Armann Fox: New International Artist Breaking Into Electro’s Business…
Researching how to become a top international DJ, I realized as you must obviously know; it is extremely difficult. It’s either who you know or how much your fans love you….Unless you’ve produced your own work, have been in this business for more years than I can count on two hands, have a name like David Guetta or Tiesto, chances are you live out the dream praying someone likes or even hears your stuff, strenuously working the system to get a foot in the door. Armann Fox is a [not so] random nor generic in the talent department find on Myspace’s superhighway of electro artists breaking into the business. Much as we all love this genre, there is a formula to how the music industry works. An excellent source of information, Fox enlightened me on a few things about music fame worldwide and his personal sense of music style that has his tracks playing on my personal playlist…
NLS: How long have you been a DJ? Background experience/technical training?
AF: To be honest, I don't really consider myself as a DJ. I sometimes mix but only for my own pleasure. It is quite common to see DJs moving on to composing. As for me, I took the opposite path. I first became interested in CAM (Computer-Assisted Music) when I was a student, then I gradually started to mix. The day I received my first salary, I invested in my first turntables and my first vinyls. It dates back over 10 years now. The experience is personal, I'm mostly self-taught.
NLS: How did you break into this business, and how are you continuously breaking into it bigger?
AF: I soon discovered a passion for electro music. Like many artists and DJs of my generation, I was very influenced by groups like Depeche Mode, I think of Boys Noize or Josh Wink to name but two. In the mid-90s, I listened to most of grunge, rock and electropop music. Then I gradually started to listen to techno music, I was mainly attracted by the sounds of the underground scene. I remember that I was listening to a radio station where Laurent Garnier was one of the resident DJs. The technique fascinated me, first because I loved the music but also because I wanted to share it...but not only that. I needed to create something very personal and it came with composing. In 2000, I met a group amateur DJs. They used to mix on Friday night on a small local radio station. The challenge was attractive; it was a way for me to get one's foot on the ladder. The experience was short lived because most of us left town but it lasted long enough to convince me I really liked it. Today, I'm primarily engaged in music. I went a long time without composing, getting back into music last year.
I would primarily and exclusively say that social networks help me make it known. I send a lot of invitations on Myspace in particular and I'm still pleasantly surprised by the feedback.
NLS: What is the hardest part about being a DJ? The most rewarding?
AF: The most difficult in being a DJ or a musician (even both) is probably to be able to captivate the public and to convince those who are not used to listening to your music. The most rewarding is certainly the fact of doing it. Being followed is already a form of recognition.
NLS: At what point did you decide that this was what you wanted to do exclusively?
AF: Doing it exclusively very soon. To be able to do it, that's another problem. Opportunities have never been offered to me (not yet).
NLS: Describe your live performance experience...
AF: It's difficult to measure the audience behind a microphone, perhaps a few hundred at most. Otherwise, the project is still too young. I'm currently looking for producers interested in my music.
NLS: What do you bring to the music scene that no one else has?
AF: I think it is especially marked by my various music influences; at least that's what I try to transmit through my tracks. My musical world is relatively eclectic especially since for the past few years. Of course, electro takes an important role in my way of conceiving it; I don't like to do what I've already done. I like to mix styles. I explore house, trip hop, and trance with funk, pop or rock rhythms.
NLS: It seems to follow a general sound, yet the tracks are each distinct enough to love it without feeling like you are listening to the same damn track for four hours. How do you keep your music fresh?
AF: We all have our way of seeing and producing the music. Each artist has his own touch with his own sound. The rock side is very present in my composing. Saturated electric sounds characterize my music and I really pay attention to my drums. Not to start with a common base is essential. The melody and the sound itself are the crucial points: there are the most important parts, those that make the difference.
NLS: Describe your following in France and the cross over to US electro scene. Is there a difference in electro styles preferred in either region?
AF: To be honest, I don’t have a huge following in France. Many artists come from the French scene, unfortunately; it is very difficult to get known in France if you are not famous abroad. Most of us were revealed in other countries before getting known here. I’m mostly listened to in Germany which has a musical culture mostly based on electronica as well as in the U.S., in Russia, Mexico and Brazil.
According to me, the global tendency is house music in France as well as in the U.S. (where it comes from). Of course, other electro styles exist as well in these two countries but they are less popular.
NLS: What is not divulged in your professional representation of yourself as an artist that fans would benefit from knowing about you personally?
AF: I'm often asked who is behind this pseudonym. Seriously, I don’t know what to answer.
NLS: You said you have a few upcoming projects going on, including a video in the works (hinting at a particular direction). What is the vision you have for your music to visual conversion?
AF: The project hasn’t been totally launched yet but ideas are here. Each composing is a source of feelings, impressions and global ideas. If I had to tell some basic ones, I would say hope or fear for example, a moment of joy or doubt, a focus topic such as some of our society diseases that affect us more or less personally.
NLS: What can we expect from Armann Fox in the future?
AF: A first album... if I find some producers interested. I am taking this opportunity to spread the word.
NLS: Any insider scoop on current/future work?
AF: "Rat race" (not sure yet about this title) should be the name of one of my latest tracks. It is the transposition of a race against life, time, and against oneself... This new track is somewhere inspired by cinematographic universe mostly because of its atmosphere. It’s a blend of fear, doubt and hope.
NLS: Tell me your favorite food and how it relates to you in a musical sense. For example, Skittles are so good, they are like the notes in a melody, how each color has its own tone and each taste is its own sound…
AF: Well, I'm a food lover so it's difficult to dissociate one food in particular especially for a transposition with the music. Paintings inspire me more... maybe because of feelings you can have.
But to answer your question, I love sushi. One can find a certain form of esthetic and a form of fluidity in the realization, a spicy aftertaste or, on the contrary, some sweetness. That’s a bit of what I try to convey through my music.
