CM>>>I really must admit when I listened the first time to your début album called “Antique Soul“ I didn't took a look on the press info, so I was totally confused when I saw that this wonderful soul full album was made by two white guys from Newcastle. Did this happen often to you that you received such reactions about your identities after releasing your album?
Smoove>>>Its not something I'm really aware of, or care what people think .I guess I know we are making black music but at the end of the day good music is good music no matter where you are from or who you are so its not really an issue for me.
Turrell>>> My voice can be a bit confusing but to honest it’s the only one I’ve got and I love soul music, its where I feel at home and working with Smoove has been great experience. White, black it doesn’t matter as long as it makes you feel something.
CM>>>What’s behind the albums title “Antique Soul”? I mean at first sight it sounds clear tome that this title describes the sound of the album, but at first sight I thought that this title means owns a message besides that? Maybe it also describes the soul of the artists behind this wonderful music.
Smoove>>> It’s a loose title really that I had in my head for a while which just kind of felt right. It’s a lot of things to me and not really one thing. I like antiques, vinyl records, soul music, retro, vintage instruments etc so it’s not really trying to describe the music it’s more of a passion thing.
CM>>>Smoove you are known for your career as a DJ, Remixer and producer since the early nineties. Your last solo album “Dead Man's Shirt “ was released three years ago on Acid Jazz Records. I am really curious what happened than who did you get in contact with Turell, do you knew him before or have you been on the search for a singer to start a new project? How did things get started?
Smoove>>>I was recording with many different singers, poets and rappers on my previous albums which was a great experience but when john came along he had something even more special. I went to sculpture university where I met Nicola ..Jjohn’s wife... she introduced me to john who wanted me to record his demos for his duo “the stevies” once I heard him sing for the first time I knew it was meant to be and invited him to sing on the track “Hammond”. A very short time after I played john a backing track that I had made 3 years before and it was just lying there waiting for the right singer to come along .the song was “I Cant Give You Up” and as soon as I played it John he was like “oh my god I must sing on this monster!”
CM>>>I read that your first single “I Can't Give You Up” which been released with 500 copies on Newcastle based Muto label been rarely searched on Ebay – people paid 166 Pound for that single. What was your first reaction when you remarked that people loved your music so much?
Smoove>>>it was released on club tikka label (Part of Lounge Records / Muto) from Germany and instantly sold out in 1 week. I heard through myspace that it was selling for £166 and I didn’t believe it, but once I looked on e bay and seen it was true I was so excited! Helmut who runs club tikka label phoned me up saying “can we repress the single?” to which I replied “no leave it ,don’t repress and let the hype build some hysteria .I’m a vinyl collector myself so I know what its like when its hard to get hold of a record ,it can send you insane with the “NEED TO HAVE IT” There were mod forums on the internet where people were having heated debates about the single as apparently some big northern soul dj covered up the label of the record so when he played it everybody wondered who it was by. Speculation was going around that it might have been by Frank Popp but then it later changed to Andy Lewis but nobody really knew it was 2 white boys from Newcastle until we finally gave it a proper release on jalapeno records as a 12” along with some remixes by A skills and lack of afro.
Turell>>> I think it was my first ever release so it was even more of a buzz for me. It didn’t matter that it was a 500 press it was just the fact I had my very own vinyl with my name on it, what a feeling!
CM>>>Was this Ebay-battle the ignition to produce the album “Antique Soul” or was the decision made before?
Smoove>>> The album was already well under way by the time the E bay prices soared.
Turell>>> Yeah we knew we were onto something even if this had not happened, it was a case of two blokes really enjoying working together, there was no way we were just going to stop at a couple of songs.
CM>>>What about the working process, who makes what? Do you separate song- and lyrics writing? Or do you also create new songs in kind of jam sessions?
Smoove>>>I make all the music, mix it and produce it. I like to get most of the idea down before I give it to john for him to write his lyrics. John writes so fast, sometimes I can play him a song idea and he’s wrote most of the words before the song has finished playing. When it comes to laying his voice down we work very fast and spontaneous as john can often lay down vocals in 2 or 3 takes. On the track I Cant Give You Up the whole 3rd verse is freestyle off the top of his head! John has a real natural thing going on that blows me away every time we are in the studio.
CM>>>How long have you worked on the album “Antique Soul”? Have you worked continuously in a kind of session at this album? Or have you recorded the songs piece by piece whenever you had a new inspiration or idea for a new song?
Smoove>>>It was made in parts sometimes I would be working on 3 songs at once. Certain songs needed more work than others but in all the album took around 6 month to make but I spent another 4/5 month tweaking things like adding strings and horns etc to make the whole thing shine better. There is a dangerous thing artists can suffer from which is not knowing when to stop and let it go. I think my sculpture course taught me to be bold and confident with my creative process that reflects in my productions. I am always making music weather I am in the studio remixing something or I’m on the move as I travel a lot and dj around the world so I find this a great time to play around with the structure of my songs.
Turell>>> That’s the producers job, I love the fact Smoove has to do all the leg work as I am not the most patient of guys, especially where technology is involved.
CM>>>I really asked myself – maybe it’s a totally silly question – in which way you produced the music for the album. Do you record all parts by real musicians or is the music mainly made with a program like Abelton or something like this? Or have you played all parts as multi instrumentalists? I really have no clue...
Smoove>>>I usually start with samples, I think there is a real art to using samples well .sourcing obscure samples is half of the fun for me as iv over 10,000 records lining my studio walls (good soundproofing) which I can use for inspiration. I also spend allot of time cutting up drums samples as I’m obsessed with getting my drums to sound fat! I have some vintage instruments at my home studio like upright piano, Hammond organ, whirlitzer Rhodes keyboard and various percussion like drums and congas that I play. I also use a lot of guest musicians on my recordings like guitar, flutes, saxophone and viola etc, as I like to fuse samples with real instruments. I don’t really set out to sound a certain way like retro or hip-hop, it’s really just a method that I’ve found from playing around with production over years.
CM>>>How have you managed to get this authentic, yeah kind of vintage sound, have you used special gear for that? Or have you recorded the album with a tape machine or something like this?
Smoove>>>I use a battered laptop that looks like something from bladerunner along with cubase 5.1 it’s really old, 13 years old I think? But it works for me as I like to layer up many channels of audio files and chop them up. A lot of fellow producers are amazed I’m still using such old equipment but for me it’s really just a method of sequencing sound. It’s a bit like the old saying “if it isn’t broke, don’t try and fix it”. I’ve just recently dusted down my old tascam 4 track which I used to overdrive the bass guitar.
Turell>>> I just sing, Smoove’s the tech wizard. I have seen nothing like Smoove’s set up and to be honest he is the only mad professor that can get the sound out of it like he does. I have worked in some of the best studios in Europe and not a lot of them can get the sound that he gets out of some clapped out laptop and an old computer program. Any one thinking of robbing Smoove of his studio would be very disappointed; all in I think its worth about 50p. That’s what I love about the sound you can have the best of everything but if you aint got the ideas it means nothing.
CM>>>The lyrics are varying from love songs up to actual problems like “Beggarman” - so is it right to say that these songs own the character of a personal diary or scrapbook of the author?
Turell>>>I just can’t write a song if it means nothing, that’s what soul is about, taking your inner most feelings and putting them in a way that other people can relate to them. It doesn’t always have to be deep but it has to be real. It’s like having your own personal therapist with you 24-7, just talking about things can really help you to move on. This is what I use my lyrics for, some kind of closure or better still to tell the people “you love them”.
CM>>>You also recorded a new version – or better say a soul version of Yazoo's song “Don't Go”. Is this song one of your favourite ones or what was the reason to record this classic electronic song in a Soul version?
Smoove>>>We wanted to do a cover song on the album and this seemed a very natural choice to totally funk it up! I wanted to do it in kind of “cops and robbers car chase style” It was sounding great when we did it but once I layered the wha wha guitar over it, the whole thing really came to life!
Turell>>>Great producer and a great singer on the original so it was ripe for us to change it in a way that suited us and our style.
CM>>>After listening to this track I thought “Wouldn't it be a cool project to record a complete album with soul versions of classic electronic songs?” What do you think...?
Smoove>>>No, as I wouldn’t get any P.R.S (laughing) plus Mark Ronson has already came close to this idea in his last album.
CM>>>Turell, what can you tell me about your musical experiences before you met Smoove? In what kind of bands have you played before – where these always kind of Soul projects or have also performed different kind of music?
Turell>>>It’s strange because I am currently just finishing my album with The Stevies, we have been signed by a great Parisian Label called Think Zik. The Stevies is a lot more acoustic that the S&T stuff but that raw soul and emotion is something we have been working on solid for the last year and its sounding just great. It started of just myself and one of my best mates Alan Davidson on guitar but now we have a great band and are starting to build the hype for the release of the album. Fingers crossed it will hit in about February next year, busy times it has to be said. On top of that I have also been doing a lot of guesting for other producers and co writing tracks for the likes of Omar with my friend Romain Diloya.
CM>>>When you write lyrics what inspires you? Do you need a special kind of mood when you write new lyrics?
Turell>>> All moods are special to writing lyrics you just have to go with the flow.
CM>>>Have you been raised in a musicians family or have you taught singing yourself? ... When did you fall in love with Soul music?
Turell>>>My family is very vocal if they cant sing they shout, my dad had a very wide selection of music and is a great singer, my grandfather before him as well. On top of that my uncle Max would give us tapes of jazz and soul which again showed me another path musically, this being the one I went with eventually. I was always in bands at school and would even do amateur dramatics as long as I could sing, I needed that outlet.
CM>>>Do you both been part of the Northern Soul movement that took part in the beginning of the Nineties, driving to Wigan Casino, collecting Kent records and rare stuff. Or wasn't that your cup of tea?
Smoove>>>I’m into many styles of music from soul, jazz , hip hop, funk and Latin etc but northern soul really hit me in 2003 when I went to dj in Italy at a soul weekender. I was so blown away from the experience that when I returned home I wrote the song “coming back “feat jess Roberts on vocals, taken From my album “Dead men’s shirts”. I like to put a spin on the whole northern soul thing and call it northern funk as my productions have more funk than soul, although I would say I provide the funk and john brings the soul.
Turell>>> No I was too busy working away as a Joiner at the time, 12 hour shifts don’t lend them selves to keeping up with any particular movement.
CM>>>What do you think about nowadays music? Isn't it sometimes a shame that a lot of musicians – and it doesn't matter which kind of music we are talking about – forget the “Soul” in their music?
Smoove>>>Soul is something you either got or you aint!
Turell>>> I concur!
CM>>>Which album or piece of music was the last one you thought, “Wow what a wonderful one!”
Smoove>>>Ray Charles live at Newport …it’s an incredible record!!!
Turell>>>All my brothers mix tapes!
CM>>>What can we expect next from both of you? Any plans for new music? Will you represent “Antique Soul” with a kind of tour? If it is so how will you perform with a live-band?
Smoove>>> We have a 7 piece live band currently touring performing songs from antique soul. We play at Glastonbury festival and the big chill festival in the U.K.we are currently working on another album as well as remixing beggar man along with shooting a video for the single.
CM>>>what do you need for a perfect day in your life?
Smoove>>>Coffee, an old record shop, Vietnamese food, my girlfriend and my cats!
Turell>>> Music and the people I love
www.smooveandturrell.com
www.jalapenorecords.com
Photos by permisson of Beatsinternational / Smoove&Turrell/Jalapeno Records
Interview Michael Mück
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