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housefloor.de: |
Your new album „House For All“ is out. What inspired you when you produced the tracks? Was there a certain idea when you started working on the album? |
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Funkerman: |
Well I had around 30/35 unfinished tracks on the shelf. So decided to finish the tracks and started to make a collection of it. At the end there were 15 tracks left and House For All was born. I always wanted to make an artist album and I was influenced by a lot of different styles of music all over the years so I wanted to produce an album with all these styles in one particular sound. |
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housefloor.de: |
The sound of the album is fresh and free-spirited, not using too many typical genre specifics. Is it time for a revolution in House Music again?
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Funkerman: |
| For me house music has always been about revolution but making this album has not been driven by a wish to be revolutionary, but more about trying to express myself as good as possible. |
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There is a very interesting interview with Bruce Lee, what inspires me a lot in which he talks about combining fighting styles to try to come to a new form. The better you practice, the more equipped you get to express yourself. I strive for that in my music. |
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housefloor.de: |
Vocals play a very important role in your music. How do you choose the vocalists you work with and how can we imagine you working together? Who writes the lyrics? |
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Funkerman: |
That’s correct vocals are very important for me, regarding the album I’ve already worked with Ida Corr, Shermanology, I-Fan, Mitch Crown and MC Gee before so they’ve become good friends of me. Besides that these are very talented artists and fun to work with. So for me this was a normal decision to work with them again. But I’m always on the look for new talented vocalists.
Usually they write the lyrics by themselves, but often we give them an idea to work with. I like to see a whole song as a collaboration, because when the vocals are recorded we often change parts in the music after that. |
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housefloor.de: |
One new track called “Unconditional Love” is a cooperation with Ida Corr. You know each other for some years, how came up the idea to do a track together? |
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Funkerman: |
We first met Ida when we did “Let Me Think About It” on our label, Flamingo Recordings. We actually came in contact because we’ve already worked with Camille Jones (The Creeps) and they are good friends and at the same management, so that’s how we got to work together.
We did a lot of tours together and when we were touring through Australia last year, we talked about doing a track together which became the first single of the album “Unconditional Love”.
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housefloor.de: |
The album title “House For All” makes me imagine a picture where you are the prophet on the turntables giving the holy House Music to people. What does House Music mean to you? What’s your definition of it? |
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Funkerman: |
Cool that you got the idea behind the title at once.
It is indeed my religion, this “house music”. |
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For me it is about freedom and about this music being the foundation for a culture more than a culture being the foundation for a music genre. |
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housefloor.de: |
You’re quite well-known for your remixing skills. How do you approach a track when you want to make a remix of it?
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Funkerman: |
I always look for the part that has the most impact on me. Sometimes it is a word or a sentence and sometimes the whole song. I even turned down some requests, because I liked the original too much. I don’t want to spoil my own fun of listening to a good track ;-) |
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housefloor.de: |
In 2004 you found the label Flamingo Recordings together with Fedde le Grand and Raf. What's the idea behind it? |
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Funkerman: |
| We wanted a label which we could use to release our own tracks on without having to listen to what A&R managers from other labels had to say about it. |
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They didn’t believe in our sound but were only looking for music that sounded like the music in the hit charts. And that is absolutely not the way we wanted to work, we only make and release music that we have a good feeling about and not because it needs to have chart potential. |
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housefloor.de: |
The winner of your “Now Or Never” Producers’ Contest has just been announced. Why did you start this campaign and what is your résumé on the contest? |
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Funkerman: |
I like to give young producers a good chance to work with cool vocals that are not sampled and I like the conversation between producers. I am amazed by the knowledge about producing of some guys on my forum. |
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housefloor.de: |
What are you up to in the next months? |
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Funkerman: |
It’s going to be a busy summer, I have a residency at Space/Ibiza again, doing a USA Tour in August and playing at a lot of festivals. And of course play at one of my favourite clubs Cocoon! |
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Interview: Housefloor.com |
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Video Funkerman feat. Ida Corr - Unconditional Love |
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www.funkerman.com |
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Funkerman @ MySpace |
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