Occasionally classed as an ‘electro house’ producer, it’s easy to see why the UK’s King Roc AKA Martin Dawson gets a bit annoyed with that description: his portfolio stretches much farther than that across house of the deep, tech and minimal variety and beyond. As well as his own productions we’ve also seen this demonstrated with his remixes for artists as diverse as Chicken Lips, S-Express and Above & Beyond. But this was one DJ/producer who wasn’t satisfied with just branching out across different flavours of house; concerned he was becoming too tightly locked into producing formulaic dance music, King Roc decided a new approach was necessary. Hence, the Chapters series of EPs was born, beginning with the first installment Lunaris late last year, as well as the more recent Communique release. It’ll eventually be followed by a full-length Chapters album.
So lets hear it from the man himself. ” Chapters is a sort of concept album project that I have been working on for my own Mutual Society label. I have been working on a series of themed EPs where each release has a variety of different kinds of tracks on there, all focused around a central (non musical) theme such as ideas and inspirations I am driven by. Then what I am doing is taken the best elements from each of the tracks and reworking them to make a more album focused sound. Something you can listen to at home and is not just about the kick drum.”
But fans needn’t fear that he’s turned his back on the hallowed ‘kick drum’ completely. Apparently the dancefloor is still weighing heavily in the grand scheme of things for King Roc. “I am also developing a second part of the album which is more of a ‘live show’ sound, and is heavily focused around the kick drum.” Hurrah for the kick drum! ITM talks to King Roc ahead of his Australian tour.
Does your album have a different sound to your previous productions?
Yes that was part of the main reason why I wanted to do this whole project. I was very frustrated with my whole approach to writing music and being creative in general – and found myself having fallen into a regular routine that inevitably meant I got bored of writing music. I knew I needed to approach writing music from different angles to keep myself excited, and this was the final idea. It means that I don’t always think about writing club tracks, because that isn’t really where my origins of music come from anyway. I have been working on some ambient and electronica, plus more live sounding tracks using natural instruments as well as electronic ones.
How is it different working on an album to an EP or single?
For me, I very rarely put dance music on at home. When I think of an album I want to play from start to finish as one CD, I am much more interested in melodies and song structures than just repetitive loops. Those sorts of things only sound interesting to me when they are coming out of 5K rig, so the feeling of bottom end is as important as what you are hearing. I feel like I am almost split in two in terms of my tastes, the club record and the album sound – and I want to try to get this part of me across in this project.
The Chapters EP also features artwork from Australian artist Sebastian Godfrey: how did this come about, and what do you feel it adds to the EP?
I his work on my first tour of Australia when I played at Syrup in Hobart, and it turned out Seb is based in London only 10 minutes from my house so it was a case of it being a ‘small world’. We got chatting and I explained my idea and he was bang really into it. What I feel is unique about this idea is that the artwork is linked to the theme of each EP, thus helping to ‘tell’ the story. However all of the artwork is also intertwined together so that all the artwork forms one big piece that is also focused around the whole theme.
You talk about trying to add more ‘realness’ to your music: is that something you feel is missing from a lot of modern music?
I love modern music. There is so much amazing stuff out there at the moment – I am enjoying DJing more now than I have since I first started it a few years ago. It’s all about personal taste, but again this comes down to what I want to hear on an album and in a club are quite different and I feel it is important to show the difference that can be achieved by approaching these two sides from different angles.
How do you add ‘realness’ when making music?
At the end of the day it is really easy to make music these days. With the high quality of softsynths and sequencers and the relatively low cost, it is more accessible to be writer and producer now than ever before. The trouble is because a lot of people are using the same equipment, it means the styles a lot of people are making sound quite similar. Because of this I really wanted to start working with real instruments as well because it can add a different dimension to the final sound and plus it make the writing process more natural. I guess it makes it feel more real to me at least anyway.
You also talk about there being soul and passion missing from the new minimal and deep sounds. Do you think this is a problem with the genre itself, or the majority of music coming out at the moment?
I love loads of deep records that my friends would probably call minimal, but for me I think they are more like deep house of deep techno or whatever. For me minimal is a very specific kind of techno or house, and a lot of music is being swept into this category because it’s the current ‘hot’ word but and maybe also because there is a large amount of deep records being released at the moment. I love deep music as anyone who has heard my stuff with Giles Smith as Two Armadillos will know and there are some really interesting minimal records out there. But I don’t want to listen to any one sound all night long, and I am much more interested in music taking me on a journey as this is the route of why I got into electronic music in the first place. Deep is important, but when consider part of a whole sound and not as the whole sound on its own.
Who do you think is making ‘music with heart’, as you put it?
That’s a dangerous term I realise because it’s all about opinion but for me there are some really interest producers who are writing music that blows my mind and inspires me from Sebo K, Marc Antona and Radio Slave to Carl Craig and Popof. There are too many to mention.
You’ve visited Oz before – how do you find Australian audiences compare to the rest of the world?
It depends where you play and on the crowd, and on the local DJs for that matter. I have played at some amazing parties over in Oz, but I have also played at parties where the warmup DJ is playing big cheesy bootlegs of hits from years ago, and that is not my cup of tea at all.
Given that there is so much ‘cheesy’, uninteresting music out there at the moment, how do you find the crowds react to your style of music?
It really depends on where I am playing but I have been really luck these last few months and have been playing in clubs where people are really getting into what I am doing, and I love that more than anything. Brazil is one of my favourite countries, and playing there is amazing because they are so into the new underground sound you really can just let go and play what you want.
What can we look forward to from your upcoming shows here?
Some new remixes and music from my EP plus some of the new hot tunes I have been into recently.
Anything Australian punters should know before coming along to see you?
It’s going to get sweaty!
King Roc plays the Famous 1st Birthday this weekend, as well as the following shows around the country. Check out his latest mix in ITM-FM.
Fri April 11. Perth, Ambar
Sat April 12. Sydney, Famous 1st Birthday
Sun April 13. Melbourne, Q Bar
Sat April 19. Auckland, Ink Bar
