list.co.uk/music Feature | MUSIC
GROUND CONTROL
The London acid-synth / industrial dance outfi t Factory Floor talk to David Pollock about their debut album, working with Chris ‘Throbbing Gristle’ Carter, and making crowds go ‘batshit’
I t took eight years for Factory Floor to release their critically adored eponymous debut album this autumn. But it seems to have been a relatively minor step – creatively, at least – in the evolution of a group that comes to life onstage. ‘We just wanna keep pushing,’ says drummer and sole remaining founder member Gabe Gurnsey. ‘The album’s almost like a starting point for bigger and better live shows. The way we improvise onstage, it’s inevitable those tracks will turn into new variations. We’ll probably get a new album out of it.’
Formed in London, Factory Floor never play the same set twice, and their history has enjoyed a similar state of l ux. Founded in 2005 by Gurnsey and Mark Harris, who were joined later by synth player Dominic Butler, they initially employed a diverse sound that drew in elements of post-punk, industrial and classic electronica to create a sound that touched a number of bases for listeners with a particular underground sensibility. But Gurnsey is clear about the point at which the current-model Factory Floor was created. ‘It was when Nik [Colk Void, singer
and former member of KaitO, replacing the outgoing Harris] joined in 2010. Dominic moved from bass to synthesisers at the same time, and when we started rehearsing it had a really physical feel but was still quite organic, unlike a lot of people who make electronic music but rely completely on machines. You can’t force chemistry like that in a band – it just happens.’
The mighty, if understated, combination of a minimal acid rhythm and Void’s droning vocal on ‘Two Different Ways’ (2011) was the i rst evidence of this new iteration. ‘At the time, we started getting a lot of feedback from the audience,’ says Gurnsey. ‘Our sets were becoming bigger and more elongated, more intense in a lot of ways. We wanted to involve people more, and it turned us into a kind of dance crossover band, but with the human side that good dance music should always have. Watching audiences go batshit for a so-called dance track was great, so we wanted to tread that path more.’ All three of the band are from outside London (Butler from Weymouth, Void from Norfolk and Gurnsey from Leeds), and are one of those
typical groupings of artists and musicians who came to the city to i nd creative like-minds. It’s gone somewhat better than planned, and they’ve slipped into the company of dei nitive alternative artists. Back in 2010, New Order’s Stephen Morris remixed their track ‘A Wooden Box’, and a year later, Optimo Music released ‘Real Love’. Ever since, DFA have been issuing their music. ‘Yeah, we feel lucky,’ says Gurnsey. ‘When we played Primavera a couple of years ago Dom couldn’t make it, so we asked Chris Carter [of industrial icons Throbbing Gristle]. He did it, and two weeks later he was at our studio. We felt incredibly nervous the time we met Stephen Morris at the train station in Macclesi eld to go and work with him, but music is the mutual ground and it’s i ne when you start talking about it.’
incredibly
For anyone on the outside looking in, Factory Floor are on their way to similar levels thanks to something a lot more concrete than just association. Stereo, Glasgow, Fri 6 Dec. Factory Floor is out now on DFA.
14 Nov–12 Dec 2013 THE LIST 69