So the day is finally upon us for Philadelphia producer and Actual Records labelmate Jack Deezl to unveil his debut Unrest EP upon us. Now, if you’ve seen him live anytime in the past couple of weeks, you’ve probably heard a few of these songs. “Coast” and “Hear Murmurs” have both been at the forefront of a lot of his sets, but most of the EP still remains unknown. Giving it a listen, the whole thing is absolutely amazing. Despite it’s length of six tracks, this mini-album packs in a momentous amount of content. One of the most enjoyable things about Jack Deezl’s music is it’s dark ambiance, which seems to be a consistent mood throughout most of his tracks. I was lucky enough to sit down with the producer and talk to him about the new EP and his DJ/producing career in general (you can listen to the EP down at the bottom):
K: “Where are you originally from?”
JD: “Asbury Park, New Jersey”
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K: “And what are you doing in Philadelphia now?”
JD: “I’m a music technology major at Drexel University. I just finished my Junior year.”
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K: “How long have you been producing?”
JD: “I started using computers to record music, as a means of recording various different bands I was in during high school, when I was 14. As that progressed, I began to learn how to use them more and started messing around with software instruments and making beats. At 17 or 18, I started taking it seriously, but I was still just making hip-hop beats. I started making Bass music about two years ago in 2010 when I was 19.”
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K: “What was your motivation to start producing?”
JD: “Well, my band broke up. And I wanted to start another band, but that wasn’t happening and I was listening to a lot of Justice and SebastiAn, so I was like ‘Well, maybe I’ll just do this producer thing for now’. And then I never started another band, so the electronic stuff just kind of naturally became my main thing.”
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K: “What was your first piece of equipment and the software you were first using?”
JD: “The first electronic thing I got was a microkorg I got when I was like 13. The first software I used was Garage Band on my MacBook. Then I eventually got Logic through a friend. I used that for a couple years and then I switched over to Ableton somewhat recently and have been using that ever since.”
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K: “And, what do you use now, both in terms of equipment and software?”
JD: “I use Ableton Live to produce and to play live. I use an Akai MPK25 in the studio as my main Midi controller. And an APC40 sometimes as well. And then I use an Akai MPD24 to play live, which is custom midi-mapped to various things in Ableton. And I use a lot of different stuff in the studios at Drexel, like different analog outboard gear; and I use the different studios they have to record some stuff and sample it back in. I record a lot of my own samples using guitar or piano and load it back in through the computer, manipulating the audio and stuff like that.”
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K: “In choosing songs to remix, do you feel you generally choose a song that you think would sound good to be remixed, or just songs that you personally enjoy?”
JD: “Usually it’s a song I enjoy. A remix takes a good amount of time for me, so I don’t just choose a song because I think ‘Oh, I could do a banger remix of this,’ or anything. I just do stuff that I genuinely think is cool and that I want to spend a lot of time on. And then, when I do a remix, I try not to really make it like the original song, I try to just take enough elements from the original song, that people can still tell it’s a remix of that song, but I treat it more like I’m just sampling the original song and making a new thing.”
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K: “Do you have a personal favorite track of yours?”
JD: “Yeah ‘Coast’. I think that’s my best one; that and ‘Heart Murmurs’.”
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K: “I know you said you sample some of your own guitar and piano, but I still want to ask: do you dabble with any other instruments?”
JD: “Yeah, I’ve been playing guitar for 13 years and piano for, I guess, 8 years. I play some other stuff too but not very well, haha.”
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K: “What’s been your favorite gig/show you’ve played? Or, do you have one?”
JD: “Yeah, the one we did April 27th with Proper Villains was probably my favorite gig I’ve ever played. And The Electric Factory was really awesome too, sheerly just because it felt like a huge landmark, and it was the biggest gig I had played; it felt like ‘ok, this is serious now’. But as far as just strictly which one I had the most fun at, definitely the Proper Villains show, just because we had the whole Actual Records crew together, which we don’t get to do a lot. The crowd was huge that night, we packed like 500 kids in there, and we made that whole thing happen ourselves.”
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K: “Do you have a favorite venue to play at in Philly?”
JD: “Warehouse of Destruction, which is where the Proper Villains show was at. Basically just anywhere that’s not a legit venue; anywhere that’s a warehouse or a house party. Those are always the most fun, haha.”
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K: “You said ‘Coast’ was your favorite, but are there any other tracks from the upcoming EP that you’d say we should keep our eyes out for?”
JD: “We’re gonna do a single release of ‘Riddim’, one of the tracks off the EP. We’re gonna release that with a remix from a really awesome producer who’s also a local. But I can’t say too much just yet, so just keep an eye out for it”
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K: “What DJ’s/producers would you say have inspired you?”
JD: “Probably, Skream, Amon Tobin and NOISIA are the producers who have inspired and influenced me the most. Their stuff is all amazing, in their own different ways.”
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K: “What other music do you listen to aside from electronic?”
JD: “Everything. I listen to a lot of classical music. My favorite composers are Debussy and Stravinsky. I listen to a lot of alternative rock stuff too like, Minus the Bear, The Fall of Troy, Explosions in the Sky…I have a pretty broad spectrum, I like whatever catches my ear.”
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K: “Who are some other up and comers, in either Philly or on the nation level, that you really like or are into?”
JD: “Architekt, he’s a local guy; I really like what he’s got going on. Pudgey Malone, he’s another local guy; we did the ‘Neon’ remix together. Nomster, who also helped me mix ‘Coast’; he’s another guy that’s coming up and has a really awesome sound. Phantom Shilla’s got a lot of really, really good stuff coming out now too. I don’t know, there’s a ton of people doing cool stuff now but I don’t want to ramble.”
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K: “What are the big plans for the rest of the Summer?”
JD: “I got a show with Reid Speed, July 19th, at Underground Arts. I got a party coming up at Rutgers that we’re still working on. Then hopefully setting up some big stuff for the end of Summer. We’ll see. There’ll be more underground Actual Records stuff going on. But I can’t say too much now, gotta keep the element of surprise.”
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K: “Anything else you want to say?”
JD: “I wanna smoke weed with Bill Murray.”
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So keeping that all in mind, it’s time we got to the actual music isn’t it? This is a really, really, reallllly strong debut release from Jack Deezl. I’m looking forward to the future of the Philly EDM scene, and this record gives me a lot of hope.
Jack Deezl – Soundcloud Facebook Twitter
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Jack Deezl - Unrest EP – Purchase Here
Funkadelphia Picks: Track 4, “Riddim” is where the EP really starts getting good, followed by “Heart Murmurs”, “Coast” and “Coast Pt. II”, the final four tracks of this seven track record definitely all deserve a listen!
