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Interview with Lord Echo

November 1, 2013
Brendon Goldwasser
Latest posts by Brendon Goldwasser (see all)

New Zealand multi-instrumentalist and producer Lord Echo (aka Mike Fabs) is back in action with his sophomore album Curiosities set to be released on November 12th. He’s pretty much been working on this album since the release of his debut solo album Melodies which became a huge hit through word-of-mouth. Groundsounds recently caught up with Mike to find out more about his new album and what he’s got planned for the future.

 

Thanks for chatting with us here at GroundSounds! How are things over in New Zealand?

I’m not sure – I’m in New York right now! But I can tell you that the situation there is no different to any where else in the world. The government sucks. There’s a massive maldistribution of wealth from the top to the bottom and it’s enshrined in law. Culture is eroded by consumerism and materialism. The media is a joke. Yes sir, the system is alive and well in New Zealand!

You seem to have found a way to combine elements of disco, soul, reggae, and funk into your unique sound. For those who are recently discovering your music, which artists have been major influences on you and when did you first begin playing music?

I first began playing music age 10. My mum taught me to play guitar.  Big influences for me are Sun Ra and Lee Perry.

When did you decide to seriously pursue music as a career and when was Lord Echo born? Was there history behind that name?

I never decided to pursue music as such, it’s just I have been lucky enough to start playing young and have not had to stop. The name Lord Echo was born around 2010 – I love the names of all the old calypso singers – Lord Melody, King Radio, The Mighty Sparrow etc, so it was an obvious rip of their style. I found a font that I loved, but I didn’t have the full alphabet and ‘Lord Echo’ was one of the things I could spell with the letters I had.

One of the first songs I heard from you was “Wang East” off of your debut release Melodies. It’s one of my favorite tracks to listen to still. Tell us what the writing and recording process was like for this whole album and how long did it take until you felt it was ready for the public?

Many of the songs off melodies where written in the early 2000’s, but not completed till the later that decade. Often I would record several versions of a song until I was happy with it, and it was always the sound not the song itself that I wasn’t happy with. Really, it’s just taken years and years for my engineering skills to catch up with my musical skills, but the gap is lessening as each year rolls by. Being a self taught engineer has been an arduous process, but I think it had resulted in far more experimentation than if I had learned in a formal manner.If I had three words to describe the recording process they’d be ‘ecstatic’, ‘torturous’, and ‘boyoyoing’!

Your debut release was back in 2010 and was no doubt one of the more creative, original sounding albums that whole year. Was the response what you expected?

I wasn’t expecting a response, apart from my friends in New Zealand who had grown so tired of hearing me say ‘this year I’m gonna release my album’. It was really heartwarming to find it made its way all around the world with no promotion or hype, and that’s something I will always be proud of.

With artists such as Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Charles Bradley, and Antibalas, do you feel that there is a current thirst for music that has this retro, vintage sound to it much like yours?

Maybe. I think people also like that sound because often the recording process results in a more honest and genuine expression of feeling and intention from the musicians, and with so much music stripped of that these days people will of course gravitate towards it.

Speaking of other artists, who are some current artists, bands, or musicians that you’re really into right now? Who would you really love to collaborate on music with or go on tour with?

I’m diggin records by Tame Impala, Opossum, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Lorine Chia, Julien Dyne, and Daughn Gibson. I’m heading into the studio with Victor Axelrod/Ticklah this weekend, so dream collab’s are actually happening! He’s really a fantastic player and engineer.

I want to talk about your newest tracks that have just been released this past month. Both “Molten Lava” and “Digital Haircut” have very distinct elements that are a little different than your previous material. What were some of your goals with these new songs and how has the response been so far?

Uggh, just for them not to suck. The response has been very good. I think I was trying to take elements of ‘dance music’ (which I really know nothing about) and dress them up with my preferred sound palette of the rough edges of 60’s production. It’s funny, those two songs – one took me about 2 days to make and I never touched it again (Digital Haircut) and the other I wrestled with for months and I’m not sure who won (Molten Lava). There’s always some songs on a record that for what ever reason are just a pain in the arse to make.

Overall, from previewing the tracks from your forthcoming release Curiosities, it seems like the songs are busier, faster, and definitely with a bit more jazz and disco. How long has this album been in the making and what sorts of recording techniques were used in the process?

I guess it’s been 2 or so years in the making, and definitely the last year fairly full time. The last record, I had to speed some songs up because they were too slow. This time I had to slow them down! Some of them were so fast, listening back I thought I must have been on crack. I do tend to get very excited when a song is in the honeymoon phase of being made though, so perhaps that was it. I made the record on a computer, with some tape machines and a couple of pre-amps. It was mixed in my garage.

With both your debut album and your most recent project, how do you compose these tracks and come up with ideas initially. Tell us how an idea typically gets turned into the groovy tracks that we hear, from finding vocalists and recording, to writing the lyrics and melodies.

Most songs start life as a flash of inspiration, often the moment I pick an instrument up. I usually record that into my phone, then when I want to write a song I’ll listen to all my ideas and see if I can connect the dots between any of them. I love recording, so often I shoot myself in the foot by recording a song before it’s written properly, and then spending hideous amounts of time trying to make it better in post when I should have just written it properly in the first place. I find it’s relatively easy to get a song 85% of the way there, and the hardest bit is always the last 15% and that’s what takes the most time. I’ve realized that, for the most part, I just can’t make music that’s good quickly.

So, your new album will be released in less than two weeks on November 11th. First off, congrats! What can we expect once the album is out? Will there be follow-up music videos or a tour in the works?

Thanks! A friend is actually making something visual for me now. I gave him some scans of a Mannequin hair and make up catalog, a digital alarm clock font and a trailer from ‘The Mysterions’ and told him to make something roughly and quickly and not be too clever about it. I’m half opposed to the concept of music videos. I detest advertising and so many music videos seem like nothing more than tasteless commercials. So if I can find an idea that has artistic merit in it’s own right or someone whose work and ethos I can trust, then yeah a visual accompaniment to my music may materialize. But in the absence of those two factors I’d rather not contribute more junk to the mounting pile of total bullshit that our culture seems to produce.

Well, thanks again for chatting with us here at GroundSounds! Good luck with the album release!

Viva art! Viva the people!!!

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