It's here! BASSPOLICE's 2nd official interview, With none other than Ben Samples himself! He released an album yesterday,
which you can buy/download here, for a price of your choice, or no price, but a pinch of cash seems polite!
The album consists of 9 remixed rock songs, which is a great beginning, rock is awesome. The genre is more in the dubstep direction, but it's a unique sound for every tune, which separates it from the general dubstep pack (my own opinion, I'm pretty incompetent as usual so don't trust me).
Anyways, very happy to get the opportunity to interview one of my favorite producers, albeit lacking some in the "good questions to ask"-department.
The interview takes up a lot of space on it's own so I won't rant about specifics. Have a listen while you have a read!
B -First off, for the BP readers who might not know much about who you are, share your tale! Where do you have your roots, where does the Samples thing stem from?
S - Well I started out doing college radio in Boulder CO in 2007, and realized that I really liked to play music for people so I started doing a bunch of house parties for free beer and stuff. That led to me getting bored with the typical tracks people always play out so I started making tunes that were in the style I wanted to play. I just kept making tunes and doing more and more shows and now I'm a full time musician and I sell music and play shows for a living. Check out http://www.bensamples.com for a full bio. Samples is actually my real last name, a lot of people dont believe me because its such a good name for a DJ/Producer combo in this age of sampling.
B - I listened to a lot of your stuff, and it's pretty diverse, everything from glitch-hop, dubstep, old school rock, electro-ish stuff and weird noises! What's your favorite genre when it comes to production?
S - Well I think the reason I make such a variety of music is because I listen to so many random things. I listen for the stuff that sets each genre apart from the others and then I get obsessed with finding out how to replicate things, like the weird ambient noises of Amon Tobin or Boards of Canada, to the bass-blasts of artists like Flux Pavillion. I think my favorite styles right now are R&B and Drum and Bass, which are kinda opposites. I tend to love the sound design in DnB and the melodic chord progressions in R&B
B -For us enthusiasts, what gear do you use? Is there anything you bring from your home studio onto the stage?
S - I just use a macbook and an Akai MPD24, with a custom template. My essential piece of gear is the Presonus Firebox, which lets me run multiple outputs to a mixer (usually DJM800) so that I can mix with EQ and FX more traditionally like a DJ so it doesn't sound like I'm using Ableton.
B - If you had to bring 3 items on a boat trip around the world with only old people, what would you bring?
S - Laptop, Headphones, Life Vest (so I could bail)
(BP notation: wouldn't the laptop get wet? D: )
B - I noted your album had the "name your price"-option. This worked very well for example, Radiohead, but they're a huge band. How well does it work for less known artists?
S - I actually tend to get a wide range of donations, ranging from $1-$20, but I'm still building a fan base so its not a very dependable source of income. I have made a few thousand on the 8 albums I've released in the last 2 years, so the fans do a great job of supporting
B - I myself couldn't handle the douchey-ness of simply filling in $0 for something with so much time invested in, even though I'm a fairly broke guy. Do you think it's something that could tone down piracy, in the bigger picture, and still bring in a fair amount of bank for producers?
S - I think its fine if people want to pirate and I encourage illegal downloading on torrent sites, but in the end if you enter $0 and download it than I'm still getting an email address and I can also track how many people download my music. If its torrented, I have no idea where its going or who is downloading it so its nice to give it away and actually get something from it
B - You've made a lot of glitch-hop before, but the new album sounds a lot more dubstep influenced. Is there any particular reason for the change of pace, so to speak?
S - I've actually got a lot of dubstep, my Skyscraper EP was all dubstep tempo and style, I just tend to make what works for each song. A lot of rock and roll is more uptempo than Glitch Hop so I tended to do a faster tempo with a half time beat, which turns out sounding like dubstep.
B - Do you have any upcoming projects or collabs with other artists? Saw Figure tweeting you and he seemed excited, hint hint!
S - I'd love to work with Figure, but the truth is we've never even met! I'm working on a few side projects and collabs right now but really I'm just trying to push the Samples name
B - Any particular artist you'd really like to collab/tour with, and why?
S - I've done a lot of collaborations with some of my favorite artists already, so I think it would be really cool to work with someone outside my typical genre like Noisia or Spor, or even do something with an amazing vocalist like the Weeknd
(BP notation: I think I speak for many, when I say, please for the sake of baby jesus, make DnB with Noisia).
B - Electronic music has really kicked into gear these past few years, where do you see it heading, and what part will you be playing?
S - I think technology is going to be defining what new things we see in music, so I think my part will be trying to keep using new tools to make sounds and creations that you've never heard before
B - How often do you use the DJ-persona as a way to pick up chicks? (or dudes, we're not discriminating!)
S -Hahahaa, I actually get myself into a lot of trouble from picking up girls from time to time, I'm a single guy and being around all these girls at clubs that are dressed up to get down you find its really easy to hit on girls (or get hit on). I try not to use the DJ-persona, I'm really not a desperate guy and I've got enough game I dont really need a gimick to work magic lol
B - Might be a question that's always asked, but it feels like it has to be done - What inspires your production process?
S - Lately I've been picking up a lot of books and art projects, I find that doing creative work that isn't necessarily associated with mus really inspires me. Sometimes I'll have this story that I'm reading or I'll be thinking about a plot in a novel and find that I gravitate towards making music. Music comes naturally to me so if I think about things that arent related to it I tend to get a unique perspective and inspired.
B - This is going to be our staple question for all interviews, I've decided. If you could bring 3 snow leopards with you to space, what would you name them?
S - Hahahaaa I love it. The first I'd name Bobba (after my fave bounty hunter), then second I'd name Pterodactyl (after my favorite dinosaur) and the third I'd name Richard Samples (Dick Samples for short)
(BP notation: those names pleases me, I love me some Star Wars 'n Dinosaurs)
B - Finally, if you haven't left us, feel free to distribute some "hollers to yo' homies"!
S - Big ups to Dataset Crew, the Madero Group, check out Fresh2Death (my side project) and Denver Bass Squadron
Big ups, Samples, for taking some time to do this interview, and best of luck with future tunes!
/Lekroth
No copyright infringement intended. All cred goes to the respective authors and labels, as they should!
