Band of the Week: Sneaky

Over the weekend I had a conversation with a friend about what excites us about music, and I found myself saying that I value music makes me wonder how it was created. More times than not I want music that goes beyond the traditions guitar-bass-drums sound, and that is what first drew me to the sounds of Manchester's Fingathing. Back in the first part of the decade the group consisted of Peter Parker, a DMC Finalist, on the turntables and Sneaky (aka Simon Houghton)on upright bass. The sound these two were able to create was complex, part jazz and part hip hop, and filled with comic book samples. The launched their attack on music in 2000 backed by the approval Rae & Christian. They released albums before taking a break from music.

Over the Summer, true to his name, Sneaky quietly released his solo debut on Big Chill Records. This is an album that holds close to what I loved about Fingathing, but Sneaky does crave a distinctive sound for myself. Feel like a King... Pluck a String is album for those who love music, love sounds, and love to explore both.

I was honored that Sneaky reached out to me about the album and even more honored that he answered a few of my questions.

Orange Alert (OA): Your solo debut, "Feel Like a King... Pluck a String" is a great album. What can you tell us about the album, and how long did it take you to complete?
Sneaky: Thanks…. I made most of it once I moved to Berlin at my home studio, the opening track (frieden schließen) was the very first bit of music I wrote after the move and the title literally jumped out to me. A stack of German/English language cards were by my window and the wind blew one particular card at me which was “frieden schließen” which means “to make peace”. How could I ignore this right? After that the tune writing was pretty quick and organic. Berlin has been a great place for me to really concentrate and focus my craft. The two vocal featured tracks also happened quite naturally…RQM who featured on the track Mental origami, is a friend and actually the main catalyst for me and my wife moving to Berlin from Manchester in the first place. Currently residing in Barcelona he is busy with many projects, check his profile here http://www.myspace.com/rqmpropaganda ...a man with a huge heart and a razor sharp mind, and the session for that tune was an effortless blast. The title track “feel like a king” features vocals from Barbara Panther whom I met here in Berlin whilst working on my album via a friend who suggested her to me, inspired by her features on an album from the multi talented Bernd Friedmann.

My dad who is a classical clarinetist, arranger and conductor also features on some of the tunes. I particularly love the sound of the bass clarinet, growing up hearing him practice and performing so I wrote several parts for him to play and recorded these back in Manchester.

I like to utilize sounds and surfaces that are around me to make parts, for example I recorded the sound of amongst many other things my kitchen toaster, chopsticks for hi hats and some whistling courtesy of my wife Rina.

OA: I also really enjoy the video for "Toytown Elegy". Did you commission the work on the video, and was it close to what you had pictured?
Sneaky: The video for toytown elegy was done by a friend, amazing musician and composer Paddy Steer together with his son Theo. Paddy is the main man behind the wonderful Manchester based band Homelife http://www.myspace.com/madwaltz , he also lent me the use of his electrified Xylophone for the tune. I hadn´t pictured anything like this, Paddy and his son were given free reign to do what they wanted and I love the world that they created for it.

OA: When you perform live these tight loops and sample driven songs become wild jam sessions. Talk about your approach to performances.
Sneaky: My approach to live performance is to create a completely new and different vibe from the recorded music using elements and parts from my tracks as building blocks. My live setup is myself on various basses with loads of effects and loop pedals + toys together with a drummer who controls a laptop and mixes electronic triggers with an acoustic drum sound. It´s badass if i do say so myself! For the future I want to develop interactive visuals to run alongside the performances too.

OA: September Isssue, is quite diverese. How do you select the songs for your mixes?
Sneaky: I´ve been a record collector and dj since I was about 16 and so have gone through many stylistic changes. I have a big love across the board for music and select tunes totally based on the energy they give off. I think it is disrespectful these days to think that people just like one type of music. I guess my main aim tho is to dj and mix up music in a way that I buzz off myself, in the hope that some people dig it too. That´s pretty much all I can do right?

OA: Fingathing "Superhero Music" was one of my favorite albums. Is the band still together, and is there any activity?
Sneaky: Cool. Yes we are. Basically the three of us (me, Parker and Chris, the illustrator) were living together for about 7 or 8 years! Which was great but this could never last. We collectively decided to take a break from it a few years back before we did some stuff that maybe was just mediocre. There were problems with labels going bankrupt etc that made us a little bitter to say the least and all in all I think the break was a much needed thing. There are plans to make new Fingathing material and me and Parker have a few tracks we´re sending back and forth to each other but this will happen all in good time;)

SNEAKY - live studio session

OA: What's next for Sneaky?
Sneaky: Since recording my album I have loads of new material which I will be releasing not as a follow up album but as a series of eps due to the different nature of my productions.

I have started a 7 inch label with a partner here in Berlin called Hot Source Records in order to get some vinyl out there which i´m dead excited about. The first 7 should be out in October featuring the single “feel like a king” together with a dope dubstep remix by hot berlin producer Robot Koch on the flip.

Besides that i´m touring my live show around as much as possible and djing wherever I can, spreading the Sneaky love!

Bonus Question:
OA: If you could sit down to coffee with anyone (alive or dead) who would it be?
Sneaky: Oo I dunno, a coffee with Charles Mingus would be pretty entertaining......

OA: What was the last great book you have read?
Sneaky: I´m not a massive reader, although I do really enjoy reading when I have the time. Half read many books recently. I generally like biographies and factual books. I suppose the author I can say I was last blown away by was Richard Brautigan - “the hawkline monster” “ trout fishing in America” and “the abortion, an historical romance” are amazing.

For more information on Sneaky please visit his website.