LADIES && GENTLEMEN, WE GIVE YOU...
THE COLIN MUNROE [ADDICTED.] INTERVIEW!
This first question is how we begin all of our interviews. As humans, we have addictions, whether they are good or bad. I came to the point where I realized that music is my addiction. [laughs] I know that sounds crazy but, it’s like you always want the newest best music there is rarely a moment where music is not involved in what you are doing. So, my question to you is, would you consider music an addiction for you? why or why not?
I often see music as an angel or a devil. My relationship with it has been a pretty complicated one. Making music can have a certain addictive quality to it in that it can creep into the center of who you are and how you value yourself as a person. You can come to define yourself by it. Did I write the best song of my life today? Will I write a better one tomorrow? What if I don't? It can be a very dark hole to be in sometimes, but that is the natural ebb and flow of creativity, I suppose. In it's lighter moments, making music can make you feel on top of the world.
Although some people may be big Colin Munroe fans by now, there are still a few people who haven’t been introduced to you or your music. Who is Colin Munroe? How would you explain define yourself to a perfect stranger?
Haha...there are plenty of people who haven't heard about me I'm sure! I always introduce myself to strangers as a kid who grew up with Chicago and the Beatles and then ran off and fell in love with Stevie Wonder and J Dilla. I'm a musical mutt and that's the way I like it!
You have worked, producing, with a lot of artists. How did that start? Who have you worked with so far? With which artist did you have the best experience in the studio?
Producing and writing for other people was how i broke into the music scene in Toronto when I moved there. I didn't know anyone and it was something I could bring to the table when I started to meet people. I've worked with a ton of amazing Canadian artists (Glenn Lewis, Divine Brown) but I'm only just now starting to get into the American scene. I worked with Sean Price, which was pretty cool even if we are from totally different worlds!
Okay, [I Want Those] Flashings Lights, is such a dope track! I don’t even wanna call it a remix because it’s way more than that! How did that come about? Did Kanye reach out to you if so, what did he say?
That was just a bit of fun that got way out of hand! I did that "re-imagining" of the track the week Kanye's album came out last year. I just thought the original was something special and wanted to see what I sounded like doing my thing on it. Kanye hasn't reached out to me personally, but he posted it on his blog and has now added to his new mix tape so I think he appreciates it for what it is.
Tell us about your project, Don't Think Less of Me; the title, the process, as well as the inspirations.
The title reflects a period in my life. It's about me, a kid who has always felt he has something to prove. All of the songs were written in a time of life when I was leaving a fairly sheltered suburban home and trying to deal with alot of the new experiences flying at me as I tried to find my way. It's a period almost everyone goes through.. and these songs give a bit of insight into what I saw and felt as I was going through it.
How did you Dallas Austin hook up what’s going on with that?
Dallas and I were connected by a mutual friend named Folayan Knight. She manages some other heavy writers and producers and has been a real angel for me in all of this. She thought Dallas might get what I was trying to do so she passed it off to him and it turned out that he did. Right now we're just in studio putting the salt and pepper touches on the album and then it will be complete.
We asked this question back in the Steph Jones interview. Every artist would like to believe that there is something unique about them. What would you say is different about you, something that you want to bring to the table that other artists aren’t?
It's just a certain something. I could never define it myself. It's never as simple as "a unique perspective" or something like that. It's something that's planted inside you and is suppose to come out somehow. Not everyone has it... but that's what makes it special.
What artists inspire[d] you what made their music stand out to you?
The Beatles obviously had a huge impact on me. They had that special something for sure. It was in the writing mostly, and then in how they recorded their tunes. We'll never see anyone like them again. Stevie Wonder was the same way and so is U2 who was another childhood love of mine. There have been so many others who have had an impact in other ways. Lewis Taylor was another. And J Dilla.
This is another one of those repetitive questions that we ask in all of our interviews. What would be your dream collaboration?
I'm wary of collaborations actually. I find they often sound better on paper than they actually end up sounding on tape. I know the idea is that you combine your unique strengths and flavours to come up with something incredible, but I just think it often ends up watering down or muddying those unique flavours rather than bettering them. Don't get me wrong...sometimes they can be awesome...but I'm just a bit wary of how I do them.
Also, If you could remake any song, what would it be why?
I actually just did a remake of a song I swore I would never touch. I can be a bit of a purist when it comes to classic songs. I feel like you're caught in a bit of a catch 22 when you go to remake a classic because you're forced to either do it in the style of the original and make it better (almost impossible) or do it in a completely different style and risk shattering the beauty of the original that everyone already knows and loves. I very randomly stumbled into the latter option and felt it had enough magic on it's own to warrant recording and taking that risk. I'll reveal what song it is and throw it up online soon and we'll see how that goes!
What are you listening to right now, in you car or on your iPod?
Feist, and a bunch of old Brazillian music by Jobim and others.
Other than the album, what’s next for you; any other projects, that you are producing for or will be featured on?
I'm just starting to figure that out right now. There are a bunch of cool opportunities coming my way and I need to figure out what works. I can't give any specifics just yet.
Last but not least, leave us with one fact that no one else knows about you. It can be ANYTHING.
My porn star name is Bucky Lacroix.
Once again, Thank you for this interview!
We will definitely be keeping out our eyes and ears out for you and your future projects!
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