Each one gives me a focal point, so it allows me to create something with a specific style in mind. If I’m going to do something for Groove Committee, it would be a different production for Critical Rhythm, Sound of One, or Street Players.There’s a whole concept behind the production and different layers to it, and it keeps it interesting from a fan’s point of view. When we talked about the Universal Robot Band, that was one pseudonym for Patrick Adams and Greg Carmichael; another [alias used by Adams] was Cloud One. For me, it was like finding treasures, because you uncover what’s behind it. It’s like continuously discovering, and then I want to find out what else they did. It’s keeping the focus on the production, and not the person behind it. Street Players is so blatantly loop-based, whereas NY’s Finest is more musician-based. If you move over to this really eclectic [EP] I did called Lucky 13 and the Downtown Scene, I wanted to get into the no wave scene of the early ’80s Basquiat era in NewYork, and it has nothing to do with these other pseudonyms I’m talking about. We could go down one by one, and each is just a concept. If we remove the pseudonyms, and put my name at the center of those, it seems less interesting. Companies will be like,“Build the brand, make it obvious,” but real heads want discovery because sometimes that thrill is as exciting as the music itself.
what is being produced. But removing all of those factors, as a creator, I create my own style. I’m crazy about sounds. If I could, I would go through sounds from morning ’til night. I started a sound library with floppy disks, where I saved sounds I liked and named them. When it comes to production, it’s all about sounds, and if each one is quality, then you’re going to have a quality production…in theory, of course. You want a good foundation, or else it will fall apart.
What drives you as an artist?
There’s this happiness, excitement, and joy when I listen to things I like, like the opening chords on Surface’s “Falling in Love” [sampled on Cloud 9’s “Do You Want Me”]. When you hear a song, you remember where you were and what you were doing [the first time you heard it]. It’s like that with almost every song for me.The emotions that were involved are still there. If I didn’t know joy or sadness, I couldn’t share it. I’ve been on very high highs and very low lows, and I’m not one for holding myself back. I like the listener to feel what I’m feeling when making the production and, if I can achieve that, it’s a success. You’re able to tap into that pureness,distill that emotionality, find it in sound, and make it your own, like in Sound of One’s “I Know a Place,” which samples the first four words of “I’ll Take You There” by the Staple Singers. Different parts of songs stand out more than others, and I like to call them “magic moments.”Tom Moulton, a good friend, always talks about his experience of Sigma [Sound Studios] in Philadelphia: how the musicians would get together and jam, then all of a sudden gel and almost become one. It is musical perfection, if you will.“I’ll TakeYou There” by the Staple Singers is a journey, and I wanted to capture the energy of those magic moments and stretch it through the whole track.
From the beginning, I understood it was all about the music. Without the music, there’s nothing.
You’ve been called “the man of a million aliases.” Could you speak on your preference for different musical identities?
To explore Victor Simonelli’s Wax Poetics Collection, visit Waxpoetics.com.
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