He’s playing at Limelite, Metros Freo, on the 7th of August (Event Info) and he has some stellar tracks. The Valerie and friends album is out now on Bandroom Records and is worth buying, it has track from all the Valerie team and some of their friends, obviously, hence the name Valerie and Friends… We’ll I got to have a chat to Russ about what the collective is like, how he creates his tracks and what we can expect from his show on the 7th. Full interview after the jump and you can listen to She’s Got The Heat while you read!

Hey Russ Chimes! As the only British artist involved in a Nantes based collective, how did you end up being involved in Valerie?

I heard College’s track Teenage Color back in summer of 2007, and remember contacting him on myspace to ask if i could remix it. I did the remix, he loved it and asked me to come and play at one of the first Valerie parties in Nantes, I hung out with the guys and we’ve been good friends ever since, and eventually they took me under the wing of the collective.

And how does being part of Valerie effect what you produce?

It doesn’t really, I just produce the music I like, and we’re not bound by any rules of how our tracks should sound. I think it’s important for a collective of artists to all have their individual sonic signatures.

I’ve been reading a press release on Valerie, when there is a group of artists together do you feel like you’re all labelled as making the same genre of music? Or labelled in any other way?

I’m sure we are, i guess there’s that ‘Valerie’ sound to some extent. We like to see it more as a group of artists that share the same influences, appreciate the same aspects of music, whether it be a melody, a driving beat, or a chord progression that makes the hairs on your arms stand up. We all share a love for cinematic music which can tell a story without having to say too much, but also make you dance all night.  And it’s great to find that other people share the love too.

On the same note, whether this is good or not, when I visit a blog I go there knowing I’ll get a certain kind of music, do you ever feel that being part of a collective will limit people’s access to your music?

I guess it can limit what others perceive your music to be, but it’s important for me to be my own artist first and a member of a collective second.  Like i said before i don’t feel restricted in any way to produce music that doesn’t fit into what people consider is the Valerie genre. Already some of my newer remixes and original work doesn’t stick to it at all, but i guess there will always be certain (more subtle) aspects in my tracks that are influenced by it, whether it be a single synth stab or a drum fill etc…

Time to move away from the collective and down to exactly what you do. When you create a track do you have a specific idea of what you want when you start?

Sometimes yeah, although I usually write a riff first and build a track around that, and the idea just naturally develops. I usually start with a synth hook, then drums, basslines and harmonies, then synth leads just come from endless jamming over the top.

And is it the same for remixes? Is there anything you love to do to tracks to give them a Russ Chimes feel?!

It’s the same yeah, but i don’t really have a formula for remixes, i just mess around with a vocal loop, layering up chords/melodies until something sounds right.

This might sound like a stupid question but it’s something that really intrigues me with electronic music…When you create tracks like Daytona, Mulsanne and She’s Got The Heat, that have no vocals, do you attempt to tell any kind of story with the sounds you use?

I like to try and create a bit of drama through my tracks and i guess there’s always a narrative the comes out of that, for example, the tracks usually start small develop a melody then breakdown to a big build; i like the track to get bigger as it goes on, introducing new sounds all the time. But it’s not a conscious thing to try and tell a certain story.

The three aforementioned tracks have a really good dance floor feel to them. Do you ever think about what you want tracks to be used for when you make them?

I usually comes apparent soon after starting them, where the track will work the best… if i start to create something thats really laid back i’ll usually just go with it, rather than trying to force it into a club banger, that never works!

Okay this is our second standard question at Perthquake…Which three artists, dead or alive, would you love to produce music with and why?

Jacques Lu Cont – as Darkdancer is still one of the best albums i’ve ever owned, Lifelike because of his melodies and Prince – because it’s Prince.

Finally to get a possible feel of what we can expect in Perth…What are your favourite tracks to play at the moment when you dj and play live, for crowd reaction and ones you just love?

Well playing live, She’s Got The Heat always gets the biggest reaction, Djing at the moment, Jeffer – Boys Noize is massive, and The Phantom’s Revenge is always great fun to play out.

Thank you very much for doing this interview and we can’t wait to see your show at Limelite on the 7th of August.

Perthquake