Interview: Socalled
Meet You At The Show: There’s an evolution between Ghettoblaster and Sleepover; quite a different sound. Is this something you were aiming to achieve? did you want to change direction with this latest album?
Socalled: For sure. I don’t know if it was conscious but definitely it went more pop and I’m happy to have made something that sounds more pop… and also I think it sounds similar to Ghettoblaster. I think it’s not like a totally other creature from another planet and if you listen to my first record even… you can see my personality in all of it. But definitely the more I’ve been making music the more I’ve tried to make it… I don’t know if “homogeneous” is the right word? But to sort of make the elements that go into the music a little bit less obvious and a little bit less of a gaspacho and more of a smoothie.
MYATS: On Sleepover, there is, again, a lot of collaborations. How do you manage working with so many people? What is your creative process?
Socalled: Well I think there are some artists that really like hear something in their mind or like see something in their mind and they try to get it out on paper… I don’t have that problem or that gift whatever it is…I don’t hear something and try to reenact it I just sort of mess around until I get something that I like I guess. And it’s a lot of trials and error.. and yeah, more error.
When I work with people, the process is really different depending on who it is. Sometimes I get people to do a specific thing in the studio and I’m like: “ Do this”, and they do that, and that’s cool. But sometimes it is sort of working together to develop things and to put parts together. Someone like DJ Assault who’s in the “Sleepover” song, he didn’t really come prepared to the studio so we sat there and I told him this idea of a dirty sleepover and he thought it was funny and we started jamming on that concept.. and I said like, “Gummy bears!” and he’s like, “I like Gummy bears!” so he sort of took ideas that I had and ran with it, and he would come up with his own ridiculous ideas and it was back and forth.
Sometimes I send people melodies and they write new words based on an idea that we come up with. Some people are really collaborators from top to bottom, like Katie Moore. She’s not really a guest on the album, she’s more like a collaborative writer. So yeah it depends on the personality of the collaborator and also just technically if we only have a couple of hours in the studio, then I have to be more prepared to get a performance out of them. And the same is true with instrumentalists. Sometimes I want them to play a very specific part, sometimes I don’t know the part and just say: “hey give me twenty-five options” and I go and choose something. And sometimes there is a super amazing unique soloist like Fred Wesley for example and I just want them to be the most Fred Wesley they can be.
MYATS: Katie Moore is definitely more present on this album and sings in almost every song. How did she evolve into being such an important collaborator.
Socalled: Well effectively, since Ghettoblaster I was always on tour and the band sort of got more defined and it was often the same bass player, the same guitarist, the same lead instrument player and Katie. So when I made this record I was like: “Oh, I should try to make something a bit more focused that uses the talent of the people I actually play with”. And we were sort of playing that material a lot live and I thought I was not going to invite everybody to be on this record, I’m just going to have this sort of little focused group. Well I failed and I just kept on inviting everybody that I wanted to hang out with and now there is thirty-five people on the record.
MYATS: How do you get all of your collaborations? Do you go to people and ask them to be on the album? Or people come to you?
Socalled: Well, actually, they are based on actual meetings, like at a show or running into people. It’s rarely out of the blue, just calling some strangers. But sometimes it’s them contacting me for other reasons and then we establish a relationship. And sometimes I do them in Montreal and like bring them to me and sometimes I go to wherever they are. For example my bass player on this record is in Pittsburgh so I went to Pittsburgh and rented a studio and started to play on all the tracks. But like the Mighty Sparrow I actually brought him up from New York to Montreal to record some of the tracks, which feels really rockstar like.
MYATS: There are so many different elements in your recorded music. how is it to do live shows? Isn’t it stressful to coordinate everything?
Socalled: Yeah! Like the first show itself was terrifying. The record itself is so produced and I sat there for three hours until three years thinking its sound and like all the little details, all the harmonies… and there are so many instruments on each track. And yeah we have to do it stripped down and do it live and it has a whole different energy and that’s cool and you sort of don’t sweat the small stuff and you don’t worry about all the little and beautiful details, you just do something else and when you’re doing it live there is a whole other aesthetic and a whole other pleasure that can come out of a live show and that’s okay, so I’m sort of relaxed and I know the songs better now. So I can be Roxanne Shanté and I can be The Mighty Sparrow and that’s all right even though I’m not Roxanne Shanté. I wish I was! I wish that I will be one day.
MYATS: People often associate you with the Montreal music scene. Do you feel Montreal influences you in a way? Do you like the association?
Socalled: Well I think it’s a little simple to say. Like it’s a city, I mean you can’t be defined by a city and a city can’t define me and that’s crazy. But, it’s an honor for people to say that because I love Montreal and I love the freedom that I feel there and the sort of security and the openness and the love of difference and many people able to live together in peace. To me it’s like a very unique feeling and I hope it is sort of reflected in my music just even by implication. Actually, you can quote Yves Lambert. The other day we were doing a show in Lavalterie and he came to the show and after the show we’re hanging out and he’s a fucking cool fun guy and he said, “I heard that people say that you are le son de Montréal!” so that’s fucking cool to me.
– Interview conducted by Camille Gervais
Don’t miss Socalled live tomorrow night at the Ukranian Federation. Tickets are $15.00 and can be purchased here. Confirm your attendance now on the Facebook Event Page.
