This year has already had it’s belt notches. Can you walk us through some or all thus far?
The biggest thing for us so far this year was the release of our EP with Otodayo Records. Limitless, the single, was the first song we’ve ever released that didn’t rely heavily on a samplebased arrangement. We constructed each sound from synths or oneshots and had a genius collaborative duo called Willdabeast help out with some trumpet and flute.
One of my favourite Q’s. How has your base city influenced your sound?
Halifax is a small city with a pretty dedicated crowd of people who like to jam out; not many other performers/producers make sounds similar to ours, really. We just want people to get down with us and to keep breathing life into the scene.
Recently we put on our very first “event” in collaboration with Hart Surf Co. and brought in DEAD HORSE BEAST (Mtl) the show sold out so it was pretty energizing and inspirational for us to continue moving forward in creating music and a scene of our own.
What are your top spots to party and or chill to music at in Halifax?
The Seahorse, The Marquee, and Reflections are probably our top spots around here. This is a bar town interspersed with some top 40 clubs here and there, but these three are really keeping the scene alive for all types of genres and musicians.
Your beginnings in Electronic music, be it CD’s or parties, what thing(s) took you there?
We began as musicians with a huge range of interests, eventually delving into old soul and funk records that hiphop artists in the 90s and early 2000s cut up and used for their beats. J Dilla, the RZA, Just Blaze, People Under the Stairs, etc., seemed to find these old records that they must have grown up listening to and then spun them in their own way.
Eventually artists like RJD2 and DJ Shadow started to move from this into triphop, and then artists like Pretty Lights and Gramatik started a bridge between electronic music and hiphop. Hearing this progression we just thought, “we need to get into this.”
What were your listening habits in order of genre that brought you to Electro Soul / Future Funk?
As for current artists, some definite influences and people we look up to include The Glitch Mob, Pretty Lights, GRiZ, Big Gigantic, Michal Menert, The Noisy Freaks, Charles Bradley, Lee Fields and so on.
As for funk and soul artists from the past there’s an extensive list: OV Wright, James Brown, David Ruffin, Betty Wright, Donny Hathaway, Curtis Mayfield, Bobby Womack, Joe Simon, Al Green, Gil ScottHeron, Muddy Waters, Lonnie Liston Smith, Donald Byrd, Ann Peebles, Martha Vandella, Mahalia Jackson, Gladys Knight, Marion Williams… we could go on all day.
On the subject of Future Funk. What do you see in the genres future? Any predictions? It’s kind of the perfect mid way between New Disco and them Future beats.
As for Future Funk/Electro Soul, the concept of live instrumentation and big band performance is something we’d both love to see and do ourselves for the future. Also, and this is definitely on our minds for our own music, using less samples and getting that live instrumentation into the studio. Horn sections, string sections, vocalists, keyboards, percussion, anything and everything to try and emulate that live feel in recordings.
Maybe the most important in Wet Paint’s history, how did you meet and begin the duo?
We met sometime in 2012 after a friend suggested we meet up and take a crack at some production since we were both familiar with Ableton as a DAW. We messed around with the opening riff from Curtis Mayfield’s “Give Me Your Love” and created something that, at the time, we thought had some great potential. Looking back on it, it wasn’t a great mix and a little uninspired, but the chemistry was there.
In the city’s scene, one seldom heard from (at least it feels like), who are the movers and shakers you move and shake with?
Some great acts from around here that deserve all kinds of recognition include The Mellotones, The Wayo, Elephants in Trouble, Scientists of Sound, Dub Kartel, Quake Matthews, DJ IV, Ghettosocks, and anyone else who’s out here keeping Halifax on the map. Additional shout outs to the homie from Montreal, DEADHORSEBEATS.
What is in store for the remaining larger part of 2k15??
For the remainder of this year we’re going to hit the festival circuit again, as well as hopefully check out some new destinations as audience members. Pemberton in B.C., Lightning in a Bottle in Cali, Governor’s Ball in NY seem like great spots this year.
As for our music we’ll be continuously releasing music with a laidback RNB/HipHop EP in the shortterm and some Future Soul bangers later on in the year. To all those who’ve been showing us love we hugely appreciate it and look forward to keep giving you more
As Canadians how do you feel about the Tim Hortons / Burger King merger?
Haha. Great question. Reminds me of a piece that a student of NSCAD University made while I was attending there.
http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/wetalkedtotheartistbehindthebeadedtimhortons-
cupthateveryonesconfusedabout
I have no qualms with Tim Hortons I would even go so far as to say that I enjoy it from time to time (their B.E.L.T moreso than their coffee. Boston cream donuts rule too). I’m a bit confused about the Burger King merger because even as far as fast food goes, I don’t really think they do a great job. How does one sell 10 chicken nuggets for $1.50 CAD? It just makes me super uneasy.
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