Interview with Quantic

You have many guises as Quantic - are all of them up in the air at the same time, or do you put them to bed to concentrate on just one?

I’ve been mainly concentrating on the Combo Barbaro & Flowering Inferno over the last few years. The Quantic Soul Orchestra has been de-commissioned for the last 5 years since the time I moved to South America. I tend to have different guises for different musical styles as I get into different corners of music.

Your focus seems to be with your Combo Barbaro - what has this branch of your music allowed you to explore that you haven't before? 

The Combo Barbaro has been about working with musicians from the Cali area of Colombia and recording in the same room together, old school style. I say old school style, as for me a lot of records you hear today are made with several sessions and the track’s musicians spread across several different physical spaces. The focus with the Barbaro stuff was to get everyone to come to my house and record in my spare room, therefore creating music centred around musician interaction and jamming it out. I’d recorded a lot live previously with Quantic Soul Orchestra, but mostly multi-tracking. The ease of finding good attentive and ready to go musicians in Colombia allowed me to be slightly more indulgent.

It is the Combo Barbaro that you're bringing to Norwich in August - what does a live show in this guise entail? The aim principally is to represent the record we recorded, but as time has gone on, and now with 5 years experience in Colombia, I’m increasingly finding it important to also bring native Colombian music to the UK, albeit in a Quantic style. For me, Colombian music like, say, Cumbia is as important and influential as, say, Reggae, so it’s good to play that too and add it to the mix. Nidia sings music from the Pacific region of Colombia, so it’s also important to represent that field too. Principally, the idea with a Combo is to play a varied mix of music, in this case we play Soul, Funk, Salsa, Cumbia and Pacific. I really like the interplay between the Funk and Soul music I’m previously known for and the new sounds I’m getting into from Colombia, Panama and Brasil.

'Tradition in Transition' is a mosaic of cultural sounds; did you know how it was going to sound from the beginning, or did the writing / recording process bring out surprises? A bit of both; I knew what I wanted to achieve, and it was a slightly more windy path to its completion than I anticipated, but I was happy with the results. Its recording was mainly centred around 2 forces, Peruvian Pianist Alfredito Linares and UK drummer Malcolm Catto, It was a great combination and something that would have never naturally occurred without my intervention, hahaha. So I guess it was about pairing interesting players together in the sessions and then adding overdubs of complimentary singers, strings or horns. The motto for all recording is that if you have a good backing band, anything is possible. Look at reggae for example… how many great songs can you make on just one rhythm? If the rhythm track is good, you can go anywhere from there.

Your 'Stampede Remixes', was one of the first singles I bought that made me want to DJ - can you remember a standout song that made you do the same? I started DJing in my mid-teens as I got into collecting Northern Soul 45s. I guess James Brown was a key influence for me back then, the drums were just so infectious; I couldn’t get over the sound and energy they transmitted. When you're making music, do you imagine it being played in a particular live environment? A club? A beach party?! Yes, sometimes, but more often it’s just what comes out; it’s sometimes hard to steer things in a certain direction... it often seems like its path is already set and you’re just etching in the colours and form, joining the dots I guess. Other tracks are more flexible and you can get them to sound a bit more how you imagined. I try to make all tracks powerful enough sonically to stand up in a club and make sure the bass and drums are always forward in the mix to ensure the energy is kept on the dancefloor. I also tend to test play a lot of mixes in the club, to check mixes I’ve done at high volume before signing them off.

The list must be endless, but how has your move to Colombia changed things for you the most? Personally, it’s obviously changed my lifestyle somewhat. But musically I’m doing much the same as I’ve always done, working with musicians and getting inspired by the music around me; the difference is that Colombia is slightly more exotic on paper than Birmingham. I’ve travelled extensively on the north coast, spending a lot of time in Barranquilla, the sort of Capital of Cumbia and Afro-centric Colombian dance music. I’ve been learning accordion a lot and have picked up a lot of new ways of playing guitar. So, it’s forever developing me as a person and truly a blessing to be fostered by such a lovely nation, truly some of the most wonderful people I’ve met.

Your list of collaborations takes in a stunning list of artists, but is there anyone else on the wish list that you would still like to work with?  

I’d love to work with Pinduca from Brasil; he is like the James Brown of Carimbo. I’d love to get Ramon Benitez on a track, but that could be tricky. I’d love to record in Haiti, but that’s going to take a minute or two to plan. It would be great to get more into the Middle East too - I’m working on that for the new year.