Married DJ duo Alex Oxley and Lisa Jelliffe travel all over the world bringing their immersive homage to one of the world’s best-loved rock bands to stages from Glastonbury and Burning Man, Thailand to Australia.
Spinning under the stage names of Roxanne Roll and Mister Sushi, DJ couple Lisa and Alex started the Fleetmac Wood project in 2012 as a homage to their namesake and idols the American rock legends Fleetwood Mac. A touring DJ act and mobile party, they’ve since taken their remixed set of classic Fleetwood Mac hits to festival crowds from Burning Man to Glastonbury and beyond.
To have an entire DJ set and AV show reframing the iconic music of one of the world’s best selling bands in a new context is the idea at the heart of Lisa and Alex’s touring act. Determined to bring fun and a unique atmosphere, wherever they may be, the focus is all on the experience. “It’s about making it a crossover experience. What you love about clubbing, but with music you have an emotional connection to,” explains Lisa. “We’re not trying to be cool. We welcome a bit of silliness and singalong. It’s a dance party!” She recalls first coming up with the idea on the occasion that she felt the need to have an “uncompromising feast of only Fleetwood Mac.” “The idea of playing them all night was a little risky at the time, so it was interesting to me. It was a little like a secret society meeting in a basement for the first party.”
That first party has now turned into a full on, immersive experience that takes in their live techno and dance inspired set, a crowd encouraged to dress up as the original band – cue many Stevie Nicks-alikes amongst their partygoers – and a kaleidoscope of synchronised visuals and effects created by Lisa using state-of-the-art VJ software Resolume. The duo mine an endless well of Fleetwood Mac love for each live event, combining their own mixes of the bands huge discography with homages found on Soundcloud and tracks submitted by other producers. “Remixing and editing is a great way to learn more about music production and to hone production skills,” says Lisa. “The original Fleetwood tracks will always be the best, but it’s fun and challenging for us to create something new and change the context.”
Six years on from their first gig in an East London basement – and 41 years since the release of Fleetwood Mac’s legendary and 45 million selling album Rumors – the act’s appeal sees no sign of waning. They have played every year at Glastonbury since 2012, at Burning man since 2014 and, “just played our biggest parties yet in London and San Francisco.” Next up, they’re turning their attention to other legends with ‘Sympathy for the Disco,’ a remix of Rolling Stones classics for the dance floor, recently being debuted whilst the duo tour Australia. “My motto has always been to play at least one track that scares me,” Lisa says. “If there’s nothing that makes you nervous in your set, then you’re not pushing yourself of your audience.” And so the party continues.
