Lee Foss Interview
Ahead of Rendezvous on Saturday 6th November, Stu Todd of The Sound Spektrum caught up with trail blazing headlining guest - Lee Foss.
The Sound Spektrum talked to Lee about his move from L.A. to London, his partnership with Jamie Jones and who cleans up after the Wolf Lamb parties....
SS - First of all a big Scottish welcome! Have you played here or travelled here much before?
Lee - Thanks, I’ve been to Glasgow once to play for a Sunday Circus rooftop party, which was really good. It was actually freezing and pissing it down all day but it cleared up and the sun came out just as the party was starting so the party was mint. The funny thing was after the party we were stood outside for quite some time and it was freezing and my laptop got really cold and we went and did an afterparty in this really hot warehouse and I just remember taking my laptop out to play and because it was so cold and the room was so hot it was basically sweating, I had to keep wiping condensing water off it with my shirt every minute or two.
SS - Going right back to your beginnings, what inspired you to get into music in the first place and has this first venture in to music taught you any long lasting lessons?
Lee - I think my time in Ibiza in 2001-2004 was what maybe inspired me to take an active part in music and believe that I was capable of being a dj and playing out and being as good or better than the artists I was hearing play out every night. I had a pretty serious event in my life around that time that sort of led me to question what truly made me happy and what I was going to do with my life and the answer I kept coming back to about what has ever made me truly happy was music.
From there it was an easy choice, and 2004 was when I started to take djing serious to truly learn to mix well, to buy a computer and make my first steps to teach myself to make music. I mean that time period taught me all kinds of lasting lessons, some are ineffable, others would take too long to explain. There are things maybe I would do differently things that I taught myself I could have learned quicker if I hadn’t been too proud or embarrassed to ask other people but on the whole theres nothing I would do differently. I mean doing what I love for a career has taught me there is nothing more valuable that earning a living from self expression especially when you never compromise your values. There is definitely a cost to your personal life though whenever you become so devoted to something like music and it becomes your permanent first love. Sometimes it costs you other things you love.
SS - For somebody who has been living under a large rock for the last year and hasn’t heard of Lee Foss how would you describe yourself and your sound?
Lee - Ha I absolutely would not know how to describe myself, and one question I really hate is to describe my sound, but I’ll give it a shot. I suppose it is sort of a a deep ominous funk. . . but with an eerie but somewhat uplifiting tone.
Its sort of a combination of influences of the best of what I’ve ever enjoyed from 80’s funk/disco, 90’s hip hop r B, garage, and modern production techniques from techno/minimal.
SS - You site hip-hop as a massive influence during your upbringing, how does that transfer to your current sound and love for House and Disco?
Lee - Hip hop and r b was the music I identified with from the moment I heard and it every song I loved in my teens, it was never a phase, I’ve just got an ear for music, every song I loved then I love today. It was a period when some really special music was made, you know 93, 94, 95, 96 really special time for urban music, just like 81-84 was. I mean current hip hop doesn’t influence me in the slightest, its got nothing to do with my life, don’t listen to it, don’t hear it, don’t know anything about it. I’m influenced by great songs they inform my sound, they become a part of any artists inspiration and juice.
SS - What is your whole ethos behind setting up Hot Natured Records and HNR with Jamie Jones?
Lee - I think doing hot creations and hot natured re-rubs was something that was a long time coming for us. We initially started out just wanting to do hot natured as the name of our edits label and we were going to pick something else for our artist name, but it was too good of a name so we decided to use it for our over arching brand name. As we decided to go forward with a primary original production vinyl and digital label we went with hot creations.
I mean the ethos is to not do anything until its perfect, not to release anything unless its really special. To put out a product with a great design and a great sound that people want to buy into and take part in, that we truly believe in that fits our own ethos I guess.
SS - You have hosted your own parties around the world in some of the most breath taking surroundings, what sets your parties apart from all the others?
Lee - I think its attention to detail maybe, which is something that a lot of parties lose track of as they get bigger and bigger or go for big profits, or the promoters/djs who run them use those party brands to build their own careers as djs. Any time people have those other ulterior motives, rather than running the coolest possible party or aiming for the maximum utility of the party goers you are going to get an inferior product. The truth is Jamie and I don’t need the party brand to build our careers, our music speaks for itself, the parties are about putting on the mintest party possible in the coolest location possible, they never make money, they are never too big and impersonal, we always give out fancy dress, and handle every detail ourselves, and I think it works because of it.
SS - What inspired yours and Jamie Jones crazy head gear at the Hot Natured Party @ The W Hotel in Barcelona at this year’s Off Sonar?
Lee - Well over the past few years when we do the hot natured parties and perform as hot natured as artists, we tend to look at it as taking on a persona, like its our chance to wear fancy dress and play fun/different than our normal techno personas as ourselves.
Lee - I have an ex-girlfriend who used to make headbands a few years ago and I would sometimes wear them when my hair was really long. She also did the decorations for all our hot natured parties, and from the first one on we’ve sort of used the disco inspired decorations to make headbands for ourselves. Specifically for the ones we wore at sonar, I went with her to pick the decorations for sonar, and I picked out those patterns myself for mine and jamies because we are both into the sort of space/starwars disco concept/style. So that was basically the inspiration.
SS - Given your success in L.A. What inspired your move to London?
Lee - Well over the course of the last year I’ve sort of split time between the two places. Initially it was related to my personal life. I just needed to get away from a difficult time personally and London was that opportunity, my closest friends were in london and until then I wouldn’t really have been able to go away from home from long periods of time.
Once I first got to the UK I realized that I already had a name for myself there, and in the past year I have grown to really love being in the UK. I hate to say it because I love Chicago, it will always be home to me, and I love l.a. but I never at any point felt appreciated as an artist in either place, and to tell you the truth I wasn’t. its taken until now, having a few big releases and a brand to have any recognition in any city in the U.S., but London I felt immediately appreciated. I believe I’ve been doing something special as an artist for the last 4-5 years and its sort of been the sound of one hand clapping till now.
Another thing that’s prompted them move is logistics, there just aren’t enough markets in the western hemisphere to work there as a dj year round, and the logistics of running hot natured/hot creations with Jamie. I do still love l.a. and I’ll be there all winter. My primary residence is still there, and until I’m on permanent year long work visas in the uk, my primary residence will always be in the u.s.
SS - Wolf Lamb have been huge supporters of you, how did your working with Zev & Gadi come about?
Lee - In Miami @ the Get Lost/Crosstown Rebels party @ electric pickle in 2009 I opened the main room, and for a lot of people that was there first time hearing me play, and that included the wolf lamb crew and jonny white from art department and a lot of people who have become big supporters of my music since then. I don’t think I did anything different than what I had been doing for years but maybe it was just the first time I was really showcased on a stage that big where everyone was actually paying attention and afterwords I had quite a few people tell me how blown away by It they were. Anyway off the back of that set is when I really started touring, which got me signed to my agencies (amonly and rebel agency).
Gadi was really blown away by that set and he took a big interest in me from there, I sent him a bunch of music and we started talking on skype. He ended up signing some music and booking me for a bunch of marcy parties, and I think it was definitely a case of right place right time for both of us as I think we both benefited greatly from the relationship.
SS - What was your first experience of the infamous Marcy parties?
Lee - I went to play the first time @ the marcy in may last year w Jamie and damian. Yeah it was brilliant, I ended up playing there 4 times I think last year and all of them were wicked, some of the best parties I’ve ever been to.
SS - So who cleans up after the Wolf Lamb parties?
Lee - They’ve got a cleaner that comes in, can’t remember her name. people usually lend a hand and tidy up some as well.
SS - Do you have any guilty pleasures?
Lee - I really liked the new katy perry songs for some reason. Shh don’t tell!
SS - What’s your most prized possession?
Lee - Well I just replaced a stolen macbook pro and having been computerless for a couple months, I can tell you I’m really prizing having a laptop again. But truly I have 2 cats, and I don’t know if they can be considered possessions but I love them.
Source:
http://www.thelaneedinburgh.co.uk/news/ ... interview/
