Some things are made to go together, but Bob Sinclar, king of the Gallic mirror ball disco and all round glam pop dance hit machine and Dirty South, the Serbo-Aussie Prince of dark electro are the proverbial chalk and cheese. No matter; put two masters of their arts in a studio with a heavy dose of the vogueish inclination for traditional music influences from around the world and you have 'The Russian March', a track that satisfyingly sounds as it ought and is surprisingly as credible as it’s catchy. We caught up with Bob Sinclar to get the lowdown on the collaboration...
How did the track come about? Who asked who?
First I should say that I consider Dragan aka Dirty South to be one of the best producer around at the moment and it was an amazing experience to work with him. We met a few years ago and cross paths with each other all around the world. Last year for NYE we were both playing at the same party in Puerto Rico. The day after the Party we met around noon close to the pool and after a club sandwich and a couple of hours of sun, he started to get pretty burnt (his skin is whiter than white!). We went to my room to listen to some stuff and I was working with this Russian vibe. He loved the idea said he wanted to work on the track with his own beats and sounds. He sent me the track just a few days later, which amazed me because he’d worked so fast. I loved the result; it's quite different to the kind of thing I usually do, but it really works for DJs and the big room crowd.
Why is it called ‘The Russian March’? Were you both swigging vodka when you put it together?
Haha...you know me, I don't drink alcohol! The name came to me because of the vibe of the mandolin in the track and the big anthem backing vocal (which I did myself) made me think about a Red Army chant; very dark but full of hope and courage.
Have you ever been to Russia? Is this what provided the inspiration for the song?
I am always picking up vintage vinyl from all the around the world, and the Mandolin we used on the track is a sample from a random soundtrack I found. I love all different kinds of vibe and I love to introduce that vibe on the dancefloor, which is how I created the ‘Africanism’ project with DJ Gregory. Our goal was to sample vibes from all around the world, and that hasn’t changed for me, except this time it’s Russia’s turn!
Who did what on the track, production-wise?
I had the some of the music and the backing vocals and Dirty did this amazing beat and added a lot of synths to bring it into his world.
Are there more Bob Sinclar/Dirty South projects in the pipeline?
I would love to make a follow-up to this tune in the same style; totally club and big room oriented. If people are exiting by this collaboration we’re gonna make it happen again for sure...
Anything else you’d like to tell us about…?
Russian March appear exclusively in my compilation Strictly…Bob Sinclar; a journey between Strictly Rhythm classics, some of my favourite tunes at the moment and a few of my own productions. I hope this album will be a must have to the younger generation of music lovers and enable them to discover all these famous house classic...
Peace
Bob Sinclar
