for all my 90s vinyl and made half of them smell like a soap and garlic.
Coen: Working in a dry cleaners during one of the hottest summers on record.
What are you obsessed with right now?
Iason: Running all the big city marathons.
Coen: Modular synths. Stop bringing out all these nice modules, please! And what do you hate right now?
Iason: easyJet.
Coen: Myself, for drinking too much last night.
When and where were you happiest?
Iason: When our ‘They Are Among Us’ album finally saw daylight.
Coen: Drinking with friends last night.
Have you ever been arrested? And if so, what for?
Iason: Yes, I got imprisoned in Finland during one of my first gigs abroad in 1998. They didn’t trust the party and arrested, well, everyone.
Coen: I once nicked a bottle of wine and spent three hours in a police cell.
What’s the best record ever made?
Iason: Still working on that…
Coen: Stevie Wonder ‘Talking Book’.
What’s the coolest thing in each of your houses?
Iason: I built one of those elevators that make your TV rise up out of your bed with a button. Very James Bond.
Coen: My bed.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
Iason: To infinity and beyond.
Coen: My guitar teacher was also my life coach. He told me the way you hang a guitar around your neck is just as important as how it’s played.
Who’s your all-time hero and why?
Iason: Alexander Robotnick: kicking ass as a DJ and producer for 40 years.
Coen: David Bowie, for surviving the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle and reinventing himself time and time again.
What’s your vice?
Iason: Being a workaholic.
Coen: I like Phil Collins.
Who was your first love, and what happened?
Iason: The maid in a Greek hotel when I was twelve. I cried the whole way home.
Coen: A Dutch girl I met on holiday. My best female friend got jealous and seduced me to make us break up!
On a scale of one to ten, how good are you in the sack?
Iason: I never see other guys having sex so I can’t really compare.
Coen: I’d say a nine, but what are you asking me for?
What’s your most prized possession that you’ve still got from when you were a kid?
Iason: My grandmother’s turntable: it made me start DJing 17 years ago.
Coen: My miniature electric railway. I didn’t know it was for geeks back then…
Ever had a homosexual experience?
Iason: No, apart from usually having more gay guys chasing me than girls.
Coen: I once kissed a guy, but only to impress a girl.
What do you spend your money on?
Iason: Food decadence.
Coen: Sneakers, nice food and synths.
What’s your drug of choice?
Iason: Red wine.
Coen: Hashish, preferably Moroccan.
What can’t you live without?
Iason: Travel. So I’m in the right job!
Coen: That’d be music, thank you.
Do you have a recurring dream?
Iason: Finding out I have the wrong music in my case during a big gig. Just The Beatles or children’s songs. Scary!
Coen: Falling down from a high place. The falling sensation wakes me up.
What would you change about yourself if you could?
Iason: I’d like to be able to see in three dimensions – for some reason my eyes just can’t. Don’t throw stuff at me. It’s not funny.
Coen: I wish I could hit the sack on time.
‘Mason presents: Animal Language Refurbished’ (Animal Language) is out March 11 (Beatport), March 25 (general). ‘Superimposer’ is out on March 5
Download the Zombie Disco Squad remix of 'Superimposer' here.
