Axwell and Bob Sinclar

Bob Sinclar and Axwell, two titans of house music come together and advocate a message of international race relations and harmony through their first joint release 'What a Wonderful World’. A perfect pop song that is totally original, sun drenched and essential radio fodder. The track has already received unequivocal support by Radio One’s Zane Lowe who has championed this record with the accolade of 'Hottest record in the world’, closely followed by Pete Tong giving the track an instant 'Essential New Tune’. Here they tell us a little about the record, how it came about and what it was like to work together.

Are Bob Sinclar and Axwell friends in real life or did you know each other through the house scene?

Bob Sinclar: You can't do music with someone you don't love. Axwell is my second love. Sometimes it feels like he is my wife. I met him three years ago, we were touring and we did a lot of gigs together especially in Australia. One day he asked if he could remix some of my music so I gave him 'I feel for you’. When we met in Miami we came up with an idea, we did a mash up of two songs, the song was originally by Ron Carroll, and I asked Ron to re-sing it again. It was a coincidence an accident like all the music I'm doing. However it was a beautiful accident because the instrumental was amazing, the emotion Ron Carroll gave on the song was unbelievable. The first time I played the tracks in a club the response in the clubs was huge, I was really happy with it!

Who wrote the song lyrics?

Bob Sinclar: Ron Carroll wrote the lyrics, only a black man can write these kind of lyrics, imagine a world with no colour, as a white guy I’ve never been offended in my life with my colour. Only black is beautiful, black is soulful black has this kind of vibe. Ron Carroll is a Chicago superstar who has sung on a lot of tracks, he has the vibe. When you are with him in the studio he gives you the best and he's a fantastic friend and I love him for that.



What was the idea behind the video?

Bob Sinclar: I work with a director on all the videos I’ve done. Every time I come up with an idea he gives me back his feedback on it and we play verbal ping pong. I have to be in control of the music, and imagery. I have a lot of talent around me to create what I want. The inspiration for me was the instrumental, I felt that the music was very psychedelic, don't ask me why. When I do music and when I listen to music I always have images in my head. I said to the director that we have to do something around hippy style. The director said lets go back to Woodstock and let’s imagine you are in 1969 playing with Axwell friends, forever living your life with girls everywhere. We hired 60 or 70 people and I organised the video in 5 days.

Are Bob Sinclar and Axwell friends in normal life or did you just meet through the house scene?

Axwell: Yeah me and Bob Sinclar, I would say that we are friends, we are as good friends as you can be when you are working together for a short period of time. So definitely I would say so.

Is that why you thought it would be a good idea to work on this project?

Axwell: This project came about because I've always been a fan of Bob Sinclar I've always looked up to him for a long time. We've sort of worked together a little bit here and there, he's done a remix for me I've done one for him, I done another one for him and then we kept in touch. When I had this instrumental track I thought it was a good way to approach Chris and say lets do something together. It felt like the right time.

How do you think you compliment each other when you work together?

Axwell: Complimenting each other in a way, Chris is a machine when it comes to being an executive producer. He knows how things are run, he knows the video plan, he comes up with the concept in 5 seconds, the cover bam bam bam, he has the internet promotion sorted plus all of his machinery of hype. Then I guess I stand for a more modern music I guess being a little bit younger.

Was Ron Carroll an obvious choice for the vocalist?

Axwell: I wasn't involved in the choice but looking back obviously it was a great choice. Chris and Ron have worked together before so I think for him it was quite easy.

Is it important for records to always have a positive message?

Axwell: For me I think it is important, when I think of house music I think of having fun, it's sunny, I'm maybe a little bit drunk, girls everywhere, so why would I want to listen to negative music then, that would be pretty f*cked up so yes, I would say a positive message is necessary in house music.



What was the idea behind the video?

Axwell: The video I guess comes from the vocal, that it's all peace, loving and understanding. Today music is too dark, and we were like let’s do something for fun, lets just take it to the extent of no turning back. Let’s just become hippies for a day and just bring back the Woodstock feeling, I wasn't even born then but who cares. Let bring that feeling of love and happiness, we need that in the world today, its pretty dark as it is. Me and Bob and Ron, we don't want to contribute to the darkness we want to make it a little bit happier.

Do you think the single artwork is a little bit silly and whose idea was it to have it like that?

Axwell: I didn't really decide upon the artwork, my artwork is sometimes a little bit serious but I really enjoyed this artwork because fuck it, its artwork. Let’s have some fun, that’s the whole vibe of our song. why not put foolish pictures of ourselves. Everyone looks foolish except Ron Carroll he looks like he normally does so that's good for him. It sticks out in its silliness.



Axwell and Bob Sinclar feat Ron Carroll 'What a Wonderful World’ released 29th September.

Check out the videos below:

What A Wonderful World

Behind What A Wonderful World