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Interview
by SashaS
15-8-2001
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| God bless Sis Bliss |
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Keeping it Faithless
Call it dance, stadium house or techno, they are the most popular mainstream dance act
In the world saturated with all kinds of music of varied quality Faithless stand tall and proud with four million album sales behind them. They are arguably the most popular mainstream dance band among such contenders as the Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack, Underworld and Leftfield. Alongside the dozen Brit-hits they amassed, including the current 'We Come I', the band has a reputation for being a live force that knows how to deliver euphoric concerts.
The Faithless' 'Outrospective' appears to be trailing behind the first two albums, 'Reverence' and 'Sunday 8pm' although it has its stunning moments. 'Not Enough Love' is an instant-of-eternity when it seems that everything is right in the world. It is 5-minutes of total bliss, tapping into the personal emotional heaven and blitzing it with the need to hit the 'Repeat' button. More sublime is 'Code', so delicate it sounds like it could disintegrate inside the player.
"Calling us dance music is not fair," the 43-year-old rap maestro Maxi Jazz argues, "because that limits us and fails to describe what we are really about. I feel we are more uncommercial and I hope that shows here. We are very good at creating atmospheres and mood. Dance music is misnomer as it can be anything, computer-generated or house and even reggae, that's dance music is well."
One summer too far
'Outrospective' is a good title inasmuch that it actually describes how unconventional the Faithless' set-up actually is. Maxi is joined by Sister Bliss (31) and Rollo Armstrong. The last one might be considered to be the brains behind the band but he neither promotes nor tours with the band. Maxi and Sis are the public face of the group while Rollo is the studio-bound sonic wizard who is not even in the country while the other two promote and performed (at Gatecrasher one-dayer); Mr Armstrong was being a big brother helping his little (real) sister.
A lot of things have happened in the career of Faithless and not all of it connected with the three principal band members. The biggest change has been their part-time member, Dido, has gone to become a mega-star but still makes a welcome guest showing. (The main vocal part is delivered by Zoë Johnston who used to sing with Bent.) The US stadia-filling atmo-blonde is not only younger sister of Rollo, she is the best friend of the Sister Bliss but, things went a bit bad for a while.
"All the bitter lyrics on Dido's album ('No Angel')," explains Bliss who used to be romantically involved with Rollo before they realised that mixing business with pleasure led to disastrous results, "are about me when we were splitting up. Nobody had to tell me, I knew it. I'm glad it all led to her huge success in America and we are so proud of her. She used to sing with us and look at her now, she is commanding stadiums."
Not enough machines
There has been an explosion of media over the past several years that have necessitated promotion of lesser artists, which is the nature of the beast's expansion - the quality suffers. Still, while culture is tuned into analysis of bagatelles - discussing 'tumescent tush' of J-Lo, however damn-desirable, pleezzzze - Faithless know their bailiwick and stand it firm by continuing to make beautiful dance music for hip-adults.
"All the success has been a huge surprise to us all," Maxi speaks animatedly, "and our plan was to make an album, promote it for few months and then go back our separate ways. We had planned to cut another album within a couple of years but the world sat up and took notice and we've continued to work on it for the past five years. We are very pleased but still shocked by it all."
Maxi is a follower of Nicheran Buddhism that teaches that external environment is simply a reflection of one's internal environment. There is no doubt that right now both are shining as bright as the midday sun.
SashaS
15-11-2001
Faithless' 'Outrospective' is out June 18 on Cheeky/BMG
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