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| Three Chairs at Dimensions festival: 'We mad as hell' | Three Chairs at Dimensions festival: 'We mad as hell' |
| (4 days later) | |
| It's midnight in a disused fort on the Croatian coast and the outdoor dancefloor is jam-packed. Newcomers are forced to scamper up hillsides in search of space to unlock their moves. The DJ set unfolding around me – over the course of nine hours – is from Three Chairs, the Detroit dance supergroup who are playing a rare London date next week. Women clamber onto men's shoulders, laughing, as stonefaced superfans stand about nodding intensely. With me on an outcrop is Marcellus Pittman, who became the fourth member of Three Chairs in 2002. I ask him what he sees. "Energy, heat and Detroit love," he smiles. "There's people here who don't know a lick of English, but they're dancing and singing these songs." | It's midnight in a disused fort on the Croatian coast and the outdoor dancefloor is jam-packed. Newcomers are forced to scamper up hillsides in search of space to unlock their moves. The DJ set unfolding around me – over the course of nine hours – is from Three Chairs, the Detroit dance supergroup who are playing a rare London date next week. Women clamber onto men's shoulders, laughing, as stonefaced superfans stand about nodding intensely. With me on an outcrop is Marcellus Pittman, who became the fourth member of Three Chairs in 2002. I ask him what he sees. "Energy, heat and Detroit love," he smiles. "There's people here who don't know a lick of English, but they're dancing and singing these songs." |
| What made him say yes to joining the group? "If Michael Jackson, Prince and Herbie Hancock ask you to be part of their band, are you going to say no?" That's quite a way to describe the trio he joined: the band's Michael Jackson figure is Rick Wilhite, who commands the stage, pumping out epic crowdpleasers. "None of us have preprogrammed sets," he tells me after his first round in their tag-team session. "That's what makes us different: we don't plan shit, we do it as if we were all together at home. We just turn on our motherfuckin' equipment." | What made him say yes to joining the group? "If Michael Jackson, Prince and Herbie Hancock ask you to be part of their band, are you going to say no?" That's quite a way to describe the trio he joined: the band's Michael Jackson figure is Rick Wilhite, who commands the stage, pumping out epic crowdpleasers. "None of us have preprogrammed sets," he tells me after his first round in their tag-team session. "That's what makes us different: we don't plan shit, we do it as if we were all together at home. We just turn on our motherfuckin' equipment." |
| Their Prince is Kenny Dixon Jr, aka Moodymann, deeply funky but with popstar presence. He warmly clasps both my hands, his delicate moustache and two long dreads giving him the air of an African sensei – an image he later shatters by handing out T-shirts bearing the legend: "Your girlfriend prefers 12 inches." Their Herbie Hancock, meanwhile, is Theo Parrish, a master of the re-edit who spins out tracks for upwards of 15 minutes, taking them into cosmic jazz territory. Lurching around mere centimetres from my face, he lets me know in no uncertain terms that he won't be conversing, but he does offer me a drink, then spends his time off stage dashing around like a terrier, playfighting with his bandmates. I ask Marcellus what he hears in Kenny's music. "Beauty – it's extraordinary. The only word is extraordinary." And in Theo's? "Aggression. He got to get that aggression out, or he's going to be his wild, crazy-ass self." | Their Prince is Kenny Dixon Jr, aka Moodymann, deeply funky but with popstar presence. He warmly clasps both my hands, his delicate moustache and two long dreads giving him the air of an African sensei – an image he later shatters by handing out T-shirts bearing the legend: "Your girlfriend prefers 12 inches." Their Herbie Hancock, meanwhile, is Theo Parrish, a master of the re-edit who spins out tracks for upwards of 15 minutes, taking them into cosmic jazz territory. Lurching around mere centimetres from my face, he lets me know in no uncertain terms that he won't be conversing, but he does offer me a drink, then spends his time off stage dashing around like a terrier, playfighting with his bandmates. I ask Marcellus what he hears in Kenny's music. "Beauty – it's extraordinary. The only word is extraordinary." And in Theo's? "Aggression. He got to get that aggression out, or he's going to be his wild, crazy-ass self." |
| Three Chairs, formed in 1997, grew up on funk and soul, becoming part of a wave of Detroit electronic music that followed the canonised techno originators from the early 80s: Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins. "It is guaranteed that there isn't shit from 1980 that can fuck with Juan Atkins," says Rick. "Period. I'm serious. We talking about straight-up electronic innovation music. House, techno, trip hop, drum'n'bass, rave, trance, whatever name you got, it came from Juan. We didn't know what it was, but it got people on the dancefloor." | Three Chairs, formed in 1997, grew up on funk and soul, becoming part of a wave of Detroit electronic music that followed the canonised techno originators from the early 80s: Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins. "It is guaranteed that there isn't shit from 1980 that can fuck with Juan Atkins," says Rick. "Period. I'm serious. We talking about straight-up electronic innovation music. House, techno, trip hop, drum'n'bass, rave, trance, whatever name you got, it came from Juan. We didn't know what it was, but it got people on the dancefloor." |
| As well as DJing, the individual members of Three Chairs each have their own labels and productions to tend to, so they only come together sporadically: this year's four-track Demigods 12-inch was their first release in seven years. How do they function as a group? "We get something to drink, stick a kung-fu film on, some chicken, some motherfuckin' Mortal Kombat," says Rick. "Nah, Tekken," Marcellus says. "Getting your ass whupped, that's what we call it," laughs Rick. "And then the magic begins. Nothing is planned, we don't have dates in our calendars. It can be two of us, one of us, four of us. It's a mystery and that's how we keep it – how the fuck did that happen?" | As well as DJing, the individual members of Three Chairs each have their own labels and productions to tend to, so they only come together sporadically: this year's four-track Demigods 12-inch was their first release in seven years. How do they function as a group? "We get something to drink, stick a kung-fu film on, some chicken, some motherfuckin' Mortal Kombat," says Rick. "Nah, Tekken," Marcellus says. "Getting your ass whupped, that's what we call it," laughs Rick. "And then the magic begins. Nothing is planned, we don't have dates in our calendars. It can be two of us, one of us, four of us. It's a mystery and that's how we keep it – how the fuck did that happen?" |
| The tracks they produce together mix techno and jazz, all of it charged with the erotic energy of house; synth tones rise like thermals over peasouper drums, uniting the floor. Their set, part of the Dimensions dance music festival, is a similarly fantastic voyage: Harold Melvin collides with French Kiss, Relight My Fire with acid house. | The tracks they produce together mix techno and jazz, all of it charged with the erotic energy of house; synth tones rise like thermals over peasouper drums, uniting the floor. Their set, part of the Dimensions dance music festival, is a similarly fantastic voyage: Harold Melvin collides with French Kiss, Relight My Fire with acid house. |
| All are still based in Detroit, and they puff up with pride at the first mention of it. "Detroit is the most historical city in the world, guaranteed," says Rick. "Fashion, soul, music, steel, cars, buildings – the history of life is created from Detroit. The mould of everything." | All are still based in Detroit, and they puff up with pride at the first mention of it. "Detroit is the most historical city in the world, guaranteed," says Rick. "Fashion, soul, music, steel, cars, buildings – the history of life is created from Detroit. The mould of everything." |
| "The water," says Marcellus, who is sporting a Motown T-shirt. | "The water," says Marcellus, who is sporting a Motown T-shirt. |
| "We got the cleanest water in the world," says Rick, as Kenny pumps out disco beneath us. So why does Detroit techno – a future technological paradise frozen in time – sound the way it does? "Because we mad as hell," says Marcellus. "We broke – the city of Detroit just filed for bankruptcy. And the politicians ..." He looks briefly despairing. "And we take all that out on the music. Some of us take it out on other people, but we choose to do it with music. That's how you get the mad energy, the happy energy, the sad energy." And the sad, mad, happy energy keeps going through the night – into the dirt, rock and dancers in this moonlit corner of Croatia. | "We got the cleanest water in the world," says Rick, as Kenny pumps out disco beneath us. So why does Detroit techno – a future technological paradise frozen in time – sound the way it does? "Because we mad as hell," says Marcellus. "We broke – the city of Detroit just filed for bankruptcy. And the politicians ..." He looks briefly despairing. "And we take all that out on the music. Some of us take it out on other people, but we choose to do it with music. That's how you get the mad energy, the happy energy, the sad energy." And the sad, mad, happy energy keeps going through the night – into the dirt, rock and dancers in this moonlit corner of Croatia. |
| The Guardian travelled to Dimensions with festival travel company Planet Festival. | |
| This article was amended on September 19 to state that all members are based in Detroit; previously it had stated that Theo Parrish was based in London. | This article was amended on September 19 to state that all members are based in Detroit; previously it had stated that Theo Parrish was based in London. |
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