dan le sac vs. Scroobius Pip

11 Things: dan le sac vs. Scroobius Pip

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Take electro dance beats, add some spoken word and what do you get? dan le sac vs. Scroobius Pip. Take a few well-made videos, add 2 million YouTube hits and what do you get? A virtual phenomenon. We caught up with Scroobius Pip just before the band's current tour of the United States. 11 Things vs. dan le sac vs. Scroobius Pip follows:


1. Scroobius Pip's name is based on an Edward Lear poem called "The Scroobious Pip." Other animals wanted to classify the Scroobious Pip, but the Scroobious Pip was unclassifiable. dan le sac's name is classifiable (but we're not going to go there today).

2. "We come from a small town called Stanford le Hope in Essex, U.K. All the big towns are near enough to travel to, so it kind of forces you to."

3. "We've never been to San Francisco, although I (Scroobius Pip) intended to live there once. I moved to Santa Monica and knocked about at a few hostels, then went on to L.A. and Vegas and ran out of money."

4. "We mash spoken word with electro-type stuff. It's a bit hard to describe."

5. "We've supported Mark Ronson, Saul Williams, Billy Bragg, El-P, Basement Jaxx and RZA. It's been great to be picked by these people we really respect to open up for them and get in front of different crowds." (If you happen to be on YouTube, you might also want to check out I Shouted Gun, featuring Scroobius Pip.)

6. "We're on our second U.S.A. tour, which, to us, is amazing. We get to come halfway around the world before even releasing our debut album. We like it in America. It's hotter here and the food is bigger."

7. "We'll be playing Coachella. We're having thousands of beard-shaped fans made up as a way for people to keep cool."

8. "We're both very hairy (sideburns versus beard). We seem to have become quite known for this fact, which is weird. I guess it makes us memorable in a sea of skinny jean wearers." (Please note: They've never lived in the Mission or Haight.)

9. "We have a MySpace page ( www.myspace.com/lesacvspip). We also have a great U.S. artist (Gene Goldstein) working on a 'lesacvspip site' that should be up soon. Our debut album will be coming out later this spring."

10. "Thou Shalt Always Kill" always kills. If you're not familiar with it, check it out at www.lexrecords.com/lesacvspip.htm. (If you are familiar with it, check it out again.)

11. Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip play Cafe Du Nord at 8 p.m. Sun. 1865 and Pants Pants Pants open. $12-$14. 2170 Market St. www.cafedunord.com. Thou shalt not miss it.

- Tim Sullivan, tsullivan@sfchronicle.com

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/12/NS2LVH73R.DTL

This article appeared on page G - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle