Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Augé could not have seen it coming. The two graphic designers had dabbled in disco and rock bands respectively, but neither had produced electronic music before uniting as Justice in 2003. Today, they are one of the biggest dance acts in the world.

Justice’s remix of British rockers Simian’s “Never Be Alone” (a.k.a. “We Are Your Friends”) became an international phenomenon in 2004 and got them signed to Ed Banger, Pedro “Busy P” Winter’s label. Last year’s Grammy-nominated debut album † continues to put them in ever-larger venues. But unlike city-mates Daft Punk, de Rosnay and Augé ultimately decided their live shows should stun with simplicity.

 “The techno aesthetic with lasers and projections is really not our thing,” says the charmingly candid de Rosnay from Paris. “We thought we’d do something completely different, something that could look more like a late-’70s hard rock show with really simple white and black visuals. If it works as something minimal, it’s a good sign for the music.”

At the centre of their stage — standing out among stacks of Marshall amps, heaps of exposed cables and beams of white light — is a glowing cross. Why?

“There are many reasons,” de Rosnay responds. “The main one is that we think that there are two things that can get 20,000 people looking in the same direction and raising their hands up in the air:  stadium music and religion. We decided to blend these into one, to turn music into a religious experience and something more powerful. I do want to make it clear that it’s not ironic, and we don’t dismiss the cross. We’re not Satanists and we’re not using the symbol in a provocative way.”
Spoken like the metalheads many assume Justice to be. “Actually, we consider ourselves to be a disco band that looks like a metal band and works with modern tools,” counters de Rosnay with a chuckle.

The distinction is worth making, particularly as the commercial success of Justice has spawned a slew of copycats, most of whom zero in on the duo’s trademark filtered squelch and distortion while missing the magic of melody.

 “What we listen to at home is late-’70s, early-’80s romantic pop music — and that’s not a joke,” states de Rosnay. “We didn’t listen to electronic music at all, but then we started to DJ and discovered things we liked in it, like the violence, power and brutality. So what we do is blend these things. All of the tracks we’ve done so far we’ve written in a really classic way, writing melodies on a piano and then producing the tracks with the noise and everything.”

Therein lies the heart of Justice: pop hooks paired with rugged rhythms, soul with screech. It’s a killer combo. I ask de Rosnay if this roughness is to be protected as he and Augé move forward as much more experienced producers.

 “The roughness is a real honest thing on this album,” he replies. “We just said ‘OK, it’s dirty because we’re not good producers so instead of trying to hide that we are going to take charge of it and make it even dirtier because then people will think it’s on purpose.’

 “Now that we know how to make clean music that sounds better, it wouldn’t be honest to keep on making rough music. Maybe we’re going to become a boring studio band, but that’s life.” 

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