Welcome to Magazine Sixty, Fletch. Let’s start with your new single: Flexin EP. Tell us about your early influences and some of the records which inspired the making of three productions for the EP?
My influences with music are so varied it could take me all day to list them all, however I used to produce hip-hop and drum & bass when I was younger (14/15 years old) which I would say has most heavily crossed over into my house stuff; the punchy drums, samples and aesthetic of the sounds etc..
How did you first get into producing music and where/ how did you learn about the art?
I started producing music as a means to make edits for my DJ sets, I was djing at a roller disco as a 13 year old kid and didn’t want to just play generic music. I still do the same to this day over a decade later, I have tonnes of edits which I never plan to release.
How did you find yourself releasing music on MFF?
It was one of those situations where i have been a fan of the label for YEARS and so I sent them some music on a whim after getting a contact from a close friend. I didn’t really think anything would come of it but I was very wrong, they signed this EP along with a single for summer next year. Since then I met Justin in ibiza and realised we are basically the same person!
You are about to play: All Night Long at Joshua Brooks in Manchester. Is six hours the longest time you have played for and what sort of opportunity will it give you to play with moods and atmosphere’s or musical genres?
I am really looking forward to this set as it will give me the chance to play all the different House music I love and maybe even some other stuff who knows! I produce a variety of styles so this kind of set makes me feel most at home. My current record is about 10 hours djing when I was in Miami this summer, I played 6.5 hours at negroni and the rest at an afterparty spot straight after.
Obviously club culture has changed since the inception of House Music and Techno. In what ways do you see it as a healthy evolution to the much bigger events and brand names of today? Likewise are there any downsides?
I think the upsides and downsides are one in the same, being that there is more money within this space than ever before. This is great when more people can per-sue DJ’ing as a career but can make things about money rather than the music in the same breath.
How do you feel about how artists can make an income in these days of streaming etc?
I’m not sure exactly how I feel about it however I will say that most of the money you will make won’t be from streaming, more so gigs and track purchases.
Outside of music. What inspires your day to day in terms of the other arts such as books, cinema, artists etc?
As cliche as it may sound, I don’t have much time for things outside of music and when I’m not working I am listening to other artists or genres. However I do like to have time away from thinking about music, so I religiously train either in kick-boxing or at the gym every day to keep me sane.
How do you see the influence of social media in dance music?
Again I would say the good and bad go hand in hand with it, with the negatives being pretty obvious. I will say though that although I don’t really ‘do’ social media, being able to recieve messages from fans of your work and chat to people directly is great! I mostly focus on making art rather than making videos for social media.
Tell us about your production process and how you approach creating a piece of music. Are there any go to pieces of software or hardware which always fire up your imagination?
I use Ableton almost exclusively, I know it inside and out so it makes creating much easier. My approach for making music is to basically just start. Once I hear a hook or something that sounds good then that’s when the inspiration strikes and I feel the idea is actually born.
And finally. What are you looking forward to in 2024?
Everything. I have more music coming out than ever before, more gigs, more projects and even potentially another alias too without giving too much away.
buy Fletch – Flexin EP – Music For Freaks
https://mffmusicforfreaks.bandcamp.com/album/flexin-ep
https://www.instagram.com/fletchmusic_/
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