Sighting abound: he has been active in the Samurai/Horo camp, causing many nocturnal rumblings.
He is the stuff of lore, the centrepiece in a tale that includes Dub Phizix, Goldie, vengeful female spirits, some Homemade Weapons and what’s more, he has a giant snail.
Gremlinz! Is with us.
‘After Dark’ seems apt considering how active you are. Do you actually sleep?
Yeah I manage to get my shut-eye. If you were to ask my family, they’d argue that I spend most of my life sleeping with my mind switched off although I do try and keep functional enough to be productive.
What space do you inhabit? Part of me wants not to ask, to leave it mysterious…
Currently, I have half of my roomed partitioned off, with record shelves, as a studio space. It’s more on the cozy side of things with room to fit two comfortably. Other side of the room is dedicated to sleep, PS3 & a fish tank full of exotic goldfish with…
With what?
A giant snail.
Can you tell us about this huge collab with you, Homemade and Collinjah, After Dark? Must’ve been some seriously great vibes in the studio when this was being concocted?
I remember hearing a tune by Homemade Weapons called ‘Cabin Fever’ in a mix by DBR UK who basically introduced me to him. From there we hit it off really well and the idea of doing some collabs was brought up.
Being on opposite ends of the continent – Andre AKA HW is based in Seattle – we’ve been working on music by passing projects back and forth. The cool thing about collaborating like this is that it builds excitement to hear what the other person has done and hearing an update is kind of like opening a present at Christmas!
Shawn [Collinjah] is a talented, local dancehall artist that I had had the opportunity of working with in a Youth Center that fellow Torontonian ‘Mutt’ and I taught music production at.
Dub Phizix happened to be about for an AUX Events show a few summers ago and we ended up shooting the shit with a few other people after the jam. We were all showing each other music that we had worked on and at some point a dancehall track that Shawn and I had done got played. George [Dub Phizix] loved what he heard and spurred me on to do some NEW material with Collinjah.
I showed ‘After Dark’ to Shawn and the rest is pretty much history. Shawn is a great vocalist and also a great writer. He has some of the coldest bars I’ve heard.
We were really happy with the results and the J:Kenzo remix is the icing on the cake. Presha put me in touch with J and ‘After Dark’ was one of the tracks I passed onto him. He asked me If he could do a version of it and we were well chuffed with this and how the whole project came together!
What about the ‘After Dark’ title? I figured it goes back to question one and that you don’t sleep! or is it about our sleepless, nocturnal culture?
Pretty sure Andre came up with the name at some point in the project. It had a small snippet of a vocal saying ‘dark’ in it before it became a full vocal track but I’d have to let Andre field that one.
Can you talk us through ‘Mu-Onna’ in terms of inception?
For ‘Mu-onna’ I was looking to do something for the EP that was on the deeper side of the spectrum that would still have weight to it while conveying a lot of emotion. Having come across the definition of ‘Mu-onna’ – which is essentially a vengeful female spirit who lost her child, within Japanese folklore – I thought it might be fun to devise a soundtrack for her.
Crikey. So what do you like to put out there, in terms of doing what no-one else does.
Having been a DJ before producing, I always looked to fill a void of what I felt was missing from my sets as well as an outlet to vent my frustrations or pass time. Overall, a kind of personalized soundtrack that I can share with those who care to listen.
Speaking of culture, what lead you to D&B?
I’d have to say my first introduction to D&B was in the mid 90s. I’d seen a video for Goldie’s ‘Inner City Life’ and it was like nothing I’d ever heard before. I went on a mission to track down that track, knowing nothing of D&B or where to find it. I ended up coming across Timeless in HMV. From then I was hooked. I’d grab anything Metalheadz or Reinforced that I could find and that basically opened up the floodgates to the rest of the genre. That was basically where it began for me.
You have been active solidly since?
When I first started producing 14-15 years ago I was pretty active in the studio especially working with Stranjah. From there It would be up and down. I think the emergence of so many new producers has been great motivation. A lot of them have breathed new life into the genre and made things exciting. Very inspiring.
& you’ve worked with others, people like Rumbleton, The Untouchables, Ahmad (for Paradox Music), Reza so how do the collabs happen, are they part of an ongoing group in same mindset?
A lot of the collabs are mainly with mates that tend to be on the same or similar page. We usually just casually toss projects back and forth and eventually some of them get done. A good example would be a tune that Rumbleton and I had done on Paradox’s ‘Outsider Music’ imprint called ‘Jaro ’88’. That one took nearly three years to finish from when it was first started. I’ve always thought it’s better to just let stuff happen naturally then force it.
The odd time another producer might approach me and ask if I’d ever be up for doing something and if it sounds interesting we’d take it from there. I find collaborations interesting, as they are an opportunity to learn new approaches and philosophies in making music.
And with Reza, ‘Bloom’: another highlight of 2013, were you proud to be part of what is one of the big comps of the year, Horo?
‘Bloom’ is one of my personal favorites out of the output to date. Reza and I were both really flattered by how well it was received. Being part of the ‘Scope’ compilation was an overall exciting experience as it featured so much talent. The final product came out beautifully and was my first coloured/clear vinyl release as well so really glad that Presha got us involved.
You have some big releases on the horizon?
Yeah, it’s definitely been a busy period! There’s still some tunes on the Cylon various artists LP ‘Illustrations’, some more stuff slated for 31 Records, a ‘Fallen’ remix EP on Ink’s Architecture and the 12 for Paradox Music with Ahmad which is something I am really excited about as Dev has been on me for five years to do it.
And? AND?
I’ve also got a few other projects in the works including my first album, which will hopefully be ready for the middle half of next year.
As you are part of the seam of D&B that strongly believes in innovation what changes do you feel around you?
Overall I’m finding that the audience is becoming more open-minded allowing us more room to experiment as producers. In the past I found it a lot harder to get any acceptance for anything that wasn’t following the norm. Also, labels have been warming up a lot to more unconventional-sounding music as well which I think is helping the genre grow. A lot of artists are crossing genres as well so lines between them are becoming more and more blurred and people who might have not initially check for D&B are getting exposure to it.
Does this extend to your native Toronto?
Hmmm, that’s a bit of a tough one really. I’d love to say something good about my local scene but in all honesty, I have a lot of mixed feelings in regards to it.
Early on, it was pretty healthy and huge in numbers yet over the years, it feels as if it’s just imploded on itself and lost all its glory. Our scene at one point was said to be second only to the UK but over the years it feels like Toronto just dropped the ball, hard.
On the bright side I am very excited with the talent emerging from my city in many genres across the board as well as D&B. It’s just a shame that they don’t get more – if any – support on the home front.
What shouts do you have?
Loxy & Ink who’ve always support from back; Rumbleton, Clayton, Silo, Collinjah, Paradox, Nucleus, Cold Fusion, Amit, Rene LaVice, Yoko, Presha, dBridge, Overlook, Clarity, Threshold, Dub Phizix, J:Kenzo, Homemade Weapons, Skeptical, Nolige, Skitty, Friske, Reza, Stranjah, Paragon, Doc Scott, Goldie, Rhyan, Fokus, DBR UK, Ruffhouse, Rupture Crew, Total Science, Trace, Lush, Visionary, Scientific Wax Crew, my family, AUX Events, and toooooo many others
Homemade Weapons & Gremlinz feat Collinjah After Dark EP here
httpv://youtu.be/UgK3KTPl5y8