Fat! readers may remember Frogs In Socks as one time Chew The Fat! mix competition victors. It’s been a year since we last spoke. In that time they have remixed Paul Woolford, Cagedbaby  and  are currently running Carney Ville. This Saturday May 29th they are  joined by Ed Banger’s Feadz, Jon Carter, Daniel Steinberg and more at Sound Control, Manchester. We headed pondside to catch up with the Frogs…

Frogs in Socks is an unusual name, is there a story behind it or do you just like the imagery of amphibians with cold feet?

Oli: Ha! Kind of, yes. Around the time we decided to start playing together I was working as a ski guide living with a couple of Australian guys who had this phrase they used when a party was going off… “It’s going off like a frog in a sock!” Obviously that’s supposed to conjure images of frogs bouncing around trapped in a sock but I loved the imagery of cartoon party frogs wearing socks.

You won our mix competition last year and played in the main room at The Arches. How did it feel to come out on top?

Tom: Yep, it was a nice surprise… I didn’t know Oli had entered a mix. We got a call to say that Paul Arnold had been in touch which was pretty cool. We used to go to Chew The Fat at The End so we were well aware of the brand and were excited to get involved.

That was a great night, did you enjoy it as much as we did?

Tom: Ha ha ha ha ha, we love this question! The night was wicked, we played an extended 2 hour set in the main room which was great, but then we were partying a bit too hard…

Oli: Err… correction, Tom was partying a bit too hard. I was taking it easy in the DJ booth whilst Rusko was playing, next thing I know I’m sitting outside with someone telling me “It’s OK, the ambulance will be here in a minute”. My first response was to say “Why?” before the pain kicked in. I had fallen from the DJ booth and landed on my head. I spent the next 3 weeks in 3 different hospitals around the country!

Certainly a night you won’t forget then! What have you been up to since then? Should we be preparing for a pond life revolution?

Oli: Definitely! Our DJ gigs have taken a back seat over the past 12 months as we finished building a little underground studio which we now pretty much live in. Recently, we’ve had remixes released for artists including Dusty Kid and Julian Sanza and should soon have remixes of Cagedbaby and Paul Woolford released after having two tracks chosen by We Love… Space, Ibiza, to feature on a release they put out. We’re working hard on original material but like most people we have tons of tracks that are almost finished and are just putting the final touches to some of them at the moment. We’ve also had some Radio 1 plays and have a monthly minimix on NME radio which keeps us on our toes with other people’s music.

Listening to both your productions and mixes it is clear that you draw on a number of influences…

Tom: We like to keep things interesting. Our musical influences are wide and varied (I’m a drummer and Oli plays piano) and the music we listen to ranges from Louis Armstrong to film scores to proper Hip Hop like Biggie and De La Soul and of course House.

With countless bedroom DJs trying to break through, how have you gone about making an impact and getting yourselves heard?

Oli: Constant hard work! There comes a point when you realise that playing and making music for yourself isn’t going to get you noticed by anyone. You have to have an end product and you have to get it in front of people.

Tom: Of course, you have to be on your toes and make sure you have consistent output otherwise people will forget about you. We’re fortunate to be able to work towards the same goals so if one of us has an off day then the other one will provide the necessary kick up the arse.

It helps that we’ve been featured in iDJ Magazine and have won a few remix competitions, but I think it’s very rare these days for one single event to transform someone into a “superstar DJ” .I think you just have to keep going at it and enjoy it for what it is, taking the good experiences that come with it.

Tell us about Carney Ville.

Tom: Carney Ville is our baby! We’ve teamed up with a couple of guys we know from our school days and have gone all out to create something different in Manchester. This city has some of the best club nights and brands in the world but we still think that there’s a market for what we are trying to achieve… a fucking party, with something for everyone. No chin strokers allowed!

Oli: I’m a bit of a chin stroker…

Tom: You’re a bit of a nob…

Oli: Ha, true. I think everyone has the capacity to over think things and turn a night out into an assessment of the DJ – whether he should have played this and not that. We just want to create a festival atmosphere in a club, hence we have brought in over 20 artists from various musical background. You have to provide value these days. The night also gives us an opportunity to bring in local, North West talent like HeavyFeet and No Fakin DJs. These guys are doing awesome stuff and people need to know.

We’ll be doing some special things on the night but you’ll have to come down for yourself to check it out. It’s all about the Carney Ville attitude!

Sound Control has emerged one of Manchester’s most exciting new venues, recently playing host to the DMC heats. It used to be Manchester’s coolest music shop, what does it offer the city now it is a club?

Tom: I think the fact that you’ve mentioned the DMC Championships kind of sums it up as a venue. Since its inception it has played host to some of the best nights in the city and the best thing is that it isn’t restricted by genre at all. Last week they had Doc Martin playing a 6 hour set, a few weeks before that they had Krafty Kuts and they are putting on some wicked live bands too. Something we’re looking to do with Carney Ville. I think it’s opening up Manchester to a different way of going out and I’m chuffed that we are playing a part in the growth of the venue by bringing some of the best artists in Europe to play at the venue.

Oli: Having the likes of Jon Carter, Feadz and Daniel Steinberg all on one line-up highlights the venues diversity and illustrates just what is possible with the three floors of Sound Control.

Outside of music what do the Frogs get up to?

Tom: All sorts, we eat lots of flies, jump about quite a lot. Occasionally we do underwater activities and if we are around at the weekends then you’ll probably find us sitting in our local drinking Guinness responsibly.

What plans have you got for the rest of this year?

Tom: The rest of 2010 will see remixes coming out on Paul Woolford’s Intimacy label and on Southern Fried. We are heading to the Secret Garden Party festival in July, followed by an Ibiza pilgrimage and then the next instalment of Carney Ville, as well as finishing off all of these original tracks that are starting to clog up our computers.

Onwards and upwards…