Interview with Fabrice Lig

Fabrice Lig

Ever since his first releases on Elypsia back in the mid 90’s, Belgian techno producer Fabrice Lig has been something of a rarity, both in his own country and across Europe – a composer who has never compromised in his love of the funk, soul and melodic influences of Detroit Techno. Whilst the bulk of European techno has been pushed harder, more processed and excruciatingly loop driven, you’ll find none of these characteristics in Fabrice’s music – raw, jazzy, melodic and highly danceable electronics rule in his studio…

His major turning point famously came when his remix of E-Dancers ‘Banjo’ was selected to appear an Saunderson’s KMS imprint – thus making Fabrice the first ever white European to appear on an original Detroit Techno label – and causing a sudden and inevitable media frenzy around the young producer. But to write this off as a crucial, one-hit lucky break would be a both harsh and short sighted, him having gone on to release an wide ranging catalogue of high quality music on many renowned labels, under a variety of aliases – Soul Designer for Laurent Garnier’s F-Communications, Bug Orchestra for Elypsia and Raygun, and as himself for 7th City, Starbaby and many others….

Recently he has been taking his Soul Designer live sets on the road extensively across Europe and further afield, and continues to showcase his passion for soulful techno wherever possible.

We caught up with him along the way to discuss how he got to where he is today, and what plans he has for the future…

We are very proud to present – Fabrice Lig

11th-hour When were you first exposed to Detroit Techno?

Fabrice Easy question man ;-) My first tune was Inner City’s ‘Big Fun’. Of course it was a smash hit but probably the best I’ve ever heard. And it included all the Detroit techno ingredients (especially emotional side). After that revelation I started to explore all the Detroit music and artists (including what they did before)…

11th-hour Had you been involved in music prior to that?

Fabrice I have lots of good memories about the Electro/ Hip hop period (GrandMasterFlash and others). I was crazy about Herbie’s Rockit. But I remember when Lil Louis smashed with ‘French kiss’! It was crazy too.

I remember I really liked two albums of M. Jackson, ‘Off the Wall’ and ‘Thriller’. Maybe it will make some people laugh, but I listened to it again a few months ago, with a more ‘technical’ ear, and Thriller’s production is so good!

My father was really into the Beatles so I know and like them too ;)

I listened to many things when I was young but I was not a real fan or addict, I see that like my learning time, open to many things, sometimes good sometimes less so, but always useful.

11th-hour When and why did you first begin mixing and producing?

Fabrice At the age of 12-14, I liked to buy some records, LPs at the beginning but after that I turned more to 12”, the best format for dance or club music. I think I started to buy House/techno 12”s at the same time as R&S records was born. After one or two years I had so many records I wanted to play for my friends. Some records I wanted to share.

I think ‘Share’ is the most representative word for my DJing approach, my first motivation as lots of other DJs I think.

Producing ideas came a little bit later. I thought that DJing was a first step and producing, a final purpose - I really needed to do it, passion and obsession are really similar ;-)… But when I started ten years ago, it was really expensive to build a studio, even if I started with really cheap equipment (like most of Detroit artists I think, and lots of other electronic artists too).

11th-hour How and when did your first release come about?

Fabrice I did it with a record shop in Belgium that had a little record label, I recorded some poor demos and they wanted to put these out ;-) So we did. It was in 92/93 I think.

It was a kind of Belgian Techno, easy, simple, sounded bad, but I needed to do it to follow my way through to other things later.

11th-hour Musically, you are clearly inclined to the Detroit sound, particularly the more melodic strains – however, there also exists a wide diversity in your sound and between your various projects. What do you see as your primary influences, and just how important is the influence of Detroit on you?

Fabrice Detroit is without doubt my first influence. Especially their way to work, their purpose: bring emotions, melodies, feelings… It’s what I always remember about Detroit music, but what I want to bring to my own music too.

I must admit that 80’s hip-hop is present in my mind too.

11th-hour Can you tell us a little about your various aliases, and what you see as the definitions / boundaries of each (if any)?

Fabrice It depends, Bug Orchestra is now an alias for my electro tracks (even if I’m not really into electro at this time, bored by the 80’s revival ;-)

Others alias were created because of some collaborations, or more often because the labels wanted to have their own alias on their label. That was the case with F-Com.

Except Bug Orchestra and collaborations, all the releases have the same purpose: Feelings, emotions, melodies, dancefloor…

11th-hour How did your original releases for F-Com, Raygun and 7th City come about?

Fabrice I’ve never sent too many demos, because I only wanted to send to the labels that I was really into. I was really aware about the sound, artwork, philosophy of the different labels.

The first I sent demo CDs to was Raygun / Indulge, I really liked everything on these label. I sent the same CDs, in the same week to Starbaby records, for the same reasons. Oliver Kapp (Raygun) called my on Friday and Anissa (Starbaby) called on Saturday, so I signed first with Oliver ;-). Even if I released an EP later on Starbaby too…

About F-Com, it’s different, I met Laurent Garnier in Belgium (‘98), and he told me that he liked my music. He also asked me to send some demos… I wanted to work with F-Com but didn’t want it to be an EP between lots of others and stop after that. So I decided to wait a little bit and wait until the right moment, I mean the moment when I was ready to bring an album, a moment when I could see a collaboration with them for more than 3 months. They agreed with that as they want to work with an artist for a career and not just one off shots…

7th City, it was cool. At first because Titonton and I recorded some tracks in my studio. We really like each others music, so it was so nice to work together. We worked a complete week, in such a soulful atmosphere ;-), really good memories. After we finished we thought about a label to release that on??????? We had the same ideas: 7th City and Planet E. It was like a dream for us. Titonton knew Dan Bell’s address and we sent it to him. A few days later we received an e-mail, he wanted to do it!!!! We were so happy!

We had such good moments during the recording process, then we decided to record a follow up to the ‘Sensual EP’, so we’ll work together again soon….

11th-hour Have you had much involvement with the scene in Belgium, or have you tended to work more in isolation?

Fabrice I’m not involved in the Belgian techno scene except with some friends who, like me, have turned to relative isolation.

Belgium is the kingdom of Hard Techno and I don’t have any place on this scene; you know, it’s the same everywhere in Europe, hard techno is the main movement, but in other countries you have some other place where you can find other kinds of electronic music. It was really rare in Belgium, except for some little organisations in Brussels, Gent or Liège. Now it’s different. After the album on F-Com, Belgian promoters paid more attention to me, I played live and DJ more than before, but I stay true, no compromises. So I’m trying to share my love for melodic techno to Belgian clubbers each time I play here.

11th-hour Does your music reflect your environment, and your life in general?

Fabrice I think so. I’m living in countryside of Belgium, nothing around (ask Titonton about it ?). Peaceful place.

But I’m sure I could also record the same music everywhere. I’m not so influenced by external elements… It’s just that I like quiet places, so I moved to the countryside.

11th-hour How do you approach composing music, and what do you feel to get out of it?

Fabrice I couldn’t live without that, I mean producing. Even when I’m on holiday for more than a week, I’m turning crazy. (Fortunately I have a laptop now ;). It works like a drug on me (the only one I take ;).

It makes me feel good when I feel I’ve found good melodies or did a good work, as it could make me feel bad when I didn’t work good enough in the studio, so I’m turning crazy ‘till the moment I’m working good again ;)

11th-hour Much has been made of your ‘acceptance’ by the fathers of Detroit Techno. How does this make you feel, and do you think that it has had any effect on your success and your musical output?

Fabrice I don’t know. It’s something we talked about a lot in interviews, so I suppose it influenced the media to pay attention to me. But it’s something more important for me, it gives me energy to continue in this way. You know, it’s like a small child who wants to play with some elders. If elders put you out of the circle each time you want to play with them, you stop and go away, or wait for few years…

But when they say, okay man, come with us, it’s really cool.

The difference here, is in the fact that I was from Belgium, and them from Detroit. I was white, they were black (personally it wasn’t a problem), they invented that music, not me, I was just inspired by what they did….

11th-hour Many commentators have singled you out for praise because of this – viewing you as ‘crossing the racial divide’. Do you think that this issue of race is still relevant in todays global Techno community?

Fabrice Not at all, never. Techno is a worldwide movement. That’s why it’s so interesting. That’s why it changes and progress all the time.

But in another way, I understand Black people from Detroit, US or the World, who want to keep their true roots. They knew some situations we didn’t know, some racial problems against them.

For me, to be the ‘first white man’ on KMS is really important. I’m a little bit like a guy who signed an eternal soul contract between black people from Detroit and white people from everywhere. (I talk about music of course, I’m not a politic or something like that)

On another side we have to cross that barrier. The Soul doesn’t have a colour. But unfortunately, the soul is not what the people are looking at first in other people…

11th-hour Do you think that soulful and melodic Techno is beginning to return to Europe, after recent years of being dominated by generic, percussive loops?

Fabrice I don’t know, and to be honest don’t really care. It’s a fact that lots of new labels/artists are coming to join us everyday, and it makes me so happy. But in another way I don’t think that it will become dominant. Sometimes we have some hits in charts to say ‘hey, Detroit techno / melodic techno does exist, it’s a really good and soulful music, you can like that, try it…’. A good example was Octave One’s ‘Black water’ (I love the Ann Saunderson voice on it) or Rolando’s ‘Jaguar’…

I’m not against commercial success, it’s (sometimes) the result of a good track ;-).

11th-hour What are your thoughts on the ever growing popularity of electronic music – do you think commercialisation has a detrimental effect on the scene, and does this ever affect what you do personally?

Fabrice It’s not so bad I think. It’s always like this with each popular kind of music. It’s just the sign that electronic music is now a part of everyones life (even if they don’t like it). So we have the chance to make our own choice between all the kinds of electronic music we have access to. It’s just that more often the music is bad and it’s easier to access for younger or people who don’t already know that music (I talk about TV or radio).

It doesn’t affect me, I don’t care about that, I still work in the same way…

11th-hour You have recently been touring a great deal with your live sets – do you still DJ much, and which do you prefer?

Fabrice I’m touring something like 50% Live and 50% DJ. Even if I played live a lot after the album on F-Com.

I like the DJing because I can share all the tunes (and artists) I really like and believe in, so it’s very interesting, it gives me lot of pleasure!!

A live act is the same but with your own music, so you can imagine what you can feel when you share your own music with an audience, it’s amazing!!!! Sometimes you would like to cry as your pleasure is soooooooo big!!!! (Especially when you play at Montreux Jazz Festival or Sonar…some mythic places….)

11th-hour Do you have any plans for ever starting your own label, or are you happy to release on other peoples projects?

Fabrice I think it’s really hard to do both things at the same time. I prefer to keep my energy for my production side. So I’m trying to work with the labels with same view that I have of a label ;).

I think I’ll start a label the day I’ll stop producing, or when my inspiration or needs to do music will go out. But I hope not before I’ll have 30 or 40 years more ….

11th-hour Following your collaborations with Titonton for 7th City, and as RSP, are there any other artists you intend, or wish to work with?

Fabrice I don’t know, because even if you like an other artists music, it doesn’t mean that you’ll do great things… but it could be nice to work with John Tejada or Morgan Geist…

More possible; I would like to produce something like a melodic techno song, with lyrics, a singer…so it will probably be my next collaboration. As well as that, I would like to ask to a bass player to appear on a forthcoming track.

Also, after my collaboration with a percussionist on the live act, it made me think of using more real percussion….

11th-hour Where do you currently draw your influences from – what artists inspire you at this time?

Fabrice Can’t give you an answer! I like lots of artists but just want to appreciate their music and listen to that, not really to be inspired, more for my own pleasure. And to be honest I don’t spend too much time to listen other music as I always want to be in the studio. So, I’m trying to listen other things (Jazz, hip-hop, Nu-Jazz…) but each time I’m listening some good music, I enjoy that so much than I need to go in the studio and play too ;-)

11th-hour How do you find the Techno scene in general now, both in Belgium, and across Europe?

Fabrice I think its ok, it’s healthy. I mean, there are some bad things, that’s normal, but there so many good things too. So, even if the distribution for good electronic music is not easy, you can find it in the good record shops and make your own choice between many good things…

So, it’s really important to find a good record shop. But the internet is really nice for that too!

11th-hour What plans do you have for the future – are there any special projects you have lined up, or anything you would particularly like to be involved in?

Fabrice I just finished a mix CD for Keep Diggin records in the UK. It’s also important because I wanted to share the tracks or artists I really like. But also give an alternative to the people other than a hard techno mix CD.

I also have a CD out on Raygun, called: Bug Orchestra ‘Electro Shop’. Some electro tracks I recorded 4 years ago. It’s funny because it is finally out now and it’s really far away from the 80’s revival from Germany. I’m curious to hear the feedback on it.

Of course I still work on some new tracks…

11th-hour Can you sum up what you love about Techno, and electronic music?

Fabrice I like it because everyone can express what they’re feeling thru the music even if they can’t play an instrument (like me) or if they are not a genius player (like me too ;-)

Also techno is club music, so it gives you some pleasure, energy, feelings, emotions, so many things we need in our life.

You know, we can compare it with what they’re writing on the ‘Kellog’s’ boxes: ‘everything you need for a day, vitamins, calcium… and blah blah blah….’

Peace - Fabrice

Many thanks to Fabrice for taking the time to speak with us!