William Rees and Kai Fish of UK indie band, Mystery Jets made it to our shores the 2nd time around (after the 1st one got cancelled) for their DJ set at Zouk couple of weeks ago. We managed to snatch some time with them just before their set, talking about Bricklane in the UK and their love for spicy food.

First thing first, what really happened last week?
Haha, well, our flights really got cancelled; Emirates said that it was cancelled and we couldn’t make it in time for the gig.

How has the response been so far for the latest album Twenty One?
It’s been 9 months in and it was a growing process. No one really talked bout it at the beginning and it gradually built a life on its own. It’s been great so far. Our new album is coming out in 2009.

How different is the first album compared to the latest one?
Well, the first album was really more rockish and mostly experimental because we were still trying to form our own identity. We had a bit more confidence come the 2nd one and there was definitely more direction. Then we got into DJing just about 2 years ago with Erol being a huge influence on us. It’s almost like discovering a whole new other side of music and we just really got hooked onto it. So the latest one is more of a mix of indie and electro mish mash. Our new album is more of a mix of DJing-electro-indie.

A lot of bands are DJing now, do you reckon it’s a trend?
We wouldn’t put it that way. We love dance music and making people groove; it’s just really a form of art that we enjoy. We’re planning a lot of things and making a lot of remixes now; so we’re taking DJing really seriously.

Do you guys see yourselves as fashion icons?
Hahaha, we love dressing up no doubt, but the real fashion guru has gotta be our drummer, Kapil. He’s always messing around with fashion and stuff. He’s also a trainers geek, he just loves them.

Do you see yourselves, say, coming up with your own fashion line in the future, seeing how everyone loves your whacky sense of fashion?
Definitely something to think about, in fact we’ve actually started our own line of T-shirt designs at our online shop. So, yeah, who knows?

Any tips for our readers on where’s best to shop in the UK?
Definitely Portobello Road, you get the craziest things there and it’s a great place to dig. Bricklane’s another good place to go. Camden used to be just as good, but it’s lost its touch these days somehow, too many tourists and stuff; but yeah, definitely Portobello Road and Bricklane.

Guess we’ll know where to hit for our future shopping escapades in the UK now. To the 10% of you out there who doesn’t already know, The Mystery Jets will be performing live in concert at 9pm on January 11th, 2009, at Zouk Singapore.