Interview Factory Floor: “We don’t follow a trend”

Gabriel Gurnsey: Now we’ve gone down to a duo, it’s a nice way of bringing up new ideas and getting the fluidity back. Nik has ventured into the dark world of modular synths now too. It’s cool though, 'cause it’s doing a lot of things we wouldn’t necessarily do if we were a three piece.

Nik Void: I saw it from afar. I was very conscious that if I went down the modular synth route I’d keep it limited. It was nice to get your hands on something you could manipulate; just looking at it you know you have to manipulate it a lot to get it to where you want it to go.

GG: Every time we go to the airport I pick up Nik’s case and it’s just getting heavier and heavier with modules. And I’m like, 'You bought a new one?!' It’s kind of an addiction now, isn’t it? People are always like 'what’s this?' It looks like a strange kinda scientific instrument.

GG: You’re always sat in the artists’ bit out back at a festival and you hear this kind of muted dance beat going on. It’s nice to hear tracks how they’re not meant to be heard. You can kind of hear two dance tents combining and it throws up weird new tunes. But what I like is going to sleep on the aeroplane on the way back. Total silence.

NV: Everything happened so fast. You go with the flow and yet we go against the flow at the same time! We didn’t want to fit in; we didn’t want to have a set up that meant we pressed play and become DJs. We wanted our equipment to still be live on stage so we could still improvise.

GG: Definitely. We couldn’t do it the other way around! We fit our sound to the space that we’re in or how the audience is reacting to get to that point where we’re happy and feeling it in the room. It’s always fun manipulating it, it throws up new ideas for new tracks too. It just keeps evolving. It’s just a really creative way of doing it and it’s fun.

NV: I’ve gone through different stages of being on stage since the age of 19, but every time I’ve needed something hands-on and something to make me look busy so I can avoid eye contact and conversation. If you’re kind of not good socially, you should get in a band, which is ironic!

GG: It’s like an outlet for people who are a bit socially awkward! It’s their way of clearing their conscious of not getting out there and being in front of people.

GG: Yeah, we’re always playing shows when we’re making these records so it’s good to throw them in the deep end, see how they work out live and then take them back to the studio. We were being influenced by the late night sets and clubs; we were playing through a massive PA like you’d get in a club in the warehouse we recorded in, so we had that feeling in the studio.

NV: Yeah, I think so. I can only speak for myself and it’s a record that’s very me. I’ve brought in all the elements from the past and from working with other people and artists. I’ve kind of experimented with myself, whether it’s guitar or vocals.

GG: I think it’s, to me, more fluidity in the writing process on this record. It’s like the beginning of a new phase of Factory Floor that could turn into something different. It’s a better way of communicating in music when it’s just the two of us.

’25 25’ is released on 19th August via DFA Records.

Tags: Factory Floor, Features, Interviews