65 Shades of Blue

Timewarp! Eiffel 65, the creators of that little blue '90s earworm (da ba de), are on their way to our fair shores. Zoe Barron speaks to Jeffery Jey about what's changed over the past two decades and sliding in line with the '90s revival.

Whoops, it's been more than a decade – time to re-live the '90s. All the signs are here: the Captain Planet ringtones, the Spice Girls at the Olympics, a new Smash Mouth album. And now, another; Eiffel 65 have not only reformed and been touring for two years, but their re-entry into their old scene has been close to seamless. “Luckily there's a lot of '90s going on in the clubs around here, so there's a lot of mix between the old music and the new music in Italy and quite a part of Europe. So, since that new music is catching quite a bit from the '90s, we fit in somehow,” explains Jeffery Jey, lead singer of the three-piece. “The tours are great. Every gig is packed and we have a lot of kids there asking for autographs. I'm 42, you know! It's pretty weird for me, these very young people – 18, 20 year-olds – coming up, asking for an autograph… I'm pretty happy that we have the opportunity, you know, to go straight to a new generation, with that very big, big feeling like we had back then.”

According to Jey, a reformation of the band was inevitable. Eiffel 65 never really ended; they just had a rest for a bit. “It was not exactly a break-up,” he says. “What happened was, we put a pause on the entire project because back then we needed the space to get our families up and have some time to chill out. Up until then, the schedule was very, very hectic and we didn't have any time for ourselves anymore. The first two years we were coming home maybe four days a month. That was one hell of a ride.”

The group parted ways in 2005, worked on various solo and side projects, and then reformed in 2010 after they noticed a new generation of clubbers starting to get into old Eiffel tracks. “We were playing in clubs and we actually got to see that the new generation was really into our sound. They were singing the songs and they were happy to see us live, so the live scene actually got us all back together, and it all took off from there.”

Of course, the landscape has changed, but Jey understands only too well that, as an artist, adaptation is essential. “You have to learn to go with the new flow,” he says. “Old artists – I mean, people who were playing music in the '90s – are used to record labels, record sales, and TV promotion; it doesn't work that way anymore. The Internet is almost doing a great part of the job. And it puts together everything.”

How much the music industry has changed over the last few years was demonstrated to Jey in Russia, after a radio interview there. The interview took place on the sixth floor of an apartment building, and afterwards the band had to make their way down via the stairs. “And the entire stairway was packed with fans,” Jey says. “One of these fans gave me a mastered CD – he had a bootlegged CD. And I said, 'Yo, this is not original.' And he said, 'Yes! Yes, it is original! I burned it.' So, it was already getting into people's minds that the way they conceived using music, and getting music, was changing completely.”

Two years of touring and adjusting to this new music industry, and the members of Eiffel 65 are finally working on tracks for a new album. After five years apart, though, everybody's grown up a bit and in different directions, and their styles have diverged. It's been difficult to gain consensus on the tracks they're making. “We have songs that we like, but not all three of us like it together, so we're not totally convinced about one track,” Jey explains.

“Hopefully, within a matter of, like, no time at all, we'll get some tracks coming out. And that will be great, if we can do that before we get to Australia.”

Eiffel 65 will be playing the following shows:

Thursday 20 September - The Palace, Melbourne VIC
Friday 21 September - The Hi-Fi, Brisbane QLD
Saturday 22 September - Fat As Butter Festival, Newscastle NSW
Friday 28 September - Metropolis, Fremantle WA
Saturday 29 September - Selina's, Coogee Bay Hotel NSW