Detroit: a city of industrial revolutions, stirring polical history and forward thinking music. Yet also within the metropolis which spawned Derrick, Juan, Kevin and Eminem, lurks a quiet Sydney prescense. Admittedly, the two cities are as different as motor oil and bay water but also quite similar in some facets. Ask Patrick from Southern Outpost and I’m sure he’ll agree.
Bringing a little piece of Detroit into our backyard, Patrick and his friend Phil Chan formed Sydney Based electro/techno label Southern Outpost in 1999. The production outfit now comprises of four core members; each with defined roles in the studio as well as the label. Nonetheless, they all share one common mission and that is to push forward fresh sounds and fight the virus that is bland, commercial music.
As it appears, Partick, an avid fan of innovative sounds, has drawn most of his inspiration from Detroit’s music. Whether it is the cheekiness of DJ Godfather’s ghetto tech, the soul of Robert Hood’s strings or the funk of MadMike’s electro – if it’s from the big D, it’s sure to please. ITM’s palu catches up with one cool cat.
Can you tell us how Southern Outpost started?
I had been wanting to start a label for quite sometime, but initially I didn’t have the focus or the direction (or the music!) to get it underway. Late 1998 I took my first trip to Detroit and after 2 weeks of experiencing the city first hand and speaking to many of my musical influences, it all became clear on how I was going to run the label. When I got back to Sydney, I teamed up with my business partner k.loc (Phil Chan) and got into the studio with ShapeShiftr (Sofie Loizou) & Data (Ryan O’Loughlin) to write some tracks. It all just seemed to flow from that point.
Why do you find the Detroit sound so appealing?
You know, it’s hard to explain exactly, maybe it’s the soul that comes out of the music or maybe the production techniques or the story behind the music. What ever it is, it just seems to do it for me, every time. They just seem to keep pushing the envelope.
There’s four core members to Southern Outpost – can you describe each person’s role in the group? How would you all collaborate in the studio?
ShapeShiftr co-writes and produces all of our music, she’s always busy in the studio turning our ideas into reality. She is also instrumental in developing the visual side of the live show. In the live show she plays a Waldorf XTk keyboard.
K.loc is a reclusive producer who should be writing more music ;) He has collaborated on some of our recent tracks that came out on SO-008. In the show he plays the Nord 3 keyboard.
BASIC is the visual guy. He mixes the visuals live to our tracks ensuring audio and visual come together. It really enhances the live show.
I co-produce all of our tracks with ShapeShiftr and k.loc and I come up with the lyrics to go with the tracks. In the live show, I trigger the sequences on the MPC 4000, do the lyrics and work the mixing desk.
Generally the way we have been writing recently is that I’ll come up with beats and the outline of a track on the MPC, then I’ll take it into the studio and get ShapeShiftr to work her magic on it to develop it even further. At that point, if the track needs vocals, I’ll scour my mind for science/computer based statements that rhyme ;)
Are there any current projects you’re working on?
We are in the process of finalising and mixing down SO-009. We have had to put it on hold to prepare for the live show. Really looking forward to getting this ep out!
It’s interesting to note that you’re the first none-Detroit label to be picked up by Submerge and one of the very few Australian labels that actually champion the Detroit mentality. How conscious do you think the punters are to this type of sound?
To tell you the truth, I don’t think a whole lot of people in Australia really into the sound. There are small handfuls of people who are aware, but it’s not a huge thing here. I mean, we’d be pretty lucky to sell 50-60 records in Australia. It’s such a small population compared to the US or Europe, so it’s quite understandable. We will continue on doing our own sound and keep pushing it overseas.
Similarly, how important do you think it is to expose people to this music?
I think it’s very important to expose people to new and innovative music. It’s another story if they decide to pick it up. As a DJ, i’ve always tried to do this, I hate being stagnant, I always have to push forward and push the limits. But generally people who have an open mind will appreciate what we are trying to do.
What would you say are Southern Outpost’s main influences?
Main influences would be computers, science, space and technology. You will hear this in our tracks. All these things are in a constant state of change and are always moving forward at a rapid pace (refer to above question). Musically, we all have diverse tastes ie: Electronic (UR, Juan Atkins, Autechre, Black Dog etc), jazz (Coltrane, Monk, Hancock), classical (Glass, Reich, DeBussy), Hip Hop (Madlib, J Dilla, Prefuse) and even some folk (Nick Drake). We all look into these things for inspiration.
The thing I love about Detroit’s music is the rich history behind it and feeling that this is music which desperately needs to be heard. How important is history to your music, if at all?
History is very important. I firmly believe that you need to know your past before you can move into the future. We try to build on what we have learnt in the past to better our productions.
What sort of artists or tunes are you getting into at the moment?
I’m really getting into Madlib’s productions… he’s bringing the beats like no one else. Really into the music he’s doing with J Dilla under the Jaylib alias and also his Quasimodo alter ego. Pretty much all the stuff on Stones Throw is doin’ it for me. To tell you the truth, I haven’t bought much electronic music recently, just lots of hip hop and beats. The last thing I got was a bunch of Touchin Bass records from Andrea Parker… they are really hot tracks… very dark!
You said in an earlier interview that in order to survive; you have to push your music overseas. Do you think there will ever come a time when this type of music will emerge from the underground here?
I think it has already happened but on a smaller scale. There are plenty of independent labels and artists doing their thing, getting their music out there etc. For the type of music we are doing, unfortunately it’s just not a big enough market for us to sustain the label. It’s a shame, but as I said before it’s just the way it is, and we have to overcome that and push our music internationally.
I read on your website a mission statement which is quite similar to Underground Resistance’s mission statement. How important do you think it is to be socially aware of producing music that combats commercial norms?
Yeah, we have a very similar outlook and I guess that is why we get on so well. I mean this way of thinking isn’t for everyone, but it is what we believe in and we stand behind it 100%. It’s very important that more and more artists and labels remain independent; there is no reason for them to be another cog in the machine of the major label industry. Recording technologies are becoming much more affordable and there are a few decent independent distributors out there that do a great job with smaller labels. Plus the Internet is blowing up as the medium of choice for getting your music out there.
In terms of production work, where do you see your sounds evolving in the future?
We are making much more use of software based synths in the studio, the sounds that you can produce are limitless! Also much cheaper that an equivalent piece of gear. We are self confessed technofiles when it comes to music gear, so we are always keen to try out new thing and new ways of producing to see where it will take us.
What are the future plans for Southern Outpost?
We are just going to get down and start producing alot of music this year. We have now got a great distributor in place that frees us up from the business side of things and allows us to concentrate 100% on producing music. So expect to see a few new ep’s and remixes this year!
What can everyone expect from a Southern Outpost performance at Honkytonks this Friday?
We will be playing tracks from our previously released eps, a few covers and possibly even an unreleased track if time permits. All this will be in sync with the visual backing so that the music will be truly represented in visual form. Alot of the tracks have new elements to them so they are different to the recorded versions… kind of like a live re-edit. We are really looking forward to playing in Melbourne!
Catch Southern Outpost LIVE, Shapeshiftr Live laptop set and Patrick HAF DJ set in Melbourne at Honkytonks this Friday 19th March.
