With a wildly popular track getting spun at all the big festivals and a new EP with remixes by a who’s who of the electro world, it seems like Auto-Erotique is set to blow.

And it’s a pretty cool thing, because for a while there the duo made up of Canadians Keith and Dave, seemed a bit adrift.  Back in 2007 they broke out with their epic Rihanna remix, a straight up electro banger that got picked up by Diplo for a mix-tape and was soon playing across the world. VNDLSM, as they were known then, had a raw, brash look and sound that captured the energy and spirit of the emerging electro genre perfectly.

But then there was a little hiccup.  Two many VNDLSM ‘s it seemed were floating around, not to mention Australia’s girl led electro power-house VANDALISM – the reality was the boys had to find a new moniker.  Also, while the music was there the outlet wasn’t. Keith and Dave were faced with the two-fold task of having to re-start their branding from scratch and get their new music out there as once-again unknowns.

The first order of business was solved  when they settled on Auto-Erotique — a name about as different from VND/LSM as you could possibly get and hinting at the weirder side of the duo.

The second step was taken care of very neatly and easily when they signed on with their old friend Steve Aoki and the branding machine that is Dim Mak.

Now a year after the name change Auto-Erotique’s EP is about to drop and the single Gladiator is taking the electro world by storm, with the intense Aoki and DJ AM (RIP) remix making the rounds of almost every major DJs’ set.

For the guys from Auto-Erotique the raw, rollicking image may have been toned down a bit but its been replaced with a witty, ironic charisma that’s all their own.

In the lead up to a show their doing for SAINTWOODS alongside D.I.M in Montreal, we caught up with Keith, our one time resident DJ, to talk about Auto-Erotique, the name change, and the perks of signing to Dim Mak –which it turns out is mostly in the grade of Salad Dressing. 

SW: How’d you guys get together?

KEITH: We grew up together, we did everything together, were in the same class in the most ghetto school in Toronto, liked all the same things.  It was just natural.

SW: What happened with the name change? Was there a legal dispute?

KEITH: Everything in this world’s a legal dispute.  There was just to many VNDLSMs out there.

SW: How’s it been settling into the new identity?

KEITH: Its great, the name’s been strong but I think it’s more about the music that’s behind the name.  Like some people will have the worst name but their music’s just awesome so people will forget how shitty the name is…like U2

SW: It’s a one of kind name, how’d you guys come up with it?

KEITH: Well it’s a weird process trying to identify yourself as anything.  So we kind of went for the complete opposite of what we are: because we’re not automatic we’re manual, and were not erotic were actually very prude people.

So if we had to come up with a literal name for ourselves it would be something more like… Manual Prude.

SW: You guys got signed to Dim Mak records last year, which is a pretty big deal.  How’d that come to pass?

KEITH: Well we’ve been good buddies with Steve and bunch of the people over there from way back.  A lot of people were just waiting until we kind of established ourselves with the proper identity, because it was just too complicated before, we didn’t really know what we were up to.   So when we finally did it was just natural, we had a bunch of tracks together and we gave them to Steve and he was just like “hell yeah.” I guess basically they were waiting and, at the same time, we were kind of waiting for ourselves to get it together — but in the end that wait probably helped us come out stronger.

SW: Did life suddenly change when you signed the big deal?

KEITH: Well I discovered some really good food… I was able to eat a bit better… There’s some pretty good dressing on the salad now.  No, but life’s still ghetto, its still a struggle.

SW: When I listen to Auto-Erotique tracks I always feel like no two are alike.  Are you guys intentionally changing it up every time? Still looking for that signature sound?  Would you even agree?

KEITH: Well yeah, I mean I don’t think we’re trying for a signature sound, we’re just rolling with how we’re feeling, with what were up to, and that changes daily.  Everyone talks about the death of the banger, the death of cookie cutter electro, and everyone’s drawn these lines about where the music’s going, so for us its just fun to try different things and come from different perspectives.  Like we just did a remix for AC Slater’s label for the artist B-Rich — Its super cool and I’m super pumped on that one and again it’s a new direction.   We’re just trying out different things and taking chances, which I think in the end is really beneficial in terms of the music.

SW: Do you agree with the “death of the banger” camp?  You may have broken out with a banger in its purest form but are guys done with that?

KEITH: Well certain tracks call for certain things in terms of how you visualize the remix or the original coming along and when it comes to just like a straight up electro bangers sometimes its just necessary.  Its just like  “this deserves to get banged the fuck out.”  Some people call it tacky, some people call it corny, but really its like if you’re a fan and your having fun dancing, when you hear that shit, it doesn’t matter who did it or how many times its been done — its just awesome.

SW: With all the crazy Canadian talent out there in the electronic world right now – MSTRKRFT, Tiga, A-Trak, Felix Cartel, Deadmau5 etc. -  It kind of seems like Canadians are on top of the game.  But at the same time it doesn’t always feel like we get credit for that.  Why do you think that is? Or is it just my Canadian inferiority complex kicking in?

KEITH: Well right now its actually pretty good to be a Canadian producer or DJ.  A lot of people are really loving the stuff we’re all putting out and maybe we don’t hear it back home enough but whenever we’re in the States everyone’s like Canada, Canada, Canada — everyone’s even rocking Toronto Blue Jay hats and shit.   I think we are getting the notoriety we’re asking for and that’s definitely a good thing for Canadian music.

SW: You have any crazy tour anecdotes or some gossip that’ll get you in some trouble?

KEITH: Oh no.  I don’t have any dirt on anyone. Everyone’s clean as a whistle.  When you’re touring just stay away from Casinos and learn to love KD.

SW: You got some new stuff dropping other than the Gladiator EP?

KEITH: Well we’ve got the remix for AC Slater and B-Rich dropping soon —  I think two and a half weeks which I cant wait for.

We’re also working on our second EP, hopefully it’ll be out sooner rather than later.  You’ll probably get it before anyone else though

SW: You guys hitting the road after the gladiator EP drop?

KEITH: Yeah we leave in two days:  LA festivals ,Vancouver, Winnipeg, Mexico, San Bernadido, Montreal, Toronto, Halifax.

SW: Its kind of crazy how a track like gladiator can have been kicking around for so long and then now here comes the official drop and its like Bang! A whole new life is given to the track and now I’m hearing a song I was feeling from way back getting played all around and people going nuts.  That must be a pretty weird process eh?

KEITH: Yeah definitely but you know to give you an example of how long things stay on the shelf for is you know that track PJanoo? Well it  was out 4 years ago and it was only officially released 8 months. Ago.  Sure Gladiator could have came out quicker but maybe it really just came out at the perfect time you know?

MAKE SURE YOU COME CHECK AUTO-EROTIQUE LIVE AT CLUB SODA IN MONTREAL ON SEPT 5th ALONGSIDE D.I.M get your tickets here http://www.wantickets.com/EventDetail.aspx?e_id=67815

or check the FB invite for more details  http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=115851714911

Auto-Erotique – Gladiator (Steve Aoki x DJ AM Remix)

Auto-Erotique – Gladiator (Steve Aoki x DJ AM Remix).mp3

RIP DJ AM