Our special this month is with Henry Birkbeck he is the talent producer behind Second Date. Check out our interview:
1-How was the beginning ?and what are your tips for the beginners ?
It's still sort of the beginning.... I think music is a very challenging area to try and pursue. Like most things, it requires a lot of determination, and self-belief. It can be quite a selfish pursuit, really. But people have also got to get it, if you want success from it. Either that or you've got to know someone in the business...
A tip that I need to take more often myself is to figure out what you want from your own music. If you want recognition, success, fans, money (hahaha...) then music is only one slice of the pie; all the publicity and connections and self-promotion and image can be just as important.
But if you just want a creative outlet regardless of the consequences, try not to get too hung up on what other people might want from you, or your "sound". I've had a few people try to pull me in one direction or another over the past two years, and who knows, I might have been somewhere better by now, but ultimately I keep coming back to what I want to be doing, which is producing things I want to hear.
2-Which are your biggest influences? And who are the best and worst today acts in your opinion ?
Like everyone else, I have a lot of influences personally. Second Date's biggest influences are probably the disco of the early 80s, the RnB of the late 90s, the house music of the early 2000s, and the more experimental dance music you hear nowadays. None of those necessarily fit together very smoothly, but I like to think Second Date is somewhere between them all.
I struggle to truly dislike acts consistently, but I guess I get bored of the really heavy dubstep stuff pretty quickly. It's just too intense for me.
3-How your creative process work ?
It can take ages for ideas to formulate that I'm happy with, but once they start fitting together a song can fall into place pretty quickly. I'm an impatient producer; if I start getting lots of ideas at once I want to get them all down as soon as possible while they're fresh, while I still feel enamoured with them.
4-The Brit artists (specially The Beatles) have changed music in the last century.How do you think the place you live in have influenced in your music ?
The UK is a really vibrant place musically, which I'm grateful for. I grew up abroad and my connection to the UK was through Ministry of Sound CDs I used to buy when I was visiting relatives. Pretty different to the classics - who I also listened to, but in a very different capacity.
The dance music I listened to as a teenager is important to me as a producer because it shaped the music I wrote. I wasn't in a band and I couldn't play guitar; I wasn't very interested in live music. I liked making beats and playing with sounds and dance music was always bleeding into that process in some way.
5-What do you think about the Olympic games in London?And how do think it will affect your life?
It's great for obvious reasons, but in terms of living in London, it's going to be hell. This city is so big and seems to barely manage at the best of times! With thousands of tourists and athletes the city is going to be overwhelmed. I anticipate stress. And since I didn't get tickets for anything, I'll be watching it on TV just like everyone else...
6-Malvinas war just completed 30 years, what do think about the Falkland Islands?
I don't feel educated enough on the subject to say something intelligent about it... I know people who fought in the war and I hear the pro-British arguments more often than the Argentine ones, for obvious reasons. It was a messy situation and I think it's sad that it's still causing ripples it does.
7-What do you think about music future ?
Hopefully it will be long. It will always involve other people; I prefer collaborations. I have recently enlisted my friend Dan to add another dimension to the DJ sets, so hopefully that element of Second Date will develop as a result. I have a songwriting "partner" that I really enjoy working with, so I hope the various side projects with him and others continue to develop as well.
8--What are your dreams ? Your motivation ?
I would like Second Date to continue in a way that allows it to sustain itself - it's important for people to like Second Date music, but it's also important for me to try new styles, to experiment.
My motivation changes, but quite often it is to work with someone else and combine forces to create something unique, that I could not do on my own. I like working with other people's skills and ability.
9-Which are your favorite places to play ? And your favorites to have fun ?
Second Date hasn't had very many gigs yet, but I DJed at the Ritz in Paris in December and that was lots of fun. Not a club environment but it was nice to hear my music being the soundtrack to a classy evening.
I prefer more relaxed clubs to go to for a night out, but for me I get very involved in the music if I like it, so that's the important thing. It could be an amazing club but if I hate the music I won't enjoy myself. And some of the best nights I've had have been in tiny little clubs or at house parties where the music has been just what I wanted to hear.
10-England is famous for the pub and for created football (the favorite sport of the world, of course that includes Brazil).Which are your favorite pints?What's your team? and which is your favorite brazilian player of all times?
I've started drinking local ales, its a very English thing to do. Adnam's Broadside is the local ale where my parents live, in the countryside.
My local team is technically Norwich (not great), but Dan is a massive Tottenham fan and I've supported them on and off for a while now.
Favourite Brazilian player of all time - Pelé is an obvious choice for pure skill and his ability to give Viagra the hard sell. From the current squad, I've got to give a shoutout to Sandro, as it takes a certain type of player to wear a mouthguard. Ganso is a great thinking-man's player - I like to think of him as a subtle, elegant deep house track. However, my real favourite is the party boy Sócrates, MD. Heavy drinker and smoker, incredible playmaker and qualified doctor. He would destroy a dance floor.
11-What were the weirdest and the funniest thing that ever happened on a gig?
So far there haven't been too many crazy stories... when I played at the Ritz I wore a waistcoat with really ugly pictures of kittens on it. I found it really funny because I looked ridiculous, but I don't think the staff at the venue understood. They run this classy cocktail bar in a prestigious hotel and the DJ shows up dressed like a crazy cat person.
I use the programs Reason, Logic and Ableton, mostly. Sometimes I record live percussion of random things that sound cool and put them in the background of songs, to add a "live" element.
We take an Ableton rig onstage with me, and an Akai APC40 controller. We do a sort of "interactive" DJ set, so we can play around with my remixes and my own songs and keep things interesting.
13-When your album will be out?And when we'll have you here in Brazil?
Might be a while for an album - focusing on EPs for now! But there are a few collaborations in the pipeline. And we'll come to Brazil as soon as you'll have us!
Tracklist:
- Mathieu Clé - To Begin With
- Thieves Like Us - Forget Me Not (Second Date Remix)
- Pop & Eye - Bring Me Down
- Perseus - Love Like Zanzibar
- Mark E - R&B Drunkie
- Kindness - Gee Up
- Pitchben - Stand Up (Tiger & Woods Remix)
- Love Unlimited Vibes - Luv.Five A
- Softwar - August
- ComboStar - Free (Second Date Remix)
- The Mekanism - Missing Love
- The White Lamp - It's You (Ron Basejam Remix)
- Andrés - New For U
- Rayko - People (Rayko Birthday Edit)
- James Curd - Guide Me (Gigamesh Remix)
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