Aeroplane @ Hudson Ballroom

We caught up with Nu-disco supremo Vito de Luca AKA Aeroplane as he prepares for take off at the Rotarydisco boogie this Saturday...

RR: Vito - we’re looking forward to your set over the weekend! What can we expect from it?

Vito: Mostly me playing records. A mix of disco and house, new and old, depending of what the crowd feels like at that moment.

RR: You’ve played in Sydney before, how was the experience last time?

Vito: Always good, Australian crowds seem to work for me, I’ve only had good experiences here.

RR: Now how did you choose your name?

Vito: I didn’t really choose it. It was the name of a song that didn’t really fit whatever music I was making at the time so it needed some new project name. So it ended up being called Aeroplane - Aeroplane. And then it took off, no pun intended.

RR: Haha tell us what led you in to a career as a DJ and producer.

Vito: My career as a DJ is a by-product of the music I was making. When the first EP’s came out, I started getting DJ shows offers pretty much instantly, so I did that. I had some background as a DJ doing birthdays and things like that when I was about 14 or 15, so I had the technical side of things down - I just played different records. My career as a producer started because in the town I grew up in I was kind of the most serious about being a musician and the few bands I had didn’t really like having someone constantly pushing and trying to be better at everything, so I basically got kicked out every time. That’s when I decided to just do it all myself, and bought a computer and a sound card.

RR: We know you’ve been hard at work on the Owl Eyes album – can you tell us about the process and the style of the record?

Vito: We started writing it in Melbourne over a few sessions and it was working and songs were happening. So we kept going and produced most of it in my studio in Brussels. It’s a mix of a lot of things which sort of makes it sound like its own now. There’s synths but also quite a bit of guitars, it is our attempt to emulate the classics that we like with a modern twist. But it’s also very eclectic.

RR: You released a great EP with Alex Metric, as Metroplane. Any plans for more collaborations?

Vito: Bahp, our last EP just got re-released on Ministry Of Sound as a vocal version called Word Of Mouth. It was written by MNEK and Becky Hill and sung by Bree Runway. Me and Alex have a few more bits waiting, and will probably make more at some point.

RR: Which disco legend from the past would you love to meet?

Vito: I would have told you Giorgio Moroder, but I have met him..

RR: What a legend! Of all the sets you’ve played, which one really stands out in your memory?

Vito: They all sort of mesh together after this many shows. The obvious ones would be my two Coachella sets, or headlining Sonar with Air and LCD. But also some I might have forgotten. Sometimes you play a 200 cap room somewhere deep in the UK and it turns into the best party ever… I have had a lot of those…

RR: What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

Vito: Overall, the biggest challenge is your health. Both mental and physical. Music is what I do, some days it’s good... some days it’s not that good, but I have never really had a problem making it. Once you become successful and start touring a lot and making a career out of it, your health goes out the window pretty quickly. It’s very fun for a few years but if you want to be serious about it you need to make changes and re-calibrate or it’s going to eat you alive. I released my first record in 2005. We are in 2018, that’s 13 years, and I couldn’t have survived this long if I kept going at the same pace.

RR: Finally - what else do you have coming up this year?

Vito: Quite a few bits but I don’t know in what order yet. A new Aeroplane single is ready, I have a few very interesting collaborations that I’m really excited about but can’t really discuss fully yet as it’s still in the works. And as usual, a bunch of shows - Mexico, US, Europe…

RR: Busy times ahead - thanks Vito!

Get your tickets to see Aeroplane at Hudson Ballroom here