The biggest Junglist Nu Disco producer in the world
Ashley welcome to DMCWORLD. Where in the world are you right now?
“Currently, I’m in LA for a bit of sunshine & some studio work.”
You have certainly moved about. You grew up in Oklahoma, spent years in Atlanta and now live in Brooklyn. As a kid you played guitar, drums, bass and piano…what did your family think of your choice of eventual career of dance music rather than the more classical approach?
“They were actually always very supportive of me & really pushed me to follow my dreams. Also, I incorporate all the instruments I’ve learned into my music so it’s not like I wasted all those years learning them, just to push buttons on a sampler or something.”
What was the record that changed your life?
“Beastie Boys – Paul Revere, the beat was so crazy. I remember later trying to recreate it by playing the rhythm backwards with some 808 drums, then reversing my recorded audio. It took a few tries but I finally got it right.”
Your artist name Treasure Fingers was coined by a friend of yours who after scouring Google, discovered the name was free for you to use. Can you remember any of the other names that were thrown in the bin?
“Actually I had a few friends throwing tons of names at me & I can’t even remember what the others were. Treasure Fingers really stood out & I was the one who googled it to make sure it wasn’t being used already. Only one result came up and it was for a porn site. Pretty funny, but they had put ‘treasure’ next to ‘fingers’ in their list of meta tags for search engines.”
You have just mixed the Hed Kandi World Series USA CD, a very apt producer to spearhead this album as you know America inside out just as dance music is reaching fever pitch in the States. It must have been a very interesting few years watching this beast grow over there?
“It’s definitely been crazy the past couple years. It got really big back in the late 90’s and early 00’s but then government crack down on raves pretty much destroyed the scene before it reached a ‘pop’ level. Everything now is legal and by the books & you’ve got huge corporate sponsors backing parties & releases. I’m one of those types that doesn’t have a problem with the corporate pop side of it, because I think it eventually rejuvenates the underground side of dance music.”
Your musical style is now on the funky house/disco tip, but the house sound wasn’t always your bag. Not by a long chalk! You are part of the superb Evol Intent drum n’ bass collective Evol Intent with Nick Weiller and Mike Diasio. Your uncompromising and inimitable drum tirades have left an indelible mark on the US and global scene. How did all this begin?
“I started trading files with those guys back in ’99 or 2000 I believe. We were on the same page as far as production & DJ style went. Eventually we got some tracks signed to bigger UK labels and it all just took off for us from there.”
What has been the mightiest live event Evol Intent has smashed up?
“I don’t remember much about it, but I played a party in a huge Budapest club & it was the most intense set ever. Here’s a YouTube clip of my introhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cLyZjEscHg
Who were the early jungle pioneers that got you interested in this sound?
Squarepusher, who isn’t really jungle, first caught my ear, then I got into all the ragga type stuff. Remarc was a big influence as well, anything with crazy chopped up drum programming.
With your love of dance music in different areas, who would you cite as your musical influences?
Roger Troutman, George Clinton, Squarepusher, Tricky, tons of rap producers, I could name off a million different producers and artists, I grab little bits from all over the place and try to cultivate it into something fresh from my perspective.
What are the thoughts of your Evol band members on your passion for fluffy house music? So they think it a bit weird?
“They both share a wide range of influences and musical preferences as well, so they don’t see anything wrong with it at all. We definitely were not the typical junglist purist, whom only listened to jungle / drum & bass and hated everything else, we were completely opposite.”
If you go back to an after party after a big jungle gig and someone asks you to spin some tunes, what genre of music do you spin….?
“To be honest, I have no idea. It would just depend on the party. Typically at after-hours I like to play deeper tracks that I don’t always get to play out during peak time sets.”
How do you juggle the jungle band and the house sounds…how much time is occupied by each project?
“In the studio, it just kind of depends on what needs to be done and if there’s deadlines for certain projects. As far as DJing, we all 3 will take turns doing DJ sets as Evol Intent unless someone requests that 2 or all 3 of us be there, so it’s pretty easy for us to balance all our different projects.”
Outside of jungle and disco house, what sort of artists are you listening to at the moment?
“I listen to a lot of rap or indie rock stuff when I’m not producing. Been loving everything Danny Brown has done lately.”
What is the current top 10 you are spinning?
Disclosure “Lividup”
Nathan Swiss “Number One”
Dublin Aunts “Heartbreak Reputation (Drop Out Orchestra Remix)”
Alex Herrera “Light”
Aaron Perez & Matt Soda “San Diego”
Breakbot “One Out Of Two (Oliver remix)”
Fashen “Dunce”
David Garfit “Tonight”
Cassian “I Love It”
White Noise “Insecure”
You once said, “I’d go play in Libya right now if they would let me in.” So you obviously have a love of travelling! Where have you really enjoyed performing this year?
“Ibiza was great, it was my first time going over there actually. The whole experience was mind blowing. The size of the clubs, the amount of parties, how long the parties last, etc…it was definitely something I wasn’t fully expecting.”
What has been your anthem of the summer?
“Big fan of Peter & The Magician “Memory”, it’s a great summer record and I consistently get a great response when playing it.”
What is coming next from your studio?
“A single that I co-produced with Codes, “Blowing Up (feat. Amy Douglas)” forthcoming on Hed Kandi.”
And finally, when you find yourself behind the decks with thousands of clubbers chanting your name as you slip in another cool house groove, did you ever for one minute think when you were in that marching band drum corps playing the quads, that you would be where you are today?
“I had no idea. I hadn’t even been to a rave or nightclub at that point. I think I had dreams of performing music somehow, but all I knew was rock or punk stuff with a full band.”
OUT NOW! Hed Kandi World Series: USA puts the spotlight on America with Treasure Fingers, Sarah Louise and Mikey Gallagher providing a musical journey through itsevolving electronic music soundtrack. Featuring tracks and mixes from Avicii, Wolfgang Gartner, Sander Van Doorn, Laidback Luke, Nicky Romero, Lifelike, Bingo Players, Treasure Fingers and Todd Terry.
