Speaker 1: No matter what I ended up doing, I'm appreciative of
Speaker 1: my opportunities because I was born in the places I
Speaker 1: avoided for the most part. So yeah, that's kind of
Speaker 1: how look at it.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Midnight Chats, a podcast of laid back conversations
Speaker 2: with leading names in music. In keeping with these informal interviews,
Speaker 2: each new one is published weekly at midnight. This week's
Speaker 2: episode is hosted by me Greg Cochrane from Loud and
Speaker 2: Quiet magazine. We're lucky to get time in with tonight's guest,
Speaker 2: because fair to say, Vince Staples's diary is looking slammed.
Speaker 2: After a low key couple of years, twenty twenty one
Speaker 2: is a big one for the artist, starting with the music.
Speaker 2: Just last week the beginning of July, Vince released his
Speaker 2: fourth album, The South of Vince Staples Album. Go check
Speaker 2: it out. It's the follow up to Summertime, six, Big
Speaker 2: Fish Theory, and most recently f M. Ten new songs
Speaker 2: made the final cut, But, as he says in the
Speaker 2: conversation you are about to hear, went through a prolific
Speaker 2: spell of creating material in twenty twenty during the pandemic
Speaker 2: and wrote almost two hundred new songs made about thirty
Speaker 2: of those with his friend and producer Kenny Beats that
Speaker 2: ended up forming this new project. It was the week
Speaker 2: leading up to the release of that new album that
Speaker 2: Vince was speaking to me from home in southern California,
Speaker 2: and we talked a lot about his non music endeavors
Speaker 2: as well. I'm sure loads of you have seen the
Speaker 2: brilliantly surreal and hilarious The Vince Staples Show on YouTube
Speaker 2: and in a huge movie. He's currently making some more
Speaker 2: episodes of that for Netflix. He's also getting into podcasting,
Speaker 2: There's a film project coming and before the end of
Speaker 2: the year he is also releasing his first graphic novel,
Speaker 2: So no wonder. He's not sure when he's going to
Speaker 2: be playing any live shows anytime soon. From a UK perspective,
Speaker 2: two things I wanted to ask Vince about. He worked
Speaker 2: with the producer Sophie on his Big Fish Theory album
Speaker 2: in twenty seventeen. Sophie sadly died after a sudden accident
Speaker 2: in Athens, Greece, earlier this year and obviously a huge
Speaker 2: loss to music. A real visionary, and Vince speaks in
Speaker 2: really moving way about Sophie's influence and friendship. Plus we
Speaker 2: talked a little bit about him joining Gorillas on their
Speaker 2: World Talk a couple of years ago after we got
Speaker 2: to know dam in Auburn and collaborated on their track Ascension.
Speaker 2: So here we go a pleasure to welcome Vince Staples
Speaker 2: onto Midnight Chats episode one hundred and twelve. Throughout this series,
Speaker 2: when we've been talking to different artists, lots of conversations
Speaker 2: about how people just managed the pandemic. You know what
Speaker 2: the last like fourteen months has been like, you know,
Speaker 2: in terms of like communication and how you've had to
Speaker 2: change working and stuff. But I think a few different
Speaker 2: people have said, you know, that change of speaking to
Speaker 2: people online and working from home, particularly at the very
Speaker 2: start of the pandemic is actually they've enjoyed some of
Speaker 2: the things that have come out of it. Did was
Speaker 2: it like that for you? Did? Is it sort of
Speaker 2: made some of the part of your sort of job
Speaker 2: easier so to speak?
Speaker 1: Uh? Yeah, I mean I appreciate the time to kind
Speaker 1: of be home or or like I feel like we
Speaker 1: have a lot of unnecessary interactions, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like it's a lot we can get a lot done
Speaker 1: in the same manners and space. I guess it's you know,
Speaker 1: people like to go sit at the restaurant and go
Speaker 1: sit at the sohouse. It's like a it's like a thing.
Speaker 1: So that's not necessarily my thing. So you know, I like,
Speaker 1: you know, not having I don't live in La so
Speaker 1: I would have to like travel pretty far to go
Speaker 1: do these things. And it's like you drive two hours
Speaker 1: for a fifteen minute meeting type thing. So so yeah,
Speaker 1: it was like, it's that kind of that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: But I know, I appreciate anyone's willingness and want to
Speaker 1: have to speak up to me about what I'm doing.
Speaker 1: So you know, it's not like I don't like to
Speaker 1: do it or all. I don't want to do it,
Speaker 1: but I do like doing it from home.
Speaker 2: I hear what you're saying, because it's nice to have
Speaker 2: a couple more hours back in your day when you're
Speaker 2: not just stuck in traffic or something.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2: It feels a bit. Yeah, it feels a bit more productive. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So am I right in thinking? It was your birthday
Speaker 2: a couple of days ago.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, happy birthday, man, Thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Did you have a good day, what did you get up.
Speaker 1: To and I think just you know, I've been doing
Speaker 1: a lot of work stof so I just stayed home
Speaker 1: for the day and didn't do you know, things like
Speaker 1: this for a day.
Speaker 2: So obviously it's early where you are when we're recording
Speaker 2: this now. But what's your kind of like your average
Speaker 2: day at the moment, looking like, you know, do you
Speaker 2: have like a routine you kind of like get up
Speaker 2: straight into work. What what's your kind of current kind
Speaker 2: of situation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, wake up, my promo, pressing interviews and if I
Speaker 1: have time for other things, which usually we kind of don't,
Speaker 1: I'll probably like you or something like that. But that, yeah, promo,
Speaker 1: pressing interviews and like I did a tiny jest the
Speaker 1: other day. No, yeah, pretty much use promo for this
Speaker 1: upcoming project stuff. That's pretty much where the day are
Speaker 1: right now.
Speaker 2: It's been interesting talking to people throughout this series about
Speaker 2: where they're at, like people, you know, artists based all
Speaker 2: around the world and things are obviously at different stages
Speaker 2: of being opening up with everything going on with the pandemic.
Speaker 2: What does it feel like where you are? Is it
Speaker 2: is it things we're turning to the sense of normal
Speaker 2: or you know, still things a little bit different. How's
Speaker 2: it with you?
Speaker 1: It's returned those sense of normal. I feel like, you know,
Speaker 1: I personally still believe you know, I should, I should,
Speaker 1: and we all should be careful and be mindfully you
Speaker 1: know the people around us, and maybe you know their
Speaker 1: compromise positions as far as you know their immunity and
Speaker 1: things of that nature, and just be just mindful and
Speaker 1: be kind of just be polite to other people and not,
Speaker 1: you know, just take take the proper precaution that worlds
Speaker 1: we'll be taking, just not necessarily for ourselves with other people.
Speaker 1: But yeah, things are kind of getting back to I
Speaker 1: don't know if people necessarily are care much anymore like
Speaker 1: they did beforehand. I think people are kind of we
Speaker 1: live in a disensitized culture pretty much, so I think
Speaker 1: we're kind of getting to that point with this.
Speaker 2: What about things like live shows you book, you're going
Speaker 2: to start booking tools and festivals? Is that kind of
Speaker 2: thing happening because it's it's in the UK, it's still
Speaker 2: sort of a bit of a we're like one foot
Speaker 2: in the pandemic, one foot out if you know anything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I definitely what you mean. Not as of now,
Speaker 1: there's nothing that's been booked. Yeah, there's nothing that's been booked.
Speaker 1: But I don't really see it happening for me anytime soon.
Speaker 1: But maybe you never you honestly never know. But I'm
Speaker 1: kind of I don't think that's kind of our next step.
Speaker 1: I think we try to, you know, get a lot
Speaker 1: of these other things we have coin are done, and
Speaker 1: then we'll go from there.
Speaker 2: It's twenty twenty one about working on kind of non
Speaker 2: live projects for you. Is that Is that going to
Speaker 2: be the priority?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I just I know we have we
Speaker 1: have this music stuff, We have this stuff we're trying
Speaker 1: to do within like a podcast space that's not necessarily
Speaker 1: traditional podcast. We don't think kind of within the format,
Speaker 1: within the podcast space. Working on you know this, the
Speaker 1: Vince Stable show Flix, trying to get this film called
Speaker 1: that ass that were working on Jermaine Foler, trying to
Speaker 1: get that film out. This little stuff, just a little mad,
Speaker 1: little stuff here and there, and I'm trying to like
Speaker 1: turn into big stuff. That's all.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's very humble of you. It sounds like big
Speaker 2: stuff to.
Speaker 1: Me, that big stuff until it happened.
Speaker 2: So yeah, true. I wanted to ask what I wanted
Speaker 2: to start by asking you about the graphic novel because
Speaker 2: you just announced that you're going to be releasing a
Speaker 2: graphic novel called Limbo Beach in December. That's one of
Speaker 2: the things that you're kind of going to be involved
Speaker 2: with with this year. What's the background with that and
Speaker 2: have you always had have you had a passion for
Speaker 2: graphic novels in the past or is it an opportunity
Speaker 2: that's come your way that you thought that sounds really interesting.
Speaker 1: So it's this company cause the two comics that works
Speaker 1: with Universal, they do graphic novels based off of artist
Speaker 1: music and h they when I was obviously I'm in
Speaker 1: the Universal system, So when I was brought the opportunity,
Speaker 1: I just asked him if we can do something unique
Speaker 1: to you know, it's own nothing that was kind of
Speaker 1: derivative music or projects specifically, and you know, they were
Speaker 1: up forward and you know they kind of kind of
Speaker 1: held our hands in the creation of it. We just
Speaker 1: had to come up with the story and they found
Speaker 1: us a appropriate team to help finish writing and get
Speaker 1: they're brought to founder appropriately illustrated. It was a really
Speaker 1: good just a good experience, good team of people.
Speaker 2: What I've seen so far from the kind of selected
Speaker 2: visuals that you shared, looks looks amazing. What can you
Speaker 2: tell me a little bit about the story?
Speaker 1: Yeah, just you know, it's about, you know, a place
Speaker 1: where these kids go they kind of don't know where
Speaker 1: they are, kind of their journeys and discovery and their
Speaker 1: like their maturity and adolescents and like kind of uncomfromised
Speaker 1: situation of you know, you wake up in the place,
Speaker 1: you don't know who, you already don't know where you are,
Speaker 1: and that leads kids to being kids because you already
Speaker 1: know how children are. Children are very you know, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't say judgmental, but you know, it's very surface. So
Speaker 1: that that kind of childlike behavior, that kind of child
Speaker 1: like mind state in a place where they're by themselves,
Speaker 1: but they have these unique abilities and these unique strengths.
Speaker 1: Kind of it's just about their development, their personal development,
Speaker 1: and how they deal with that responsibility, how they deal
Speaker 1: with that power, how they deal with all these things
Speaker 1: while still essentially being children without knowing who they are,
Speaker 1: even because you know, as a child, no one really
Speaker 1: knows who they are as a child.
Speaker 2: Have you how to finished copy of the graphic novel
Speaker 2: in your hands yet. Have you got it back from
Speaker 2: the printing?
Speaker 1: Oh? No, but I've seen, you know, kind of where
Speaker 1: we're heading with it, and I think it's really really,
Speaker 1: really really good.
Speaker 2: Do you think at some point it could kind of
Speaker 2: be I mean the visuals wise and story wise. Do
Speaker 2: you think there's some development in there? Could it? Could it?
Speaker 2: You know, in the past, obviously we've seen it tons
Speaker 2: of like graphic novels have been turned into like TV
Speaker 2: shows or movies or whatever. Like is that is your
Speaker 2: mind and you thinking that kind of thing?
Speaker 1: I definitely think it's a possibility. I don't think it's
Speaker 1: a possibility. Especially with the team that we have and
Speaker 1: the people that are working on it, I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: that anything is possible with these guys. They're very passionate
Speaker 1: about what they do and very knowledgeable about what they do.
Speaker 1: So if anybody can do it, it'll be these guys.
Speaker 2: It's going to be the next Sin City.
Speaker 1: Oh, that'll be That'll be very interesting if that's how
Speaker 1: it turns.
Speaker 2: You already mentioned there's a whole bunch of like different
Speaker 2: sort of projects and happening this year. One of the
Speaker 2: things you just mentioned there was podcasts like what given
Speaker 2: that we're chatting now on a podcast, what kind of
Speaker 2: thing are you looking to do there? Because there's there's
Speaker 2: a lot of podcasts out there doing similar things, right,
Speaker 2: so how important is it to try and do something
Speaker 2: that's a little bit different.
Speaker 1: I think I think it's I think it's a space
Speaker 1: more than is a thing. So if you can just
Speaker 1: utilize the space in a in a creative way and
Speaker 1: just utilize the space like the digestions, it's the way
Speaker 1: people digest things. So if you can kind of put
Speaker 1: you can put anything there, you know what I mean. Like,
Speaker 1: it doesn't have to necessarily be because I would say
Speaker 1: that a podcast is very similar to what you would
Speaker 1: see on a social media feed, like based on the
Speaker 1: way people use it, likes same that same whether people
Speaker 1: will you know, will utilize the blog or something like that.
Speaker 1: I kind of see a lot of people bes in
Speaker 1: podcasts in that light. So you know, it's very possible
Speaker 1: to use it in a different light because like I said,
Speaker 1: it's just just a conversation piece, and yeah, you can
Speaker 1: make it conversation about literally whatever you want to be about.
Speaker 1: So we're just trying to figure out a cool way
Speaker 1: to do that utilizing the space and doing something that
Speaker 1: you know no one else is doing, both visually and
Speaker 1: you know, as an audio thing.
Speaker 2: On the subject to visuals, it always feels like every
Speaker 2: Vince Staples video that's ever released is an event. It's
Speaker 2: never ever thoughtless. It's it's always you know, it's always
Speaker 2: so imaginative and so many great ideas. Am I right
Speaker 2: in thinking that? Growing up, you know, you always loved
Speaker 2: movies and TV almost as much, if not more than music.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't like music growing up like that. I
Speaker 1: still don't really honestly listen to music, but yeah, I do,
Speaker 1: like you know, television, movies and things like that. We
Speaker 1: all do. So it's like just trying to make sure
Speaker 1: that I'm able to create unique things that I would
Speaker 1: you know, that that that lean itself to, that lends
Speaker 1: them that's human, that lends itself to my art or
Speaker 1: whatever I end up doing. I don't want to lean
Speaker 1: on just h I think this song is good. I
Speaker 1: don't want to lean on just all this visual is good.
Speaker 1: I want to make sure that they kind of me
Speaker 1: in the middle somewhere. So that's kind of how I
Speaker 1: look at a visual in general.
Speaker 2: Can I ask it out like what will you sort
Speaker 2: of surround yourself there is when you've got ideas, So
Speaker 2: like if you've got a new idea for a video
Speaker 2: or something like that, or do you have like do
Speaker 2: you have like a home office at own where you
Speaker 2: stick like you do you like sketch out ideas? Do
Speaker 2: you how do you surround yourself with ideas? Do you
Speaker 2: like note them down on your laptop? Or like what
Speaker 2: what do you do to sort of capture when something
Speaker 2: comes to mind and you're like I need to develop that,
Speaker 2: I need to work more with that. I think that's
Speaker 2: a great idea. Where do you put it? How do
Speaker 2: you surround yourself?
Speaker 1: Nothing? Honestly, I need to do a better job with that,
Speaker 1: but I don't do anything. It's pretty much like you know,
Speaker 1: if it's worth doing, I remember. If it's not, I
Speaker 1: forget it, to be honest, But I'm trying to do
Speaker 1: a better job or remembering these things.
Speaker 2: There's probably been like hundreds of great ideas that you've
Speaker 2: had that then you've got distracted by something else and
Speaker 2: you're like, damn, that one's gone.
Speaker 1: Yeah that's definitely probably happened a million times. But you know, no,
Speaker 1: everything happens for a reason.
Speaker 2: So we'll see on the subject of like TV and movies,
Speaker 2: what's the movie that you reckon you've watched the most
Speaker 2: over your life?
Speaker 1: My life, So that would mean before I was picking
Speaker 1: around movies, probably like Friday or something like that, Friday,
Speaker 1: something along the lines of that kind of thing. My
Speaker 1: family is very very we digest and when I was
Speaker 1: growing up, like we digest it, very black things, very
Speaker 1: things that are very relevant to you know, our culture,
Speaker 1: and I would bring our surroundings. So so Friday was
Speaker 1: it definitely has to be it. Yeah, that's definitely it.
Speaker 2: Can you so oversight every line?
Speaker 1: Uh No, I can't r I can't really recite my
Speaker 1: own lyrics. To be honest, I forget things. I forget
Speaker 1: things very very very fast. But I do. I do
Speaker 1: love that movie very much. It's you know, for it
Speaker 1: to be for to be independent film, for it to
Speaker 1: be something that you know was a brain child or
Speaker 1: someone who's kind of has a similar you know, trajectory
Speaker 1: as me as far as like starting his music and whatnot.
Speaker 1: I think it's a very important thing. It's very it's
Speaker 1: a very important film, probably more important than like it
Speaker 1: gets credit for.
Speaker 2: Some of you just mentioned there was like, you know,
Speaker 2: keeping things in your head, you know, like when it
Speaker 2: comes to lyrics or when it comes to lines, if
Speaker 2: you're like working with a script or something, as somebody
Speaker 2: who kind of like necessarily quite sort of forgetful. So
Speaker 2: like when it comes to like you, if you're about
Speaker 2: to play a show, or if you're about to record
Speaker 2: a scene for TV or for like an episode of
Speaker 2: The Vince Staple Show or something, are you good at
Speaker 2: retaining that information in your head? Or does it take
Speaker 2: a lot of hard work so that it sticks?
Speaker 1: You know, I just just focused on it then there,
Speaker 1: Like for the Vince Staple Show, none, none of that
Speaker 1: was scripted. There were no lines. It was all okay, improvisational.
Speaker 1: I didn't write anything down except for like ray J's
Speaker 1: parts or whatever. Everything else is pretty much everything else
Speaker 1: is pretty much just off the cut. But yeah, if
Speaker 1: you've said enough times, you'll be fine. It's the way
Speaker 1: I look at it, you know, if I say it
Speaker 1: thirty forty times in a row, then I remember it.
Speaker 2: Continuing on the subject of movies, is there any like
Speaker 2: genres or anything that you just never that just aren't
Speaker 2: for you, that you can't get on board with or
Speaker 2: you just never really kind of fully given the time to.
Speaker 1: I always been somebody who's interested in like the wather
Speaker 1: things are made more than the things themselves so or
Speaker 1: why people like things. So it's not anything that I
Speaker 1: can't do or anything I can watch or listen to
Speaker 1: or anything like that. I think I can kind of
Speaker 1: just I can adjust any of those things issues. I'm
Speaker 1: I'm not looking to be like excited by it. I'm
Speaker 1: not looking to like, you know, fall in love with it.
Speaker 1: It's just interesting to see if there's a movie and
Speaker 1: it's been made, obviously somebody like it, and obviously it's
Speaker 1: a crowd for it. So if I can kind of
Speaker 1: realize how and why these things kind of can fruition,
Speaker 1: then it could help me create things as well.
Speaker 2: I mean in terms of the stuff they're working on
Speaker 2: for Netflix, is that like an extension of what you've
Speaker 2: done with the Vince Staples Show. How do those things relate?
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, that's exactly what it is. Literally exact. That's
Speaker 1: how we got the show. So you know, Kenya can
Speaker 1: embarrass and his production company kind of saw. We had
Speaker 1: some meetings and they kind of that means a lot
Speaker 1: of people, actually a lot of people are interested, but
Speaker 1: it kind of made the most sense with Netflix. So
Speaker 1: we're just trying to do something that's very very that
Speaker 1: leads itself to that platform, and I think that's kind
Speaker 1: of that's going to be a great da for us.
Speaker 2: You mentioned that a lot of the stuff that you've
Speaker 2: done on YouTube, for example, was kind of done created
Speaker 2: in the moment, you know, like spontaneously unscripted. How will
Speaker 2: would this be different? Is this involved more planning? You know,
Speaker 2: once you kind of work with a big kind of
Speaker 2: content provider like Netflix or something, I guess maybe things
Speaker 2: are a little bit different at that point. So what
Speaker 2: was the experience being like so far?
Speaker 1: Well, it's just I just I just personally didn't do it,
Speaker 1: like but I knew what was going to happen was
Speaker 1: going to be said. We just had a general idea.
Speaker 1: But essentially it was just being chinmatic and we were
Speaker 1: able to work with some great people who have you know,
Speaker 1: like the extras and not the actual but the additional
Speaker 1: actors in the first one, like those the guys from
Speaker 1: the film I don't know if you've seen if it's
Speaker 1: a film called The Wood that was a really big
Speaker 1: film out here, Like they were the additional characters, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. So even past that, like we
Speaker 1: just had to you know, some really some some local
Speaker 1: legends I would say, from California just to kind of
Speaker 1: help us with it, and I think that kind of
Speaker 1: made it to where we had that leency. But yeah,
Speaker 1: we're definitely writing the shot and stuff. Obviously, I was
Speaker 1: just that was just a like an anecdote based on
Speaker 1: like remembering the lines. It was really nothing to remember.
Speaker 1: I just had to kind of know the scenario and
Speaker 1: based on we were running we were running gun in
Speaker 1: it as if it was a music video, So I just
Speaker 1: I had a little bit more leniency with that. But
Speaker 1: we did that, and like it was a very quick
Speaker 1: like put together thing. So now with how we're doing
Speaker 1: it now, I'm pretty sure that it's going to be
Speaker 1: even better.
Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to seeing it. Are there any shows
Speaker 2: out there that have been shared in the last few
Speaker 2: years that you sort of see as a bit of
Speaker 2: a blueprint that you think, you know what, that was great,
Speaker 2: I'm going for that kind of sort of thing, or
Speaker 2: do you feel this is something completely unique?
Speaker 1: Not at all. I guess I was tooking from the
Speaker 1: rap world. So you don't want to be like, you
Speaker 1: don't want to bite anybody's idea. But there are a
Speaker 1: lot of great things that I've seen that, you know,
Speaker 1: I like How to Be a Guid in Central Florida.
Speaker 1: I think that's what the show is called. Excuse me
Speaker 1: if I've kind of said anything kind of wrong. I'm
Speaker 1: not sing good names. Of course, Up Paying fifteen is great,
Speaker 1: Atlanta's great, so many great things. Black One Day is great. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's a lot of really really good shows. I think
Speaker 1: obviously you have your love Craft Countries, you have your Watchmen,
Speaker 1: you have these kind of blockbusters shows, but yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a lot of really good stuff out there.
Speaker 2: Well did you make of that show, Dave? That's kind
Speaker 2: of like only really been big in the UK the
Speaker 2: last like year or so.
Speaker 1: I honestly haven't seen it, but a lot of my
Speaker 1: friends are of Travis is working on it, so I'll
Speaker 1: watch it one day definitely, definitely. But I know they're
Speaker 1: in their second season right now, and I know for
Speaker 1: sure they're going to get a third because they're doing great.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that is something that I do plan on watching.
Speaker 2: And what about like the different disciplines like working on
Speaker 2: a TV series is obviously totally different discipline to sitting
Speaker 2: down writing lyrics for a record. So how are those
Speaker 2: things different for you? Do you have a preference for
Speaker 2: one over the other? And how do you switch modes?
Speaker 2: You know, how do you how do you one day
Speaker 2: sit doing one thing and any other, like using a
Speaker 2: different part of your brain.
Speaker 1: It's very similar to me because at the end of
Speaker 1: the day their words, you know what I mean, Like
Speaker 1: a television shows words, a song is words. And either way,
Speaker 1: you're basically just trying to have a conversation with the
Speaker 1: viewer and the listener without necessarily acknowledging them as as
Speaker 1: mean as that sounds, I meaning the peers way possible.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so it's just trying to have a good
Speaker 1: conversation with you know, whoever's listening, and there's no it's
Speaker 1: the same thing as a podcast essentially, it's the same
Speaker 1: part of my brain.
Speaker 2: Specifically, do you have the viewer in mind?
Speaker 1: Do you do?
Speaker 2: Are you thinking of it in terms of a conversation
Speaker 2: when you're writing that stuff? Like do do you sort
Speaker 2: of have this like imaginary imaginary viewer or listener in
Speaker 2: mind when you're doing that?
Speaker 1: I mean that you kind of have to, you know,
Speaker 1: because it's like you have to make sure that everything
Speaker 1: makes sense as far as like the trajector what you're creating. Right,
Speaker 1: So things have to have a beginning miail end essentially right.
Speaker 1: But some things can go on set based on the
Speaker 1: audiences itself, you know what I mean. So you don't
Speaker 1: need every little detail if that's based off it's somewhat conversational.
Speaker 1: There's some things that are implied and that's based off
Speaker 1: you knowing the listener or knowing the listener's position.
Speaker 2: With regards to music, obviously, you worked on a lot
Speaker 2: of music in twenty twenty, Like I read that it
Speaker 2: was something like one hundred tracks or something that you'd
Speaker 2: kind of worked on. From all of that, how did
Speaker 2: you decide what would appear on this self titled album?
Speaker 1: It was like like almost two hundred eight hundred ninety
Speaker 1: something like that. I forgot, But wow, what the project?
Speaker 2: I mean, that's that's prolific. Oh, that's super.
Speaker 1: I mean, no, they all weren't good, you know, they
Speaker 1: all weren't good. There weren't finished, But I think it
Speaker 1: was the first time I had like enough time and
Speaker 1: just took the time to really just create aimlessly. You
Speaker 1: know pretty much. I've never had any like spirit songs
Speaker 1: pretty much every Soca Bide it has been put out.
Speaker 1: So it's funny, like the Kini stuff was kind of
Speaker 1: a separate excursion, like I did the Kinny stuff. I
Speaker 1: mean the Vince Abe was project your stuff with Kenny.
Speaker 1: We did thirty songs in like eight sessions towards the
Speaker 1: end of the year, right for Christmas. So it kind
Speaker 1: of wasn't along the same vein of you know, what
Speaker 1: the other stuff was, but that other stuff was very violent.
Speaker 1: Like where I am now creatively, I was able to
Speaker 1: like learn a lot from creating that much, if that
Speaker 1: makes sense, like not being as precious with the ideas,
Speaker 1: knowing that other things can service the other you know,
Speaker 1: certain things can service it more than one way. Are
Speaker 1: certain songs end up being referenced in like one line
Speaker 1: or you know half a bar I just you know,
Speaker 1: took three songs and turned them into two lines, like
Speaker 1: it's happened a few times.
Speaker 2: And what's your relationship with that material that you've made,
Speaker 2: like you said said the kind of a couple of
Speaker 2: hundred songs, like some of that is it going to
Speaker 2: make it onto future releases? Some of it. Do you
Speaker 2: just sort of probably had a hard drive somewhere.
Speaker 1: Probably not no fair enough. I honestly don't know, but
Speaker 1: like I would know, like thinking about music is, if
Speaker 1: you don't put it out when when you if you
Speaker 1: don't love it when you make it, you might not
Speaker 1: love it later. Yeah, I mean, it's just it's a
Speaker 1: learning curve. It's just really a learning curve.
Speaker 2: The album is self titled to how does It Feel Too?
Speaker 2: I mean, and you've talked about how there's more more
Speaker 2: about yourself and the lyrics on this record, So how
Speaker 2: does it feel to kind of give more of yourself
Speaker 2: away or share more of yourself than on previous releases
Speaker 2: with the lyrics?
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think that's the case, to be honest,
Speaker 1: I think I've literally said the same thing in every
Speaker 1: song I've ever made, because you know, at the end,
Speaker 1: they're just making music about your life, if they if
Speaker 1: you choose to do that. You know, when you're making
Speaker 1: music about your life, it's only so much, you can say,
Speaker 1: it's only so much life to live. I think a
Speaker 1: lot of it is putting the right things in the
Speaker 1: right spaces. It's one of those things, like you know,
Speaker 1: it's not what you say is it's not what you
Speaker 1: says how you say it. So it's like people say,
Speaker 1: why haven't you spoke about this? Why why haven't you
Speaker 1: spoke about this? It will be things that I've said
Speaker 1: literally ten fifteen times, but it might have not have
Speaker 1: been on the on the beat that was suitable for
Speaker 1: that kind of understanding. It might not have been you know,
Speaker 1: it might not have been palatable, I would say palatable.
Speaker 1: So just making sure that you know, when it's a
Speaker 1: big fast change, so much things going on musically, and
Speaker 1: there's so many, you know, different ways that you can
Speaker 1: you know, approach things. It's not going to seem as
Speaker 1: if let's put the let's put the lyrical content first.
Speaker 1: Know that's not what people are thinking about and they're
Speaker 1: thinking about that project. So as I got to this
Speaker 1: position I am now creatively, I kind of start realizing
Speaker 1: that and you know, just with.
Speaker 2: From there and I really like the interludes on on
Speaker 2: this album. You're You've got your mother on there, for example,
Speaker 2: what was the what was the conversation like when you
Speaker 2: said to her, I want I want to make a
Speaker 2: recording of you to to go into.
Speaker 1: The I'm not recorded is she not If she not
Speaker 1: recorded that, she would have said it. Yeah, so she
Speaker 1: for sure that she doesn't even if she just still
Speaker 1: doesn't know that that's on the project. I say, here's signs,
Speaker 1: and she said, okay, you know so I got on
Speaker 1: the project right.
Speaker 2: So do you know if your mom listens to your records,
Speaker 2: you'll hear it once it's out here one day? Are
Speaker 2: you looking forward to that conversation with her?
Speaker 1: She's not gonna care?
Speaker 2: Is she pretty chill?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: What's how does she feel about like your kind of
Speaker 2: you know, your your day to day, your achievements, everything,
Speaker 2: and she's just just still your mom.
Speaker 1: Just as long as like I'm okay and I'm happy,
Speaker 1: you know, to make sure you eat every day type
Speaker 1: stuff that you really really really really from others. So
Speaker 1: I'm very appreciative of it. So you know, yeah, my
Speaker 1: mom's not My mom doesn't care about that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: She's happy that I'm happy with whatever I'm doing. If
Speaker 1: I said I don't want to do this anymore, she wouldn't.
Speaker 1: She wouldn't spend one second trying to talk me out
Speaker 1: of it.
Speaker 2: What do you appreciate about that? Just the grounding, just
Speaker 2: the sort of the feel of always having like almost
Speaker 2: unconditional support, you know, just always being there regardless of
Speaker 2: what the high days and the low days. Basically, Yeah, you.
Speaker 1: Know, I, like I said, have a great mother. You know,
Speaker 1: she's uh. Without my mother and my you know family
Speaker 1: in general, I wouldn't kind of be where I am
Speaker 1: so and she's literally the main, the main, main reason.
Speaker 2: You mentioned Kenny Beats earlier and you're kind of work
Speaker 2: together on this in the sessions that you had. How
Speaker 2: is that experience of working with him. He's worked on
Speaker 2: a whole wide variety of projects. Yeah, how is that
Speaker 2: for you?
Speaker 1: It's easy working with Kenny, Kenny my friend. Like I
Speaker 1: talked to Kenny every day, no matter, like probably not
Speaker 1: real I do't tell anybody every day, but I talked
Speaker 1: to Kenny a lot. So working with Kenny's easy. It's
Speaker 1: almost easy, Like is hardly explained. We did a you know,
Speaker 1: we did thirty songs and eight session and I was
Speaker 1: there for like probably two hours per session. You know.
Speaker 1: It wasn't like we were sitting in the studio trying
Speaker 1: to figure anything out. Like I would come over there
Speaker 1: at like seven eight o'clock at night. He'd have two
Speaker 1: or three beats. I listened to him pick one and
Speaker 1: pick two recorded and I go home and then we
Speaker 1: had a project. So it was very easy.
Speaker 2: The last time I saw you in the UK was
Speaker 2: part of the Gorillas festival in Margate a few years
Speaker 2: ago and I was like twenty seventeen something like that. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you obviously performed. We collaborated and perform with Gorillas quite
Speaker 2: a bit. How do you do you reflect on that experience?
Speaker 2: What did you take away from that?
Speaker 1: And it's a great experience growing up, you know, when
Speaker 1: field Good was out and things of that nature. Of course,
Speaker 1: you know Dame's done way more than that, but that's
Speaker 1: you know, that was my reference point. It was just
Speaker 1: interesting to be able to go there and be a
Speaker 1: part of that and be on that stage. I understand
Speaker 1: that these are once in lifetime opportunities like these are
Speaker 1: not regular things. People don't get to just do these
Speaker 1: things and you know, spend some time with Daylight. You
Speaker 1: know Sims who was extremely extremely talented, like a good
Speaker 1: friend of mine, like literally wanted a lifetime type person, talent,
Speaker 1: all that stuff. Yeah, it was it was just fun
Speaker 1: to be able to see these things, to go to
Speaker 1: Brighton all the other places I've ever been before. I
Speaker 1: had fun. I really enjoyed it, and it's and I
Speaker 1: like doing the show where I don't have to really
Speaker 1: do anything. I I gotta do one verse, so you know,
Speaker 1: you get you get all the good stuff. Were touring
Speaker 1: without having a practice really you know, things of that nature.
Speaker 1: Just one verse a night, and I get to travel.
Speaker 1: I like it a lot. My favorite thing about music
Speaker 1: is being able to see places.
Speaker 2: Four minutes every night and then you're done. You're out
Speaker 2: exactly during your trips to Europe? Then what places and
Speaker 2: people have sort of connected with you? Is there any
Speaker 2: particular places you've been to where you thought, you know what?
Speaker 2: I really like this. I could even like imagining myself
Speaker 2: staying a bit longer, or living or just sort of
Speaker 2: soaking up Europe specifically.
Speaker 1: I really like I really like learning. I don't know
Speaker 1: why either. Like I just like the way places look.
Speaker 1: One of my my agent, Doug, had his wedding in
Speaker 1: the countryside, so that was that was interesting over there.
Speaker 1: I liked it. I'm just appreciated. It's not like I
Speaker 1: look at places and I like them, Mark don't. I like.
Speaker 1: I don't live in there. I live in like the
Speaker 1: suburbs right now, like basically the middle of nowhere. I
Speaker 1: don't like to go out and like I'm not like
Speaker 1: a like a see person, Like I don't want to
Speaker 1: be seeing type thing, So I don't. I L I L.
Speaker 1: I like traveling and just seeing how people are living,
Speaker 1: Like when I when I used to travel, obviously when
Speaker 1: the schedule was a little bit more lenient because I
Speaker 1: wasn't as successful. When I say self wasn't as big
Speaker 1: of a artists. She was successful if your traveling, but
Speaker 1: I wasn't as big of an artist, and I didn't
Speaker 1: have as had people to schedule. When I would travel,
Speaker 1: we would just like walk around and like just look
Speaker 1: at stuff and like look at people and you know,
Speaker 1: walk around and get lost. We were walking for hours
Speaker 1: and like in in in in Ireland, we were walking
Speaker 1: for hours in you know, Australia and shit like that.
Speaker 1: So I really really really enjoyed just being able to
Speaker 1: travel and see things and see how people live and
Speaker 1: cause I like to look at the similarities more than
Speaker 1: the differences because the similarities give you like a sort
Speaker 1: a sort of comfort that kind of helps you while
Speaker 1: you're creating. And yeah, that's yeah, that's definitely like, that's
Speaker 1: what I like about it.
Speaker 2: The bustle and way to get a word from me
Speaker 2: about another British artist is that you worked with previously Sophie,
Speaker 2: who obviously tragically passed at the beginning of this year,
Speaker 2: and you work together on Big Fish Theory, and I
Speaker 2: wondered if you had any reflections on Sophie's talents and
Speaker 2: the impact that working with them left on you.
Speaker 1: I don't think about Sofia. Sofie was a very very
Speaker 1: unique person. My favorite thing about Sofie is how when
Speaker 1: Sophie walked in the room, she wasn't like afraid to
Speaker 1: like be Sophie. Like the funny thing about Solfi people
Speaker 1: don't realize Sophie's like six ' five, Like Sophie's a
Speaker 1: large human. So just to be six y five and
Speaker 1: walk in a studio that's not even need to still
Speaker 1: able to be in Australia when it's ninety degrees outside
Speaker 1: in black leather bubble cod. I was like, who is
Speaker 1: this crazy person that was? Sophie was just funny, Like
Speaker 1: Sophie always had never go to sleep up all night,
Speaker 1: call you to go to the studio at four o'clock
Speaker 1: in the morning. It would be awake early, like being
Speaker 1: Sophie became friends because you know, I would be up
Speaker 1: early and I would call if the rooms are smaller
Speaker 1: in Australia, like of course we're sticking and moving, so
Speaker 1: it doesn't really matter, but I would be like upstairs
Speaker 1: and like the balcony and like the lobbies super early,
Speaker 1: like doing stuff better Internet type stuff, and.
Speaker 2: So for be up there.
Speaker 1: And I think Self is kind of surprised, never admitted,
Speaker 1: but I think she was surprised that we knew if
Speaker 1: she was or not that we knew, just that we
Speaker 1: were like that we liked the things that we're done,
Speaker 1: so you know, just having conversations and you know, talking
Speaker 1: on the on the sideline, you know, just being you
Speaker 1: know human, you know what I mean. We have to
Speaker 1: we have to care about people, like I'm I'm a
Speaker 1: I'm a nice person, you know, so I like try
Speaker 1: to be at least for the most part. So and
Speaker 1: Self is also a nice person. So that kind of
Speaker 1: was just our connection. And then we only made two
Speaker 1: songs and they both came out. So that was my
Speaker 1: friend more than the collaborator, you know, email me randomly
Speaker 1: and just check on me and you know, shit like that,
Speaker 1: and I want to go see a lot of time
Speaker 1: she that's time before last she was in LA she
Speaker 1: was working on her last album. Yeah, just a just
Speaker 1: a really really really good person, A really good person.
Speaker 1: Ahldly good person is shees me hard interfestal somewhere. We're
Speaker 1: at festival somewhere in like the South. Randomly I forgot
Speaker 1: where it was and this motherfucker just got lost and
Speaker 1: just popped back up in like four hours dancing saying
Speaker 1: what she walked away like literal absolute crazy person. I
Speaker 1: had a lot of appreciation, a lot of respect, a
Speaker 1: lot of admiration for it. And you know the things
Speaker 1: that she did and self did a lot without talking
Speaker 1: about it, if that makes sense, made a lot of
Speaker 1: just covered a lot of ground and made a lot
Speaker 1: of you know, strides towards things for herself and what
Speaker 1: she believed it and what she represented her who she
Speaker 1: identified as when it without making it something that was no,
Speaker 1: it wasn't. It was okay, this is my talent. But
Speaker 1: also on the other hand, this is who I am.
Speaker 1: It was never a marketing tool and as someone who
Speaker 1: tries to do the same thing because I have all
Speaker 1: these experiences, But I don't want you to look at
Speaker 1: me and be like, oh, I'm happy for him. Let
Speaker 1: me let me feel good for it because he made
Speaker 1: it out with the hood or things that the nature.
Speaker 1: I don't like those kinds of things, like don't use
Speaker 1: my circumstances as like a crutch for me, and so
Speaker 1: as somebody who literally did not use anything as a crush.
Speaker 1: And you know, it wasn't always a bright day for Sophie.
Speaker 1: Wasn't always a happy day for Selfie, but you know
Speaker 1: she walked about right, she walking around like her chin
Speaker 1: up at all times, like it was never any sort
Speaker 1: of poured me. What about me is like when it
Speaker 1: was time to make the music, when it was time
Speaker 1: to perform the music, the music is all matter. And
Speaker 1: I think that's something that I definitely, definitely, I definitely
Speaker 1: respect and I've kind of learned a lot in the
Speaker 1: times that we had known each other. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: appreciate Selfie a lot.
Speaker 2: Thank you for those words, Vince. I think that's like
Speaker 2: a that's actually a spot on beautiful tribute to an
Speaker 2: artist is a huge loss of the music scene. So
Speaker 2: appreciate that and hard to talk about it not just
Speaker 2: as a from Sophie's like artistic contribution, but also as
Speaker 2: a friend as well. So thank you for that final question, Vince,
Speaker 2: because I know you gotta be other places and do
Speaker 2: other things. It's really just about how you think about
Speaker 2: the future and what you see your vision for your creativity.
Speaker 2: Like do you ever sit down and think, like what
Speaker 2: will what will I be doing when I'm forty, Like
Speaker 2: will I be working on TV shows and movies? Willlet's
Speaker 2: still be making music? Do you ever allow yourself to
Speaker 2: kind of think that far ahead? Are you much more
Speaker 2: live in the moment, be kind of person.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, we definitely have like tentative plans as far
Speaker 1: as like goals and things of that nature, which have
Speaker 1: to plan things out in advents. But you know, you
Speaker 1: kind of got to listen to life. You know, if
Speaker 1: life throw something away, that might change the whole plan up,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So just trying to, you know,
Speaker 1: just be open to listening to life. And also, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know, just you know, just trying to make
Speaker 1: sure that I have a planned, but I'm also like
Speaker 1: open to change, and I think that's what keeps you
Speaker 1: in this thing, you know, because I'm no matter what
Speaker 1: I end up doing, I'm appreciative of my opportunities because
Speaker 1: I was born in places like Void for the most part.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's kind of how look at it.
Speaker 2: To find previous episodes of Midnight Chats, simply search your
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Speaker 2: up as they're published every week at midnight. For more
Speaker 2: information on the music magazine makes this series, visit loudanquiet
Speaker 2: dot com.
Speaker 1: Anyway, goodnight,