Call Me Fonzy: In the Studio with Alphonse Alixander Lanza III

Modular synths and mayhem with Azari & III's mastermind.

February 22, 2014, 1:30am

A few months back Jubilee and I headed to Toronto to shoot 20 DJ/producers in three days. We saw the insides of a lot of studios, heard a lot of in-jokes, talked a lot about genres and music-making, and ate some really bomb not-hoodrat-at-all tacos with our hoodrat friends. (Toronto has amazing food—watch this if you don't believe me.)

Of all the people we interviewed, none stood out more than Alphonse Alixander Lanza III—sometimes known as Alixander III, sometimes called Fonzy. It was a mere two weeks before he would announce the breakup of his house music supergroup Azari & III via Facebook—devastating news, as they were one of the most alluring dance music live acts of the last few years. Fonzy was already busy doing other things, working with his punk band The Cruelty Party and running his Idol Hanse label and DJing with a hand that he messed up partying somehow or another because he loves to party.

He answered the door super wild-eyed and proceeded to give us a tour of his studio, which included killer weed scattered about, a giant mixing console used on the David Cronenberg films, some ribbed Teletubby-type things, and a massive modular synth rack ("I didn't buy a house," he said of it. "This is my retirement plan.") For the next 45 minutes, the handsomely-haired Fonz talked rapid-fire about producing, growing up in Hamilton, liking dark things, and on and on. Then he pissed in front of us and played us some really sick bands he's been producing. The whole thing was overwhelming and wonderful and afterwards we needed a stiff drink.

By the time you watch this, his beautiful studio may have been made into condos and Fonzy might be in a cave in the South of France—who really knows? This stuff doesn't last forever, kids.

Follow Fonzy here:

https://soundcloud.com/alixanderiii

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alixander-III/

https://soundcloud.com/idol-hanse