At RV, we have a company subscription to receive the monthly CD releases from Fabric Live. For those who don’t know, the 42nd installment of the series was mixed by FreQ Nasty. If you haven’t heard it, I’m not sure I can accurately describe it for you. It’s a very different mix, which suggested (to me) it was created by a very different artist. With these thoughts in mind, I jumped at the opportunity to bring you an exclusive interview of FreQ Nasty, the man with an eye-catching hairstyle and ear-catching sound…Enjoy!

Q: It’s really a pleasure to be able to interview you. There’s a lot of industry buzz about FreQ Nasty right now, but let’s go back to the beginning…You were born in Fiji. Can you tell me how and when you started getting into electronic music? …and who were some of your most important early influences?

A: The first electronic record I remember hearing was at school when Grandmaster Flash’s “White Lines” came out. I was just a kid and led a pretty sheltered NZ lifestyle, so I probably didn’t know it was about drugs…but the beats blew me away. The early days of hip hop are in part the roots of electronic dance music…but the first proper “electronic dance music” tune I remember buying was Baby Ford’s “Oochy Koochy.” I actually found the etched 12” in a shop in the UK years later, and it still sounded DOPE – acid house with huge bass. I remember reading in the (three-month-old) press that got to NZ that this record was notorious for destroying pre-electronic-music sound systems in London in the acid house days. Fucking brilliant record!

Q: You’ve been making waves as an electronic music artist for years. I think one of the most striking things about your biography is the lack of categorization. Have you made a deliberate effort to not be pigeonholed over the years?

A: Yeah, I have. Or more to the point, I try and do what I want to do rather than what is expected of me. I grew up in a fairly constrained environment, and although I look back and see it as a good thing, the adolescent rebel in me lives on in my music J

Q: What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of being so unconventional? Are there in fact downsides to consistently staying ahead of the crowd and marching to the beat of your own drummer?

A: The upside is the reward in itself…doing the shit that takes you to another level and leaves you with a sense of achievement, regardless of whether anyone else likes it or buys it or not. The downside is that sometimes people don’t like it or buy it…until it’s been accepted by the mainstream.

Q: Clearly, one of your most talked about recent releases was your Fabric Live 42 CD. Can you tell me how the opportunity for doing this CD came your way? It seems like your sound is quite different from the other Fabric releases.

A: I have been playing at Fabric consistently since it opened, and I haven’t ever done a compilation of any kind for them. I guess the time was right, and no one wants to seem constrained to one kind of music in this day and age, especially not Fabric. They’re fairly diverse.

Q: In the first track on your Fabric mix, titled “Not in Our Name,” you tip your hand as being more than just an artist. The discerning listener can pick up on the fact that you’re also an activist. Can you tell me about some of your activist projects, especially the Giveback organization?

A: Giveback is a project that I and the other founders in LA launched out of our desire to bring the music and tech communities together. Our aim is to create a way for people to change the world for the better by connecting with each other in a meaningful way. We’ve launched several campaigns with artists like Damien Marley, Michael Franti, Bassnectar, and David Starfire, among others. We’ve raised $$ for the People of Tibet, the construction of an irrigation system in Ethiopia, and a studio for kids in an under-privileged area of San Francisco. This year, we have a new project that’s going to take Giveback to a whole new level…I can’t discuss it here though J

Q: You’ve got a lot of momentum right now, so what’s next for FreQ Nasty? Do you have any exciting gigs or releases in the works?

A: I am working on putting together all the many parts of the record that I have been working on intermittently over the past few years, between my time spent on Giveback, touring, etc. More tunes to come!!

Q: I like to ask this question of artists…If you could say one thing to every visitor to the Resonant Vibes website, no matter what nationality, age, gender, or level of appreciation for electronic music, what would it be?

A: Ask many questions and be humble enough to hear the answers.

Eddie B

Tags: DJs, Electronic Music, FreQ Nasty, Interviews, RV Exclusive