Phace Interview

teo_ · Last edited by teo_ on Wed Jun 11, 2008 19:03; edited 3 times in total

PHACE: THE NEUROPUNKS
by Francesco Caccamo (ATM)

Firmly at the forefront of Neurofunk's evolution, German production duo Phace are getting ready to infect the collective Drum 'n' Bass mind with the release of their debut 'Psycho' LP on Teebee's Subtitles imprint. For those awaiting a darker dawn this release will hopefully baptise 2007 as a slightly deeper and darker year than 2006; a year which has been overly dominated by the plastic sounds of Jump Up and characterised by the bastardisation of the Liquid movement. In stark contrast to the superficially joyous and the overtly musical, Phace's music implodes on every drop as they harness technology to smoulder sound. ATM caught up with one half of Phace, namely Florian, to explore their psychosis…

What are your social and cultural backgrounds?

Nicolas (26) and myself (Florian,27) both grew up with our families in the smallest state in Germany called the Saarland, near the small but very nice and idyllic city called Saarbruecken. It's practically right on the border with France and Luxembourg and living there has quite a French style and flavour to it, even if it is part of Germany. The whole state is very regional and with only 1 Million people everyone seems to know each other. The D'n'B scene there has always been very small. We both went to a school similar to what you guys in the UK would call a grammar school. We didn't attend the same school, but met at parties and hung around in our leisure time. After grammar school we both went to university and finished degrees in European Marketing Economics. Whereas I graduated 4 years ago, Nicolas only finished recently. Nicolas still lives in Saarbruecken with his girlfriend, while I've been living and working as an Account Manager in a Media Agency in Duesseldorf for the last three years.

What kind of music first struck you and how did you eventually arrive at Drum 'n' Bass as a form of music to listen and dance to, and then to produce and DJ?

I was put in contact with music at a young age as my dad was a drummer, so I was exposed to all types of rock, funk and soul. As a teenager I mostly listened to alternative and indie but also punk rock, hardcore and grunge like Rage Against The Machine, Pantera, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Bad Religion, Helmet and even the Doors to name but a few. As I got older I began looking for something new and interesting and switched over to more urban sounds and also electronica like house or even Kraftwerk, before my sister introduced me to broken beats, in particular to The Prodigy back in 1992. From that point on it was all about those broken and energetic sounds. I then started listening to Drum 'n' Bass, Jungle and Breakbeat and going to a whole load of parties, and eventually totally found something I was really into, namely the music of artists such as Konflict, Photek, Teebee, Ed Rush, Optical, Fierce, Matrix, Ryme Tyme, Trace and early Bad Company, but also Usual Suspects and Stakka & Skynet. In my view their stuff pushed boundaries. I have to point out Optical and Konflict as my favourite producers of all the time. They practically paved the way for the sound we love and try to continue nowadays. They have always been my favourite artists. LPs like 'Wormhole', 'Sleepwalk' or 'Mysteries Of Funk', and tracks like 'To Shape The Future' and 'Beckoning'" influenced my life and taste in music massively. Playing out and producing this music was never planned. It just happened as I wanted to contribute my part to the D'n'B music scene.
Between the ages of 7 and 16 Nicolas attended a music school where he also learned to play the piano (funk and jazz). As a teenager he mainly listened to his older brothers' tapes, in particular to heavy metal like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and so on. As he got older he started listening to bands like Pink Floyd, Metallica, Kyuss and Depeche Mode, but as time went on he started listen to more and more electronic music like Kraftwerk. When he first heard D'n'B, its unique sound and rhythm impressed him straight away. For him artists like Photek, Matrix, Jonny L, Optical, and later on C4C, Stakka & Skynet and Kemal & Rob Data gave him particular listening pleasure. The first track that really struck him was 'Knitevision' by Photek with its mathematical symmetric structure. Today, next to D'n'B, Nicolas listens almost exclusively to electronic music, like minimal techno, house and electro, and sometimes jazz and funk.

How did you meet?

As I explained earlier we met towards the end of our time at grammar school, which was when we were around 18. We met at a good friend's party, had good fun and started going to other D'n'B parties together, playing basketball and just generally chilled downtown and drank a few beers: the usual boy's stuff, you know what I mean. Nicolas actually was a mate of one of my best friends who I used to DJ with back in the day. He was also into DJing and we were into the same sort of sound so we had good times playing music. Phace was born out of our friendship and appreciation of the same vibe of music. At one point we spontaneously decided to play around with music programs on a PC and we found out that we were practically like one brain in two bodies, so it just was a question of time until we got down on beats together.

Is producing music and DJing all you do or do you have day jobs?

As I pointed out already, I've been working as an Account Manager in a Media Agency for the last 3 years. It is a very stressful job, especially the higher you climb on the ladder. Doing music and this job takes up practically all of my time, and most weekends when I should be relaxing after a busy week at work I'm normally in the studio or travelling and playing gigs. I actually just quit my job because such a busy life style hasn't done my health any favours. Another reason why I want to change my life is that last year I suffered a major hearing crash because it was all getting to much and I still suffer from tinnitus in my left ear. This was a turning point in my life and is when I realised it's all about balance and also about living a more healthy and even more spiritual life. A motor can't run on top speed all the time, even when you are just 27.
Nicolas has just graduated and is taking a little time off after his studies. He wants to apply for a job to get himself a professional background and life security, but he also plans on playing out with me this year.

Do you think being from Germany has affected your music?

Where you live is bound to affect you and your music as it is what surrounds you. Germany is a very industrial, hard working culture with an almost perfectionist attitude. The way the media industry affects you here is different to how I've experienced it anywhere else. The way people think and act is much different, not in a negative way, but more on a 'way of life' level. It's a lot about security in life and planning the right things for the right time, which is exactly how our industry works. So growing up in such a society, and also being exposed to German music and culture in general no doubt affects you in my opinion. There is a huge techno and house, or electronic music scene in general here. Germany has 80 million inhabitants but isn't a massive country, so it's most definitely is a fast moving society, sometimes even too hectic for me.

Tell us a bit about the German music scene. From what I understand techno, reggae, ragga and hip hop are very popular.

Yeah, the house and techno scenes are really huge, and we both go out to house events once in a while just to have a good time. We have a lot of very successful house and techno producers over here such as DJ Hell and Sven Väth (Gudde Laune Aldar!). We are not into those massive mainstream techno raves such as Mayday or even the Love Parade in the Berlin but prefer the smaller more personal house nights. You can find good nights in every city throughout the weekend. We've never been into raggae or ragga so I don't know much about those scenes, but similarly to the hip hop scene, there is one. In particular the German hip hop scene has grown massively over the last few years, but I can't listen to most of this new German hip hop as I can not identify with the content of it. I loved the early stuff by the likes of Fantastischen 4 or Fünf Sterne Deluxe just because it was well produced music with funny party lyrics, but most of the stuff that's successful over here nowadays is just full of aggression, slang language and is basically a US rip off. I think the German music scene in general misses the individualism it had in the past. Unfortunately it is not the most healthy and well developed industry compared to markets over in the States or the UK, and most of the big radio hits are, sorry to say, utter bullshit.

The style of producers like yourselves, Noisia, Teebee, etc. is classed as Neurofunk. What for you characterises this style and are you comfortable with this definition?

First off, I think that the term Neurofunk is old fashioned and applies to someone else, namely Ed Rush, Optical and Matrix with the 1999-2001 analogue Virus sound they introduced to the world. For me their music was Neurofunk in it's purest form. Even Teebee's early analogue sound went into that direction, but in a different way. We've always found Teebee's music to be a bit different, with its deep, cold and clean sound on the one side, but also with his atmospheric and musical touch on the other. I would even consider Konflict as Neurofunk ambassadors, but on the more technoid sounding side of things. They also acted as a perfect example of how to use analogue gear and how to create your own era of sound out of that, which leads me over to what we or Noisia in a way do, even if they are on a whole different level to us. For me it's not really comparable to that older Neurofunk sound, but is more of an evolution of the style and characteristics of that sound. Our music is basically all based in a digital environment. We do use analogue gear, but not in the way it was used back in the day. The older Neurofunk sound influenced us for sure as we grew up with it and it was what we loved and still do love, but our sound is a more digitally twisted and punked up version of Neurofunk, something newer that I can't find the right word to describe. We do not really care about musical categorisations, all we want to make is the sound we love and that gives us the most fun when we sit in the studio and let our musical minds roll.

The style of music you make seems very introspective and technical, concentrating on attention to detail in arrangement and sound rather than broader song structure and melody. It's not often that you hear a new musical idea. With this in mind, is evolution in Drum 'n' Bass now purely dictated by technological progress?

I wouldn't say that technological progress is the only thing driving D'n'B nowadays in terms of relating it specifically to our sound as we are not the only producers out there who are responsible for the evolution of a broad and diverse genre such as Drum 'n' Bass. We see ourselves as a part of a whole movement and within this movement we found something we are totally into, even if it's something that tends in the direction of technological progress or detailed and abstract music. I agree that we are not the typical melody guys who create songs that get stuck in your head easily, but that might just not be our main aim. But in this way we try to produce tracks which you might have to listen to in detail and often in order to get their real vibe and meaning with the intention of maybe trying to create a sort of timeless music, not melodies which might ware out at some point anyway. There are a lot good and well-respected artists and musicians out there who give D'n'B the melodies and musical touch it needs to evolve musically. This might not (or maybe not yet) be the path in D'n'B that we want to concentrate on. We try to do our own individual thing without any aim to force any evolution. If it happens we are fine with that. All artists go through an evolution, sometimes without even noticing it themselves. We practically go with the flow but do have a special sound, tone or character in our head that we want to bring alive in our music. If this helps D'n'B in any way to also drive its evolution, we're happy with that, even if we think it's just one of the hundreds of ways that this diverse genre can evolve right now. On the other hand, technological progress in general absolutely plays a role in the evolution of Drum 'n' Bass, even in combination with the more melodic and musical side of this music. Just listen to the totally different and new sounds that Pendulum, Noisia, Misanthrop, Spor or Subfocus have brought to the scene. They have brought totally new approach to it. That is technological progress for me too, combining new methods of mastering and mixing down a track. Today's D'n'B is heavier, louder and bigger, and the frequency spectrum of tunes is more fully filled up. The whole dynamic side of this music has totally changed, especially when you see the extent to which limiting, compression and side-chaining are used today. It's practically a new sort of D'n'B which is being created right now, but again it's just one branch of the whole, more complex D'n'B thing. Since I've been involved in D'n'B actively I've realised that this music is on a steady evolution and this might also be one of the reasons we love it. Technological progress is something vital in general, especially when combined with new musical ideas and melodies.

You almost came out of nowhere to in the last two years releasing on Subtitles, collaborating with Noisia on Renegade Hardware and Virus and now to releasing your debut album. That's quite a rapid rise to fame. How did it all come about?

We actually started to produce in late 1999 and finished out first 'listenable' tracks in 2000, so we've been around production quite a while, even if it has only been 7 years and our first tracks sounded a bit crazy. Our roots in D'n'B go way further, back to 1995, so we have a broad musical background in this genre I would say. In a way that helps you a lot if you want to express what you love in music in a genre like D'n'B, and it also sets you on the route you want to follow. In terms of us being in the spotlight and getting attention for our music, that all started when Noisia hooked Teebee up with our music. Teebee gave us a home to release our sound and left us the freedom to do whatever we wanted to do. After a couple of releases on Subtitles we also got in touch with Renegade Hardware and did two things for them, and also released a collaboration with Noisia on Virus Recordings, which is practically like a dream coming true for us, as Virus was the God of all labels for us at one point. We've also released stuff on smaller labels like Full Force, Citrus, Syndrome and Shadybrain. Doing an album was just something we always wanted to do to develop ourselves as artists. I think that concentrating on an album is what really brings you forward and is like writing a book when you are an author. Subtitles left us the freedom to come up with whatever we wanted and offered us a strong foundation from which we felt pleased to launch such a long-term project, and I think it turned out quite well.

You're very close friends with Noisia, who in their interview cited you as major influences and the first people to hear their ideas. Do you almost feel like you're part of the same group or crew?

It's true, we have a very special relationship Noisia as we started to come up with somewhat of a new, sometimes quite similar sound of D'n'B at around the same time. And I am very happy to hear them saying that about us and can return the compliment by saying that their sound influenced and influences us too. We got to know them when we were both still looking for a way to channel our music and we supported each other by sharing production techniques. Our friendship doesn't just revolve around D'n'B, it's also about life and sharing the same values. This is also something we share with our long time friend Misanthrop who in our eyes is one of the biggest talents out there at the moment and will cause a serious storm in the scene in 2007. It's a motivating and necessary to an extent to surround yourself with friends who are on the same wave length as you an aspire to the same things. Nevertheless I wouldn't say we feel like a part of Noisia as Noisia wouldn't feel like a part of Phace, because we both do our own things and put our own energy into our projects, even if we do influence each other to a certain extent. We just share the same passion and the same attitudes and are just good friends who hang out together and feel very comfortable with each other. We totally respect each other, which is a good thing, but still Phace and Noisia are two different pairs of shoes, even if we enjoy to get down on music together as Phace & Noisia, which is like a new group in itself. Saying that it's about time to get back in the studio with them.

The making of a Drum 'n' Bass album is normally a quite unglamorous affair. Was the making of your album any different?

I can't really describe it as being glamorous in the true sense of the word, but for us it was a very special time that we totally enjoyed and it made us happy. It was a long and funny period, and it was sometimes a struggle to get things done the way we wanted it them to be, and we'd still change things on it even now, but in the end you need to finish something to get on to something new and all of those struggles were worth it. We must say we are happy with it for sure, even though we are already looking for something new to satisfy our needs.

Your album is coming out on Subtitles. What makes Teebee's label the right home for your debut LP?

Subtitles for us is a freethinking label pushing the sound in a direction we grew up with and fell in love with when we started listening to Drum 'n' Bass. A lot of great artists produced music for this label, but it still has this underground touch we can identify ourselves with. Nevertheless it also reaches a broad group of people that enjoy the same sort of sound we do and stands for quality music.

Which track best defines the LP?

That is a tough one but I think that tracks like 'Fingerfood' or 'Cataphiles' describe what we are into quite well. We like the LP as a whole though, so it's hard to describe it just by picking out one track. The album is a sort of conceptual album: it's a journey you have to go through form beginning to end to find out what the Phace sound is really about.

You've described your music as "the carrier of a message". What messages does your music carry?

I think we try to convey the message of freaking out on music, to do whatever you want to do and not to set yourself any limits: not to walk in the way people expect you to walk in. We try to create abstract new rhythms and sounds that people can interpret in any way they like. Music, technology and life is made up of possibilities and it's only you who is responsible for what you make out of it. I think our music in a certain way tells you exactly that, and although it might sound a bit far out for some people, that is how we feel.

What can we expect from the next Phace phase?

To be honest even with having the album finished and mastered we are still in the middle of the whole PR and touring phase of it right now, so we don't really have a master plan for the future. We want the album to drop and to see what happens. By that time we'll surely know more about how we want to proceed and in what direction we want to take our sound.

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