2ManyDJs headline Forbidden Fruit Festival this June

Stephen Dewaele didn’t set out to change dance music. It just happened. As one half of electro duo 2ManyDJs (the other half is brother David), he was among the first deck-spinners to headline rock festivals.

Today, the trend is ubiquitous. Divisive figures such as Avicii, Afrojack and Deadmau5, are arguably the biggest ‘rock stars’ of the era, despite having never hefted a guitar.

“Some people say we are to blame for all of that,” says Dewaele. “We were programmed at Reading and Leeds, when DJs simply didn’t do this sort of thing. Nowadays, it’s all about two guys behind a mixing desk, hands in the air. You can see a connection.” He reflects. “You know, maybe we are a little bit guilty for starting it. That said, the current scene isn’t really for me. Not that I’m looking down on any of those artists. However, a lot of the music isn’t to my tastes.”

The irony that 2ManyDJs should have facilitated rock music’s overthrow is not lost on the Dewaeles. Their original incarnation was as indie moochers, Soulwax. Remixing and DJing was a side avenue to counter the boredom of touring. Today, Soulwax and 2ManyDJs exist in tandem. The latter may be more lucrative, but you sense the Dewaeles’ first love is the band.

The Dewaeles are from Ghent, in northern Belgium. As Soulwax, they released their debut album, Leave The Story Untold, in 1996. A conventional alternative-rock affair, it showcased the brothers’ talent for melody and hooks (it also suggested they had spent too long with their Radiohead singles). With 1998’s Much Against Everyone’s Advice, they confirmed their standing as exciting newcomers: the LP yielded the quasi-hit ‘Conversation Intercom’, and demonstrated that you could achieve international acclaim even if you were from a small country regarded as a musical backwater.

How the Dewaeles progressed from the rock club to the dance-floor is a lesson in serendipity. In 2002, as a stopgap between Soulwax albums, the brothers put out a cut-and-paste ‘mixtape’, called As Heard On Radio Soulwax Pt 2. At the time, musical mash-ups were the hot thing — amateur remixers could gain prominence by pairing a Strokes riff with Christina Aguilera’s vocals, or by having Beyonce sing over Fugazi. With Radio Soulwax, the Dewaeles elevated musical pranking into high art and were rewarded with a huge smash. “It was never part of our plan,” says Dewaele. “At the time, Soulwax was doing pretty well for a Belgian band. We were big everywhere around the world, touring a lot. We were happy with the path we were on.”

Though the mash-up concept quickly became hackneyed, it pushed boundaries. “It felt very punk. We thought it would be cool to juxtapose Salt ’n’ Peppa and the Stooges. Then, we’d go to a record store and overhear people going ‘Oh my God, have you checked out this new song: it’s amazing’. And it was something we’d put together just four days before. It was an exciting time.”

While Soulwax continue, it’s as DJs that the Dewaeles earn the greater chunk of their income. They have benefited from the rise, especially in America, of the EDM dance scene. Some EDM stars have admitted to playing programmed mixes — essentially, ‘miming’. Dewaele considers the practice objectionable. “I prefer if people mix live,” he says. “The public pays money to come and see you, then you should have at least make the effort. Standing in front of an audience, pressing play and putting your hands in the air — to me, that feels like cheating.”

* 2Many DJs headline the Forbidden Fruit Festival, Sunday, June 1