Matthew Herbert Interview

DHN: If you were to summarise the Herbert sound in 20 words, what would they be?

MH: In 2 words: acoustic, bouncy.

DHN: After the success of the around the house album, do you think that you will continue to work with Dani Siciliano ?

MH: Maybe. There s some unreleased tracks and its certainly possible in the future although she s back in the US for an unspecified amount of time.

DHN: You put an awful lot of work into your live shows, Wishmountain from a couple of years back, and more recently Radioboy, would there be any chance, or have you done it already, of a more Herbert, housey persona style of live show, or does this just not appeal ?

MH: Er..we did a Herbert live show at Henrys* last winter which was a lot of fun but no plans for any more right now.

DHN: Your studio, Swingtime, do you get many artists in, or is it just purely for Herbert to play with ?

MH: I do produce other artists there (Agent Blue, John Mathias, Sonny Sponge and whoevers about) but its not really house stuff. More music based projects.

DHN: What would personally be your favourite house track that you have produced?

MH: Non-Stop

DHN: Your moloko remix of sing it back is getting great reviews, i ve noticed that you ve remixed moloko before, how did you originally get connected with this group ??

MH: I first did "fun 4 me" as Doctor Rockit in 96 and then one a year since. Ilike doing remixes for them because they always send me loads of parts. some remixes you just get sent the vocal. for sing it back I think there is only one noise in my mix that wasn t taken from the original. if you can work out which one you can have my test pressing.

DHN: I read somewhere that you still take jazz lessons, is this true ??

MH: My teacher is Phil Parnell who plays live with us. Hes a highly alented 43 year-old from New Orleans who now writes highly unusual house music.

DHN: At this stage how many alter ego s have you had, what are their names, and what kind of music did/does each encompass ?

MH: I ve probably got 7 alter egos about at the moment and there was about 10 from my past. I usually try and fit a name to a diferent style. I don t do it to be awkward, but it just allows me more freedom to try stuff and maybe fail. To fail is a risk you have to be prepared to take otherwise you end up doing things in the same way your whole life.

DHN: With your many alter ego s did you consciously make a decision to start producing house music, or did it just happen ??

MH: I think house, particularly the groovy stuff is a really natural form of dance music. The tempo, the feel and structure can be traced back through disco, through jazz, through the popular music of the 30s etc etc. and along with the other stuff that i do it is something that I will always want to make.( That means it was easy to start aswell. Although doing it well is something else entirely.)

DHN: I ve also heard, that at one stage you used to be in a band, is this true ??

MH: After playing in orchestras for a long time Iplayed in my first band at the age of 13 and my last was when I was 21

DHN: Where does your schedule take you in the coming weeks, both live & djing ?

MH: Actually I went a bit mad recently so have taken the next 3 weeks off, but after then I m off to spain, Switzerland, France, Russia, Spain again, Japan and Cardiff.

DHN: What do you have planned for the winter? any new records coming out? any gigs you are looking forward to?

MH: I cancelled a gig in the jungle in thailand to have some time off. that was the one I was looking forward to most. Plenty of new records coming but I don t like plugging stuff.

DHN: Where did you first start dj-ing ?

MH: "Professionally" in 96 in a club in belgium but badly in my mates bedroom about 89. primarily I m a producer but people expect you to dj if you make house music and Ido enjoy it but I think there are others are better at it. when did you start producing ? I started writing music when I was about 12 but my first acceptable electronic stuff was about when I was 18. Theres a bit of gap when you try and get stuff on record. I think I was 20.

DHN: What was your most memorable experience while dj-ing?

MH: Playing in denmark in 96 in an beautiful art gallery by the sea, half inside half outside it was the first time I got to play the real mellow house stuff that I love. Its always a blast at Henrys aswell.

DHN: What was your worst experience?

MH: Unfortunately when you play a lot abroad it happens quite regularly. I think my worst was in ohio for a 4th of July party. I flew all the way there, the airline lost my reocrds. The promoters put me in a hotel 1 hour from the party and never called again. The story is actually a lot longer than that but you get the picture. The bonus was that I did get paid weirdly enough. The worst experinces though are always one where you represent yourself wrongly by either playing badly or having to play techno when I m a house dj (even though i make techno)

DHN: Do you have any favorite labels?

MH: Yes: Dance Mania, Dj International, Studio 1, Beige, Sound Signature, Perlon, Brif, Accelerate, Ryko Disc, etc etc

DHN: Who are your house mentors?

MH: Tyree, Paul Johnson, Masters at Work, Dj Deon, Mike Ink, Fred Jorio

DHN: What other music do you listen to and does it influence your sets?

MH: Hardly ever listen to house at home. Normally orchestral or jazz or hip hop and a lot of crap. I always get inspired by shit music like trance and the fucking disgusting so-called dance music on the radio over here. But its good because it seperates the wankers from those that care about what they listen to.

DHN: What is the one record you will always play?

MH: Either spiderbitch by Dj Deon, or the Xpress-2 Mix of the criminal element orcgestra "go around"

DHN: How long does it take you to complete a track?

MH: A Year!

DHN: What is the one piece of equipment that you could not live without?

MH: A fridge.

DHN: How did phono records come into being?

MH: My mate chris saw the light and started a label.

DHN: What advice can you give someone in how to start a label?

MH: Aim high with the music and low with the costs.

DHN: Of all the ppl that have helped you get to where you are now, who would be top of the list ?

MH: My Dad, Chris Coglan and recently Nick Detnon.

DHN: Where do you get your ideas from?

MH: My head.

DHN: What would you do if you weren t a musician ?

MH: Rip off the bassline from donna summer "I feel love".

DHN: Would you remix madonna if you were approached ?

MH: No.

DHN: Who would you most like to work with?

MH: Tom Waits and Noam Nohmsky.

DHN: What s your most prized posession (music) ?

MH: My hands.

DHN: What s your most prized posession (anything) ?

My desire to change things.

DHN: What does the future hold?

MH: More shit music more amazing music.

DHN: Is there anything else that you would like to say?

MH: Bill clinton (amongst numerous other things) banned the word genocide in refernce to Rwanda so he didn t have to do anything. Oh yes, these corporations are cunts: Cocoa Cola, Nike Macdonalds, Monsanto, Caterpillar, Emi, Microsoft, Nestle, Marconi, British aerospace, Gec, Philip Morris, Mobil, Shell, Pepsico, News International, Starbucks and many others/

Read John Pilger. "Hidden Agendas" and get political.

DHN: Thank for doing this interview for deephousenetwork. We look forward to some more great tracks, and hopefully at some stage we ll get a chance to catch you live.. who knows......

deephousenetwork