Interview Time: Bob Sinclar "Live at the Playboy Mansion"

Bob Sinclar

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I would like to take Hugh Hefner's place! laughs Bob Sinclar of the infamous playboy and his even more infamous erotic empire. His whole life is about sexiness, style and attitude. Hes an inspiration to me!

Bob is relaxed, chatty and trade-mark flirty on a typically sunny afternoon in LA, the city where he's chosen to decamp for some much needed me-time after a summer on the international clubbing circuit. And it just so happens to be down the road from Hugh's HQ and the namesake of Bob's latest album Live At The Playboy Mansion, an ode to the best of 70s and 80s disco.

"That period was so sexy," he explains. "It was all about going out, dancing and enjoying disco styles. It was the golden age of clubbing. Also, the entire erotic ethos is something that I've always been attracted to. I based my persona from the erotic kitsch stories of the 70s and 80s," he continues, "the ones synonymous with Playboy. And I always like erotic magazines because the style is just amazing," he adds, smiling. "I've reflected this in my character and my music."

Born Christophe Le Friant – "that's what my mother calls me. Bob Sinclar's my alter-ego" – in France, Bob grew up in boho Le Marais, the Parisian district at the throbbing heart of Paris's club scene and the epicentre of French gay culture, a culture notoriously at the forefront of clubbing trends. Tempted by a career in tennis, it was only following a life-changing night at Paris's Le Batalan nightclut that Bob's ambitions took a musical turn, and DJ-ing became his raison d'etre. The launch of his own Yellow Productions label and several anthemic, international hits including 'World, Hold On' and 'Love Generation' later, and Bob's now waxing lyrical over the inspirations behind this, his sixth album – and one that is close to his heart.

"With this CD I've tried to show an evolution of the music I love. For me it all happened in between '73 and '83. Everything seemed to happen in those ten years. Most of my favourite records are from that period," he enthuses, "but also every classic film, even art, is from that decade."

With his unapologetic ladies' man reputation, Bob is perhaps a natural heir to Hugh Hefner and is effusive in his admiration for the octogenarian.
 
"I would like to take his place, absolutely!" he gushes. "It's just about his life. It's amazing how his life is centred around sexy girls," he adds, with more than a hint of envy in his voice. "He is just amazing – he lived with three girls and nobody cared. Everybody says he's fantastic and he's just a very smart gentleman. He has been a good inspiration and an example to me – be it in my music, my style… yeah, you can say there's a similarity!" he laughs.

As for being in Playboy magazine itself, Bob is equally and candidly enthusiastic.

"For Playboy I'd do anything", he grins. "Also, there are three parties a year and the biggest one is on Halloween. I would love to play that party as a DJ. It's just the most amazing party, with the most amazing girls, guests and superstars. It is a very crazy and sexy party. Paradise for me!"

Despite the heavy nod to 70s and 80s disco, don't expect the usual repertoire of songs we never really need to hear again on Live at the Playboy Mansion – think rather underplayed 70s classics like Gino Soccio's 'Dancer' and First Choice's 'Newsy Neighbours'; then there are the legendary vocals from the likes of Grace Jones and Barbara Tucker, not to mention Euru-royalty Space, as well as Voyage who kick start the double-CD with two stomping tracks.

"Dance music today is just recycled from that period in a way, anyway," explains Bob. "At that time people wanted to go out with a certain kind of attitude and of course money was important to make people shine in the club. The theme of the songs at that time were all about dancing, meeting someone and making love. And it's coming back. People saying Disco is dead… Disco will never be dead because it's all about the feeling and people want to go out every Friday and Saturday and just enjoy the moment and forget their everyday problems. They want to feel good and I think that's what disco brings."

But for someone whose own music has strong routes in Hip Hop, does the Disco-heavy Playboy album mark a distinct change in direction for Bob?

"I started off listening to a lot of Hip Hop, yeah," he admits. "Then I discovered, by going to New York, that producers like Kenny Dope, Todd Terry, all the guys in New York were playing house and Hip Hop in the same sets. After that I started to discover all the DJs were sampling all the classics. So I looked into it and bought the original records that they sampled.

"I think to be a good producer you have to have a good knowledge of how the music was developed – its history," Bob continues. "It's important to understand the history of music so you can translate that into your own music. I love disco so I originally looked into what I call "Roller Disco", which started around '73 to '75, with of course people like Chic and Cerrone. After the 80s, Disco arrived very strongly in Europe and guys like Alexander Robotnik came up with this "Italian disco" and they used a lot more drum machines and synthesizers, which gave it an electronic edge.

Bob sits back, takes a swig of very-LA bottled water, and talk turns to the seductive power of music – he is French, after all!

"Life is all about seduction," he says, ever the playboy, "For girls, men and everything. So I would like to say I'm doing music for girls and all the gay community. It's like I know my feminine side and I like to use it for all my melodies, harmonies and I'm also looking for energy in the beat. My music is very emotional."

What about the DJ as icon? "Yeah," Bob asserts. "He is the centre of the night. He's preaching his music. So his attitude is here to seduce the people and to attract the people towards him. It's a kind of seduction, it's my style and I think people like it!"