The Soulseekerz are a remix and production team that are responsible for some of my favorite remixes. We often work with them here at PRO MOTION, our latest project being The Noisettes ‘Don’t Upset The Rhythm.’ I was very excited to speak with Simon Langford from the group about their plans for future collaborations after the success of their collaboration with Dannii Minogue on Perfection, his forthcoming book and projects they are working on right now.

NOISETTES DON’T UPSET THE RHYTHM (SOULSEEKERZ CLUB MIX)

INTERVIEW

How were the Soulseekerz formed?

That goes back to probably the summer of 2004. I used to work with Julian, who’s one of the other Soulseekerz; I’ve been working with him since 1999 or 2000. We used to work on a couple of projects together. And then in 2003, my little boy was born, so I took a bit of time out and then I remember getting a call, I think it was May or June of 2004. It was Julian saying did I want to come in and help him on a track. The stuff we’d be doing up until that point had been kind of trance-y in some ways and there was this guy who I was working with who wanted to do like a funky house track or something, so I said OK, I’ve never done that before, it could be fun. What he wanted me to do, really, was to go in and play some live bass on this track because I used to play in a couple of bands and I know how to play bass, not especially well, but when I’m asked. So he got me in to play live bass on this track and it was something neither of us had really done, so it turned out really well. Then we just started getting into working together again on a few tracks here and there and then his manager at the time, who’s now Soulseekerz’ manager, we sent a couple of tracks over to him and he really liked them so he started getting us a couple of remixes on some tracks that he was looking after and it went from there, really. It wasn’t anything we ever planned to do- we didn’t get together and say “Let’s do a house project”- it just kinda happened from that one day.

How did you come up with your name?

I can’t honestly remember. I know we were kind of tossing a few things around. At the time what we were doing was more, kind of, soulful, funky, disco-y house, so that’s where the ‘Soul’ came in. Soulseekerz? You know what? I honestly don’t know. I think it was debated who actually came up with it, as well. We all try and take credit for that.

You do remixing, you do producing, and you DJ. What do you prefer: to play live or do the remix and production side of things?

There’s actually 3 of us: there’s myself, Julian, and Andy. Julian used to DJ, not professionally, he just knew how to DJ. I’m sort of learning, I do a little bit now, and I’m learning and practicing a bit more now. Andy’s really the DJ. He’s the one that goes out and does all of the gigs for us. Sometimes I will go along as well depending on a few different things and also, while he’s away then Julian and myself will work on the producing and remixing side. So, for me personally, it’s tough because, as I said, I used to play in bands years ago. I do like being out there on stage, it is a good feeling and a bit of an ego trip, I guess, as well. But for me, I think I like the process of being in the studio more, just because it’s the development from when you first get a track to remix or when you first come up with a little idea for yourself and the fact that you can turn that into something that people will go out and dance to.

You’ve had a lot of commercial success with doing remixes for people like Britney Spears, Cyndi Lauper, Rihanna. You’ve had so much success, what’s left for you to achieve?

Plenty. Our own tracks that we’ve worked on, our own production. We have done a lot of remixing, we have focused on remixing over the past few years to the point where I think we’ve done nearly 200 now. It’s in that ballpark. With our own tracks, the most success we’ve had is with the collaboration we did with Danii Minogue and we got to Number 11 in the U.K. charts with that, which was really, really annoying because we missed out on the Top 10 by a few spots. So, you know, we still have to break the Top 10 in the U.K, we still would like to have a hit in the U.S., which obviously is an incredibly difficult market for anyone to get into. There’s a lot to do. In terms of remixing, there’s still plenty of people we’d love to work with. It’s just the diversity working with some of the people we have, like Britney and Cyndi Lauper and Rihanna and Pussycat Dolls, we did a remix of, Vanessa Williams, we’ve just done one for you guys. It’s really interesting, because all of these people, all of their music is very different. Some are R&B, some are very pop-y, some are more quirky. Every remix is a challenge, so there’s still a lot to achieve, but I guess it’s one of those things. We’re very happy with what we have achieved. If it all ended today then, you could look back on it and go “Yes, we did a lot”.

And you’re sure doing a lot. Still going strong. Do you think you’ll be doing more collaborations in the future? Do you like that as opposed to remixing or is that a different experience?

It is a very, very different experience because when you’re remixing, to some extent, particularly with the more successful artists that we remix, the tracks already there, the songs already there, it’s a good song, it’s catchy, so it does make your job easier in some ways because you know that you’ve already got something good to work with. Whereas when you’re writing your own material, there’s a lot more weight on your shoulders to actually get it right. A remixer will go a certain distance to promote your record in a different market, but you’ve got to have a good record to start with, so it’s a lot more challenging. In terms of collaborations, I would personally love to work with Danii again, but I know she’s busy doing “The X Factor” and a matter of things. But, collaborations with high profile artists, whether it’s Danii or somebody else, in some ways it’s good, because you get to work with somebody who’s experienced and who’s popular and who’s an established performer. In other ways, it can be restricting because that person is going to have their target audience, so you have to kind of be careful of who you work with. For us to do a track with Sarah Brightman, it wouldn’t make much sense. Although, it could be something spectacular. If we had an artist come to us, we’d have to be very sensitive to what their market is as well. I guess if we did a backing track, an instrumental track, and then went to someone else then that’s slightly different because now they would only get involved if it was what they were looking for anyway. We would like to do something else. We’ve got a new single which we are currently finalizing contracts with. That’s not with anyone well-known, that’s with a friend of ours, a girl called Amy, who’s doing vocals on that. That’s, hopefully, going to be out later this year.

I hear that you’re writing a book about remixing and production. How did that all come about?

I’ve always loved writing, whether it’s…I’ve never written any songs, like lyrics, well, I have, but not that I’ve ever shown anyone. But I love writing and there’s a music technology magazine, so not, like music music, but music equipment, in the U.K. and at the back, every month, the back page of the magazine is called “Sounding Off”, which is basically where people write in and complain about things. I had some major hassles with one of the pieces of equipment I was working with, so I just wrote into the magazine, saying “If you’d like to publish this, it’s something that I think might be relevant to other people”. So they wrote back to me, I had sent it off and didn’t hear anything for a couple of weeks. A couple of weeks later, I heard back and the guy who takes care of that section of the magazine said “Yup, we’re gonna use it, that’s great. We really like what you’ve written, it’s relevant and we liked your style of writing as well.” So I wrote back and just said “Look. This is what I do, this is who I am, this is what I’ve done and if there’s any other opportunities to write for the magazine, let me know.” No previous experience in journalism, I was upfront with him. And then, maybe a week later, he got back in touch and said “I’ve looked into who you are, very impressive, you’ve done a lot. Dance music isn’t something we really cover in the magazine that much, so would you be interested in writing a three-part series on the world of remixes.” So I ended up writing that three-part series, the first part was the history of remixing and what they are, the second part was, I think, about the creative process of remixing, and the third part was about the technical side of it. I ended up writing that and it was published in the magazine and it just made me think about how remixing is slightly different from producing. A lot of the fundamental skills are the same, but it is a different approach. So I thought “OK. What I’ve written here, I had to cut it down, I had to skip over so much just to get it in the format of the magazine in three parts. But there’s a lot more to be said here, so I got in touch with a company called Focal Press, who do a lot of guidebooks, like how-to books, how to do video editing, how to do digital photography, those kinds of things and a lot of music books. They’re based in Boston, in the U.S. So I put it in a package and said this is what I’ve done, here are the articles, and my idea is to expand this into a book. The woman e-mailed me back and said that it seemed like a good idea and can we have a chat on the phone. It turns out she’s actually from the U.K. but living in Boston, working for the company. Had a good chat for about an hour and it went from there, really. I’ve written a sample chapter and I’ve got an outline for the book and and she’s going to forward it on to the publishing committee who make all the decisions, you know the marketing and such, but it looks like it’s gonna happen.

Very nice. I look forward to reading that.

Yeah, it’s interesting. In a way, it’s easy money because when I wrote the articles, it’s “ok, they want to know about the creative side of remixing”, so I just sat down and basically wrote out what I do when I’m doing a remix. It’s not something you have to research, it’s something I do everyday. It’s asking somebody else who needs to write about your job. Pretty simple. Writing a 350-page book is different from writing a 4 page article.

Well that sounds like it’s going to be very interesting.

It’ll be fun for sure. Pass on the knowledge; share the wealth, as it were.

Very respected in the industry, so I’m sure there will be a lot of young people out there who will enjoy reading it.

You know, it’s funny. Soulseekerz has been going for 5 years now, and I‘ve been doing this professionally for going on 10 years now. You say respected in the industry and a lot of people know who you are, I’m sure they do, but it’s weird. When you’re working away in the studio and you’re doing what you do, you never think of it that way. A friend of mine that I hadn’t seen for probably about 4 or 5 years, since we started this, I was chatting with him a little while ago and he didn’t know what I’d done and we were just talking about music and I told him that was Soulseekerz and he was like “Oh, that’s you! I didn’t realize. My mom loves you.” And it’s one of those things you just never realize how many people out there probably do know who you are. It’s strange, it’s not like being on TV and people will recognize you. I could be walking down the street and the biggest Soulseekerz fan in the world could bump into me and not realize it.

What projects are you currently working on?

As I said, we have this single hopefully coming out, on Robbin’s, we’re just tying up the final details on the contract, so that will be out in the next few months, hopefully. And then we’re working on new material for them because they seemed very into the idea of us being a brand.  I will sign this record and see how it goes. But they seem more interested in building as a brand, so we’re working on some more material for them. Remixes coming in still. Have been taking a bit of a break, slowing down a little bit lately, just to put some more time into this material. Other than that, we’ve got quite a few DJing gigs coming up in the next few months. Someone’s always busy at the DJing. I haven’t actually been away to doing a DJing gig for a while, so I hope to do 1 or 2 very soon. I’m working on the book, more intensely shortly. Lots of other things, really. I’ve got 2 or 3 other projects outside of Soulseekerz. I’ve got a trance project I work on, goes by the name of Kareshian Hush, we’re working on an album now. We’ve been working with Anna Lewis, do you know her? Do you remember her? She did that song “I’ll Love You Always Forever”. So, we’re working with her on that. We’ve got a few other interesting people lined up, not gonna say anything in case it doesn’t happen. Just working away. The time goes by so quickly. It’s nearly September now, and you always have big plans of what we’re gonna do this year and gonna do that this year. You get most of it done, but time always catches up. Like now, my plan for next week is to work on a new Soulseekerz track because I spoke to Matt: “any remixes coming?” “No.” “Anything in the pipeline for next week?” “No.” “OK, next week, we’ll work on this”, but what will happen is Friday night he’ll get a phone call saying “we’ll need this remix done by Monday.” Always messes you up. I just go with the flow, carry on what we’re doing, just keep pushing it really. Just keep pushing the envelope. It’s always important to try and develop the sound of what you do and in some ways, the latest couple of remixes that we’ve done have almost gone back to where we started, more funky house. Like, Freemasons, Moto Blanco, kind of sound. But, our version of it. A bit harder, tougher than what we used to do, but going back to that, just trying it out on a few remixes to see how it sounds.

The Noisettes have just released ‘Wild Young Hearts’ their follow up to the ‘What’s The Time Mr. Wolf’ PRO MOTION is currently working with them on the release of ‘Don’t Upset The Rhythm’ in the U.S. The band are currently here on tour and will soon move on to Europe. Shingai took a moment out of her busy schedule to talk to us about the Noisettes. Check out the interview!

INTERVIEW (PART ONE)

INTERVIEW (PART TWO)

DAVE AUDE CLUB MIX (CLIP)

SOUL SEEKERZ CLUB MIX (CLIP)

Tell us about the Noisettes.  How was the band formed?

The Noisettes are made of 3 people who have a passion for all kinds of music from musicals to folk stuff to rock and roll to jazz to old soul and what we do is make pop music that sounds fun and brings together our own influences in an actual way to make something that really stands out and will wake people up.  It’s very, very fun, exciting pop music.  We met nearly 5 years ago.  Dan and I were introduced to Jamie who was then in another band.  Me and Dan had met in school a few years before and we had played in cover bands together and stuff, but we weren’t in any specific band at the time.  We were in a band, but mainly just for enjoyment and fun.

I understand this is your second album, “Wild Young Hearts”.  So why do you think that it’s this album as opposed to the first album, that’s giving you mainstream success now?

I think it’s just connecting at a time when people are kind of ready to hear different inflections in pop music again.  When our first album came out, there were a lot of manufactured boy bands and manufactured girl bands and solo artists who were kind of the staple diet of the day.  I don’t know what’s happened since then, maybe the recession has meant that people aren’t too much into bubblegum stuff anymore or maybe people aren’t just going onto eBay or going into record shops and just spending a hundred quid on like 5 potluck Cds, maybe only buying 2 or 3, maybe spending their money on something that might be a little more timeless.  It’s great that our music touches on different influences, so the 5 years olds like my nephew love it and 50, 60 year olds love it because of the crazy, old-school backing vocals and stuff.  So I think it’s all just about timing.  And then, we never had a big campaign for the first album.  The first album was sold by us just touring the world and bringing our music to people live.  This time we’ve got a label, before we were signed to Motown in America as an import from the UK, which was a difficult position to be in because every decision seemed to take a few weeks.  Now that we’re signed to Mercury directly from Universal, it just means that whenever we want to get something done, like we want to tour or we want to do a video, it can happen straightaway and we don’t have to wait until the music’s not fresh anymore.

What’s the process of making a record?  I understand that some of you play instruments.  How does it work when you get in the studio together?

There’s no particular way of doing something, I think sometimes you’ve just got to start playing until you all hear something that makes you kind of excited.  As a vocalist and lyricist, sometimes it helps to maybe take stuff home or sometimes it helps to just put your instrument down for a minute and then concentrate on whatever crazy poetry comes from your heart and your head.  Then after a few minutes or a few hours or a few days, it turns into something you can’t stop singing yourself.  It’s nice to have a producer who really shared our vision of making a sound in pop music that no one has heard for a while.  I mean, there’s a lot of pop musicians that manage to get their own sound that doesn’t really sound like one style.  I mean, there are people like Queen, who never made the same album twice and people like Radiohead, people like Grace Jones, people like Prince, people like Portishead, Massive Attack…they allow their personality to come through.  I guess a lot of female singers feel like they’ve got to sound like their favorite singers or they’ve got to sound like Mariah Carey, maybe their idea of perfection.  I think nowadays, there’s so much music out there, that you’ve got to be really a bit more sensitive and you don’t just go in there copying a starlet that’s already done before and copying all the hard work that another vocalist has put down before you- to just take their framework, I think is a bit unfair.  You shouldn’t be afraid to let the texture of your own voice come through.

When I think of The Noisettes, I think of you as being a very creative band, very visual, as well as having a great sound.  Where does your inspiration for that come from?

My inspiration personally comes from a childhood that was very, very colorful and very flamboyant.  I was born in London and in South London it’s a very, very beautiful crash of cultures.  You’ve got in Brockley or Brixton or Peckham, which is near where I grew up, one minute you’ve got Little Lagos where you just hear people speaking Youruba and then you’ve got Little Shanghai and Little Kingston.  Then you’ve got your next door neighbors is a huge 12-piece Irish family and then next door might be a single parent family.  I grew up in a very, very colorful community and also went back and forth to Africa quite a lot as a child.  My mother’s family is very creative, very flamboyant and it’s just normal for people to get up and put on very colorful head wraps and colorful clothes.  The language is very poetic and where I’m from, it’s like Zimbabwe and Malawi, so the way that my mom would speak English to us is very colorful and very poetic and also very humorous.  I kind of can’t help but be quite flamboyant and interested in the world.  I’m interested in people’s stories.  I’m very much in love with life, because I suffered quite a few losses as a child, so it’s just normal for me to want to get up and make the most out of everyday.

I wanted to ask you a little bit about the live act.  I know you are currently touring in the U.S. and I heard that you were described as “Britain’s Best Live Act”.  So for people that haven’t seen you play live, what can we expect from the show?

You can expect a bit of a journey.  The album is quite like a film- it goes from a ballad to a very up-tempo song quite naturally.  What we’ve done is we’ve added some new people to the show sometimes.  We have big shows now- we have a chamber quartet or a trio of strings playing with us on some of the songs.  We’ve also got a couple of backing singers, as well, with us sometimes.  It’s kind of like dancing and singing.  It’s basically the three of us doing our own dynamic thing, which is pretty memorable and, obviously our “out there” outfits that make us  very excited about telling the stories to the songs that we do onstage.  So add that with some other dynamics, like strings and other vocals.  There’s definitely a lot of surprises.  I like to try and be flexible on stage and take the music to whoever’s in the room.  It’s not just all about the front row, it’s about every single person, even the bouncers.

What are some of your favorite songs at the moment that you like going out and dancing to, when you have a chance?

We’re all into a completely different array of music.  The last album I went out and bought was- we’re into the new Empire of the Sun record I think is really good.  Jamie is really into Lil’ Wayne at the moment- good beats on that to dance to.  There’s a West African folk singer/songwriter from Nigeria who’s based in Paris called  Ayo, who’s really good.  There’s definitely a bit of everything.  You get on our tour bus and there’ll be Fela Kuti to Prince to even a little bit of Alesha Dixon in there.  I mean, the pop music that we like has to be a little bit more than manufactured bubblegum stuff.  Although that can be fun to go out and dance to sometimes.  You might not necessarily buy it, because like I said, times are hard.  Maybe that stuff is kind of cool for the dance floor, but when you can only fit so much stuff into your bunk on tour, you might not buy an album full of every song that sounds the same.

What can we expect from The Noisettes in the future?

I’m very much a family person.  The last 3 or 4 years I haven’t seen much of my family.  I’d like to know that the next time we make an album, we’ve experienced a few things on about the road because that keeps you having things to sing about, that you connect with people.  So I expect us to probably travel outside of touring for a change and explore those hearts desires that we’ve had, maybe keeping an eye on relationships and families and how that’s going.  And maybe falling in love would be nice!  Some normal things would be nice.  We’re definitely going to keep on making music, but I can’t say in what capacity because it could be musical kind of stuff, it could be writing music for other people.  The sky is no limit.

Thanks Shingai!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsDhFJk7UKI

Don’t Upset The Rhythm (Dave Aude Club Mix)