Culture Clash: Italoboyz vs. Chinaboyz at Lantern Tonight

Bang! Bang! It’s a duel of the DJs! There's a clash of techno titans tonight at Lantern as Acupuncture Records’ Chinaboyz (Terry Tu and ELVIS.T) celebrate their crossover project with UK label Mothership’s Italoboyz (Marco Donato and Federico Marton) in a double feature back-to-back set. We sought a few words of wisdom from the visiting Italians to see what they have to say ahead of the party ...

Carissa Welton: How long have you been DJing together?
Italoboyz: We’ve known each other for about 20 years. We’re from the same little town in Italy where we used to hang out together, buying records together and partying. We have two very strong and different mentalities that combine to create the music we do, so we can’t really tell how and what happens, it just does and it seems to work quite well.

Carissa Welton: Your music definitely has a sense of humor, but who’s funnier, Marco or Fede?
Marco Donato: Fede is the funny one. I’m the serious boy ...

Carissa Welton: What’s the track “Chinese” all about?
Italoboyz: There was no plan; it just came out as every other track does, by playing with music and voices, and by trying to do something different.

Carissa Welton: You’ve appeared at massive music festivals worldwide, like Tokyo’s Wire and the Berlin Love Parade. How was your experience at the INTRO festival last year?
Italoboyz: It was one of the highlights of our year. It was really nice, sensational and definitely one of the best parties we played in 2009. It was beyond our expectations and an enormous honor to be part of it. We would love to do it again for sure!

Carissa Welton: You two do seem to be having a lot of fun, and it shows in your music. What’s the most fun you’ve ever had DJing?
Italoboyz: That’s the one million dollar question. It’s impossible to pick just one thing in particular, because we’ve had the great honor and pleasure to play at so many fantastic parties, organized by super-nice promoters and attended by amazingly fun people … Every party has had its own story, always different from the previous one.

Carissa Welton: Fair enough. Any favorite words of wisdom to leave us with?
Italoboyz: “The pauses between the notes … ah, that is where the art resides” (pianist Artur Schnabel).

Join the Italoboyz, ELVIS.T and Terry Tu for the“Chinese” Remix Release Party at Lantern tonight, March 19 (RMB 80,10pm).