I think you have a certain level of confidence in what you do. "Arrogance" is the wrong word. I think when you go into it, you're aware that you're doing it for the right reasons - and you have your own moral and ethical code. And we weren't driven by money, but by a a desire to make music and make a statement.
Stephen MallinderWe had always used found sound, but we had always used it in an analogue way. And it was the early days of using collage and sound in a digital way. MTV, a couple of years later would be that way.
Stephen MallinderWe've always been journalists - and have seen ourselves in that way. But we sort of recontextualized it through music.
Stephen MallinderEven if that statement was ambiguous, we kind of wanted to cause a stir. We thought that by having the name "Cabaret Voltaire", that with it came a certain responsibility. It wasn't meant to be purely entertainment; it was meant to be something a little bit more serious - and to provoke people - wrapped within an outer wrapping of entertainment.
Stephen MallinderI think that's the fascinating thing that exists now. This contrasts with a celebrity art and celebrity music culture.
Stephen MallinderI edited Big Funk, some of the footage was shot by Peter Care. We were film buffs as much as music buffs, and so there are film reference as well as sound references.
Stephen MallinderI think in everything we did, there's a sense of tension and a sense of things pulling in a different way. It's interesting calling it "beat music". That's quite true, the rhythm is up to the fore, it's got a slap bass, and it's got "funk" in the title. But I think there's always a level of irony when we did those kind of things.
Stephen Mallinder