The Ones - Flawless Flavours
New York dance group The Ones, best known for their hit single Flawless, are heading to Australia to play the House of BlackSTAR party for mardi gras. 3D catches up with the trio to find out a little more.
Have you been down from NYC for a Sydney Mardi Gras before-
Nashom has vacationed in Sydney during Mardi Gras but this will be our first time traveling to Sydney as The Ones.
Your sound recalls a heyday of NYC nightlife in the late-’80s/early-’90s, a fusing of electro pop, early house and late disco – who are some of your personal musical touchstones-
We all started going out in the heyday of house music, so DJs like Frankie Knuckles, Larry Lavan and Danny Krivitt really shaped our taste in music. Back then you could see a performance every weekend in your favourite club, so seeing Grace Jones up close in a small venue has always inspired us.
With three vocalists, how does the writing process start and end for you-
The process can start in a few ways; we can start with a melody or a lyric idea and then bring it to the others to work on together. Many times the track comes first and we write to it according to the way it makes us feel. We try to write everything together and, though we seem to agree on most things musically, each of us has their own ideas that have to be auditioned for whatever song we are working on.
You seem very interested in the visual stimulus associated with electro and disco, do you see multimedia being integral to your music and delivery-
Definitely – the more stimulus the better. In a world with such short attention spans, we think it best to use everything at our disposal to make the best performance and or recording that we can.
After your successes with singles like Flawless, Superstar and Ultramodern (Disco), were you expecting the 2008 self-titled LP to receive such an unswervingly positive response-
Well, yes and no. Of course, no one believes in our own project more than we do, but it is always a surprise when people respond favourably to your work. It makes it all worth while.
Do you see your brand of dance music as an instrument for unification and inspiring social acceptance, or is it all about the party-
We certainly hope so. Our music is really for everyone gay or straight, black or white. We try to write songs that everyone can identify with. Although there is nothing wrong with a party song as long as everyone is invited.
Finally, tell us a bit about the live show you’ll be bringing to House of BlackSTAR…
We hope to bring the NYC feeling to the kids down under by just doing what we do, give you great songs and some crazy looks.
WHO: The Ones
WHAT: Play House of BlackSTAR at Oxford Art Factory
WHEN: Saturday 28 February
MORE: mardigras.org.au