Hello and welcome to Magazine Sixty Francesco. Let’s start with your latest release “10191 EP” on Rhythm Cult Digital. Can you talk us though where the inspiration came from for one of the tracks and then how you produced those ideas as music?
Ciao Magazine Sixty-thanks! It’s a” terrific” pleasure to answer these introspective and detailed questions!
The inspiration comes from a question that I’ve been always wondering about myself during my DJ sets, specifically when I’m playing my favourites ‘bangers’ and people are going nuts. I ask myself: “Frankie, you should have few killer tunes from yours in your deck of trump cards, don’t you?†So I got really focused on what I like to play at that precise moment.
Writing music, for me, is such an instinctive act that for me it’s conceived in the club and gestates in my studio.
https://www.traxsource.com/title/859264/10191
Going right back to the start and growing up in Rimini. Which DJ’s and Clubs influenced you most and how would you describe the Dance scene and the city at that time?
I’m too proud of my hometown to talk about it honestly! “La Riviera Romagnola” – all the area around Rimini’s coast, it’s the actual nest of the club culture and legendarily where the art of DJ’ing is born! (Don’t try to prove me wrong, have a look to DJ Mozart)
Clubs like Baia Degli Angeli, Altro Mondo Studios, Cocoricò, Echoes, Paradiso, Classic. They were all pioneers of the dance scene.
The first time I stepped into Cocoricò club and listened to DJ Cirillo playing it’s there where I was most definitely inspired.
P.S. Try to have a “piadina” at Ilde’s after a couple of days of raving, and you’ll know why I’m so proud of my city!
Where did you learn about music production? And can you also tell us about becoming an Apple Logic Pro Certified Trainer and Music Producer and what it means to you to be able to teach others about creating music?
Teaching and co-working with other artists is my everyday source of further inspiration and energy. It may appear on the outside that its just help and guidance for them, but most of the time it’s the straight opposite.
Everything started from my friend Marco, when he was mocking me about my “geekyness” in the studio. He said once: “Frankie, you are such a Logic-Pro-nerd, why don’t you teach other people?â€. So I had a look, found a workshop in NYC, went there twice, got my certifications, met my wife at Paul’s Burger on 2nd Ave and Bowery.
How I learned to use Logic? I read the manual. How I learned to make music? I’m not sure I did it yet…
You currently live in London where you are resident and Music Director at the Mayfair Club – MNKY HSE. How did that come about? And how do you feel about the way club culture appears to moving in terms of festivals taking prominence over weekly club nights?
I have to be honest, it’s still confusing how I ended up there. I think MNKY’s crew embraced my vision and patiently accepted my quirkyness. I’m blessed to Direct an amazing spot like this – it’s a true diamond.
The “festival-shifting” has a more sociological meaning: the new generation is so over stimulated that music is not enough to entertain them. That’s why it’s an impelling mandatory act to have massive visual shows or to be in the VIP area sharing your pictures. The clubbing scene, as we loved it, has changed.
What does the word Techno mean for you? And how do you see the music moving forward in time – do you think it will ever become a set of clique’s like the 90’s House sound has become?
That’s a tricky question. I’m a spoiled kid from Rimini who loves Lucio Battisti and Star Wars. I’m not from Detroit, nor from Berlin. I experienced Techno when I listened DJ Saccoman playing some rare wax from R&S and when System Of Survival gave me a folder named “History of Techno Music” to learn – where the Techno sound comes from. So, for me, techno is knowledge and amazement and of course it’s that suspended fraction of a second right before the kick-drum drops.
More than anything else, Electronic Music is a wave, repeating itself in circles, so I think all this “labelling” has no sense for the music-lovers out there; but you know, non-music lovers worship labelling stuff – don’t they?!
What for you is expressed though rhythm (instrumentation) that isn’t expressed though words (song)?
I personally think that Rhythm is one of the many ways to meditate and enter a transcendental state of mind. Rhythm is the medium to carry yourself into an altered condition. Repetition, patterns and accents drive you and your body. That, for me, is the biggest expression. Alternatively, songs carry a message: they share feelings.
Which artists have had the biggest impact on you both in terms of music and in the world outside of it?
I’m a sucker for 90’s Electronic Bands: from Chemical Brothers to Air; Prodigy to Daft Punk.
I’ve been lucky enough to meet all my heroes and legends, to talk with them, to understand their journey. I really hope to get to that level, amount of wisdom and peace.
What is your favourite instrument? Do you own one?
My wettest dream is to be a classical trained piano player and movie soundtrack composer, I have keyboards, theory and score books everywhere. I keep on dreaming though… and that’s why my favorite instruments still remain my trusted AKAI MPC2000XL and its digital version Maschine.
And finally can you tell us about your forthcoming plans?
Re-patching and setting-up the studio is my first priority right now, as well as going back to piano classes (for the 99th time ahahaha)
Jokes apart, I’m finalising a six track album I wrote during my journey in Nepal: it will be released by a Berlin based label of really good friends.
New music in collaboration with my mate David Hasert is soon to be released, same for an incredible amount of tracks which I produced with the tireless Salvo aka SB-Unit.
Of course, to be a classical trained piano player and score composer is top priority!
Francesco Mami
www.francescomami.com
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