‘We’ve never had a fight’:

Happy to be classified as a ‘nerd who likes making music’, iconic electronica wizard Simon Ratcliffe has been conducting the world’s lartgest dance parties for decades. He talks to Jonny Mahon-Heap.

For many bands, the sequence of success can feel ordinary in its rhythm – the deals, the fame, the whirlwind touring. For others, success can evolve over time, achieving something more permanent – their music becomes a cultural totem, one we affectionately refer to as “a sound”.

“A sound” defines an era instantly, summoning that texture for all that hear it, years after they first pressed play.

Basement Jaxx is a group responsible for the “sound” of a generation – in the late 1990s, the electronic dance music duo’s sound was everywhere. It was in Angelina Jolie’s Tomb Raider movies. It was in hypnotic music videos. It was at Glastonbury and the Grammys – even Big Day Out. It was, and still is, the sound of the generation.

When Basement Jaxx first sang their most famous refrain – “we can live on, live on without you” – it was unclear whether they meant their critics, their fanbase, or the house scene itself. The London duo were the ultimate hitmakers for Generation X, their sound crashing into living rooms everywhere, from cinema screens to arenas.

So, when that sound returns to New Zealand in 2023 – which it’s set to do for a special concert on December 29 – Basement Jaxx is ready to deliver the same rush of nostalgia. Not that Simon Ratcliffe, one half of the Grammy and BRIT-award winning duo with Felix Burton, can recall how it started.

“How did people book us then? I can't remember – we had a fax machine in the studio, it would start whirring, and the bookings would come… We didn’t have a manager. But, of course, we did it fine,” Ratcliffe recalls.

“It [the 1990s] was a very exciting time. My mum would lend us her Mini, we would pile it up with boxes of vinyl from the factory, and you’d take them to the specialist box, and they go ‘Yeah, yeah, alright we’ll take a box’, and give you cash. Wicked. So cool.”

Singles like Red Alert, Romeo, Rendez-Vu, and Where’s Your Head At crossed into the public membrane, playing beyond sweat-slicked Brixton dancehalls and into cafes of Ponsonby.

That rare thing – a real genre crossover – only happens once in a generation, which might explain why, for this generation, Basement Jaxx holds a place of reverence.

“I’ve just enjoyed it. There’s an appreciation of how lucky we are to get paid to go to these places. Extremely lucky,” he explains.

Ratcliffe, now 53, acknowledges the rhythms of the group have slowed down but marvels that interest hasn’t waned.

“We’ve travelled a lot this year. I suppose in the past travelling became really arduous and tedious – but I’ve quite enjoyed it, probably because of the pandemic.

“We’ve attempted to slow down and