INTERVIEW WITH THE SHOES

French electro duo with a bit of a footwear fetish and a lot of game.

France seems to have a monopoly on talented DJ crews these days, and Reims' The Shoes are no exception. After stumbling upon Guillaume Briere and Benjamin Lebeau's set one night at New York's Hiro Ballroom this summer (opening for a DJ set by The Midnight Juggernauts, naturally), these two Gallic fellows got the room a'rockin' with their electrifying tunes complete with strenuous live vocals and their head-pounding hit, "Knock-Out." The already sold-out limited edition "Knock-Out" seven inch came packaged with one-of-a-kind autographed Polaroids of shoes belonging to none other than some of the hottest artists in the music biz, including CSS, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Busy P and Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses. The Shoes have also remixed Ladyhawke's "Dusk 'Till Dawn," Late of The Pier's "Focker" and many more - though an upcoming full-length of original songs is currently in the works.

Fierce Noise: How did the two of you meet and how did you first get into the electronic music scene?

Guillaume Briere: We met at school when we were 10 years old. We decided to make music very early. We were not good at school, and we wanted to get all the girls! ...and well, it worked! At the beginning we were playing in a punk rock band with my brother but I was a big hip hop fan so I bought (well my father bought ) an AKAI MPC 2000 when I was 15-years-old and it was like a revelation - I never gave it up.

FN: How did this obsession with taking photos of musicians' shoes develop?

GB: We met a lot of people because we are always on tour, so the idea came like that. It was obvious to us... some of them are famous, some of them are not. It's like a diary. We are going to print a huge poster with all the Pola's (it' s gonna be great!) on the wall of your room!

FN: What's your personal shoe preference?

GB: I'm a real shoe collector, it depends on my mood... sneakers or classy shoes, Chelsea boots, Vans authentic or Jordan 5, Classic Clark's... my last pair is a patent leather Christian Dior shoes. I love them!

FN: How far along are you in the recording process of your upcoming album? Do you have a title or track listing yet?

GB: We are always working on new songs... for us, every song is a potential single. We have a Japanese EP, two EP's in the UK on 50 Bones Records and very soon the "America EP" on a friend's brand new label called Green United Music. We do have something like 40 songs for the album... we just have to finish it... and choose.

FN: You're playing with Santogold on September 4th in London -- are you excited to be opening for such a huge artist?

GB: Yes, and very proud... always a bit anxious haha. We played last week at Leeds and the Reading Carling festival. We met a lot of great artists that we admire and had a big party with them! I can't remember everything but I think we did a good show...

FN: What are some of your favorite DJ's and bands?

GB: Well, my friends are my inspiration, they are my heroes. In Reims there are a lot great artists like Yuksek, Brodinski, Alb, Capataz and the best of all: The Bewitched Hands On The Top of Our Heads. It's a great band. I was playing with them before, and now I'm producing the album with Yuksek. We also listen to a lot of different kinds of music. Strangely, we don't listen to much electro music. We love '60s rock, folk, glam, pop etc., our new favorite band is a UK group called ESSER. They're brilliant! You have to check it out!

FN: When are you coming back to New York?!

GB: For our wedding, baby...