An Interview With Prok & Fitch For Their First Time at New City Gas
MARK KNIGHT AND PROK & FITCH TOOK NEW CITY GAS ON IN A FURY OF RAGING HOUSE MUSIC TO COMMENCE TOOLROOM RECORD’S RESIDENCY FOR 2015.
This past Saturday, on January 18th, Toolroom Live set forth 2015 in style. Mark Knight’s label, Toolroom Records, started a residency and will see several musicians coming back to play at New City Gas this year.
I was able to speak with the opening act Prok & Fitch to find out more about their involvement with the label, musical influences, an upcoming collaboration with Knight himself, and much more. You can read our in-depth discussion below to see why James and Ben are two house producers worthy of staying on everyone’s radar.
Canadanightlife: You’ve just released a two track Raw Cut EP that is described as dedication to your love for house music. So how long had this EP been in the making? Was it created over night or had it been a slow process?
James: Well we decided that we wanted to just make something for ourselves. Sometimes there are certain influences or artistic steer in what we produce. We decided though when we were making the EP that we were going to make music we loved and what we truly wanted to represent us as artists.
Ben: It took a little while though, about a couple of months. We kept going back to it, testing it out, and such. The finished result we’re really happy with.
CNL: Is this your first performance ever in Montreal? How did reality meet your expectations of the crowd?
Ben: We’ve been lucky enough to come to Montreal for the last four years. We mainly play at Circus, the sound system is amazing there and the crowd is very special to us. It’s definitely one of top favourite places to play at.
We’ve heard a lot about New City Gas, but this is our first show here. It’s been very good, the venue is massive and feels like a warehouse. Tonight’s been your standard Montreal crowd, everyone’s really into the music, likes to get wrecked, and have a good time!
CNL: A Toolroom Records residency started tonight at New City Gas for 2015. What does this likely mean for Prok & Fitch? Do you think Montreal will see you come back at some point?
James: Of course, yeah! We already having a booking back here in a few months. We’ve always come to Montreal several times a year and I don’t see that changing. We’re definitely building a big following here, every time we turn up to gigs there are familiar faces and there’s always a really good vibe.
Ben: We’re back here May 1st I believe, not at New City Gas though. At a warehouse here somewhere in Montreal. It’s a secret where though.
CNL: How long has Prok & Fitch been releasing music with Toolroom Records? Do you feel well fitted at the moment and intend to stay with label?
Ben: We’ve been releasing with Toolroom for about five years. We’ve always had a really good relationship working with the record, our music definitely fits their sound. For now, we’re really happy with them. We do lots of their live shows, working close with Mark, we have a collaboration with him at the moment. I think it’s only going to get stronger really!
Photo Credit: Patricia Brochu Photographe
CNL: A lot of musicians are giving away their music for free, while your tracks on Soundcloud are mainly previews or clips with direct links to Beatport. Do you think you could lose any attention by not offering your work for free?
James: No, definitely not. If you give someone something for nothing, it doesn’t have any value. If someone likes our records enough, then they’ll buy it. If you buy it then you’re more likely to play it and do something with the music. As opposed to fifteen tracks that you download that day and just sit on your hard drive. You don’t really pay attention to them because their free and so accessible.
James: Music is so throw-away now anyway, I agree that every-so-often to give away an edit or bootleg because everyone wants something special. But to just give away all your music devalues you hugely and people will just dispose of it. I may be wrong, but this is just my opinion.
James: If the music industry is going to keep going then there needs to be money somewhere for people to keep making music. It’s a hobby to some people, but a living for others. If people want to keep having good music, then someone is going to have it buy down the line at some point. It’s a good as free now anyways on Spotify.
CNL: What are the first three things each of you do when you open your computer?
Ben: It depends what I want to open the computer for. There’s no specific routine necessarily.
James: I normally look at email first. Anything social media wise I do through my phone.
CNL: As a duo, how do you balance out the workload? Do you find individual tasks that suit your skills or do you split your work in half?
Ben: It depends on what needs to be done, we spend a lot of time in the studio working either on tracks or networking through social media. James is much more technical though on the production side of things, his attention to detail is really spot on.
CNL: How long have you two been making music together? Did you always produce in house or did you experiment at the start with different sounds?
Ben: We started together in 2008, but James was making music before then and it’s always been house.
CNL: How did you guys first meet?
James: Ben used to work in a record shop in Brighton where we both live. We got chatting one day and had mutual love for an acapella that we decided to work with in the studio. When we finished it, Ben was DJing with Roger Sanchez at same club and gave him our CD. He called us the next day to sign the track on his label and the rest is history.
CNL: Was Brighton musically inspiring growing up? Did you both attend early raves in the city or in nearby London?
Ben: Yeah, Brighton was a massive influence back in late 90s. It was a real hub for house music, Digweed was running his Bedrock parties then, Stumpafunk was really popular, everyone was playing in town. It was a great place to be.
James: I’m not from Brighton originally, I lived in Spain as a kid. My older brother used to go to parties in Madrid and he would come home with these cassettes that he got from the DJs. I started listening to those cassettes and that’s when I really got into house music.
James: I moved back to the UK for university and that’s when I first entered the club scene at Brighton. Danny Rampling used to do house parties and those were the emergence of house music, especially on the south coast. Danny is a house legend, he’s one of the pioneers of house music and used to have a show on BBC Radio 1.
Photo Credit: Patricia Brochu Photographe
CNL: For the second part of my interview, a SERIES OF QUICK QUESTIONS. One Sentence Reply and you can elaborate where necessary.
CNL: What are you most proud of to have accomplished in this industry?
James: Just doing what we’re doing, making the music we love, and being able to play for crowds of people who enjoy it.
CNL: Last show attended, but did not perform at?
Ben: Carl Cox in Space Ibiza, but we’re in clubs all the time so when we have free time we’re not really partying. Ibiza though, that’s a different story and Carl Cox would be the one to see.
CNL: Longest DJ set you’ve ever played?
James: It was a five hour set in Montreal at Circus. It was roughly three or four years ago.
CNL: First thing to do in a hotel room?
James: Knock one out! (group laughs)
Ben: It’s true, he’s been thrown out of many hotel rooms! Sometimes the door’s even open and he has his dodger out. (group laughs)
CNL: What’s been your most unexpected tour stop?
Ben: We once played at a clothing shop in West end London and it was fucking horrendous. We had just gotten off a plane from Ibiza so we were pretty fucked. It was for a company called Armani and we were in the front store window. It was pretty cringe.
CNL: Biggest musical influence on your work?
James: 90’s house music really, like Todd Terry and people like that. That’s what we listened to growing up, it stays with you in a nostalgic sense. There’s so much amazing music then that’s just lost, but we take influence from.
CNL: Smallest crowd you’ve played in front of?
Ben: The only time we’ve ever played in Tokoyo. We flew all the way, 12 hours, and flew all the way back. There was maybe 12 people.
James: Yeah, that was a shit gig. It was random on a Tuesday night.
CNL: Weapon of choice in a post-apocalyptic world?
James: An atom bomb, it would explode everything.
Ben: A nuclear bomb.
CNL: Your biggest goal for 2015?
Ben: Original music, keeping on making music we love, and having fun. That’s it.
James: Smash it.
CNL: Awesome! Thanks James and Ben. Hopefully I get to see you two perform again on May 1st.
There are no comments
Add yours