Unless one has been living in a cave, he or she has most definitely heard of Layo and Bushwacka!. Whether it be in the studio, behind the decks, or performing live, the duo have made their mark worldwide and continue to expand the boundaries of dance music. Combining just the about every genre of music known to mankind, their catalogue of productions is endless. Chances are if you’ve been to a club in the past few months, you’ve heard their remarkable track “Love Story” at least once. And with the release of their second full-length album “Nightworks”, Layo and Bushwacka! show no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Recently, I had a chance to speak with Matthew 'Bushwacka!' Benjamin via telephone. What follows is an interview about (low) life, love (story), and the pursuit of great dance music…

Where are you right now?

We’re in New York at the Tribeca Hotel, where we’re playing tonight. Tomorrow we’re in Atlanta, then Chicago, then Philadelphia – back to New York and then we play Creamfields in the U.K.

First off, I wanted to talk to you about the album “Nightworks” – I was wondering how long it took you guys to make the album from start to finish.

Start to finish probably about two years, although that wasn’t spending every day and every week in the studio – it was much more intense. There were a couple of weeks per months, and then some three-day weeks per month that got more intense as time went on.

When you started working on the album roughly two years ago, did you have the intention of making an album or did it just start coming together that way?

Definitely an album. We did the first album “Low Life” and that came out about three years ago and it had always been our intentions to do another one and we had that in mind as we moved forward with each song.

Lately, you guys have started performing live – and I was curious as to which you prefer between that and DJing.

When you’re DJing, you’re playing your box of records, some of which might be made by yourself, but most of which are made by fairly interesting people – different sounds, different styles. You put that together in any way you want, never any set order, never any set tempo, no rules about changing the vibe…and you do a live show – you do an hour long set (and) our songs are in a set order pretty much. You can’t change the tempo, you can’t just stop the track and start with a different track – it’s more limited in control. But it’s amazing to perform just your own tracks with your own lights and your own MC – an amazing video show. And the fact that you’re just performing your music that you’ve made for an audience is different... it’s above – you’re not just DJing, you’re entertaining…and it’s a challenge.

And I believe your first live show was in Brazil if I’m not mistaken…

Yeah, the festival had 45,000 people at it. We came on at the main stage from 9-10 and finished the whole festival. We had never done it (performed live) before, and we had only had one hour’s (worth of) rehearsal – so it was scary.

But it went OK?

The DJ who was on before us had played bang’in techno and a lot of people had gone home. We did a lot of the ambient break beat kinda thing, and a lot of people didn’t get it. But it was an experience and a great way to start, for the public to hear it.

Great, and that leads me to my next question. You guys play at The End in London, which is a small to mid-sized club, much more intimate than 45,000 people. With Creamfield’s coming up which setting would you say you prefer?

I like numbers between 300 and 1,000 people in a club. And then you’ve got the bigger, bigger pictures like Space in Ibiza where there’s 3,000 or 4,000 people in the club. When you get people into the music it can really be quite awesome. I mean, (in terms of size) there’s just so much to choose from…

In terms of DJing, sometimes you spin alone, sometimes – like on this current mini tour of America – you DJ alongside Layo – how would you say spinning with Layo changes your style or alter things?

The main thing is that when you’re on the road a lot, it’s not friendly. When you’re on your own all of the time it can be very lonely. The DJing is always OK, but splitting it up between us is nice because we give each other a kind of conversation rather than just playing all night and then leaving. Doing tours a lot you get to meet people, all different promoters and you get to travel. So, yeah, DJing on my own I enjoy very much, but traveling alone I don’t enjoy very much. (With Layo) we balance what each other does and there’s no ego thing there – we usually do half hours and then hours each.

Speaking of being on the road, what would you say are your favorites places in the world to either DJ or perform live?

Brazil is a fantastic place. Ibiza is the most fantastic place in the world. Space (in Ibiza) is definitely one of the best clubs in the world. It’s gotten to the point where everyone’s going around the island saying, ‘Oh, it’s no good any more.’
Because that’s what English people are like – they always like to talk about how it’s not as good as it used to be instead of just going out and enjoying themselves.
But I have a lot of places – The Roxy in Prague is really, really good. I could go on and on…

Layo and Bushwacka! for years have always been at the forefront of dance music, so I was wondering as a trendsetter in dance music, who influences you?

Mr. C’s always been a massive influence in the past and he’s still an influence on me now. I don’t get to see him enough, he’s old skool, though – he’s been there from day one.
If you’re talking about new people coming through, there’s a DJ, a friend of mine called Ricky Woop Woop who’s been throwing “Woop Woop” parties which are absolutely fantastic. Now this guy has got more energy than anyone I know – he’s DJed a fair amount and has been getting into the studio more and more…you just don’t see as many people putting their heart into things as much as this guy and I think he’s going to get somewhere.

In terms of the future, what is coming up for Layo and Bushwacka!?

Well, we did our live shows, we’re doing these DJ dates in the States, and then we’re going to Ibiza, then we’re doing three live shows in a row, including Creamfields in Liverpool. Next we’re going to Brazil and Argentina to DJ over there, and I’m taking a little time out in September through December – you know, the end of the year – because I have my own label and I haven’t done work there in such a long time. And I’m hoping we’re going to get to Australia in January and spend a month there – and I haven’t gotten any farther than that...

Layo obviously opened The End in London with Mr. C, if you were to open your own club, what would you name it and who would be the residents?

Well, I’m going to hold the question by saying I wouldn’t start a nightclub. I’ve seen my friends do it and it looks like far too much stress.

Fair enough. Finally, out of all the work you’ve done, if you had to burn all of your productions except for one, which one would you keep?

If I had to throw them all away…except for one?

Except for one...

What would it be?

Yes...

(Long pause) That’s a very difficult question. I’ve made a lot of tunes, more than 100 tunes and five albums. Well, I think my favorite things are “The Healer”, “Nightshift” – that would probably be the one...”Nightshift”. That one kills me... I mean, the obvious choice would be “Love Story”, that one would bring tears to our eyes... but I’d have to say it would be “Nightshift”.

Before I let you go, I have one final question. “Love Story” has been remixed by a lot of producers and remixer’s, if you could pick one person to remix it, who would that person be?

We would have liked (Danny) Tenaglia to have had a go, but who knows what would have happened...