Often credited for being a lynchpin in the developing the tech-funk genre (an amalgamation of breaks, house, techno and electro) he has released a series of highly successful singles in the past few years, finding broad support from DJs and musicians across the board, including the likes of James Zabiela, the Plump DJs, Laurent Garnier and Damian Lazarus. In addition to these solo singles, Meat Katie has been a regular collaborator with Elite Force, a relationship that had begun in 2003 with the massive-selling 'Toba'.
As a remixer, Elite Force has always been in considerable demand, with re-workings for the likes of Grandmaster Flash, Crystal Method, Jungle Brothers, Stereo MCs, UNKLE, Infusion, Rennie Pilgrem, Shiloh and Dylan Rhymes all contributing to his reputation as one of the most creative and effective remixers around.
Elite Force was kind enough to take on this interview for us this afternoon as we all patiently await his arrival for his February Boston date at Club ID.
[EF] My name is Shack. I'm a music producer & DJ. In my spare time I like to garden and ski.
[EF] As Elite Force I've been releasing records for over 10 years now. As a producer my first release came back in 1993 I think, on a UK techno label.
[EF] I have a mixture of hardware & software & I can't see that changing, regardless of the advances in software that have been so exciting over the past few years. Back when I started out, it was an expensive business even setting up the most basic of studios to generate record-ready tracks and it took a long time to process ideas from the thought stage to the finished article. Nowadays it's cheap as chips to do and a piece of piss to make music in comparison and I think it's creating an environment where people don't have the patience & perseverance they should. The bottom line is that it's not a question of gear, it's a question of how to realize your ideas, so whatever you have, get to know it inside out.
[EF] I've been lucky enough to go to some far flung places - from Australia to Japan, from India to Belarus. I can't really single out one specific show - there have been some fucking crackers :)
[EF] I'm not & never have been a genre purist / fascist - it just bores the living daylights out of me. The idea of tech-funk wasn't to create yet another sub-genre, it was more an inclusive term rather than an exclusive one, aiming to embrace a number of styles under one umbrella, those styles being House, Techno, Breaks & Electro and all points in between.
[EF] I'm not a sentimentalist about vinyl (even though I'm surrounded by years of the stuff) - at the end of the day they're just formats, just ways of getting music across. The upsurge in digital technology's been really exciting for me. It enables me to consume a lot more music than I ever did on vinyl and also control the content a lot more tightly by re-edits & re-workings. I don't think the Ableton/Final Scratch/Serato thing's really made much impact yet in terms of people doing much with it of interest, but in a few years time it will.
[EF] Music and dancing.
[EF] Production-wise it's got to be the likes of Thomas Schumacher, Stephan Bodzin, Switch, Miles Dyson, John Dahlback, SebastiAn, Deadmau5, Justice, Phil Kieran, Nathan Fake, Mattheo DiMarr...the list goes on!
[EF] Recently the ipod's been rinsing the likes of TV on the Radio, Spiritualized, Hot Chip, M83, American Analog Set, Trentemoller, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Grandaddy, Mahler, Johnny Cash, Underworld, Sonic Youth etc... etc....
[EF] Don't expect it to work overnight/out of the box. It takes time to learn to produce, and time is the big trade - something has to give in order to 'win' that time. So start making those sacrifices :)
[EF] A continuation of what's gone before but with some further divergence into differing musical areas. Some kind of live performance cannot be completely ruled out.
[EF] I'm pretty positive about it, as long as they don't start calling it their 'soccer' club. I'm pleased that Moores & Parry are staying on the board and that we won't have to share our new ground with the smaller club from across the city ;)
[EF] After the shambles that followed with the demise of major distribution company 'Intergroove' late last year, the Modern:Primitive album I'd just released got sucked into the mire. I'm finally getting round to sorting out the next stage which will involve it's re-release in April/May time along with single 'You'. I also have remixes coming out in the next few months which I've done for Hybrid, Groove Armada, Madox & Rogue Element.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ELITE FORCE YOU CAN VISIT:
OFFICIAL ELITE FORCE PAGE
ELITE FORCE PERFORMS @ CLUB I/D, FEBRUARY 15TH