The Sound Republic Interview
FRANKIE: You know what? In the past with all of my endeavors working with all kinds of bands and all kinds of people, it's been like that. But I think John and I have been friends for long enough. We know each other's limits, where we each excel and where we each fall short.
JOHN: Yeah we play to each other's strengths. Frankie's more like my brother than my best friend. We're just not competitive with each other. We know how to tell each other "no" on something. It's just not an ego thing. Another reason we don't clash so much is just that we don't take each other seriously.
FRANKIE: I was so disillusioned about trying to be an upcoming DJ, that I told John, "When we do this, we're just going to not give a fuck about anything... We're going to do whatever feels right, whatever we think sounds good to us." I want to change the face of House Music. So we're not going to make something that everybody else is making.
5: You've done so much music in such short a time. How often do you work together on it?
JOHN: We only work once a week. Every Tuesday. We just came from the studio and after this interview we're going back to work!
5: Are you perfectionists?
FRANKIE: Sometimes we won't make any progress on a track and we'll try a ton of stuff, it'll all be crap... But I still think of that as progress. Because once you go through all that crap, you know not to do that again.
5: A lot of people are not growing up on House Music - you were probably at the tail end of it.
FRANKIE: Oh I totally agree. It's sad. When we were younger, a lot of the times when any kind of major hit was on the radio, there would be some kind of legitimate vinyl release by the label with a top remixer. They would get a House remix, even a Drum'n'Bass remix. That's almost gone! So the only way to remix R&B, Rap or any popular music is by a bootleg illegally.
5: So if you are a kid in high school, all you're listening to right now is all that commercial bullsh*t. Kids aren't exposed to House, there's no avenue for them to listen to it, they're not 21... Where do you see House Music going in 10 years?
FRANKIE: You know I think about that every day. We run a label that pushes vinyl, and every day it's changing. We're one of the last few in our genre that's still pushing vinyl.
5: And what is the purpose of that?
FRANKIE: I love a good, thick 12 inch... There's a certain credibility that you maintain when you're producing wax.
JOHN: You have a trend, especially with new school labels, of starting just a digital label.
5: So you've definitely invested some money into your label.
"We felt like in Chicago especially, everybody was so obsessed with the past! We weren't at the Warehouse, we're young bucks! But I wish that people could see that we want to keep the torch burning for Chicago."
--John Mork
JOHN: First off, we're not trying to make a living off of House. That allows us a certain amount of integrity that other people can't have.
5: Do you guys go out a whole lot?
JOHN: Since I started grad school, I don't go out that much. We're out when we're playing.
FRANKIE: Honestly, going out is what burned me out on Drum'n'Bass. There were weeks when I would DJ almost every night of the week to a crowd of five or ten people. It gets really old really fast.
JOHN: Quality over quantity. There are people all over the city whom I respect and think are great DJs, who play seven nights a week, but you even go to Milwaukee and nobody knows who they are. So for us, we realized playing in Chicago every night of the week is not going to help us all that much. For the most part what we worry about is being in the studio and touring. We're trying to spread the word on what this new sound is - what influenced us and what we're doing now.
5: Running this magazine, I get so many new DJs and producers asking me to help them get gigs, get their music out there, it just seems so overwhelming at times. What would you say to someone who's just starting out and is trying to get a name out for themselves?
JOHN: Do your own thing. Do it yourself.
FRANKIE: Work hard on music you're making, push it to everyone you can.
JOHN: But do it yourself. We didn't ask anybody for a damn thing. Everybody pays dues, you've got to understand that just because you have a crate of records and know how to mix, doesn't mean you're entitled to shit. You really need to get out there and bust your ass.
FRANKIE: I'm also going to say, don't stop. I started DJing 10 years ago, and it didn't happen for 10 years. And the only thing that kept me going - and this is going to sound stupid - you gotta think about Bad Boy Bill! One of the biggest DJs out of Chicago, but if you look back at his career, he had been DJing for ages!
[At this point a random guy at the bar comes up to us and says he couldn't help but overhear that they were DJs, and that he had tons of records in his car that he was trying to get rid of - a quarter apiece. John and Frankie pour through his records, and our conversation is punctuated by occasional barks of "Oh wow!" and "Duuuude..." at some of the crazy shit the random guy had.]
5: What other genres of music do you listen to?
FRANKIE: I listen to a lot of radio Rock. When I was in college I was a big Dave Matthews fan. That's as white guy as you can get!
JOHN: In general, the both of us are music fans. I like everything! We play House Music and we spend a lot of time around House, we make House Music. But if I was just going to sit there and listen to House, what does that bring to the table for when we're making music? It's more important for us to be listening to other music because that brings in new influences to the sound. To listen to House all the time, you're in a vacuum.
FRANKIE: You're going to recycle the same things you hear over and over again.
JOHN: Honestly, Frankie and I try to exist in our own world and try not to be worried about what's going on around us. Our formula of working together has worked well for us.
5: What do you think about the complaint of a lot of southsiders that a lot of the northside kids don't understand and respect their House Music history?
JOHN: We can all pick up Love Saves the Day or Last Night a DJ Saved My Life and read about the history. We understand that history and we respect where we came from, but at the same time, part of the thing with starting The Sound Republic is that we felt like in Chicago especially, everybody was so obsessed with the past! We weren't at the Warehouse, we're young bucks! But I wish that people could see that we want to keep the torch burning for Chicago, and keep Chicago relevant. So we're doing our own thing, and carving our own niche out.
We do respect where we come from and we try to hold it down for Chicago. We maybe don't take ourselves seriously, but we take the music we make and the scene seriously. We want to make people feel like there's something new and exciting going on in Chicago! Not just "I have to go to Chicago because it's the motherland, the mecca." We're fucking suicide bombers of House Music!
The Sound Republic's monthly "Grizzled" event is at Lava (1270 N. Milwaukee Ave.) the first Sat. of every month. Look out for their 7th release on Spatula City ("Use Your Illusion 3"); for more info visit thesoundrepublic.com and spatulacityrecords.com
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