Last year John Roberts released the album “Glass Eights”: A LP full of techno-beauty, emotions and very well composed sound and structures and seem to get better and better with every time you hear it. John will be playing in Hamburg next month and is working on his second album – enough reasons to do an interview with this great artist!
How do you transfer the beauty of melancholy that is in your music as a performer into the club-atmosphere?
Since this is a place where most people just go for “fun”… Since the release of the album, which was a very personal thing for me, it has definitely been a challenge to transfer those feelings into a club context. To be completely honest, sometimes it works and other times it doesn’t. I’ve tried my best to remain true to the original material while still updating it a bit in order to make it more functional for that sort of environment. Adrenaline is often high in clubs and attention spans can seem shorter, so these are things that I try to consider but not become too consumed by.
(The album “Glass Eights” - Buy it!)
Have you been or are you a “clubber” yourself?
I think I’m definitely not a “clubber” now, but I would’ve considered myself one in the past. I started going to raves in the midwestern U.S. when I was fifteen years old and continued going to clubs after the collapse of the rave scene there.
What do you think is the best part/aspect of a night at a club?
With the risk of sounding ridiculous, I think the best part of a night at a club is the potential for a piece of music to bring a large group of people together in a state of exaltation and allow them to temporarily forget their anxieties.
You are now living in Berlin, but did live in New York and Chicago as well –So in which way did these cities influence your music?
I’m sure I’ve picked up so much along the way without even knowing it, so I can really only speak on the things which instantly come to mind, some of those being - the unbelievable second-hand record shops of New York, which I still visit today…I am actually spending most of my time in New York these days, the gay clubs and warehouse parties of Chicago. I specifically remember attending a really amazing Italo Disco / Latin Freestyle party in a car mechanic’s shop after hours, and the way partying, music, and record mixing was handled in Berlin.
Do you constantly “work” and produce music? Or do you have times where you do/want to do something completely different?
I really try to work on music as much as possible, but it often comes in waves for me. I’m extremely slow and never finish as much as I’d like. Even when I am actually ‘working’ on music, I am spending most of my time deliberating, thinking about the implications of what certain sounds or song structures mean, or how they will read to a listener. My favorite moments with music lately are before I’ve started composing a track, where I am just freely experimenting with machines and samples and recording those sessions.
About a year and a half ago I wanted a break from producing music, and during this time I met with Paul Kominek, fellow Dial artist Pawel, who told me about a publication he was planning to start called The Travel Almanac. Since then we have been working steadily on the project together and are now concentrating on producing our third issue. It has always been very important for me to have time away from music, and the magazine has always come as a welcome diversion.
(The magazine “The Travel Almanac”, get it here)
How do you start a new track?
Since I’ve been in New York I’ve made a point to listen to the radio for awhile each day. There is a classical music station here, WQXR, which is quite good. Lately, I’ve found a lot of the compositions, or the song structures, that I hear on this station really inspiring. Beyond that, I like to visit used record stores frequently, as I mentioned before…I often accumulate stacks of old 12”s from these stores and when I have time I begin chopping out pieces of them and working with those samples as the basis for new music of my own.
What do you think makes a good musician?
I am always drawn to musicians and producers who are primarily concerned with living out their personal vision and are unafraid of how they may be perceived by their audience and peers. I think this makes for the most interesting music, electronic or otherwise.
What has been the best experience for you as a musician so far?
Completing and releasing my first full-length album “Glass Eights” was definitely the best experience for me so far, followed closely by the opportunity to visit and play in Japan. I’m looking forward to finishing my second album in the near future, and hopefully visiting Japan again soon!
