A Conversation With: Foxwedding

I recently spoke to Foxwedding, a producer from the USA who pushes a really unique and arty sound, about himself as a producer and the inspiration behind his music.
 
I’m sure fans of the wave movement are familiar with Foxwedding, who recently featured on the Wavemob mixtape Wave 001, but if you want to listen to the sounds of Foxwedding and remind yourself of masterpieces like ‘death, though’ and ‘TRY ME’, check his Soundcloud out here. Foxwedding is one of the guy’s I’ve most been looking forward to chatting to, I love his music and really wanted to find out about the guy behind the deep, haunting sounds. I was thrilled when we could finally sort the interview, and am really excited to post it, especially since I’ve been a bit quiet on the blog recently! Foxwedding was great to chat to, he takes a very emotional and artistic approach to his music and I encourage fans to show support by purchasing his tracks on Bandcamp (find a link to his Bandcamp page here).

Next Friday at HUB16 in London, Yung Entertainment will be hosting a showcase, which will be an exciting night for the Wave movement with the likes of Kareful, Skit, Vacant and Moonbaby taking to the decks. The event will also be accompanied by visuals courtesy of In:Exhale. This promises to be a really unique and innovative night, and is obviously a great opportunity to hear some Wave being played out, and I’m really excited about it! Fans will be able to catch a recording of the exclusive show online after the event, so make sure you check that out, and I will also be uploading a piece reviewing the night so look out for that one too! 

And as ever, make sure you're tuning into Plastician's weekly rinse FM podcast, to hear an a tasteful selection of some of the best tunes the Wave movement has to offer right now!

Below is a transcript of my conversation with Foxwedding, I hope you all enjoy reading!

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Hey man! Thanks so much for talking to me!

It’s no problem!

Okay, first off tell our readers a bit about yourself!

I am 22 years old, and I’m from a pretty small town way upstate New York.

I see, and do you do music full time?

Well I’m really going to try to make this my real job after I move to California. I'd really like to get to the point soon where I don’t need to hold another job, it’s hard though, especially when I'm not DJing and mostly just making money through leases for vocalists.

Ah I see, so you don’t DJ?

Not currently, I’m working on that but I’ve just never been completely happy with my mixes. I have played one show as Foxwedding though.

Where was that?

That was at a tight house basement in Boston which was actually an opening for Bathaus; she’s a good friend. It was my buddies house but also a pretty regular venue in the basement. It ended up being a really fun, low-key, Goth kinda dance party! (laughs)

Nice, sounds cool! Did you play your own tunes? What was the crowd reaction?

I played mostly my stuff, and the crowd was amazing they totally got my vibe. It was a really incredible night. I can’t wait to play more shows actually, when I finally sort it out.

Yeah man, I’d love to hear a set by you! So how long have you been making music?

As long as I can remember really.

I take it you haven’t always made this kind of music?

No, no, not at all. I loved the piano growing up, and then just kind of went from instrument to instrument until I really figured out electronic production was the direction I wanted to go in, and even then I dabbled through a lot of different projects and sounds before I got to the concept behind Foxwedding.

I see, so what other kind of electronic stuff did you experiment with?

Well Initially I was making very ambient electronic stuff, with a lot of real instruments implemented in. So I'd mess around with weird sounds and instruments in my room basically, record it, and mess with the samples. There's still a few hidden gems from that era on Youtube somewhere but I'm not sure that I want to show anyone! (laughs)

What do you define your music as now? Does it have a genre?

I try not to think much about what genre my music specifically fits into. For one thing, I can’t really make two songs which are alike, and I don’t know that I’d ever want to. My tastes and influences are always changing and therefore my music is as well.

You say your influences are always changing, but what were your main influences for your current sound? I can kind of hear trap and chillstep influences, is that something you were trying to shoot for?

Actually, not really. I guess I was mostly inspired by Witchhouse and Hip-Hop. When I really committed to Foxwedding I was definitely listening to a lot of like Crim3s, BL CK † CEILING, Bathaus and that sort of stuff, but I was also living with my sister who was jamming on some Little Pain, and Gucci, so all those ideas kind of hit me at once and I wanted to combine a lot of the concepts.

That’s interesting, actually a lot of USA based producers I’ve spoken to have said Witchhouse was a big influence for them. I guess that sound took off over in the USA more so than here in the UK. Do you think there are differences between the USA and UK sound now?

Absolutely. Electronic music is sewn into UK society in a way that is only just starting to happen in the US, so in the UK, producers just have higher standards when it comes to overall sound design and mixing and stuff. Whereas here, you see a lot of producers working almost entirely with vocalists because again being a strictly electronic music producer is just less viable here. I think the integration with the American hip-hop scene brings these really raw and unique sounds that wouldn’t have been involved with the scene otherwise though, and you can see these influences get pulled into the UK and then perfected and changed and approached differently, which is really cool. 

I see, okay. So what do you think of the term ‘Wave’ which seems to be taking off particularly in the UK?

I love the name Wave but not so much as a definitive genre, more as a simple way to describe the current movement of mostly internet based producers and vocalists.

You were recently involved in the Wavemob mix tape with your brilliant track ‘Hell of a thing’. That must have been fun? How did you become involved in that?

Yes, Klimeks and I had been following each other’s music for a while and I approached him about working on some music, next thing I knew I was on Wavemob! So that was really fun and a huge honor!

And was that your first physical release?

Yes my first physical release ever! 

So will you be working with the Wavemob crew in the future?

Yep, was lucky enough to score a spot on the team so you can expect to hear a lot more from us!

Anything specific in the pipeline you can tell us about?

I don't wanna say too much, but Wavemob is always cookin’ up some new ideas! I love those guys, we’re always brainstorming.

Ah okay man! I can’t seem to find any EPs from you on Soundcloud or Bandcamp, only individual tracks. Can we expect an EP from you any time soon? Is that something you plan to make?

Yes, I have a full length album 'BREAK NECK RIDGE' that I’m working on at the moment; I’m very excited about that. Not going to say too much but I’ve got some incredible people featuring on it, and I’m going to do everything I can to make it huge.

Okay so, what’s your process for making music? Do you just suddenly get hit by inspiration and make the whole thing in a day, is it a week or month long process?

Ah it can go either way, I really believe that art should not be forced and just come naturally, but that’s a lot harder to justify when I’m trying to make a living with this music stuff!

You use some really interesting samples in your work. Where do you get them from?

All sorts of places, old songs and movies. I use a lot of strange old stuff, like documentary footage.

That’s really interesting, I definitely think your samples give your tracks an arty feel. I have to say, I think your sound is really deep and goes to a very emotional place. Tunes like ‘Whatever I Am’, for example, are genuinely moving. Is this emotion something that’s important to you?

Yeah, for sure. I see a lot of people kind of competing to be the loudest, or hardest, or most complex producer but I don’t think those are realistic or interesting goals, I just want to make music that I think sounds nice, and conveys some sort of emotional reaction, if even just to get the listener inside my head for a moment.

That’s a really beautiful way of putting it. So, you use your music to express your mood?

Yes, my music is usually a frighteningly accurate depiction of how I'm feeling actually. It’s funny, after a while you can scroll down my Soundcloud and just kind of hear how my emotions have evolved over the past few months or so, like a strange diary of sorts. I think the same can be said for a lot of these Soundcloud artists.

That’s pretty incredible, and definitely something I think the listener can hear in your tracks. Okay, so what equipment do you use to produce?

Just my lil’ laptop and keyboard! I use Ableton Live - sometimes I feel like I'm part of a rare breed on that though; this scene is dominated by FL studio users!

When I listen to tunes like ‘death, though’, I really want to hear it on a Soundsystem with a properly deep bass capacity. Do you have the club in mind at all when you produce?

Rarely, but sometimes. I’ll find myself heading towards a more balanced club-friendly song sometimes, and then feel limited and just drop something grossly distorted or super raw. It all depends on the mood, and I appreciate an artist who can go clean or dirty.

Do you see this movement becoming a club phenomenon?

Absolutely, and I know that Plastician, and the Wavemob boys are definitely making sure that happens!

For sure! Do you think it’ll take off more in UK clubs? Do you have any plans to come to the UK at all?

I'd love to in time, I’m  going to have to come meet all the homies I've made in the UK scene at some point, and yeah I know a lot of people are moving to bring this music to the club there, and change the idea of what constitutes 'club music'.

Yeah man it’d be cool if you could play a show here some day! Alright, what’s your favorite of your own tunes and why?

I’m very proud of TRY ME; this was me venting out a tough time and its nice now in retrospect to reflect on a bit.

That is an amazing track and I can definitely hear the passion in it. Alright so, who would you say is your favorite artist on the scene at the moment? And any favorite tunes that you suggest our readers check out?

I’ve gotta say my dude Klimeks has been my soundtrack lately! And some of my favorite recent tracks are, um, Klimeks – Oxide, brothel & divine - Can't Sleep, blank body - MIRROR POND, fleece – xx and hnrk – Leuchtstoff, so, everybody listen to those!

Great! When is 'BREAK NECK RIDGE' dropping?

I have no exact release date yet, still waiting to hear back on some collaborations and stuff. I'll have an exact date soon. Hoping to be a digital and cassette release, just like the Wavemob tape.

You planning anything before that?

I think I might drop a lil’ something in the next few days just for fun.

And do you have anything in mind regarding shows?

Well I might be headed for the West Coast soon permanently in which case I’m gunna have to get myself together and start playing some actual shows; so definitely look out for me playing there!

Ah cool man. That’s pretty much it for my questions! It’s been a pleasure talking to you. Is there anything else you want to add?

Thank you for the interview and support! Um, just keep an eye out for updates on 'BREAK NECK RIDGE' and its release!

Will do man! Thanks a lot!

You can listen to and purchase Wavemob's mix tape Wave 001 mentioned at the start of the article here. Follow me on Soundcloud here, to keep up with the latest and most exciting tracks the Wave movement has to offer. Also, don't forget to check out the online video of the Yung showcase, happening next Friday in London!