Gavin Froome Interview "West Ender" Vancouver 04.02

Gavin Froome is a House music producer who has been noticed nationally and internationally and had his music licensed for commercials and film. Not bad for a completely self-taught local boy who splits his time between music and web design. Born and raised in Vancouver's Westside. Froome got into music in his late teens by buying a guitar, teaching himself to play and forming a band. The band, Pull, eventually got the attention of major labels. "Then I jumped ship," quips Froome on the line from his studio in Gastown. By the time they started haggling over contracts and name and line-up changes, he was fatigued by working in a full-time job with children, playing in a band, and trying to maintain a social life. "I also realized that all the music I was listening to was electronic." It was late 1994 and Froome left both the band and the country behind, traveling through Asia for four months. When he returned to Vancouver Froome brought some gear and started fooling around. He went on to produce some deep techno tracks under the name 'Iridium' on local label Lowdown Recordings. A friend passed on a tape to Luke McKeehan, who was involved with the Mo Funk Collective and was putting on an acid jazz night at the Chameleon. McKeehan soon realized he too was more interested in electronic music, specifically House. He eventually started his own label, Nordic Trax, in 1996 and began releasing Froome's work. The relationship has so far resulted in five releases and shows no signs of stopping. Froome's music has always impressed those both inside and outside the music industry. His three Eps (Data Tracks to Distance Cities, Fly Me To Brasil (both released in 1998) and Skunks (2000), and his two full-lengths, Mobile Villager (1999) and Post & Beam (October 2001) have gotten noticed nationally and internationally. Magazines like Exclai, Ici, XLR8R, Klublife, Resonance, MixMag, and others, as well as DJs Laurent Garnier and David Alvarao have all gone bonkers for Froome's work over the years. Tracks from Mobile Village have also been licensed for use in commercials and film. Sony licensed tracks for a couple of mini-disc ads, while noted Quebec filmmaker Denys Arcand (Decline of the American Empire; Jesus of Montreal) included four tracks for the soundtrack of his film, Stardom. It was screened during the closing event of the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. As a producer, Froome prefers to mix things up. Case in point, Post + Beam, released this past fall. It's a sophisticated mix of jazz-influenced deep house, downtempo, classic house and breakbeat that combines the clean efficiency of digital with the warmth of analog. Froome has watched the way electronic music has changed significantly since he began. "Five years ago, the focus was on creating sound from scratch, like kickass bass or drum patches. But now (with all the downloadable DJ programs) the focus is more on subtle things like EQ-ing and compression." This is why Froome is not a huge fan of programs like Reason, with banks of ready-made presets and samples and virtual models of real studio gear, even though it allows more people access to the genre. "It clogs up the system. Though it does make other producers work a little harder." And when it comes to sampling, "technically, it's all improper, in terms of copyright. But if you chop something up and make something completely new then I think that's okay." Froome is strict about the way he uses samples in his own music. "If somebody recognizes it, I wasn't doing my job." His catalogue reveals a particular affinity for House, "a blueprint for making people feel good." Unlike the fast, aggressive sounds of drum 'n' bass or the machine, riff-oriented sounds of techno, Froome prefers the highly-instrumental jazz-influenced sound of House. "It's expressive. It can be deep, it can be moody. It's a great form of music." As for the attitude found on some dancefloors, Froome says, "House originated in the gay clubs of Chicago. How serious can you take it?' His next local shows will be on the opening nights of two upcoming festivals. At New Music West (Thursday, May 9th at Sonar) he'll be doing a live solo set with other Nordic Trax. Artists Luke McKeehan, Morgan Page as well as Nordic Trax deejays Otaku and Dana D. And at the Vancouver Jazz Festival (Friday June 21 at the Commodore) he'll be joined on stage by a percussionist and guitar player as part of the New Groove Series. But don't expect him to show up to the club with a box of records. This boy doesn't spin. You will see him armed with two samplers hooked up to the mixer. "With my live PA, there's room for improvisation, mistakes and brilliance. It all depends on the crowd; they feed off me and I feed off them. Sometimes the mistakes sound so good that I rethink the particular track and use that mistake as the focus. The nice thing about playing live is that copyright isn't an issue" So expect a few surprises. He may be an underground House DJ but he's not above throwing a Depeche Mode loop into the mix.