Luke Vibert interview – “generally the kids today are cool as fuck”
The ultra-prolific maverick beatsmeister joins us for some Grit chat
Grit is the new album from Luke Vibert, a celebratory collision of acid, breaks and good old fashioned fun that’s sure to get you headed for the dancefloor. Somewhat amazingly, it’s his 18th album under the Cornwall-raised, London-based producer’s own name – which doesn’t include the other widely lauded LPs he’s made under other names like Wagon Christ, Plug, Kerrier District and his wonderfully monikered jungle project Amen Andrews. We had a chat with Mr Vibert himself to get the latest….
The last time we spoke you were housebound in South London with your family away in France – did you or they manage to escape eventually? We joked about producers being on lockdown permanently anyway, but looking back, how did the pandemic affect you? Did it have any effect on the music you made?
Everything still pretty weird, nothing quite back to normal yet! for music making, the pandemic was amazing – I thought I spent most of my time making music before, but it became insane during lockdown, literally all day + night! Not sure it had any effect on the actual music, but I do feel happier with the production I get out of Reason…finally getting clos to how hardware sounded back in the day..!
Did you miss playing out? When and what was the first time you got back to it?
Yea, kinda… Made me realise DJing is my secondary thing, though. I didn’t miss it as much as I thought I would, although to be fair I love the gigs, it’s all the travel shit I didn’t miss!! Thank god for Josh, the I Love Acid nights were a great way back into gigs, low key and chilled.
Tell us about Grit – why the title ‘Grit’… were the tracks made all around the same time? You said previously you have two set ups, one hardware based and one more sample based, did you use exclusively one or the other for this? It sounds like a bit of both to me, but what do I know?!!
Just liked the photo! Thought it sounded cool! Yep, all tracks made same sesh, lasted a couple of weeks. they were all simple analogue hardware tracks, then added the odd little bits in post production, so you’re right, a combo, kinda…
Is there anything significant about the LP coming as a Luke Vibert LP rather than Wagon Christ or one of the many other names?
Wagon Christ has its own vibe, not very acidic, more home listening, hip hoppy, sampley bizniss really…Luke Vibert can be any type [don’t know why, that’s just what’s happened!] All other aliases have their own sound [i.e. kerrier – disco, Amen – jungle etc]
You’ve settled into becoming quite a hard working DJ in recent years – I mean, you always did a bit, but now you seem to be a fixture at both Bangface and I Love Acid. Both nights seem to have a much wider view of what’s acceptable to play than old fashioned clubs used to, is that something that appeals to you? You’re quite an eclectic producer…
Funnily enough those are two of my favourite nights, but they’re both quite limiting as to what I can actually play. Bangface = hardcore, I Love Acid = well, acid! Other nights I might play hip-hop, house, anything really, not so limiting… Generally the kids today are cool as fuck though, and I can play pretty much whatever I want
You’re embarking on a full US tour with Posthuman soon, is that a first for you rather than one-off dates? What’s he like as a touring companion? Anywhere you’re particularly looking forward to getting to that you’ve not visited before?
Been touring US since 1995 with Aphex, never worth it for just one show, as a Visa now costs about £3,500, you have to do as many shows as possible. Still don’t have the itinerary, and my passport still in US embassy with no sign of appointment yet, so getting a bit worried..! Never toured with Josh – should be ace..!
You also have a limited split single with Posthuman – are you sat on a big load of material waiting to come out? Any future plans for releases, gigs etc we should know about.
Honestly, I only release maybe 1% of what I make, so of course there’s tons of tracks unreleased, some of my faves from over the years are unreleased, but don’t really have any plans to stick ’em out. maybe one day. I especially have tons of Wagon type hip hoppy shit. Most people only wanna release my more uptempo stuff, which I don’t make that often.