interview with twin sun!

jdb: Who is Twin Sun?

TS: Twin Sun is Jamie Willcox & Pete Wheeler, both of us live in Reading, UK. We started off collaborating on edits in late 2013 under the pseudonyms Solid Gold Death Star & Wonder Wheel. By the following Summer we knew we wanted to team up properly and in November 2015, Twin Sun was born!

jdb: What equipment do you use to create remixes?

TS: We mainly produce using Logic with a little help from Abelton Live here and there. With those we use software synths like Arturia ones and hardware synth like the Juno 106.

jdb: Any reason why you're drawn to Fleetwood Mac?

TS: Both of us have been huge fans of Fleetwood Mac since childhood, including the earlier blues material and their albums with Bob Welsh before Lindsay Buckingham & Stevie Nicks joined. In 2012, Pete met Alex & Lisa of Fleetmac Wood at their second party while promoting his club night with Psychemagik & Gigamesh (both of whom have produced brilliant Fleetwood Mac edits). This immediately sparked a synergy which has resulted in the numerous Fleetwood Mac edits we've created over the last few years.

jdb: "Gold Dust Woman" is a particularly deep transformation from a folk-rock tune to pulsating Giorgio Moroder-esque disco. What were the elements that made this mix come together?

TS: Our edit of "Gold Dust Woman" came about from the unexpected discovery of a "piano and vocals only" version of the track. The sound of the Rhodes alongside just Stevie Nick's voice transformed the track and gave us the opportunity to seriously indulge ourselves on the production side...and that we did! The chorus had so much potential for being turned into a hands-in-the-air disco moment and the extended outro vocals gave us room to build up a big Moroder style arpeggio with filters into an acid tinged finale. Let's just say we had a lot of fun making that one!

jdb: Are there any songs where you've run into roadblocks in remixing? 

TS: Quite a few of our edits and remixes have hit roadblocks along the way but we find the challenge of that helps ensure you only finish the ones that are really worth it! "Baby Be Mine" by Michael Jackson was particularly problematic

jdb: How did your original tracks "Jump Back" and "Lilac Light" come about?

TS: "Jump Back" came from one day together in the studio messing about with the synths and software. We had already made quite a few slower tracks by this point and wanted something more upbeat. Once the bassline was in the place the synth parts were easy to add and inspired the "jump back" vocal hook. We wanted to get a 'mini-choir' effect so got Claire Morgan (now part of our live band) to add to our voices, creating the final version.

"Lilac Light" began as an instrumental Jamie had started created prior to forming Twin Sun. We sent this to Jen Stearnes from Saltwater Sun and loved the vocals she wrote so recorded her over two studio sessions. The chorus in particular gave us the opportunity to create our own remix for DJ sets which became the "Sundown Version." In live shows, we combine both versions which works really well as the set finale.

jdb: Who are some current musical artists that you are into?

TS: Roosevelt, Parcels, Tuff City Kids, Harvey Sutherland, Fatima Yamaha and the new stuff from Phoenix, Arcade Fire & Poolside.

jdb: Any remixers we should be aware of that maybe don't get much credit?

TS: Fingerman, Dr Packer, Evil Smarty, Twisted Soul Collective & V's are really solid remix/editors. More obvious names like Classixx, Dimitri From Paris & Alkalino we play plenty of edits from too

jdb: What is on the horizon for Twin Sun?

TS: We've been playing live a lot recently with a full five piece band which we've really enjoyed. In September we support Drop Out Orchestra, who are exceptional remixes and big heroes of ours, in London. We also have quite a few tracks that need finishing off and some remixes we've been asked to do so the Autumn is going to be very busy for us!