World exclusive with the house music supremo
Rennie Foster is a man whose pedigree is practically second to none when it comes to house music. A stalwart of the scene at home in Canada, Foster is equally as revered in Tokyo where he spent the best part of the past decade, a trip that’s had obvious repercussions on how he views and treats music. With his label RF, going from strength-to-strength, we figured it a good time to check in on the hip-hop connoisseur, as we touched on everything from influences, contrasts and his time spent away…
Interview by Rob Chadwick
Hey Rennie welcome to DMCWORLD. Please tell us about growing up on the West Coast of Canada, what was it like?
“It can be really conservative in a left-wing sort of way, if that makes sense. Lots of social rules to follow. People always having knee-jerk reactions to things and seems like they want to ban anything that makes them uncomfortable, or have to talk about. Some folks can be pretty entitled, not everybody though, of course! It’s sort of reflective of the regional government, so many regulations that totally dismiss common sense. Like our archaic alcohol and club laws. Lots of inspiring natural beauty though, and I was very lucky to have always a solid crew of good and supportive friends around me. Many of my closest friends are still people have known since I was a teenager. I have never felt part of mainstream society, I can’t imagine that would be any different for me even if I had grown up somewhere else. It’s deep in my blood, on a cellular level even and I retreated inward into my own world for much of my growing up, preferring to believe I was a part of New York subculture, or something else that sparked my imagination.”
Music wise, did you feel in the shadow of the US cities? Was that something you were ever conscious of?
“From a young age I felt far removed from the subculture of what I was really interested in and passionate about. I fantasized about what things must be like in Chicago, New York, Manchester, etc. I have a big imagination and this is pre-internet of course, so every mix tape, every magazine article, every music video fuelled this and I was determined to create that in my own life, even if it was just me. In the early 80s, when I found breakdancing, just like many young people across the global mainstream, I didn’t just embrace it as a fad like most did, I had found religion you could say, not the “dance” per se, but the b-boy culture and through that new wave, punk rock, skateboarding, house music, techno, graffiti art, vogueing and many other, less describable things. I didn’t feel “in the shadow” of bigger cities, but I did feel removed, like I had been born in the wrong place, sort of.”
Didn’t you used to make hip-hop? What was your involvement like in the hip-hop scene? Were you always just producing or did you spit rhymes too?
“My first foray into actually making music, besides experimenting with my pause button, was as a rapper. I was a part of a rap group, maybe the first rap group in my city and one of the first from Canada’s west coast. We were called “Sound Advice”. We released some tapes that are now like collector’s gold in that area and played a lot of shows, commonly opening for punk bands at first. We opened for Green Day actually before they were mainstream. The collective of supporters that surrounded this group was very creative, even including a young Nelly Furtado and Prevail who went on to found the multi-award winning group Swollen Members. Core members such as Degree One who became a top concert promoter in that area and brought the DMC World DJ Championships (I was a judge) and also Canadian Hip Hop legend, Moka Only, who I still work with now. I was well known as a dangerous freestyle battler, and, once and a while I will still bust out a freestyle, in the right situation. The hidden track on my “The War of Art” CD has a track with me rhyming, and I released a techno track called ‘Codebreaker’ on vinyl in Japan a few years ago, that features my skills on the mic…I am working on a modern Hip House project right now with Moka Only and I may step up to the mic at some point. We’ll see.”
So was the move to electronic music a pretty gradual thing? Who were your early influences back then?
“I have always been into both electronic music and hip-hop, still now exactly the same. I don’t see borders between “genres” like most people do these days, I see only commonality and links. I see patterns in trends, and the way the whole history has been like a feedback loop, with different scenes in different cities influencing each other, and being influenced. My early influences were mix tapes, mostly taped off the radio in NY and elsewhere, and given to me. Passed around like precious gems. Hip House was a major era for me, because I was already feeling that, and when I heard Fast Eddie bring it to life, it was an affirmation. I was influenced a lot by Bomb The Bass, Todd Terry, Twin Hype, Cold Cut, Marshall Jefferson, Joy Division, Rakim, Stretch Armstrong, Arthur Baker, Kraftwerk, Gary Numan, Herbie Hancock, and of course, Frankie Knuckles, may he rest in power.”
So did you start out as a hip-hop DJ? Could you already scratch and mix by the time you converted to house?
“Like I said, there was no “conversion”. I am just doing what I do, it’s other folks who have put what I do now in boxes. I have always mixed in a way that is inspired by the cuts and quick mixes of hip hop style, and also the smooth blends of house and garage. I think it’s part of the reason why I’m not as commercially successful as I maybe could be, my identity is not related to a “genre” like most these days. Or at least I have a distain for that, so when my music is “accepted” within a defined genre, I may be inspired then to do something totally challenging that. I release a lot with Detroit labels, it’s a natural mutual appreciation, so I often get grouped in with Detroit Techno, but really I am just as dedicated to house, and when I say “house” it’s in the old way, not a genre, but a way of life. When I make tracks, even if it is “techno”, by definition, it is full of house and hip hop style. I am a houser, and a b-boy…for life, I couldn’t not be, even if I made rock music. Also, DJing sort of took over, but it began as just one of many things I was doing to express myself, like making beats, tagging buildings, dancing in circles, and rapping in cyphers. As I got more into the “craft” of it, and realized I was naturally talented at it, and also as I aged, I became focused on it.”
What were the big records for you in those early days? Has most of that stuff aged well?
“Well, there are several eras of “early days” for me. When I was really “on my own”, tracks like the ‘900 Number’ by Mark the 45 King, early production by Marley Marl, Chaka Khan “I Feel For You”, Electribe 101, Todd Terry’s “Royal House” project, the Technotronic album, Saint Etienne’s “Fox Base Alpha” album, PWEI, Renegade Soundwave, there is just too much magical stuff to name. My walkman was my constant companion. All the early Chicago stuff was very important for me, before “rave” came to N.America. Once rave kicked off here (I remember the article in “The Face” where I first absorbed it), tracks like “Rush In The House”, Ragga Twins, Altern 8, Orbital, Coco Steel and Lovebomb, Opus 3 and all the great house music like the Strictly Rhythm, Nervous era, that first Masters at Works album which was half Hip Hop, the early Def Mix remixes…all huge for me. I am still into all that music. I see music as being a lot more “timeless” than the dance music industry might lead you to believe. That music is just as great now, as then, and gets played in my sets, alongside new music, regularly.”
At what stage did you begin to find your feet in house music? Were you playing similar stuff back then to what you play today?
“Yes, I think I am. At least the “style” is similar. I get excited by new things, even trends just like everyone else, but the core of what I do hasn’t really changed since I started doing it seriously. I released a couple of house records in 1997 and 1998, but didn’t really find my path, in that regard until 2002, when I released on Soiree Records, out of Detroit. From then a lot of things started to happen. I think I had been absorbed for so long in underground, American, black subculture, that I vibed with the Detroit scene very strongly, more so than with the European house and techno scene that was really dominant by then. So, I owe a lot to the music community of Detroit, because it was through them that I really “found my feet”, so to speak. I don’t know where I’d be without Derrick May, Aaron Carl, Gary Martin, Claude Young, DJ Bone etc. My style has always been about breaking down walls between ideas, and it’s still about that.”
Were you using the same machinery to make hip-hop as house? Was it all just based around drum machines and samples?
“My first house records were made using Roland and Yamaha “Grooveboxes”, sequencing a bunch of cheap stuff, old Akai samplers, Electribe stuff, guitar pedals for effects, Kaoss pads, etc. Total pawnshop set up. I didn’t even own a computer until 2002. My first piece of kit I owned myself was a Roland R8 drum machine. No fancy analog stuff, just cheap thrills. I still like that stuff still! Recently I got the whole Aira kit from Roland Canada, we are working on a promotional project, and it brought back some memories! I love it. I am definitely more into creative sampling than programming synths, due to my background, but I get into synths too, more now. Back then we used a keyboard sampler to make everything, very rudimentary. I remember a friend of mine had a Korg M1, I loved that thing. I grew up with a single parent in low income, subsidized housing, and my crew were from similar backgrounds, so we used whatever we could to create with. As a result, I have a penchant for doing the most possible with cheap gear.
Talk to me a bit about your label. How long has it been going? And what made you want to start your own label?
“I put out two vinyl records in 2011 under the “RF” label banner, through Prime Direct distro, but the real “launch” of the RF label came in March of 2014, so it is still in it’s infancy. It’s a DIY project all the way, a real punk spirit. I have worked with a lot of labels over the years, for better or worse, and decided I really needed an outlet to put things out exactly how I want, and without the “sales” of the release as a priority. “RF” is about creativity, not popularity, and it’s “success” is totally measured by how dope the stuff coming out on it is, not at all by how many people know it, or buy stuff. That is what “RF” is all about. Independence from that. Freedom from the popularity contest that is making things more and more wack. The so called “underground” of dance music resembles mainstream “EDM” more and more every day to me, not in the “sound” of the music perhaps, but certainly in other ways, like “famous stars” and good looking, popular, well marketed, DJs being used to sell tickets and people going to clubs to see their favourite personality, not caring much who made the actual tracks they are dancing to. Well, I am building my own little niche away from that, even if it’s just for myself and those who care about what I’m doing.”
You have quite distinctive artwork, what’s the idea behind the hand?
“The “RF Hand” is something I made myself in photoshop in 2005 or 2006, I’ve been using it since then, as my logo, on flyers, records, etc. It has come to be quite well recognized in a certain niche of folks. It is my signature, more than just a logo really, and for my “signature label” it had to be the hand. The release artwork is created by several people in my circle, a lot by Erik Van Kobra, at Wolf/Sheep Arthouse in BC, Canada. He is a fine artist that has a deep background in graffiti. The artwork for “Call The Sun” is a drawing by my main artistic mentor, Hans Fear, AKA Ghost, who I started writing graffiti with in the 80s. He tragically took his own life in 2001, but his artwork lives on. Most of his art, like the image on “Call The Sun”, that I use is from doodles on scrap paper, and is then transformed by myself or others in my circle, in photoshop, to become the finished artwork for the release. Incidentally, the trumpet played on the earlier “RF” release “Childish Things” is by Hans’ brother, Alfons Fear, an amazing jazz musician.”
So with your best work, would you rather license it elsewhere or put it out on RF?
“I am not sure what “my best work” really means. I think other people decide that. I am certainly not going to release any weak sh*t, anywhere, if i can help it. My most “unruly” work will definitely come out on “RF” though, because many labels have a very focused idea of what they want from me. I am continuing to work with labels like Soiree, Transmat, Thoughtless etc., but “RF” is my baby. I am pouring my soul into it these days and will be re-releasing only my strongest past works, and new releases will be 110% on point, there will be no skimping on quality for the “RF” label project.”
‘’Call the Sun’ is out now. It’s a pretty unusual record in that it’s dark in parts and light in others. Did you always set out to make a sort of contrasting track?
“Contrast is a common theme in my work. I’m attracted to contrasting things, like futuristic synth sounds, and organic drums. Or classic “house” elements, combined with rolling drums like hard-techno. Or many other things more difficult to describe. I love the sound of combining lo-fi, or “muddy” elements, with super clear, hi-fi elements. The same can work for emotional themes, like an uplifting, bright melody, arising out of a dark and moody groove. Sort of like real life.”
You’ve got Amir Alexander doing a remix of your track, ‘Call the Sun’. How did Amir end up becoming involved in the first place?
“Amir is one of the many like-minded artists I have been talking with, he is a good example of the kind of artist I am interested in working with. Down to earth, inspired, and inspiring, a real person, not a “personality”. I was planning on having him remix something for RF, even before it was launched. There is a strong circle of heads on remix duty for the first year of RF releases. Santiago Salazar, Samuel L. Session, Nubian Mindz, Mark Archer (Altern 8 / Nexus 21), Myles Serge, Japanese juke/footwork don D.J.Fulltono, and lots more, you’ll see.”
What do you feel he brings to the track? Were you surprised by how he handled it?
“I wasn’t too surprised because I knew he’d kill it. I only mess with remixers that I am totally confident about because I don’t want to interfere or influence their version at all. I really don’t like it when labels do that to me, so I am not doing it. If I ask someone to remix something, it’s because I trust and respect their vision as an artist. I love that Amir brought in that new vocal, that sort of empowering message is what the “RF” concept is all about. The opposite of hedonistic, escapist dance music. We are doing music for real life and real people.”
I believe you used to live in Tokyo. What do you miss the most about the city? How has your day-to-day life changed as a result of you moving home?
“Well, life is completely different, of course. Way too much to describe in an interview answer. I miss my friends there a lot. Antonis, Bob Rogue, Hiroki, Naoki, Ryoma Sasaki and the Metro, Kyoto posse, Hiroshi Watanabe aka Kaito, my booking manager there, Shinya Suzuki and the Waon staff. Tomoya, Ichiro, and the Rock West crew, Q’Hey, Mike Munoz, etc. So many great characters in Tokyo. I get homesick a lot. I went back for a string of shows last year, coincidentally a couple of the gigs were with fellow BC artist Mathew Johnson,from the same hometown as me, so that was a “full circle” sort of connection experience. I miss all the great small towns I got to play in, up and down Japan. I miss Japan a lo – especially Tokyo, it’s like my home.”
Is the pace of life in Canada more conductive to making music?
“I make music all the time, no matter where I am. I get inspired by different things here though. I am in clubs less here, so I have been able to really step back and get a different perspective on things. It is part of that reassessment that lead to the creation of “RF”, so in that way, moving back here has been very conductive to my music. It is a new era for me personally. And Rob, it’s just beginning.”
https://www.facebook.com/renniefoster
