ZUCO 103 ABOUT 'LIVE VS LAPTOP/LIVE'

You rely quite a lot on new software technologies. Do you use Live mainly for creating rhythm tracks or do you make melodies with it as well?
"For just about anything really. You can quickly develop ideas with it: rhythmic or melodic. For tracking we still use Logic, mostly with Live as a slave. We still record loads of 'real' instruments and try to make them blend with synthetic or looped music, and talking about synths, I consider them as 'real' instruments because of their unique behaviour and sound."

When playing live a sort of magic can happen between band members: like you're no longer in control and the music seems to flow by itself... It feels like if you're part of a magic music machine and sometimes the audience gets involved as well. When was the last time you experienced that?
"Last time we played, I guess..."

In 2003, Zuco organized a remix contest for 'Q Baiano'. Was it a succesful contest?
"It was fun. We had about a 100 remixes to listen to. We got loads of weird stuff! It was a very hard one to remix because of the live playing and the syncopated rhythms. Many people didn't know how to place Lilian's voice right. In the end we had about 5 remixes which were really good and eventually the winning track of Frans van Erkel was released."

What are your favourite VST plugins and how do you use them?
"That's a freeware synth named Buzzer 2 and the Native Instruments stuff (especially Battery3, Pro-53, Guitar Rig and Reaktor). I use the internal synths and samplers from Ableton Live and Logic a lot but I still prefer to play my analog synths such as the Moog Voyager, Korg MS20 and Mono/Poly for instance."

What are you and the band currently working on?
"As our dear singer Lilian has just become mother of a beautiful son, Zuco is on pause until March of this year. From then we start touring again, starting with Brazil. In the meantime, Stefan K and I are producing a great songwriter named 'Stije'. You might even catch us playing with him in little places around Amsterdam like Flex Bar, Badcuyp or Sugar Factory in the coming weeks."

Zuco 103 will start to work on their next album after their tour this summer. In the meantime you can check out Zuco's cool vidcasts and have a laugh!

  zuco103.com

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