MC Fats has dropped the 624 ep on his label U Understand Me which in a simple sense picks up on the ‘We Gotcha’ series of collaborations… but only on the surface. Meaning: yes it’s collaborations, under the ‘MC Fats Collective’ name. But now instilled with a deceptively different type of firepower under the one roof, due to electric collusions with the likes of Philth, Squarewave, Brother, Alibi and Serum.
So. Picked up the phone and had a chat with the man himself.
Hey Fats what’s new?
I just got back from a Leeds trip with Bailey am looking forward to appearing at Sun And Bass in September but I’m not doing too many shows at the moment. I love
SunAndBass though, it doesn’t matter who you are there, people are people. Everyone is a family and we are all on the same level.
The 624 ep is different to what I expected…
What do you mean it’s different to what you expected?!
I didn’t expect to see names like DRS, Alibi and Philth on there when I first heard of the ep.
You know, I’m not limited to any single camp, I’m completely freelance and have the freedom to work with many talented people. I just want good music and to work with people who make good beats, for me to do my thing to.
The Alibi tune’s amazing.
Yeah, they sent me a batch of tunes, but ‘Rise Up’ really grabbed me. There’s a part where the melody drops, then rises up… I thought ‘Perfect’. Very different.
You sound relaxed on there in general… was the lyrics done on the spot?
I do all of my vocals on the spot, I’ve never been one to put pen to paper and write lyrics. A tune has got to pull me in, if it doesn’t it’s no good to me. You can’t force creativity. Some people have pre-set lyrics to perform but it’s not about that for me. Music has to take you on a journey. It’s got to make you want to create.
Where do you DO the music? You have to be comfortable in order to perform.
I do all my vocals at home with headphones and a USB microphone straight into a Logic on a MacBook Pro, it’s simple… I’m working. It’s easy like that. If I can’t get things right from here then I will send the vocals over to A Sides to tighten up.
On to the other names on here… for example Serum on ‘Many Times’.
Some tracks like ‘Around The Way’ with Brother were recorded in 2010, They have been sitting around.
Other labels wanted some of the tracks but we couldn’t make a deal so I held onto them and decided there’s no one better at representing your own music than yourself at the end of the day.
There must be a lot of people out there who want to collab…
I do get a lot of requests from people asking to do collaborations but I refuse a lot of them because a track has got to do something for me. It needs to be the right kind of fit for me. I don’t want the same kind of typical ‘liquid’ track or basic ‘rollers’ and so on. Well, each to their own but do something which has some soul!
For you to create good music, it has to come from the soul. You can’t come along with some simple, techy, out of frequency sounds. These people need to recognise.
But the scene is thriving, there’s genre upon genre but at the end of the day it’s D&B, whatever the structure, whatever the elements… so let it roll.
So 624 is on your own label… is that right?
Yes it’s released on my own label U Understand Me Music. The label is connected to the clothing brand I own with my partner which is a fusion of UK and Japanese fashion. The admin of the record label is overseen and managed by A Sides.
With the label I am confident in what I do and that is to make the tunes sit nicely.
The title?
The title refers to the fact that I was six foot, I lost two foot. And now I am four foot. I just said this one time… it just stuck.
The scene right now in general… how do you feel about it?
I don’t really get involved. I’m an old soldier and I don’t have the time. Everyone’s got a right to do what they want to do musically. Some things you like, some things you don’t like, it’s that simple. For example I’m not a ‘jump up’ man but if they do what they do, and they do it well then hats off to them! I just do what I do well and I don’t watch others.
On the day to day what do you listen to?
It depends really… It could be a rare groove day or it could be a jazz day, but deep down I’m a reggae fan.
With reggae, would you you do reggae on your label?
In the past I did ‘Foundation Dub’…
… as well as ‘Peace and Dub’ with Break, Die and Buggsy. I’ve done down tempo projects before including hip hop with Mackadena from Rotterdam and Random from Los Angeles… people like it, there’s nothing better than people liking what you do.
Every track’s different on this ep…
That’s right, there’s the downtempo track with Squarewave for example…
So is this ep a part of the picture/part of a bigger batch, is there more to come?
There is always more to come. A few years back I gave Chef some tunes for the Matter of Fats ep with people like Crix, Brother and HLZ.
The music will always continue.
You go back with Chef, speaking of him? He’s got the knowledge.
He’s got the knowledge ha ha, yes, in abundance.
Chef is very good at what he does and we go back a long way.
You have a teaching background too… and this connects well to music?
Yes, teaching was a good experience for me, I went to college, got my papers, it was a good look, plus being into music, you really get to understand what’s going on from a more technical side.
You go deeper into the music. It’s like being a visual artist: you paint your own picture.
What’s something you would say about the 624 ep? To sum it up.
The ep?
Bad.
Ha ha. It’s a diverse collection. It tells a story.
Any last shouts?
Big up A Sides, Bailey, Randall, Chef and yourself.