Ladies and Gentlemen. Father Funk is here!
Lost in Michael Jackson’s woodland estate, young Will Williamson was a happy soul. Breast fed and reared by a family of disco Llamas, he’d canter hither and tither to his heart’s content, chewing on the lush grass and shrubs planted way back in the Motown days.
Until the day the bulldozers arrived to clear the estate and mine the fabled Tree of Soul. Outraged, the Llamas quickly militarised and Will found himself leading the Llama army against the machines. Sadly for Will and the Llamas, they were trained in combat by Bubbles, Michael Jackson’s favourite monkey and could only offer thrown semen and faeces against their metal foe and it was over as soon as it began. But as is the way with super heroes, Will didn’t die. He was spirited away and placed in a montage, where over the proceeding years he grew strong, running along beaches and up and down steps to Bill Conti’s Theme from Rocky…
How was 2015 for you?
2015 was probably the best year of my life. I had such an amazing time and played so many wicked shows. Visiting Canada for the first time and playing at Motion Notion as well as checking out Shambhala was definitely the highlight.
WHATCHA GONNA DO -
Can you tell us what your favourite thing is about the new EP?
I feel very honoured to be a part of this release. As you'll probably know, Jon Horvarth from FK5 passed away this summer, and as much as it was devastating for a lot of people it was an honour to be a part of their story. It was also pretty special to be on a release with The Funk Hunters, who I have looked up to since I began this project.
How did this project get started?
I started Father Funk I think in 2012 when I was 17. I was just getting my head around producing electronic music, mainly Drum & Bass, and I heard one of Stickybuds' Shambhala mixes and a few things from The Funk Hunters. I found their sound really inspiring and it seemed to take influence from all the genres of music I was most into - Hip Hop, Drum & Bass, Breaks, Funk, Soul, Reggae... I started putting out some tunes online and it just seemed to click straight away. I have to thank Spinforth and the Ghetto Funk blog for promoting my music from the start.
Can you tell us about new project you will be working on 2016?
At the moment I'm working on a number of things, a new EP for Scour Records, potentially another EP for another label, and my debut album which is all original. Really excited to put that out, just waiting on vocalists at the moment but it's gonna be worth the wait!
Imagine yourself walking into the studio; please may you talk me through a typical day? What are your habits?
I don't really have much of a typical day as I suck at routines but I always start the day with a good cooked breakfast, eggs and avocados are a must. Then I'll probably answer a load of emails and listen to music until I become inspired to start writing. I used to do a lot of sampling but as of late I'm trying harder and harder to express the original ideas that come to my head... Quite often it's near impossible to translate but I try my best. I try and get as much of a track written in one sitting so when I go back to it the idea and arrangement is already there, and all I have to do is tweak stuff.
How do you go about choosing what software and plug-ins you use?
To be honest I'm not the biggest plug-in nerd, mainly because I can't afford any but also because when it comes to fancy expensive plugins I think it's better to learn a couple inside out than have loads of them but not being very good at any of them... I use Massive for a lot of my bass sounds, and I love Oxford Limiter for mastering but mainly I just use Abletons own plugins. They're real simple but really functional and easy to use. I use Ableton's Saturator a lot, I've also been getting into Operator and I love the Glue Compressor.
What’s the one piece of DJ/production gear you can’t live without?
Not really sure... I guess Ableton? I used to write music in Logic, which I still think is a great program, but I find it really slow for writing. Ableton is much quicker.
Any particular artists/dj’s/ producers that really influenced you?
I wouldn't know where to begin, I have so many artists that influence me but when it comes to the Father Funk sound I'd say my main influences are Slynk, Featurecast, WBBL, A.Skillz, Beat Fatigue, K+Lab, The Funk Hunters... I could go on but I really don't fancy listing 3000 artists right now.
How’s the Bristol music scene in this moment?
The Bristol music scene is great. I haven't been living here long but I've been gigging here for a few years now and it's always a good time. There's a lot of different types of music going on, and it's very easy to get carried away over the weekend (and into the week...). My friends at Tremor Soundsystem put on some amazing shows, I recommend checking them out if you're ever in Bristol!
Often particular cities are linked to certain sounds and sub genres. Do you think living in Bristol is reflected in your music?
Yeah I agree. I definitely think that's the case to some extent. I'm mainly influenced by the people I'm surrounded by and making music with, and since moving to Bristol and being with a different group of people their tastes and production styles have influenced me to make the music I am making today.
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