Eric Hilton: Probably is our best audience.

RG: Yeah.

BG: I saw you guys about a year ago.

RG: Was that at the Concourse?

EH: That was a great show. I loved it.

RG: That was humongous. That was a cool space for us.

BG: You guys have such a tight downtempo sound, but it worked on such a big scale.

EH: We try to bring energy to the live show because people are coming out for a good
time and you can't just lull them...you have to bring something.

RG: You don't want to feel like you're sitting in a hotel lounge playing background music
you know. (Laughs)

BG: Is it tougher to play a live stage like this where there's so many people, and you kind of need a bigger sound?

EH: It's actually easier because there's something about that sea of people just makes it so much easier. If it's a smaller venue and there's maybe a few hundred, it seems like a big challenge.

RG: We did a show recently - we played in someone's living room. Her husband's a huge Thievery fan, so she hires us to play at his birthday party in the house. So the guy comes home, from a business trip, walks into his living room, walks in and we're playing. That was so bizarre, so surreal, but it was actually quite fun, because we had like 20 people.

BG: A pure lounge party.

EH: It was weird.

RG: Surreal.

BG: I wanted to get a sense of your inspiration. Who do you guys musically follow?

EH: So many different people.

RG: So many different people and so many different records.

EH: Most people out there either never got respect or they hit it once or twice. Not everybody has that touch where they can make a great song every time. Mystic Moods Orchestra is this very bizarre group that...once...made an amazing rock song...strings and clavinet...that just blows away anything that you’ve heard. Just those rare musical moments where everything comes together, that's what inspires the most.

RG: Jorge Ben.

EH: Jorge Ben, yeah. Antonio Carlos Jobim. About a hundred different reggae artists that I can think of.

RG: R.D. Burman.

EH: Yeah, R.D. Burman - he’s a soundtrack composer. Very ahead of his time, but maybe behind his time. But it works.

BG: I wanted to talk about your different styles a little bit because I know you're [Rob] coming out with your solo effort for Dust Galaxy due to be released in November. I was wondering how you guys compare and contrast styles. Do you have a sound, Rob, that's different from yours, Eric?

RG: I think it's actually kind of similar. I'm doing this project that's very rock-oriented. We both grew up listening to rock music, and Eric has a real soft spot for it as well. There are just so many different musical tangents. We're recording a new album right now, and so we're exploring some other elements of musical influences.

BG: What can we look forward in the new album?

RG: It's always hard to describe especially when it's not complete yet. We're still finding the right singers for the songs. I think it's definitely expanding our sound.

EH: It's a little bit more uptempo than maybe the other records. We've been recording for maybe four or five months, and feel really good about what we have. But now we're in the collaboration phase with singers so a lot of the trick in a song happens then. So we'll have to wait, but we'll be doing it off and on for the remainder of the year.

BG: How's that work, finding singers?

RG: Sometimes it can work great, but sometimes it can be difficult. You have an idea of
somebody who you think is going to sound great on a track, then you actually get together and it might not work so well. Or that somebody just comes in spontaneously and just nails it.

BG: When's the new album due to be released?

EH: Probably either June or September next year.

BG: Well I'm definitely look forward to it. Can I kiss and grovel at your feet?

Because I kissed their shiny shoes, Thievery Corporation had a great set. Or maybe it was because security threw me out after I overstayed my welcome.