Treasure Fingers, the name has been synonymous with great dance music in 07/08. From dropping his own gems, “Its Your Turn” and possibly electro track of the year, well for me anyways, “Cross the Dancefloor” and not to mention the numerous banging remixes that he continually drops. My personal favorites being Chromeo’s “100%”, Empire of The Sun’s “Walking On A Dream” and even making Fergie’s “Glamorous” palatable. The man consistently keeps people shaking their asses whether its on the dancefloor or in the privacy of their own home. With that kind of resume we can definitely expect more hotness coming out in 2009 and it’s already started with Treasure Fingers remix of Miike Snows‘ “Animal”, heard here. In anticipation of him coming to Vancouver on January 23rd to Celebrities (tickets at www.blueprintevents.ca), we caught up with the man known as Treasure Fingers to talk about his remixes, plans for an album and for the gear heads, we touch on what equipment he uses in the lab.
KB: First off, thanks for taking the time to do this interview with us. So tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started in producing and DJing electronic dance music?
Treasure Fingers: I started with hip hop and experimental stuff when I was really young, 14 or so, on my dad’s drum machine and 4track. Around 16, I lost interest and started playing in punk/hardcore bands. I didn’t really get serious with dance music production & DJing until I was 17 or 18 and my band had broken up. I liked that I could fill the creative musical void by writing, producing, & DJing solo.
KB: You have an interesting name, Treasure Fingers, and before that you were know as The Enemy, tell us about those names, what was the inspiration behind them?
TF: Some friends of mine and I just kicked around some names and Treasure Fingers seemed to be the most popular. I still wasn’t completely sold on it at first but I really like it now. It’s taken over me. ‘The Enemy’ actually started out as NME-5, my first DJ name. I quickly grew out of that and changed it. I still use the The Enemy moniker for some hip-hop/extra production.
KB: Which musical genres as well as artists do you find gives you inspiration? And what kind of influence has coming from the south, Atlanta, had on your style of music if any?
TF: I listen to almost everything and it all influences me at least a little bit. For Treasure Fingers, 80′s funk and disco is the biggest point of influence. I think a lot of the r&b and rap I listen to comes through a little also. I love southern rap, and the vibe of the Atlanta club music scene and (I) hope a little of that comes across through my music.
KB: How did you meet up with the folks at Fools’ Gold and A-Trak and eventually getting signed to the label?
TF: I had quite a few mutual friends but what actually brought it all together was A-Trak sending me a MySpace message saying something like “hey! I like your music and run a label, are you interested (in) releasing some records with us?”. Since then, I’ve become good friend with A-Trak, Nick Catchdubs and the rest of the Fool’s Gold family; they’re all really good people.
KB: Ok so straight up I have to say I love your track “Cross the Dancefloor”, when I first heard it I was quite blown away. The melodies and production work are ridiculous. What was the process of making that track?
TF: Thanks! It started out as just an instrumental filter disco house type track. Then one day I decided to try to put vocals on it. The next day I thought it might be cool to have some girl vocals responding back to my male vocals. The overall production is pretty simple, just a clean kind of poppy track. There’s a sample in there (the filtered disco part during the first breakdown), but I played the rest of the synths, bass, drums and built the track up around the sample just in case we couldn’t get it cleared. Luckily, it got cleared and I’m blown away at how well the song as done thus far.
KB: Recently you remixed Chromeo’s track “100%” and they remixed your track “Cross the Dancefloor”, how did that partnership come about? Were you always into Chromeos’ stuff prior to Fool’s Gold?
TF: Yeah, for sure. I first heard of Chromeo from some DJ mix they had released years ago. Lots of old classic 80s funk, I didn’t know they were writing or producing their own stuff until I heard “Needy Girl”. I love their work, great guys too. I didn’t meet or get in touch with them until Fool’s Gold signed “Cross the Dancefloor”. A-Trak hit me up one day and said his brother and P-Thugg loved it and he wanted to get them to remix it. My remix for them came through some Bacardi promotion they were coordinating with Vice Records, I got asked if I wanted to remix “100%” and of course agreed to it. “100%” is one of my favorites off that album.
KB: As is mine, and that remix of yours is also bananas.
KB: For all the gear heads out there, what do you use to create tracks / remixes?
TF: I use a PC running Cubase SX 3, I know I need to upgrade to 4, as my main sequencer. As far as instruments, I use a lot of VSTs, some hardware synths (Roland JX3P, Roland Alpha Juno-1, Yamaha DX100, Korg MS10), a couple guitars (Gibson SG, Fender Strat), Heil Talk Box, MPC 2000xl, Fender Rhodes mark V, and a lot of other smaller fun things.
KB: In an interview that I checked out between you and Kill The Noise you mentioned that you wanted to move towards more of a live show by the end of the year, is that something that’s still in the works?
TF: Definitely! The live show won’t be ready for a while though. I’m concentrating on finishing the album now, but once it’s done I’m going to focus on putting the band together and hitting the road.
KB: So staying on topic with the album, when can fans expect it? Or has touring been taking up a lot of your time?
TF: Touring and remixing has been taking up all my time lately. Next year will be the time for a full-length album. I have a lot of tracks half finished & demo tracks already, I just need to pick out the best and finish them.
KB: What are some of your upcoming projects and collaborations that you can talk about?
TF: Not too much I can talk about right now really. I just finished a bunch of new remixes that should be coming out over the next several months. You can check my MySpace (www.myspace.com/treasurefingers) or website and see the full list of remixes I’ve done to date. I’m currently finishing one for Miami Horror “Don’t Be On With Her” for Virgin/EMI in Australia.
KB: So with your busy schedule are you still involved with or plan to work with Evol Intent?
TF: Yes, we have a live show we’ve been doing at bigger events and festivals. We’re working on new material now, and also doing a couple new remixes. One is for Shiny Toy Guns “Ghost town” and the other is a dubstep remix of Tech Itch & Kemal “The Calling”.
KB: Dope. So changing course, what are Treasure Fingers current top 5 tracks that you can’t stop listening to?
TF: Drop Out Orchestra “Gibbon”, D’Stephanie “Rock the Disco”, Van She “Kelly (Breakbot remix)”, JR Disco “What Cha Going To Do”, Matt Hughes “Can’t Talk Now”
KB: Thanks again for taking the time to do this interview.
TF: No Problem, Thank you!
Treasure Fingers website: www.treasurefingers.com
Treasure Fingers MySpace:www.myspace.com/treasurefingers
Treasure Fingers “Cross The Dancefloor”
Chromeo “100%” Treasure Fingers B-Live Pemberton Mix
