Felix Da Housecat's Five Star Freedom

Electro-pop pioneer Felix Da Housecat chatted about his upcoming funk flavoured album Virgo Blaktro & the Movie Disco this week, and revealed that as well as finding Marilyn Manson 'too difficult to work with' he's got no plans to form his own live band.

"James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem) was breaking it down. He said, 'Felix -- no more nice five-star hotels and nice five-star dinners and going out and enjoying the city you're in. You pretty much live on the bus,'
Felix told Australian newspaper the Herald Sun.

"I'm very spoilt and high-maintenance,' he added, 'I don't think I'd last three days doing that.'

His perceptions matched the experiences of breaks pioneer Adam Rreeland who toured his band Freeland several years ago, off the back of his biggest record, 'We Want Your Soul'.

"It's been like starting all over again really, which is slightly frustrating at times, but a necessary process," Adam told Skrufff in 2004.

"Financially, for example, I get paid a third of what I'd normally get as a DJ, and I play small venues that I'd normally fill as a DJ. I am effectively paying my dues once more, and sometimes that's hard,' he said. The Marine Parade label chief and globally popular DJ stressed in the same interview that as far as the gigs were concerned he was 'loving it' with performance possibilities greatly outweighing any negatives.

'I appreciate the sense of community on stage and the way you vibe off each other,' Adam explained, 'It's more physical and visual than seeing some nerdy dude playing records in a DJ booth,' he laughed.

Back To Basics mainman Ralph Lawson similarly switched from solo DJing to fronting his own band 20/20 Vision several years ago and like Adam, found the transition complicated.

'There are a million different things that go wrong in people's personal lives and health lives. Quite often one person will be down and somebody else will be up so you are constantly battling to keep everyone up and happy and all go onstage with the right mentality,' said Ralph.

'It doesn't always go right, but there'll be those bits where you all hit it and everything clicks and it is a great feeling and I think there's far more you can achieve with that than you can on your own DJing,' he mused.

There's no doubt about it; when you click it's a great feeling, but to be honest, after this tour, I probably cannot wait to get back on my own and just turn up with my records,' said Ralph. Tags

• felix da housecat
• lcd soundsystem
• james murphy
• adam freeland
• ralph lawson
• skrufff