We Are Fans

Melbourne’s We:Are:Fans have been described as a 1982 VHS Italian love affair between Blondie, Sylvester, Patrick Cowley and Grace Jones.
Their début single ‘Inferno’ is taken from their upcoming self titled EP and is a true signature to their electrifying live disco sound. The track takes a roller disco rift through the stunning vocals of feature Dutch vocalist NY Fanz, whose voice enjoys an air of Danielle Moore (Crazy P).
We:Are:Fans began life as a vintage side project of DJ and producer Harris Robotis, working with writer NY Fanz. After she returned to Europe, Vocalist Maxi and Ric were brought in to bring his creation to life.
Expect handclaps, maracas, triangles and a dash of whimsy in their upcoming full-length disco explosion.
We:Are:Fans live performances are quite simply blazin’. Their festival debut this year at Hot BBQ caused quite bit of hoopla in the press.
“In short, We:Are:Fans pretty much blew me away.” AU Review of Hot BBQ - The AU Guide

Here comes some high energy italo disco out of Melbourne. We:Are:Fans are performing an apparent retro sound, oozing of the early 80’s, with striking lead synths, heartbreaking strings and catchy vocals. Still they manage to make their sound very up to date and pretty enticing. I wanna go to the club, sip on a strawberry daiquiri and dance to this.

Their debut single “Inferno”, from their upcoming EP, is out now on Itunes. Here you can enjoy and download the remix from their own dj division. - Sweat My Beat

AFTER HIS HIGH SCHOOL BAND DISSOLVED, HARRIS ROBOTIS TRANSFORMED HIMSELF INTO A MUCH-LAUDED ELECTRONIC DJ/PRODUCER, CARTED HIS RECORDS ALL AROUND THE COUNTRY AND ABROAD AND EVEN HAD A TRACK DROPPED BY ED BANGER’S BREAKBOT AT A SOULWAX CHRISTMAS PARTY. EMPTY GREY GOOSE BOTTLES PUNCTUATE HIS CAREER PATH AND, ALTHOUGH BECOMING A MUSICIAN ONCE MORE WITH HIS BAND WE ARE FANS HAS MEANT BUDGET RIDERS AND STARTING OVER, ROBOTIS TELLS BRYGET CHRISFIELD, “THE LIVE STUFF IS NEXT LEVEL”.

“It was really cool, Breakbot from France, on Ed Banger – there’s a video of him playing one of my tracks at the Soulwax end of the year Christmas party in Paris,” Harris Robotis, We Are Fans mastermind and bassist, recalls a highlight from his pre-band existence. “And there was this whole thread on the Erol Alkan forum saying, ‘What the hell is this tune?’. Then somehow someone tracked me down via YouTube and said, ‘Oh, you should know that your track’s being played by Breakbot’. And then I got to meet him as well while he was here, ‘cause I did the support, and, yeah! He played my track every time in his set and I was actually on the side of the stage at this point – I’d just rocked up to the gig because we were playing after him, probably the first night – and he must have recognised me or something, ‘cause as soon as I walked onto the stage to put my records on the console I saw a big, cheeky French smirk looking over at me and then he dropped my track [Up All Night]! Oh, that was a really big highlight for me. It was awesome!
“As a DJ, or more a tech house producer, things have gone really well over the last few years,” he acknowledges. “I’ve played regularly all over the country and overseas, like, in Paris, so that’s been good, but moving back to the live stuff is next level. You get a buzz from DJing, but from playing live it’s completely different – so much more organic and a completely different feeling.” Does he find it more nerve-racking? “Not really, to tell you the truth, you’d think it would be. But I think there’s less pressure on you because you’ve got a team with you, whereas, as a DJ, you’re the only guy. If people aren’t dancing, you’re gonna get booed off stage,” he laughs. “I’ve always had a love for Italo disco and funk and stuff and when I started DJing in bars, that’s all I played. So it was really nice to try and go back and emulate some of those sounds.”
It was collaborating with Dutch vocalist NY Fan (who contacted him via MySpace as a fan of what he was doing “as Harris Robotis”) that provided Robotis with a vehicle to move out from behind the console. After working on a few tracks while NY Fan was in Australia on a working holiday, Robotis decided he didn’t want to turn it into another studio project. “I worked out at that point, ‘I wanna turn it back into a band and get back to being a musician rather than a producer, which is basically what I always wanted and sort of somehow after my…” here Robotis breaks into a fit of hysterics and resumes once he’s composed himself. “Since my high school band broke up, I was like, ‘Errrrrr, I can’t be bothered getting another band.’ So I just spent eight years working on studio production stuff.”
Maxi Vauzelle is the frontvixen of We Are Fans and Robotis clarifies, “She’s on the actual [Inferno EP] recording doing backing vocals”. “Those tracks were done end of 2007, start of 2008 so they’re quite old. They were just the start of the project and basically now every single other track is with Maxi’s vocals.” Vauzelle is also “good with the sewing machine”. On whether the singer will be given the job of designing We Are Fans merch, Robotis hesitates, “She could definitely do it, the only thing that I’m a bit scared about is the fact that she loves the Bedazzler!”
Kicking off their Inferno EP tour with three dates in Sydney last month followed by a spot on the Melbourne Parklife line-up, Robotis admits infiltrating the indie scene now has been a real shock. “You’re basically starting from scratch again and working your way back up and you don’t get treated as well by anyone,” he bemoans. “With DJing, I found I’ve been used to four-and-a-half star accommodation and whatever drinks you want on your rider. Actually, we had something really funny happen to us in Bondi Beach Hotel. We got to the hotel, did our soundcheck – we were actually staying at the hotel – and the manager came up to us and he’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, so what do you guys want as your rider?’ And he goes, ‘Do want a case of beer or some spirits?’ And we were like, ‘Oh, maybe some spirits.’ And he was like, ‘Whadda you drink?’ And just from being used to having whatever you want as a DJ, we were like, ‘Oh, Grey Goose.’ And he was like, ‘Who the fuck are you, Metallica?’ [laughs] And we were like, ‘Oh, Oh-kay!’ And then we were like, ‘Oh, can we get some ice and maybe some pineapple juice with it?’ And he was like, ‘Fuck! Whadda you think I am?’”
Although they were denied the top shelf liquor, half of We Are Fans still managed to give it a nudge while in Sydney. “Two of the guys from the band – Maxi, the singer, and Ric [Sciarpa], the drummer – did the smart thing and went back to the hotel, as we had to be up at 5:30 to get to the airport and check in all our gear and make it to Parklife about 11am,” Robotis shares. “But the other two, Kris [Baha, keys] and I, ended up hanging out all night, got back to the hotel room and woke up the guys and were like, ‘It’s time to go’. We stopped at that point, but as soon as we got to the airport and sat on the plane we just crashed.”
Baha, Robotis’ party-hard partner in crime, is a recent recruit. “We always had a fill-in keyboardist along the way so we never really had a locked-in fourth member. Kris is actually another DJ in the industry and we’re on the same record label with our dance stuff, Sweat It Out, but Kris was probably our most loyal fan and if you looked at any of the photos in street press or wherever and they were taken from the back of the room, you’d see Kris in the middle with his bright red hair [laughs]. He was always there. And then it was actually my girlfriend’s suggestion, she was like, ‘Oh, why don’t you get Kris? Does he play any instruments?’ And I had no idea at the time that he was a really accomplished keyboardist.”
The We Are Fans four-piece is now locked in and Robotis says the band have written 20 songs from which they’ll pick “the best 11 or 12” for their debut album, scheduled to drop “in the middle of June next year”. “I just wish we had more time,” Robotis laments. “The ideas come out really easily and what’s really exciting, as well, is the other guys are starting to contribute to the writing. With the initial bunch of tracks it was my ideas that I was writing – and recording and playing most of the instruments myself – and then giving them to the guys and saying, ‘Hey, can you play this?’ Now it’s becoming more of a real band rather than a producer telling the band what to play.”

WHO: We Are Fans
WHAT: Inferno EP (Jupiter Clique)
WHERE & WHEN: The Toff In Town Saturday 30 October, Prince Of Wales Thursday 2 December - 3D World Australia