Uptown Magazine - Love & Electrik
Although they never really hid the fact they were in a committed relationship, Love & Electrik’s Roxy Aiston (vocals) and Kevin Mah (keyboards/programming/talkbox vocals) didn’t go out of their way to tell people they were a couple. The Vancouver-based electro-pop duo was worried their relationship would overshadow their music.
And while being in a band with your partner can be a delicate balancing act, the pair - who’s now engaged - wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It’s definitely tough and can be draining on the relationship. On the one side, we might fight like a couple sometimes and those issues might come up,” explains Mah over the phone from the couple’s home on the West Coast. “On the other side, because we are a couple, we are more connected and understanding of each other. I think in many ways it helps, but at the same time it can be difficult.”
This is the first time in an interview that the pair has spoken openly about their relationship and how they feel about each other.
“It’s actually a really cool feeling to be in a band with your partner. It’s a very intimate thing,” Aiston says.
The couple connected over seven years ago in an electronic music chat room and spent eight months talking before they met in person. United by a mutual love of the playful pop sensibilities of the ’80s, old-school electrofunk and dance music, they started working on tracks together. While Mah had produced some drum ‘n’ bass and breaks, Aiston was just learning to sing and didn’t have any experience performing live.
The duo started playing shows in Vancouver and created a buzz as one of city’s best new acts. Hoping to generate some attention outside of their home city, Aiston and Mah decided to release a digital single through Tremendous Records, a fledgling label founded by Aaron Waisglass (aka Team Canada’s Grandtheft), publicist Jesper Quist Kaalund (Ideal-Friends) and Peter Wark (DKD Group). The strategy worked. The Sex Video quickly spread across the web, showing up on a bunch of blogs, including heavyweights such as Discobelle, and ended up in the Top 10 of the highly influential MP3 aggregator The Hype Machine.
Hoping to build on that momentum, Love & Electrik have an EP and some DJ-friendly remixes coming out in early 2010, and have recently wrapped up their first cross-Canada tour with Keys N Krates and members of the Eh! Team DJs.
“Before the Red Bull tour, we had never played outside of Vancouver. We lucked out on that. We are hoping that the more we play, the more buzz we are going to create and that it catches on,” Aiston says.
People are definitely taking notice. It was obvious during Aiston and Mah’s last Winnipeg show at The O.C. back in October that a large chunk of the crowd was there specifically to see them. Not surprisingly, that stop ranked among one of their favourites of the tour, and the pair is excited to be back on Dec. 5 to perform alongside Co-op and Hunnicutt at the Pyramid.
LOVE & ELECTRIK
Dec. 5, 9 p.m., Pyramid Cabaret
Feat. DJs Co-op and Hunnicutt
w/ Triunfo Do Gato, Ahhhndre
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