INTERVIEW : Brock Edwards
Whether he’s mixing, producing or curating for his labels, Brock Edwards is all about energy. Recently, the garage house aficionado has played prestigious gigs and been featured on some of our favorite DJs’ mixes. Like fuel on a fire, success has just alimented the output of this human dynamo. We reached out to Brock in this time of social isolation because we wanted to see how he’s doing, and because - frankly - we could use the company. Aside from the obvious, we discussed his current artistic streak, his creative process, and his inspirations.
How are you coping with the COVID-19 lockdown? I know it affects DJs a lot. Are you finding ways to express yourself as an artist through these times?
Oddly enough, I feel as connected or even more so now to people in the house music community. We all connect through music but are from all over the world… I find myself on video chats with people who I normally just message, constantly checking in with people to ensure everyone is holding up alright as every country is experiencing different challenges.
As an artist, I will say that it has changed things for me. Aside from the cancellation of a couple of coveted bookings, I also find it challenging to make clubby music with the absence of the club scene. The result of that is more pad-driven, moody productions and I’m not mad at that at all. Sometimes change is a good thing.
Can you talk to us about your labels Thursday Trax and Dub City Traxx?
Thursday Trax is the result of about a year of planning between Duskope and me to get off the ground. The goal with Thursday Trax was to create a proper home for garage house in the great white north. Sending demos to the UK provides some challenges for us over here as we are in a different time zone, have no in-person connections and I wanted that to be possible for people in Toronto as we have lots of up-and-coming talent. Although we primarily put out garage house we are someone open to other sub-genres as long as it has a classic vibe to it.
Dub City Traxx was created/founded by Plastik People boss Marc Cotterell. We took over it early this year and had our first release in February. It’s important to us that we respect Marc’s original vision with this imprint as the label has an established catalog of strong releases and stakeholders that we don’t wanna let down. Fear not everyone the labels in good hands and has lots in the works for 2020!
What do you think of the dance music scene in Toronto?
We are spoiled in Toronto with our thriving dance music scene. We have cross-genre parties like Night Shift TO every Wednesday and dance music first venues such as Coda, Nest, Vertigo and Comfort Zone to name a few. Although tech-house is the sound that most defines our city, if you know where to go you can find pretty much any niche sub-genre you could think of. My favorite club to play would be Coda for sure. They got this crazy PK sound system, great lighting, and it's the perfect medium-sized venue holding maybe 500 people. The DJ’s to watch right now in Toronto IMO are Deko-ze, Vaxx, Sir Real, MC Flipside, Jerome Robins, Duskope, Brendan Williams, and Terror Tone. We have no shortage of great artists mixing it up and bringing electricity to our dance floors.
What advice would you give a young DJ?
There is NOTHING more important than a jammed dancefloor having a good time when it comes to DJing. With that being said I think it's important for a DJ to understand that a little compromise is in order to keep that dance floor full. If you don’t want to play a certain pocket of music then don’t take the bookings that would require you to. I personally don’t care…
I’m a dance music DJ and play hip hop sets monthly. The advice I give to anybody new to DJing is to ignore the gatekeepers and have fun. Find equipment that best suits what you wanna do and don’t fear what anybody has to say about it. Know your library like the back of your hand so you can create cool moments in the mix and have fun because that's what we are all there for.
Your recent collab with RYME, Nicola’s Raw Step, got a lot of attention. Can you talk to us about it?
RYME and I have been in a never-ending collab project since mid-2019 resulting in over a dozen records. We understand each other's workflow, label ambitions, and get along well so it's been really enjoyable and is showing no signs of slowing. Nicola’s Raw Step was the first record I made primarily in Maschine Studio - as I’m usually an FL guy. I think that the change in workflow shows as it's not like anything else in my catalog. RYME did an outstanding job on the vocal arrangement which gave the record a soul. It was my first signing to Pogo House Records so it will always be a very special tune to me... If that wasn’t enough Todd Edwards playing it on Rinse FM surely made it so, haha.
You’re quite prolific. What are your tricks for staying productive and avoiding beat block?
No real trick, just an irrational fear that every song I’ve written is the last good song I’ll ever write and it keeps me in studio mode for a minimum of 10 hours a week. For me, the name of the game is time on attack. Sometimes you start a project and it's written in 6 hours, signed in 12 hours. The more common scenario is a lot more daunting. I was a drummer when I was young so writing percussion has always come naturally but melodies I basically treat like Tee-Ball - swing until you hit - and if I can’t find the inspiration to get a melody that I like, its sample time. Go find a vocal that I like, flip it and build my melody around it.
What are some of your favorite production tools at the moment?
My setup is pretty minimalistic. FL Studio 20, Maschine Mikro and an AKAI Sequencer. Massive coming for free with my Mikro was pretty handy and has been clutch for some basslines and pads. My next studio purchase will most likely be Spire, as I’ve heard nothing but good things about it… Even just the stock sample bank is pretty sweet from what I’ve heard.
Which artists inspire you at the moment?
When it comes to people who inspire me I couldn’t make that list without putting my partner in crime Duskope at the top of it. He has put out some of my favorite records in the last 2 years and was also instrumental in me developing as an artist. I don’t think I take anyone's feedback as seriously as I take his. We have a couple of forthcoming records that I’m extremely excited for everyone to hear. I take a lot of inspiration from my other frequent collaborators as well including Trevor Gordon, Fully Rated, and RYME.
What’s coming up for you?
This year’s gonna be a busy one as far as releases. I have releases forthcoming with Smashing Trax, Pogo House, Plastik People, Bassball Records, Gemini Wax, Captum Records, BAD LQQK, and of course my own imprints. I was a huge Lil Wayne fan when I was in high school and I would love to put out a new song every week like he did in 2005-2006.
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