This article was originally published on THUMP UK.
Ahead of a set at this weekend’s Soenda festival over in the Netherlands alongside the likes of Motor City Drum Ensemble, Steffi and Midland, we had a very quick chat with techno legend Surgeon and American performer extraordinaire Lady Starlight about goat heads, pigs blood, and their collaboration with Lady Gaga. Yep, you read that right: Lady Gaga. Just joking! You’ll remember that a few years back now the pair supported Gaga at a huge show in Paris. The goats heads….we’ll, you’ll get to that soon enough.
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Hear more from Surgeon and Lady Starlight on the Rave Curious Podcast
It was only the briefest of conversations, but check it all out below. Oh, and yes, we are kicking ourselves for not asking whether or not Surgeon’s the only person on earth to collaborate with both Lady Gaga and Steve Davis.
THUMP: I’d like to begin by asking about how your working relationship began. What brought you together?
Surgeon: We were brought together by a Cosmic Collision. We are from the same planet, yet met on this Earth. She called out, and he answered her. We channel cosmological energy into our improvised performance.
Lady Starlight: Well..Maybe it’s time to confess that I boiled a goat head in pigs blood under a shrine to Surgeon in the dressing room right before the show. Works every time!
How central is collaboration to your outlook as an artist?
Surgeon: Not necessarily central. It can be a really fun way to communicate with another being on a very deep and subtle level. That creates something very different than a solo performance.
Lady Starlight: It’s like a conversation versus a speech.
A few years back now you opened for Lady Gaga…did you see any increase in record sales or bookings as a result? Did her fans suddenly clamor to get their hands on your old records?
Surgeon: Yes. The whole thing was a cynical marketing ploy, dreamt up by my management company in a boardroom in Zurich.
Lady Starlight: Yes, I was contacted by that management company. The goat head/pigs blood thing was a bulletpoint in one of the documents I received.
Imagine I’m someone who’s never witnessed a live techno performance of any kind: how would you describe your set to me?
Lady Starlight: it’s exactly the same as listening to a band live as opposed to listening to their studio album. Of course DJ sets involve the live component of mixing, the difference is the content is a “studio album”. So the energy and dynamics are way more familiar to the crowd. It takes a minute for people’s ears to adjust to a more raw sound. But once they do, they understand the raw means honest. And they appreciate that they are being given the truth.
Is exciting, relevant, and challenging British techno still being made?
Lady Starlight: It depends.Exciting relevant and challenging techno is only being made in the Channel Islands. So although they are included in The British Nationality Act of 1981, they are not part of the United Kingdom.. So if one considers them British than yes. If not, no.
Surgeon and Lady Starlight perform at Soenda Festival on Saturday 21st May. Head here for further information.
