Michael Bugeja catches up with Betamax and Danalogue, who together form Soccer96, ahead of their performance at this year’s edition of the Rock The South festival.

They’ve been blazing a highly visible trail since 2013 as two-thirds of cosmic jazz act The Comet Is Coming (TCIC) but, even before that, Danalogue and Betamax were already getting noticed for the mind-blowing music they were creating under the name of Soccer96. I caught up with the band ahead of their upcoming performance in Malta.

Before you formed Soccer96, what was it that attracted you to the psychedelic side of the music spectrum?

I used to like the idea that music is penetrating your brain on all the levels at once. Looking at music as a way of messing with perceptions and enhancing reality and stuff. This is fundamentally true of all music but I think the ‘psychedelic’ description shows an understanding of the music’s power to change things we don’t understand in our psychology and general brain operation.

One comes under the influence of music, and it’s kind of like letting a musician go deep into your head using the magic of sound, embracing insanity and letting go. 

How do your influences from way back compare to the way this strand of music has evolved and mutated over the years?

I think Hendrix and the Beatles were both turning me on to that sound as a child. Then I was under the influence of Dub for a while and electronic music has always been massive growing up in London.

I think it started out as a reflection of social change during the 1960s, but things just went off-road after that. I always think that engaging with sounds in a spiritual/philosophical way helps to keep things on the right path. I guess as a whole, our music ventured further into darkness, but in a good way. The dark side needs to have a seat at the table, otherwise it will haunt the shadows. 

What brought about the formation of The Comet Is Coming over and above Soccer96, and what did you seek to explore as a trio that you hadn’t yet done as a duo?

The trio veered off in a more explosive direction and became a lot more about personal challenge and overcoming things. It has an epic adventure quality. Whereas this pushed the Soccer96 duo further into the cerebral zone, and we became much more subtle and  curious in our process, less guns blazing and more introspective balancing. 

Is it at all difficult to separate what you do with TCIC and the sounds you develop as Soccer96?

The two groups feel very different in approach; Comet is like a clash of worlds with more urgency – though recently it has become more spiritual and blissed out. Soccer96 is always changing too but as a duo I think we have quite a different method, and we’re always searching and playing with things in the studio and thinking more sonically perhaps, and always trying new things like funny mics or tape machines. 

Your love of analogue equipment over digital technology is well-documented. What are the main factors behind this preference of yours, and is it linked more to your studio work, your live performances, or both?

I think that there are two ways to approach recording. Either record something clean and then dirty it up later, or record something dirty and clean it up later. I’d say that we do both of these processes but it’s important to always strike the right balance. The analogue instruments and machines seem to have that dirt from the get-go. Also, the process of using analogue things is completely different, they take longer, are heavier objects to carry around, they sometimes cost a lot and don’t do very much. But you fall in love, and that is what music is really about – passion. 

I’ve tried to avoid asking the question, but… where did the name Soccer96 come from? Are you fans of the beautiful game or simply hooked on video games?

The name is trying to evoke the feeling of joy that we felt as kids playing those games. They were special times and those games speak only to our generation really. Also there was amazing music on those games and we would listen to it all day, so we want to pay respect to the influence that has had on music. Also we try to retain a playful attitude making this music. 

Can you give us some insight re your upcoming album Rewind, and how it compares to the sounds present in your two albums so far?

Rewind is a collection of individual studio experiments that me and Dan have worked on over the years. We really make one track at a time and each one has a very different process behind it. I’d say it’s a more psyched-out dreamy record that shifts through quite a lot of sludgy analogue filth. I think its music about the mind. 

Is there anything in particular you want to check out while you are here?

Our friend, long-term collaborator and my studio partner Capitol K (Kristian Craig Robinson) is from Malta. He’s just finished recording an album made in Malta made with field recordings and flutes made from wood he has found walking around. He’ll be with us for a few days to show us around the places where he recorded his new album, and take us to the caves and good swim spots. We’re stoked to check out the coast near Żurrieq where we are staying, and as people fascinated by ancient civilisations we will definitely want to explore the Megalithic temples, apparently they are the oldest and best preserved in the world!

Soccer96 will be performing at Rock The South 2018, which takes place on April 20, 21 and 22 at Zion Bar in Marsascala.

http://rockthesouthmalta.com