Maribou State interviewed ahead of SA tour

Maribou State is a down tempo but upbeat ‘jazzy fizzle’ electro duo hailing from the UK.

We chat to them ahead of their upcoming SA debut happening at Mercury Live in Cape Town on Friday, 8 December and The Good Luck Bar, Johannesburg on Saturday, 9 December 2017.

From their name, to the state of making music and influences, Maribou State brings a unique yet familiar sound, timeless no doubt.

Where does the name, ‘Maribou State’ come from?

Maribou State: Unfortunately it’s a bit of a bland tale, but it came from a book I was reading at the time called ‘Marabou Stork Nightmares’ by Irvine Welsh. We changed the spelling of the first two words….. Et voila!

What is your view on ‘genre classification’? Do you feel that people sometimes lose focus on what’s really important- the music. Especially coming from such an eclectic electric sound like Maribou has.

Maribou State: I honestly don’t have an issue with it. I tend not to do it myself as so many genres blur into one these days, but if people want to give a certain type of music a title then that’s completely up to them.

You will be performing in Cape Town on Friday, 8 December at Mercury Live alongside some of our best artists including Felix Laband, Christian Tiger School and P.H Phat to name a few. What are you guys most excited about experiencing here in S.A?

Maribou State: We’re extremely excited in general as we’ve both never been to South Africa before, but I think the main thing that excites us is the prospect of doing a safari; seeing some wild lions, zebras etc would be a pretty nuts experience for us.

Have you gents produced solo work, or are you solely focused on Maribou State? What is the best part of being in a duo?

Maribou State: We’ve never released any solo work but we sometimes work on music separately without the intention of it being used for Maribou State. There’s obviously a whole heap of advantages to working in a duo but the main would probably be being able to bounce ideas of each other. When both of us seem to be thinking the same thing then that’s usually the sweet spot.

What has been your A.) Favourite song to remix? And B.) What is your dream remix to do?

Maribou State: I think my favourite remix was a track called ‘Gold Dayz’ by Ultraista that we did about 5 five years ago. It’s when we first started to record live instruments and I just remember us hitting on a completely new sound that we hadn’t previously delved into. I think that remix really informed the music we began to make afterwards.

Maribou State: Dream remix: Probably something by Otis Redding. He’s probably got one of the most incredible voices ever recorded so it would be pretty amazing to be able to get the vocals stems and work with them.

Your music is the perfect fusion of organic and mechanic with a real jazzy down-tempo groovedelic vibe. Who are your biggest influences and where do you hope to take your sound?

Maribou State: Thank you. I think it would be slightly different for the both of us but my main influences stem from a lot artists from the 60’s & 70’s like Nina Simone, Sly & the family stone through to modern artists like Bon Iver & Burial. I’d like our sound to become as timeless as all the above…. probably asking too much but you gotta aim big.

Be sure to catch Maribou State live in South Africa this December!

CAPE TOWN

Date: Friday, 8 December 2017
Venue: Mercury Live, Cape Town
Entrance: R250
Time: 8PM
Bookings
Line-Up: Felix Laband, Christian Tiger School, PHFat, Akio, DJ Lag, Kidfonque, Nonku Phiri, P-Kuttah and DJ Lag
Facebook Event

Date: Saturday, 9 December 2017
Venue: The Good Luck Bar, Johannesburg
Entrance: R250
Time: 8PM
Bookings
Line-Up: Felix Laband, Christian Tiger School, PHFat, Akio, DJ Lag, Kidfonque, Nonku Phiri and P-Kuttah.
Facebook Event

Maribou State interviewed ahead of SA tour