Stompy - What was the fist instrument you learned to play?
Neighbour - First was the crib, beating upon it with tiny, meaty fists. Then came
the supper table. Shortly after, came ukelele!
Stompy - Should we expect to hear any Ukelele in any upcoming Neighbour singles?
Neighbour - I just used it in the song "Josh and Tia" for the, "Black Russian Memorial EP"a diverse EP we released on our sister label Punch Out.
It's a tribute release for our friend who passed away last year.
Check it out, it's moody and folky and very different.
Stompy - How did that transition into electronic music?
Neighbour - I had a family friend's son begin to give me mixtapes done in the
old-fashioned "pause" fashion, where he'd do these crafty transitions
using just a double cassette deck. I was probably only 12 or so at the
time, and it was then that I started to fiend for the pulse of these
musical machines. That and Reel 2 Reel - I Like to Move It, if i'm
being totally honest. It wasn't until i was in high school in Calgary
that I found myself at strictly electronic dance parties, raves, and
afterhours spaces. This is when my real education began, on the
dancefloor, soaking up the long nights staying mainly away from the
drugs and weirdos, and getting closer to the music and culture.
Stompy - How would you describe your creative process when going to the studio?
Neighbour - Wow, it's changed so much over the years that it's hard to imagine it
ever being truly static. I think that for a lot of artists, the
creative process is a mirror of their life outside of art, and that
definitely holds true for me. The long winters of Calgary where I grew
up served to push you inwards to find a source of inspiration, so when
I was living there I didn't collaborate too much, except for with
Think Tank and Wax Romeo. The creative process seemed to revolve
around buying used records (disco, freestyle, old electro, house,
hiphop, and funk), searching for good deals on used analog gear,
pirating DAW apps and VSTs, smoking a bit of weed and messing around
alone until something good came out of it. Nowadays, I'm living in
Vancouver, and the label has gained a lot of momentum since the
Calgary days. I find I don't have enough time now to collaborate with
everyone I'd like to work with- there's such a glut of talented people
living here these days. As well, the gear kit has filled out
incredibly, and I've got access to the original machines used to make
the music that really inspires me. So rather than layering sounds so
much anymore, I'm trying to fine tune the recording process so very
little has to be done digitally afterwards. That being said, the main
process goes something like this - hear music, meet people, be
inspired, produce, collaborate, releases, travel as a DJ to support,
hear new music, be inspired, produce.... etc etc.
Stompy - Some of your early works touched on more of the funky and deep house
tip, to primarily more of an organic, nu-disco, breaks sound. Have
there been any direct influences to push along that change?
Neighbour - I get this now and then, and it's actually not true. I spend most of
my time making deephouse-disco-synthy stuff, but for some reason the
few nu-funk / breaks releases I did seemed to leave an impression that
it was my main thing. It's okay, I always wondered whether multiple
aliases would have worked better, but I don't really care. It was hard
enough to pick a name for it all in the first place, and I came up
with Neighbour... Imagine how crummy my next name would be! Ideally,
I'd like to have a reputation for being a producer in the general
sense, rather than a "dance brand" operating in a certain arena of
sounds. Quantic is a good example- he can knock out a house corker
with the best of them, but people don't bat an eye when he puts out
jazz, soul, funk or anything else. I'm proud of all of my work, and
I'm excited to see the genres and production techniques all crashing
together. The best DJs and producers for me have been able to
amalgamate new trends into existing passions with an eye for the
common threads, and it makes for interesting work in the studio as
well, instead of knocking out same-y sounding tracks all the time.
Stompy - Are there any other musical directions you want to venture off in?
Neighbour - Always! I've gone down to Brazil now for tours a couple times and
lurked about listening to Chorinho and Samba groups, and have been
trying to internalize the essence of the rhythms. It's no easy task-
the groove is elusive, ever slipping and pushing, and you can
definitely hear it in production from that region, even in tech-house
stuff that's coming out of there. It's extra fun replicating these
feels within electronic based production- you've got to really work
backwards, making the tight, motorik stuff sloppy, but in just the
right way. I also want to record some real marimba players
shredding... there's something so primal and right about marimbas.
Other than that, I've just finished an Italo-disco record with my
band, Red Light Quadrant, and we're shopping it around to some indie
labels and starting to tour... that had been a goal of mine forever,
to have a bona-fide live act. My band mate Elan Benaroch is a monster
synth collector and has been a huge inspiration all around in the last
year or two.
Stompy - How did the idea of starting your own label Home Breakin come about?
Neighbour - Well, my first EP of funk tunes was done in 2006 and I asked another
label if they'd be into it. They weren't, so I bugged an old friend to
come and check them out and we decided then and there that we could do
it ourselves. Little did we know how much fucking work it is!! We were
vinyl-only for 3 years, and that kept it simpler, but I think in the
long run, the good feedback we received and the chance to play live
more often kept us pushing and learning.
Stompy - I noticed that unlike many dance label EP's where its a single, a
b-side and then a couple remixes, the Home Breakin releases are mainly
a showcase of an artists talents. Is this the intention instead of
getting another artists perspective on it?
Neighbour - Nothing was terribly intentional on Home Breakin- we just had a
shitload of great music (to our ears). We're just now getting to the
stage with the label where we'll have a year-long release schedule and
"plans". The other music has basically fallen into our laps or has
been produced in house, and that's originally why we started the
label- to showcase our talented friends and musical family. Since our
expansion into the US with a San Francisco office, we've made leaps
and bounds in terms of our organization... new EPs will now take on
more of a traditional format, with a hot joint or two plus remixes.
The earlier EPs turned out the way they did mainly because of me
having too many tracks sitting around, and just wanting to put them
out before they sat too long and got stale.
Stompy - Who are some of the new artists signed to the label that people
should watch out for, and how did they make their way to the label?
Neighbour - Cyclist, an artist I'm really stoked on, is a
disco-producer-bass-player-allround-greatguy from Winnipeg that's
recently relocated to Vancouver. He's got an EP coming out right away
called Double Dip with remixes from Hemingway, JNL, Pat Lok, and
Neighbour with Elan B.
Kreap, who is currently an enigma to me, is putting out a record i've
just finished up a remix for, and it's monstrously good. Should be a
nice crossover between disco and breaks.
Stompy - Does the label currently satisfy your ideal vision for how you want
the label to be?
Neighbour - No. I've always been happy with the artistic vision and output, but we
have huge plans for where we're going to take this. Various sub labels
are in the pipes and an agency component is also on the way. We aim to
provide artists with much more than they're used to getting from
labels!
Stompy - What was the last piece of music you bought?
Neighbour - Miguel Campbell - Kiss & Tell
Stompy - What's always in your fridge?
Neighbour - Condiments and cool air
Stompy - Beer, Wine, Liquor or Water?
Neighbour - Whiskey and Beer
Stompy - What do you do when you're not doing anything music?
Neighbour - Reading, going out dancing, biking, banana boarding, checking out live
bands, theatre, and Vancouver's arts community in general.
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