Flying solo: Aeroplane

There’s nothing wrong with dance music being “disposable” music for the ‘floor most of the time. After all, there’s a clue in the title isn’t there? We have no qualms with electronic functionality, but when an act comes along that manages to combine an advanced degree of musicality with the visceral, involuntary urgency of dance music, the results are elevated to something more memorable and timeless altogether.
 
Belgian disco dons Aeroplane have flown into our conscience over the past few years doing just that, with an addictive combination of pop sensibilities, keyboard riffs, and disco beats. Their early instrumental work was absolutely stunning (see their self-titled debut, Caramellas, Love Love Love, Above The Clouds and others), and once they started their remix game and got their hands on some vocals, it fast became clear that we were dealing with some immense talents. Now classic reworks of Friendly Fires and Grace Jones followed amongst others, and they soon become the go-to remixers du jour, inspiring a whole wave of more dancefloor orientated nu disco artists in the process, after the likes of Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas’ more wistful and chilled stylings came to prominence.
 
Formerly a duo, the recent surprise departure of Stephen Fasano has left Vito de Luca to continue Aeroplane as a solo venture. With Aeroplane’s debut album nearly ready for take-off, we caught up with Vito during a brief stopover in London to find out more about the man behind the music and why he’s now flying solo…
 
A lot of your early work was instrumental – was there any particular reason for this?
We just couldn’t find any vocalists back then! We weren’t in a position to approach someone cool. Actually I love pop music and vocals which is kind of the opposite of the work Aeroplane was doing early on.
 
Do you think vocals are sometimes used for the sake of it?
There’s no definitive way of doing things. I started doing a vocal track now with three different singers on it, but I ended up saying ‘ok, this is not working’. A lot of commercial pop music in the charts uses vocals for the sake of it – not even a melody, just random words put together to make a song.
 
I noticed you used the instrumental version of the Human League’s Don’t You Want Me? on the Essential Mix, do you prefer this version?
This was from an instrumental Human League album - I love it, it was so well produced and the instruments sound great. When you play it in a club everyone goes crazy and sings along!
 
Your music has a lot of joy and euphoria in it - are you ever mystified by people who don’t take this approach?
It’s not about choosing to be happy, it’s just what you can do with your two hands, and what I can do with mine. I actually wish I could do something different, but I can’t, that’s the music I love to write and love playing. So it’s not a conscious choice to say you’re going to be a happy or a dark band. There’s a lot of dark music that I like, I’m just not that kind of person when I play an instrument. Even if it’s a bit more melancholic it might not be really dark, you know?
 
Is there a driving idea behind your music or does it come naturally?
I’m sticking to the only thing I can do. The music I’m writing, I’m trying to make it the best, trying to achieve the perfect sound. If the records sounded like they do in my head, I’d be a millionaire, but they’re not sounding like that yet. That’s the problem, that’s the goal I’m trying to reach – perfection. I’m trying to get to the point where I can say, ‘I have nothing to say about this track, it’s perfect.’ Every time I play one of my tracks in a club I hear something I could have improved, and I’m like, ‘ah, that sucks!’
 
Do you aim to make people dance with your music?
Dancing is not the main priority, if people decide to dance, depending on where you play your records you will get a different reaction. I like a slow groove, that’s what I think I’m best at. You can dance to Miss You by the Stones, but if I played that at Sonar to 10,000 people I don’t think they’d dance! I love the kind of groove that can make you nod your head, but I’m not trying to make dance music, I’m just trying to make good songs.
 
Where does the summery, sunny feel of your music come from?
A lot of the stuff I like, it’s not that summery. Even the whole Balearic thing, which is not even really a genre of music, it’s different types of music mixed together. Sometimes the music I listen to is not that happy or summery – I like Pink Floyd which is not that bright. In the end, it’s not really a choice, it’s just what comes out.
 
You’re now flying solo after splitting from your musical partner Stephen, are you able to explain what happened?
Everything is really on that Facebook message I posted. There were no fights, nothing major happened. To make it simple – when we started, we were just two dudes in a room making music 8 years ago, trying to get good sounds out of a computer. Then it grows a bit, and I spend more time in the studio, and Stephen’s spending time doing other things, then it grows again and I’m really spending a lot of time in the studio and Stephen is really spending time doing something else… and then it got to where it is now - I’m alone in the studio and Stephen is working on something else. It came to the point where if Stephen was in the studio I could get annoyed, because I was used to working alone by then, and I wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying. That’s when I realised, ‘this is wrong, this is not the way a band should work.’ Also, because the album will be the future of Aeroplane for the next 2 years, we could either make a decision now, or do it after the record, and not know how long it was going to last. So we decided to do it now.
 
What is your favourite piece of work that you’ve done up to now?
There’s loads of stuff on the album that I really love, tracks that are really close to what I had in mind. I’m really happy with the result. Some of the tracks on the album like Mountains of Moscow and London Bridge I’m really happy with. The thing I’m most proud of the remix we did for Low Motion Disco – Love Love Love. I think that’s the best keyboard part that I’ve written. After that there’s the remix of The Friendly Fires - Paris, which I’ve heard a bit too much now, but Love Love Love works really well, and when I play it in a club it’s a really powerful track.
 
If you could put on your dream party, where would it be, who would you want to play, and would there be a theme?
Where would I have it? I don’t know, the place and theme is not really important, but in terms of a band – Mark Hollis from Talk Talk on vocals, David Gilmour on guitar, Flea on bass, Jimmy Cobb on drums, and I’d just see what can happen when you get all your idols together, and if it’ll collapse, or if they’ll create a brilliant piece of music. I wouldn’t pick a DJ though, it would have to be musicians.
 
What’s the strangest sound or instrument you’ve used on a track? Do you experiment to get new sounds?
I’m not really a technological person. Right now I’m obsessed with a Simple Minds keyboard chord, and I just want that sound, at any price. I’m more into trying to get as close as I can to a sound that I know and love, rather than trying to create something brand new. What makes Aeroplane’s sound different is when I put those sounds in the middle of big beats, so I have to make the sounds bigger.
 
Do you prefer analog or digital?
Everything I do is with synths, as soon as I had money I bought synths. Roland, Korg, all of the big ‘80s names, and it actually really makes a difference – but sometimes you can spend time trying to get an analog sound, but in the end you’re actually looking for a digital sound. I was looking for some late ‘80s, early ‘90s drum pads, and I couldn’t get them without digital gear and plug-ins. Everything sounds how it sounds, and if it’s analog it’s analog, if it’s digital it’s digital – but the stuff I like is analog!
 
What do you make of the nu-disco/disco revival?
These sounds have been away for 20 years, and now they’re back, and you don’t know why they leave. A lot of stuff like Crookers I think is like a revival of ‘90s sounds, and it goes in cycles. I think disco is perfect party music. House, techno came from disco roots. There’s a bit of nostalgia, because we all grew up listening to stuff like Thriller and Bad, and some of the stuff reminds you of that. Sometimes you can’t tell why you like a certain period of music, or why it comes back.
 
You’ve probably been asked about the debut album countless times, can you describe the album in an abstract way?
I’m going to use the term journalists have said to me: it’s really ‘musical’. And I say, isn’t all music meant to be musical? I would also say it’s got a lot of melodies, and a lot of stuff you can sing along to.
 
Finally, who’s got the best voice in the world, or who would you most like to work with on a vocal track?
Mark Hollis from Talk Talk, for me he is perfect. I like others, like Chaka Khan, the girls from Abba, all that stuff I like – but Mark Hollis is just out of this world. I tried to get him for the album but I couldn’t get in touch with him.
 
Aeroplane’s debut album We Can’t Fly is released 6^th September 2010.