Three Questions With Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip

Next up in the 3Qs series is the amazing musician, songwriter and producer, Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip!

Alexis helped shape Hot Chip’s blend of synth-pop, dance music, and catchy lyricism, and has also released a wide range of solo and collaborative work. Hot Chip's Joy In Repetition is out now on Domino Records. Photo by Will Kindrick.

Without further ado...

As part of SH5.

Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip by Will Kindrick.

Synth History: What were some pieces of gear you started out with, and what are some of your current go-to pieces of gear?

Alexis Taylor: Farfisa organ, Casiotone MT-70, Fender Rhodes Mark 1, Teisco 60F, moved on to Sequential Cicuits Pro-One, and a Casio CZ-101

Then a Korg briefly, and many Roland 101s for a long time. Roland 505 drum machine was an early one we had. Sequential Circuits Drumtraks.

Current go-to synths and gear:

Yamaha CS-70

Yamaha CS-80

Linn Drum

Nagra iii Mono reel to reel tape recorder

Fieldtone Weaver pedal

Mellotron

Boss SY1000 guitar synthesizer pedal

Hohner Clavinet

Celeste

Wurlitzer 106

RCA 44B ribbon mic

Audio Thing Latin Percussion software drum machine

Maestro Rhythm King drum machine

Steinberger guitar

Auto-harp

Vibraphone

Neumann kms 105 mic

Synth History: If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?

Alexis Taylor: Keep the humor, but it doesn’t have to be juvenile. And one spare lead is not enough. 40 Euros, it would be polite, to keep in reserve for Faithless’ sound crew.

Synth History: What is one tip that is important to keep in mind when collaborating as a band?

Alexis Taylor: Less is more, more or less. Don’t feel constrained by stylistic or genre choices.

Synth History Exclusive.

Photos by Will Kindrick.

Conducted by Danz.