Après avoir passé une grande partie de son adolescence à s’initier à la production, c’est en 2012 que Harry Wolfman a réellement commencé à intégré la communauté house et techno.
Les premières sorties notables commencent à voir le jour alors qu’Harry impose rapidement son style et pause sa signature sur plusieurs EP produits par des grands noms tels que Ben Pearce via notamment un remix de “What I Might Do” ou “Inside my Love” de Magic Eye sur le prestigieux label new-yorkais Strictly Rhythm. Constant quant à la qualité de ses productions et s’appuyant sur son large spectre musical, Harry nourri chacun de ses EP et remix d’une saveur toute particulière : Hip Hop, Jazz, Funk, Soul ou encore Disco tout style musical est pour lui une source d’inspiration.
Rapidement ses EP sont remixés par des pointures tels que Ben Pearce avec “Booty Call” chez Lost My Dog, ou encore Kickflip Mike et The Revenge sur “Skinny Love” chez House Of Disco Records. En mai dernier, il signe de nouveau chez les londoniens de House of Disco Records avec “Hod Stash 2” mais cette fois-ci aux côtés de Art Of Tones (à écouter : MIXED BY/) pour un EP aux saveurs disco et deep house. On peut également le retrouver sur la compilation du label Dirt Crew Recording avec une coproduction aux côtés de Laurence Guy (à écouter MIXED BY/).
Dans ce nouveau volet MIXED BY/, Harry Wolfman vous fait découvrir les multiples facettes musicales de sa personnalité, du hip hop à la techno, laissez vous porter par ce fin mélomane pour une douce escapade auditive.
[soundcloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/boltingbits/harrywolfman” /]
INTERVIEW
Could you introduce yourself to our readers who might not know of you yet?
I’m Harry. I live in London and I try and make music that I like. My surname really is Wolfman!
How did you get into DJing and Producing?
Well I was always into music as a kid, I started dicking around with computers in my early teens, making weird hip hop edits and electroey stuff… really shitly with Garageband and later Logic. Then I started going out a lot and got really into drum and bass, we got some decks and so started playing and trying to make that… pretty shitly. Then there was a good bout of shitty breakbeat, then electro house, progressive house, techy stuff, bit of dubstep…. all pretty shitly…. by the time I turned like 19 I started trying slower deeper house and some techno, influenced by my more deep-seated influences in funk, soul, r and b, hip hop etc. and since then just been enjoying exploring that and playing this sort of music out at parties. I’ve always been more of a neeky producer than DJ, as much as I LOVE DJing and records, I’m no expert digger like many of my friends.
Who/What are your main influences?
I have an itch for funk, and I love a lot of jazz funk fusion stuff too… soul, disco, newer contemporary soul, hip hop and sometimes ambient stuff. This is often my go to leisure time music, or what I listen to on the move. I also love books and movies, bit of a science fiction geek… I like cosmic themes and sometimes try and feed this into what I make and play.
What was your first mixing set up?
Erm… I think we did ok actually, me and my brother had a couple of CDJ1000s and a little Pioneer mixer. I got into vinyl later and added a turntable to the equation.
What’s your state of mind when you start producing/recording?
I always try and make music with as little thought as possible. I find a sound or a sample or a break or whatever that I like and I let my instincts dictate what to try. I find this the funnest approach… is especially fun when jamming with friends.
As a huge fan of Ben Pearce’s What I Might Do record (including your brilliant remix of course) I have to ask you what was your vision when doing your remix?
Thanks! Erm, I didn’t really have a particular vision with that one. At the time Ben asked me to do it I was messing around with that sort of deep but quite up tempo thumping sound, I had a jam with the vocals and must have finished the remix in an evening I think. Maybe a few tweaks after.
3 months ago, we had the pleasure of interviewing Laurence Guy. The two of you are known to collaborate with your latest coming out 2 months ago, can you tell us how you guys met and how you decided to work together?
Yeh me and Laurence met at music college in Guildford. We did the same production course and were into the same kind of music, going to the same sort of parties in London. We had a sorta similar background in tastes too, he was really into drum and bass like me and we seemed to discover 4 4 stuff around the same time. We went out, got battered a few times and shouted at each other that we should make some tunes and have been doing that since basically, we lived together for a while and now he’s just up the road living with Joel John.
What’s the main idea behind your’s and Joel John’s Olerton project ?
This is a fairly new venture from myself and Joel John, formerly Jouhl. We’ve been working together for years also and started to get really into harder, rougher techno a couple years ago. The Olerton project is just an outlet exploring some of those ideas. We get together and record a lot from the gear they have at Joel’s place… it’s a chance to just kinda rip loose a little bit and indulge.
What is moving you these last months? Any recent crush to share with us?I’ve been enjoying listening to a lot more hip hop that I hadn’t for a while as well as the usual jazz and funk… loads of Lonnie Liston Smith right now. DJing wise I’ve been enjoying playing a lot of disco, this classic Larry Levan edit’s been working great for me….
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLhhr3TFKA4[/embedyt]
What are you working on right now?
First up I’ve got a remix of the Fouk lads due out digitally with House of Disco in January. I’m just wrapping up an EP with Loz Goddard for Dirt Crew Records, that’ll come out early next year with a Brame and Hamo remix. I’ve also got an EP with Purple Velvet’s Secret Reels due out soon after with Laurence Guy on remix duties. Aside from that, several other EPs in the works, various collaborations, lots more Olerton and a fair few gigs :)
Interview par : Mathieu Mérard
