Hello Serge, great to have you with us today. How’s it going and whereabouts are you based right now?
Hello Techno Mood, I’m good thanks. I’m in Brighton, my childhood city. It is hard to go out here without it turning into a 4-day bender at the moment. I feel like I have to go out in a disguise.
November 11th sees the release of your debut album, ’11:11′, arriving on the newly launched Jack Said What imprint from Irvine Welsh and Steve Mac. Firstly, congrats on this release, it makes for a superb listen. How would you describe the album in your own words?
I’ve pushed my boundaries but stayed within the House Music limits. What I’ve written has all the moments I’ve picked up and loved for years. The emotions that I’ve translated into music. The energy I’ve felt, the after-parties I went to and the hangovers I’ve dealt with. All this went into its soul.
11:11′ marks just the second release on the new imprint, how did you and the label first get in touch and how did the idea for an album together first arise?
Steve and I have known each other for a long time, 25 years. I once went fishing with him on a hangover. Normal people just don’t do that, something about being up all night and the movement of the sea just don’t go together, ever! I hated it plus Steve caught more fish than me. So anyway, what I’m trying to say is, we’re good friends and value his views on music. So when I finished my album, I sent it over just to see what he thought as I did to a few others. He called me back about an hour later and said “he wanted it” I said “wanted it for what?” forgetting that he told me down the pub at some point he was starting a label with his mate Irvine Welsh. I started to think about it and it made sense. Being part of something in Brighton alongside our night Stompa Phunk with all the amazing people could be brilliant. We’re part of something great, so many very good people involved with amazing ideas. it’s a family thing!
The album delivers a range of styles across its eight tracks, what were your initial inspirations for the album when you set out creating it?
Lockdown was a time of musical calm, sitting down and reflecting. Watching what moves were being made by other artists. I was writing but with no intention to release, that’s an odd kind of freedom; writing for myself with nowhere to play it out. It was very interesting. I started two projects, this one and one other which I’ll reveal at another time. so, I had written a lot of music, loads of ideas and edits, half-tracks, and finished stuff. I kept going through it every weekend with my other-half thinking I liked some and hated others but just sat on it. I then wrote more and more and added them to the pile, and I pulled 8 tracks that kept jumping out to me every time I listened to them. I put them into a folder and sat on it again, then listened a week later and they sounded ace. The Album idea was born! I never set out to write an LP but it just naturally came together. I love that and it doesn’t feel forced.
The album feels perfectly sequenced and flows seamlessly throughout. How much consideration did you give to the sequencing during the creative process? For instance, with ‘You Got Me’ which rounds the album off beautifully, did you set out to create a closing track or was this something that happened organically and you knew it would be the closer?
It’s an emotion. ‘You Got Me’ is such a positive track, a conclusion to a timeline, it makes you want to start it all again. Like re-watching a great film you love. If it ends well and on a high, a feel-good experience. You will want to go through all its troubles and heartache again. You’ve learnt to trust it. I had to have ‘Rain’ for the opener, it felt unknown, like stepping outside on a stormy windy night. The notion of ‘What’s going to happen?’ The feeling of being excited and scared at the same time. Emotional connection is very important to me.
We heard you speak of how Irvine Welsh and Steve Mac gave you the creative freedom to express yourself on this album. How crucial is this feeling of freedom in creating an album that you can be truly pleased with?
It’s everything. If each track sounded the same and had the breakdowns in the same place down in the same way with the same snare rolls, that’s writing to a formula and I’m not a robot. Don’t get me wrong I’ve written like that during other projects like Waze & Odyssey. Towards the end it was like painting by numbers so quoting a 900-year-old space puppet Yoda, I had to unlearn what I’d learnt. This took time and writing a lot of music, good and bad, it’s like like filtering dirty water. Then in the journey, you come to a good place, a place with fewer rules.
The track ‘Rave Dance’ features Irvine Welsh, we’d love to hear the story behind this one?
I wanted to write an acid track without using a Roland 303’s. It’s been done before by some absolute legends of the game and I didn’t want to disrespect them by messing it up. So I started writing something and obviously it didn’t sound acid at all so I thought, maybe something different, a narrative, a spoken word would work so tried a few other things and nothing seemed to gel.. so in a panic and frustration, I threw a load of other R’n’B acapella samples on which I was semi-happy about. It seemed to work but sounded like an edit or bootleg. I sat on it for a bit then played it out a couple of times to a good response, so I put it in the album folder on my Mac. I needed other people’s views so I played the album to a few friends and they said the only track that doesn’t fit was this one, I massively disagreed and de-friended them. ha, no.. jokes. Anyway Steve and I agreed after a mega discussion down at the pub but what to do about it? Steve said let’s talk to Irvine and see if he’s up for it. Great idea! After about a week, Irvine sent through audio of him reading a script he’s working on. So I was like, ok. what do I do with this? I loved the story but how do I work this into a track that’s not even written for it, not even in time or tune blah blah blah… so I worked it hard, stressed it hard, cried a little, nearly threw my mac out the window a couple of times but it came together. Again I was not sure it was even good but it was done. I played it to Jax (my other half), then ended up getting off our faces and listening, again and again, it worked but worked in a twisted way, sending you down a rabbit hole. It was different, you felt part of the story with the music like a backdrop to your life. Rave Dance was born and was messed up perfectly.
Thanks a lot for chatting with us today Serge and we wish you all the best for the album’s release! To round things off, is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Whoever listens to this is a bonus to me, my family and friends have been so positive about the music and that’s enough but if you do get a connection to any of the tracks then I’ve done my job and so have you.
