“Hello. Is that Mr. da Housecat?” It is 7.30pm in New York on U.S election night when a rather, worn-out sounding and gently spoken Felix Stallings Jr. answers the phone. I ask him about his schedule and what’s happening in the average day of Felix da Housecat. “It’s insane”, he replies.
He’s been invited to Puff’s birthday party and declined because he’s just too tired and he has his five-year-old daughter with him. “Naomi Campbell, my favourite, and Paris Hilton and all these names will be there, but I’m trying to slow down, you know. Too much partying, sometimes I just gotta go home”. So how does he manage to keep his feet on the ground? How does he chill out? He laughs at the suggestion that his feet are ever on the ground, but says that he is a big movie buff and this is how he takes time out from the reality.
Although he’s been making music for almost twenty years, with countless remixes and almost as many aliases, it was the 2002 release of his album “Kittenz and Thee Glitz” with the track “Silver Screen, Shower Scene” that saw him catapulted into superstardom status. The new album, “Devin Dazzler and the Neon Fever” is an impressive collaboration of talent, both creatively and technically, not to mention the broad selection of vocalists involved.
I was curious to know just how many people he worked with on this album. He pauses while counting quietly to himself. “Fifteen”, he says. “I never looked into it like that, because there were so many different personalities, and a lot of partying in both L.A. and New York, and I had to bring them all together. It took three years to make because I had D.J commitments, my work with other artists, and the problem of trying to co-ordinate all these people together. Normally, it might have taken two months to do if I was just me on my own”.
He admits that he was glad when it was done. In contrast, his current project, an album called “Son of Analog” which he is producing as a sequel to his 1999 album “I know Electroboy” released under the pseudonym of “Thee Madkatt Courtship”, is nearly half done after only a few weeks. He describes this new album as having a Jean Michel-Jarre/ Giorgio Moroder influence and is not sure of a release date as yet.
To classify his brand of music is difficult. It’s well known that Felix da Housecat doesn’t like to be defined by the label of one limiting genre. We talk about this term “electro-clash” which has become frequently attached to his music. This tag is given to tracks using 80’s sounds with new production techniques used to give the tracks a modern edge. He laughs at the whole concept of genre-lization. “I prefer just ‘electro’”, he says, “What is this ‘clash’? I’ve been called House, Techno, electro, disco-house, electro-clash, but I’ve been playing my music since I was fourteen, and I always say; ‘never get caught up in a trend, ‘cause when the trend dies, you die with it’”.
As a teenager of the 80’s myself, I sense a familiarity in his music with the pop-punk style of that era. In “Devin Dazzler and the Neon Fever” I could hear New Order, Banarama & Depeche Mode- type influences but with a twist of crisp, tidy track layering and production finesse made possible only by technologies and experience unavailable in the 80’s. But was this Yankee boy from Chicago into the New Wave 80’s music back then?
He explains that he grew up in a black household where Prince and Michael Jackson were his early heroes. When they finally could afford cable, he first saw MTV and was introduced to music by the likes of Duran Duran, Depeche Mode and Devo. Although he never liked them enough to go out and buy their records, these were the sounds that obviously influenced his youth. He says he has also been influenced by the input of the other people he worked with on the album.
To define the sound of his productions as simply “80’s” detracts from the impressive level of creativity and technical mastery that Felix da Housecat has utilised to transform familiar sounds from an era that is hard to take too seriously into a funky, soulful sound for the new millennium.
The track “let your mind be your bed” reminded me of a track by a chick band in the 80’s called Romeo Void. The track was called “Never say Never” and went “Hmmmm, I’d like you better if we slept together…” I asked Felix if I let my mind be my bed, does this mean I’m f*&%#d in the head? “I guess that depends on how dirty your mind is!” he laughs. The last track on the album “Neon Human” has a certain Jan hammer “Miami Vice” feel to it. I’m not sure if that is intentional. And I found that the theme song to the album becomes hauntingly appealing after a few listens, although quite simple in its’ construction.
This album has a much slower BPM than you’re likely to hear on most club dance floors (ranges from 70-130) but it features some pretty beautiful creative musicianship and production, so it’s well worth checking out. Felix is also currently producing an album with the female vocalists from the “Devin Dazzler” album in to a girl group to be known as Glamarama. But it’s taking a long time. “I’m still working on it. But I’ve got so much else going on. I’ve just been doing some mixing with Marilyn Manson too. And we’re not gonna call ‘em ‘Glamarama’ now ‘cause of the book and movie and we might get into trouble”.
There’s a phone ringing in the background. “Damn! That’s my other interview”, he says, “and I can’t believe it, I see now that Bush is up 39 on the elections. I am so mad about Bush getting in right now!” So with that I say thank you to Felix da Housecat and look forward to catching him on his upcoming tour.
‘Devin Dazzle and the Neon Fever’ is out now through Emperor Norton/Inertia. Be sure to check him out on his Australian tour:
Thu Nov 25th, Platinum – Gold Coast
Sat Nov 27th, Parklife – Sydney
Sat Nov 27th, Science Fiction – Perth
Fri 3rd Dec, Academy – Canberra
Sat 4th Dec, ‘We Love… Sydney’ – Sydney
Sat 4th Dec, The Public Office – Melbourne
Sat 5th Dec, Adventjah – Brisbane
