Him_Self_Her Q&A

box bored B&WTell us about how you teamed up to form Him_Self_Her?

We had been working in the industry for more than 10 years individually before we decided to form a duo. We both started out playing vinyl, and spent over a decade playing a range of different styles and working really hard on the Midlands house scene as DJs and event promoters, just trying to build a name for ourselves as solo artists.
Over the years we often got booked to play the same events and we started to notice that we were quite similar in style and energy. Eventually we decided to get in the studio just to have fun and make some music, but the results we got were pretty good, so we decided to officially become Him_Self_Her.

Your new single Gone Too Long has just been released on Crosstown Rebels. How did your relationship with label happen?

It was actually a bit of good luck that led to this.. being in the right place at the right time as they say. We first signed the track to Cream Couture back in 2012 and the guys did such a great job of promoting it, despite being a small label, that it went to number one in the Beatport nu-disco chart and got into the hands of some big names, such as Lee Foss and Solomun. One day a random message from Damian Lazarus popped up in our inbox.. saying that he had heard the track and loved it. We sent it over to him, really just hoping he would play it at some major events, and then before we knew it, we were signed to Crosstown Rebels, with a vinyl release of Gone Too Long and a follow up track coming out next year!

 The track has a very distinctive sound and also features vocalist Kieran Fowkes. Can you describe the process of producing it and about your studio?

We were so lucky to have discovered Kieran, as his voice is just perfect for our style. We use the same process with all the vocal tracks we produce – which is to write a vocal part over a rough loop or simple chord progression, record, edit and produce it and then use the acapella to write a whole new backing track. It might seem backwards but it works for us!

What are your musical/ artistic influences?

We both have different musical backgrounds, which is actually really helpful as it means we both contribute different ideas in the studio. We do take influences from the past and this includes all genres of music from drum’n’bass to classical! However we like to keep a strong focus on the present and the future as there is so much great music out there and new genres are evolving so quickly. At the moment we are listening to a lot of material by producers like German Brigante, Samu.l, Francesca Lombardo, Siopis and Santé.

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Tell us about your plans for an album and what can we expect to hear on it?

Having the opportunity to put an album together is such an exciting prospect, as it means we get to go a little deeper and experiment with new sounds. We are working on album material on an ongoing basis, but we are trying to work this around our remix and release schedule, so it is something we are really taking our time with and just enjoying.

How would you describe yourselves as Dj’s and the sounds you like to play?

Right at the start of our career someone described our sound as “house music with feeling” and we thought this was such a good description of our music that we decided to steal it and use it as our catch phrase!
We don’t want to be pigeon holed into a particular genre, so we play and produce across all styles of house, as long as it has feeling. We just want people to feel emotion from listening to the tracks that we play or make, and to connect and be moved by them.

Where are you particularly looking forward to playing at over the coming months?

As we are getting closer to the crazy festive period we are getting more and more excited about our winter gigs. Especially as we are flying off to the Dubai sunshine in the middle of December to play for Electric Days, which is an amazing party!
In the next few weeks we are also playing in Leeds, London, Sheffield and Lyon and then in Manchester on Boxing Day.
In January next year we continue our residency for Night Train at Egg London, where we will be showcasing our live PA, featuring Kieran Fowkes on vocals, which we are super excited about.

Thanks to Magazine Sixty for taking the time to chat to us, and a big thankyou for everyone that has supported us so far! HSH x

https://www.facebook.com/HimSelfHer
https://twitter.com/him_self_her
http://www.beatport.com/artist/him-self-her/279671

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