Enjoying The Present: Catching Up With John Heckle

John Heckle has charmed our ears off over the years with his warm yet energetic machinist tones - it's a character you can only get from the way that Heckle approaches his craft fully engaging with the off the cuff nature that comes from working with hardware. It's a style that has served him well, since the Merseyside based artist made his first release on Mathematics Recordings in 2010 he's traversed the globe to over 22 countries with his full hardware set up to reinterpret his tracks live as well as releasing two full length albums both to critical rapture from the likes of Resident Advisor and Juno Plus. It's also a sound that we have become fans of and spurned us to invite him to return to Farringdon at the 15th of March to join Levon Vincent and Craig Richards in Room One, so in preparation for the event we had an email exchange to get the latest news from the hardware aficionado himself. Your sound sounds like a specifically analogue electronic one – how much does that reflect the music that you listen to? Actually it’s not exclusively analogue. I have plenty of digital pieces of hardware; a Waldorf desktop synth, x0xb0x, Kawai K4, Roland’s Juno G/sp404/tr707. Nice bits of kit, regardless of how they’re made. Depends how you use them. In terms of how that effects the music I listen to, I’d say not so much. I listen to plenty of bands, and I don’t sing or play guitar. The gear I have reflects the music I want to make myself. What would you say your most influential records and artists have been? BMB, Jeff Mills, Jamal Moss, Robert Hood; all have had a big influence on me over the years, either musically or technically. You’re still based up in Merseyside, most people move to the cities like Berlin or London at a point you’ve reached how come you’ve decided to stay rooted on your home turf? I love going to London or Berlin, but I don’t feel the need to move anywhere at this moment in time. I like having the down time at home to be able to concentrate on doing my own thing with music, rather than being in the thick of someone else’s scene. Would you say that the way you write music comes from your interaction with the machines, it’s more of improvising that brings the ideas or do you get an idea of a line say before you sit down to work? It always begins as improvisation yeah, and for that reason I wouldn’t really say I ‘write’ music. More like trial and error until something starts to take shape, then hit record. I wouldn’t be able to recreate some of the past stuff I have made if I tried. More madness than method I guess. What’s your current set up like at the moment? Can you run us through the main equipment you work on normally? Well aside from the aforementioned, I have a couple of Korg and Roland synths, a Doepfer sequencer, a bunch of effects units and some clone drum machines, namely the XBase 09 and the Acidlab M1AM1, which I can’t compliment enough. How much does the idea of pre-planning apply to your live sets? Or is it very much an improvisational affair? It’s a bit of both. If I had two extra arms I could improvise the whole thing, but as it stands, there are elements of the live set up that are not improvised. A midi-sequence to run into a synth for instance; this may have been set up beforehand. However, the entire arrangement and accompaniments to such a sequence are done mainly on the fly. It’s as improvised as possible for one person using this particular set up. It all looks so natural when you play, but you obviously have a whole load of different stuff going on at once, do you still find it challenging when you perform live? Not too much. My live set up is basically just a scaled down version of what I do at home most days, so if the machines are communicating how they should it comes naturally. Your second album was released last year, have you been working on a lot of new material since? Most definitely. I’ve probably had the most productive few months of my life recently. So there’s plenty in the pipeline. I’m working on new projects all the time. Do you think it’s important to set goals as an artist on pushing yourself to develop your sound? Is that something you do when you approach making new music? Yeah, to an extent. I think that just comes naturally through swapping what gear I use or acquiring new bits of gear to add to the mix. No two bits are the same, so I’m always teaching myself new skills. Ultimately though, as long as I’m enjoying the music I’m making then I’m happy, regardless of how progressive it may be. And finally can you tell us a bit about what you’re most excited about in the upcoming year? I’m enjoying the present, so a continual steady stream of shows and studio time is excitement enough for me.