(cover photo by Matt Enbar/MenbarPhotos)
This past Thursday at Camp Bisco in New York, Live for Live Music held an exclusive interview with Flux Pavilion moments before he hit the stage at the BIG Tent to play his set.
You’ve said before that you see dubstep as a mix of a bunch of different musical styles such as rap, rock, and electro into one. How do you feel about the rising popularity of trap and do you plan on incorporating it more into your music?
I’ve definitely become inspired by the sound but I’m really trying to steer clear of a conscious effort to be like oh this is popular, I’m going to make some of this now. But it’s really easy to do as a producer, it’s only popular cause it’s fucking awesome. It’s really easy to be like this is awesome I’m gonna do loads of it. But as times gone on I’m really trying to stick to what has always made me tick since when I was a kid and I’ll take inspiration but I try not to actually sit down and think I’m going to make some trap, but I did do a couple of tracks.
A lot of your tracks have been remixed by trap artists, is there a specific track you were really impressed by?
I suppose Flosstradamaus’s “Original Dom” that was the one. I remember Kill the Noise was playing that, I think they did it in 2011 like a year before trap really kicked off and I picked up that tune and have been playing it for ages. Then I heard, strangely enough, the Harlem Shake Baauer record that went crazy. There’s actually a video of me, Cookie Monsta, and Brown and Gammon and were in the back of the bus and Cookie Monsta is giving a tour of the bus and he opens the back door and I run out dancing to Harlem Shake, and that was about 8 months before the whole YouTube thing happened. So I’ll take a small amount of credit. No one ever saw it so I can’t actually take any real credit for it.
Can we see the video anywhere now?
I think I posted it up somewhere, if you look hard enough you should be able to find it.
You’re active on Reddit quite frequently, what has been your favorite ask me anything question?
I dunno actually, I really like the ask me anything thing just because its kinda a direct route for someone who wants to know something. They ask a question I answer. I can’t remember any particular but I’ve enjoyed the entire experience.It’s quite strangely grueling because it’s 100% my words. A lot of the times when you do an interview the interviewees can try and kind of express what they think you mean where as Reddit is 100% what I mean so it’s quite grueling to be like fuck, if I say the wrong thing here…People have asked me questions about what I think about music piracy and generally how that kind of works with tolerance to people downloading my music and stuff like that and I’m like if I say the wrong thing it could be taken the wrong way. So it’s more of a grueling experience than a fun one. I feel like Reddit is the best place to really express what you mean.
Is there a specific genre besides EDM that influences your work the most?
I didn’t really acknowledge the existence of genres until I became an artist, genres didn’t really mean anything. I just listened to music that I liked. Then dubstep became a thing and I started realizing about all these different genres of dance music. I’m only starting to learn about them and I’m starting to think I want to unlearn everything I’ve learned and go back to just hearing a song and thinking that’s a cool song no matter what it is.
Do you think the labeling of genres has a detrimental effect on music?
It can be interesting and it can be handy for someone if they find a song they really like and see oh this is drum n bass I’m going to listen to some more drum n bass. But as far as I’m concerned I like to just kind of listen to music. I’ve never been in a world where I’ve just gotten really into a genre of music and that’s just me personally. I think across the board genres can be quite a good thing for people to actually find what they like.
Is there a non-EDM artist that has had an influence on your work lately?
I was listening to it on the way here but Bon Iver, his second album. It’s kinda like Bon Iver and Sigur Rós. The acoustic singer songwriter indie kind of music.
Personally I find the concept for your music video for Do or Die pretty funny. The looks on the girls faces in the pool when the bass drops are priceless. Did you come up with the concept yourself or was it more of a collaborative effort?
It was kind of a dumbed down version of what I really wanted to do. We couldn’t think of a way to actually get that idea across. I really wanted it to be horrifying and terrifying and not an enjoyable experience. I wanted the video to have an air that made people feel uncomfortable. I wanted to have a lot more blood and people exploding and blood everywhere and kind of just everyone scrabbling to make it out of the party. That was kind of like my concept but then the director he had a different idea so it’s a collaboration of all of our ideas. I really like it though, I like the fact that it’s kind of playful but you don’t really feel like anyone’s having any fun, so that bit was my idea really.
Your Blow the Roof EP really showcases your different musical talents especially your vocals. How often do you like to perform your vocals live when playing a song like “The Scientist” or “Starlight”? Is there a specific type of venue you prefer to sing live at?
I sing The Scientist at pretty much every show, and I would sing Starlight but if you’ve ever DJ’d before it can get quite confusing with the tunings because you’re playing a song and listening to another song. So as a singer to try and hit that note really is quite confusing and you’re like oh no I think I’ve got the note. So I just open my set with some singing. Next year I’ve got quite a few tunes I’ll be singing on that are going to be coming out over the next five or six months. Eventually I want to do a live act where I can just get out there and not be DJ’ing and just sing. I want it to work and to be actually able to sing properly, not just singing the lines over the song. I want to mean what I’m singing. If im going to come out and sing I want it to be proper and good rather than half assing it.
Blow the Roof was well worth the wait but a long time in the making. Are you at work on another album and if so do you anticipate it taking about the same amount of time?
No, there were a lot of things that made that EP take so long, not just stuff with what I was producing but stuff in my life that stopped it completely coming together. But I’ve really got into the swing of things now. I’ve got an EP that I’m working on that’s going to be four or five tracks that comes out in October of this year. Which is kind of like a step forward for me I think. I’m trying not to do more of the same. I feel like Blow the Roof was just kind of clearing up loads of ideas I’ve been working on, now I feel like I have a foundation where I can just take the next step.
Is there a specific idea that you’re going to be focusing on in this next EP?
It’s focusing on the same fundamental ideas. I always like to write music rather than just writing drops. I’m trying to take it back to the idea of it being a song rather than a breakdown drop and just letting the song develop on it’s own and I want to move into doing another album next year that will get all those ideas across. If a track doesn’t have a drop it doesn’t matter as long as the song is good. I’m going to take it from more of a songwriter standpoint rather than an electronic mixer, so this new EP is kind of testing out of new ideas.
You seem to participate in a decent number of competitions giving up and coming artists the chance to be noticed. Is discovering new musical talent one of your major priorities?
The label started as a platform for me and Dr. P to not have to listen to anyone cause everywhere there are people saying you should maybe do this or you should maybe do that. So we decided to start our own label so we didn’t have to deal with that and it’s really nice to give that opportunity to other people where were kind of like you know just do what you want. We sign them because we hear something in them and we get that they love music not because oh this is going to sell really well. You hear in the producers work that they really like this so it’s nice to have competitions just to look around and see kids that are making music. It reminds me of when I was 14 and its really nice to be like cool here’s the opportunity to be part of this world.