Interview with Neo2, Spain, May 09

Passarella Death Squad is formed by Danny Broddle and Emilie Albisser, how did you met? What is the work of you both separately? Is there anybody else working with you in Passarella?

I met Emilie 5 years ago as we where looking for a singer and soon after we started working on the clothing together.

For the music we also work with Kingsley Gratrick and for the clothing we’re now working with 2 other designers for the ready to wear collections, Philippa Greenback and Olivia Hegarty.

2- What is the meaning of the commercial name you have chosen? (Passarella is a surname, isn´t? In Spanish it is associated with Fashion and its meaning is Catwalk)

I named it after the Argentine footballer ‘Daniel Passarella’ it was a name I always liked the sound of, I didn’t know it meant catwalk at the time so quite lucky I guess.

3- Would you like to parade someday in London´s Fashion Week? Are you interested on the world of Fashion Shows?

Yes of course, we’re working towards doing something someday, definitely.

4- Besides working on fashion you are making music also, are these two your main activities?

Yes.

5- What does fill you with satisfaction now, music or fashion?

Both equally, as the records coming out we’re excited about that and then we have the live shows about to start, from the clothing side of things we’re working on the next collection so both music and fashion right now are very satisfying.

6- Which is the conection between fashion and Passarella Death Squad´s music?

No connection as such, we just love both things.

7- Does Music and Fashion are a good commercial synergy for Passarella Death Squad?

In general music and fashion go together hand in hand, so to be able to create music and fashion under the same name seems to make perfect sense.

8- It seems that you begin gradually, you started with t-shirts, now you are doing jackets, trousers and dresses. What is your commercial strategy as an independent brand?

From day one we always wanted to make a full range of clothing, both mens and womenswear, the t-shirts have been an ideal starting point, it was just a case of making sure we had the ideas with the right fabric in place and working slowly to where we are now. On top of everything else we’re creating, we’re also now making jeans, these are being produced for us by the first ever jean manufacturer in Japan.

9- How do you think that the crisis is going to affect to the fashion and the independent brands?

Some shops are having to take less risks when buying, this in turn will effect the independents, but hopefully this won’t be the case for too much longer, fingers crossed!!

10- You are Made in London, does the idea of Made in China ever tempted to you?

We’ve worked with the same manufacture in London for 5 years now and they do a fantastic job. I can’t imagine ever changing for China.

11- Which are your promotional systems of the brand? Do you go to the Fairs to sell?

We go to Paris twice a year for the Rendez-Vous Homme fashion show but after that we work with no P.R. companies or agents, we do all the work ourselves.

12- You have started giving concerts, how is the experience with the public playing live?

The first one is in London, on the 7th of May, with Mickey Moonlight (Ed Banger rec) George Issakidis (The Republic Of Desire Recordings) and Nathan Detroit (Southern Fried Rec) all djing, at the Life bar, Old St. Then we have a date in New York with Joseph Quartana, who runs the store, Seven New York.

13- Which are your next proyects?

For the music side of things, the next 12” ‘Painted Yellow, Painted Black’ should be out soon, followed by ‘Those are sirens’ 12” then the debut album, all with artwork created by M/M Paris on The Republic Of Desire Recordings. We’ve a few other collaborations happening as well, one with Ali from Perc Trax and one with Troy Pierce from Minus records, plus we’ll have the live shows happening around once every month.

For the clothing we’re half way through our next ready to wear collection which will be ready for August, straight after that we have to create another for January. In-between that we also a have a few collaboration projects coming up one with the famous ‘Loveless’ shop based in Tokyo.

14- Are you supersticious? Which is your Zodiac?

I’m a Taurus, the bull! I’m not superstitious though.