LMFAO may be speaking to The Times from a car travelling somewhere between Belfast and Dublin – and the telephone line does crash at regular intervals – but the American electro pop duo still manage to get the message across: “It’s going to be a party!”
The “party gods”, as they call themselves, are referring to their performance at tonight’s Isle of MTV concert at the Granaries, in Floriana, and they have invited everyone to join in.
Performing in general is a “blessing” and they love the energy they get back from the fans. In Malta, they plan to “just get crazy and have the ladies go all crazy too”.
Not everyone may be familiar with LMFAO but the duo believe theirs is “infectious music”, so previous exposure to it doesn’t matter and it is not about age.
LMFAO stands for words that cannot all be reproduced in full – laughing my f****** ass off. But they did not initialise it to facilitate the lives of journalists, who write for serious newspapers.
“It comes from my grandmother. She came up with the name because we were supposed to call ourselves something else and when we asked her what she thought of it, she said: ‘LMFAO, that’s ridiculous!’ We thought that sounded better.”
Formed in 2006, the duo consists of rappers and DJs Redfoo and SkyBlu, who are actually the son and grandson, respectively, of the founder of the Motown record label, renowned for signing on The Jackson 5. They are also related to Michael Jackson.
Their uncle-nephew relationship “works” in their music because of the “level of respect” it brings along. “We have a good understanding because we’re family. We’re closer than just two friends who start a group because we grew up with the same values. It makes things easier,” SkyBlu says. He insists the connections did not help their career because they got famous before anyone ever knew about them.
LMFAO has just released a second album Sorry For Party Rocking. Why the apology?
“It’s basically for the neighbours because when we were making the music it was late and they’d call the police on us every time.” The sincerity of that apology, however, is dubious as SkyBlu goes on to add: “We’re sorry for having a good time but we’re not going to stop. We’ll just be nice and say it because we don’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. But we’re having a blast...”
For the duo, life is, indeed, “one big party” and this is expressed in their music, which incorporates a theme of revelry and drinking. The ingredients for a good bash are, in fact, “good music, more girls than guys, and alcohol”.
The first single from the album is Party Rock Anthem, the most successful song of their career so far, peaking at number one in 10 countries and top 10 in many others.
So what makes the anthem an anthem?
“It brings everybody together in a big dance. Whenever we play this song, it’s like a calling and everyone’s going to come and pay attention, start shuffling and doing what they do to party.”
Today’s audience can expect some serious dance moves as LMFAO share a stage with their “hero” and a major influence on their music, Snoop Dogg, who is headlining Isle of MTV 2011.