On their stunning new album Made Me Feel, Fabrikate take a trip back to the glory days of disco, a time when love was the answer, inclusion was the only message worth spreading and everyone was invited.
Fabrikate are Francis and Chuck — two guys with similar tastes and interests digging into the past to uncover some long lost musical wisdom. Their devotion to this quest grants them laser focus, working like madmen to create bumping, neon-flecked sonic landscapes for their listeners to wander through. Both Francis and Chuck have their own personal tie to the disco era and the forgotten magic left with it. They grew up listening to celestial funk throughout their childhoods in Montreal, an island with deep disco roots of its own. The music they produce as Fabrikate takes the spirit of disco and weave it into a modern sound, with breathtaking results.
“We both grew up immersed in disco in our own ways. The music and the culture of that era has always been a deep influence. Disco culture was very inclusive and non-judgemental. It was always about the vibes and the experience. With Fabrikate we’re creating our own interpretation of what disco music means for us today.” Fabrikate
Across 12 unique tracks, ‘Made Me Feel’ blends both house music and disco influences into a sound that while heavily influenced by the sounds of the past, also manages to remain rooted in modern-day dancefloors, and takes inspiration from the US, Europe and of course their native Canada.
WWD: Hi guys – thanks for talking to us. Kick us off with a potted history of Fabrikate if you can…
Hello hello, thank you for having us. We’re currently in year number 5 of Fabrikate and just released our second album a week ago. Our sound has changed drastically since our debut album “Bodies” and we’ve never felt more authentic and true to ourselves than we do today.
WWD: You both credit musical households for a lot of your formative experiences, do you think you’re lives would now be drastically different if your parents had been listening to rock, or pop music when you were younger? Or do you think disco and house would have found you eventually anyway?
There were all sorts of musical styles playing in my surroundings throughout my life but my father is a Rock and R&B fan before anything and has always had an open ear for all musical styles. I remember first falling in love with Doo-wop at a very young age and still a fan of the music today. Disco was one style that always stuck around and later led to house music. House music is essentially modern-day disco in its own way and often contains classic disco samples which keeps the sound alive today.
WWD: Tell us about your individual roles within Fabrikate, what expertise or particular strengths do you both bring to the project?
It’s kind of cliche to say but similar to a chef in the kitchen, if you remove certain ingredients from his signature dish, it just wont taste the same. We essentially complete each other in so many ways throughout the production process. We’re a two-man team doing some much on all levels of Fabrikate and have our hands in everything. We sometimes create in separate locations, then come together and assemble the final puzzle. Sometimes it all falls into place perfectly and at other times it doesn’t. There is no magic ingredient in music but always great to have that second set of eyes + ears to craft with with the same end-goals in mind.
WWD: You’re about to release your second album Made Me Feel – what are the major differences between this release and your debut LP?
We have never felt so pure with this new release. We’re truly being ourselves for the first time creatively, without worrying about how the world may perceive us. We’re just being raw and evoking the sound and experience we’d love for people to enjoy along with us. That said, the music is night and day from our first album and we loved the entire process of getting it to where our sound is today.
WWD: There are some killer samples on the album… how do you go about finding loops that you think there’s something about?
Sample discovery comes in so many different settings and depending on your state of mind, you may go in one direction with a track as much as you may put it aside and come back to it months later. We’ve overlooked some massive ones throughout the process which we then came back to when the time was right. We’re constantly in music discovery mode individually. We then get together and evaluate the different ideas we may have and see where the production process takes us.
WWD: Are they records you knew about already, or was it a case of sitting down with a big stack of vinyl and hammering through a load of 12″s?
Some were records we’ve been in love with for years and others may have landed on our laps by fluke. As we mentioned, the music discovery process is a day to day adventure and we’re always learning.
WWD: Give us your top 3 disco samples of all time…
Black Box – Ride On Time
Together – So Much Love To Give
Armand Van Helden – You Don’t Know Me
WWD: What does disco mean to you?
Disco is life, disco is acceptance, disco is togetherness and disco is boogie/dance. Need we say more?
WWD: What’s your favourite disco album ever made?
By far one of the most difficult questions to answer so here are 3 of our faves:
Cerrone – Cerrone 3: Supernature
Sylvester – Step II You Make Me Feel
Donna Summer – Love To Love You Baby
Ok one more:
MFSB – Love Is The Message
WWD: And who’s a modern day disco don that we should all be checking out?
Also a tough one but we would go with Purple Disco Machine who has been creating some bangers over the years. He’s got some fire coming…
WWD: After working so hard on the album, what’s next for Fabrikate? How do you feel now it’s about to be released into the world?
It’s always a bittersweet sensation releasing an album you’ve been working so long on. Never really sure how the public will receive it and there’s always the whole business aspect which can sometimes be a little demotivating and exhausting. But all that aside, there aren’t many better feelings than reflecting back to when this was all just an idea and eventually seeing it come to life. What’s next you ask? Maybe a day or two to reflect and reset, then head out on the road and make people dance.
WWD: Finally. give us one musical trend prediction for 2020….
DISCO… is all we have to say. It’ll be back stronger than it’s been since the 70’s, attracting people of all ages. Get ready to hear artists from all musical genres experimenting with the sound and bringing it back to life in 2020… at least we hope so. 🙂