25 years after his first DJ gig, and 10 years since his first successful album, Jesse Houk, aka The Scumfrog, continues to do exactly what he feels like doing; recording his most personal album to date “In Case We’re All Still Here”. Going back to his roots of psychedelic and deep influences, mixed with a wink at sci-fi and a deep understanding of what makes a solid underground groove. Jesse teams up with Armada Music for a journey into Deep House and Tech House. Beside his widely acclaimed song with Sting “If I Ever Lose My Faith”, the album features collaborations with Static Revenger, Vince Elliott, Vassy, and Christian Burns, while other tracks on the album contain Jesse’s own signature vocals.
Not particularly inspired by the commercial side effects of the recent EDM explosion, The Scumfrog decided to retreat to the underground in 2011 with the release of “A Place Where We Belong” on his Facebook page. A project that spawned singles on prestigious labels like 1605, Floor play, Inkfish, and Armada. He restricted his live shows strictly to venues that prioritise music and sound before bottle service and bachelorette parties, further reflecting his strong commitment to underground sounds, and to making a connection with people that share his love and vast knowledge of music.
Prior to his renewed alliance with the underground, The Scumfrog was mostly known for his award-winning stripped-down remixes of artists like Missy Elliott, New Order, Kylie Minogue, and Annie Lennox, and his collaborations writing/producing techno oriented works with David Bowie and Cyndi Lauper. And now, with his Sting project "If I Ever Lose My Faith," The Scumfrog strongly displays his deep House roots, while still giving mass appeal to the main vocal mix.
As a DJ, The Scumfrog has toured the world many times over, and since 2009 he hosts a weekly radio show/podcast Glam Scum International, showcasing the side of Electronic Dance music that is not for everyone.
An interview with The Scumfrog is a challenge and I’m glad he found the time needed to reply to my questions. Enjoy his answers, and let the flow of his music take control…
Interview was written and conducted by Dimitri Kechagias, Radio/ DJ/ Music Journalist
Dimitri: When, where and under which circumstances did you make the decision to get involved professionally with Electronic Dance Music?
The Scumfrog: It all started in Greece actually! It was in 1989 on the Greek island of Skyros. I was 17 and DJ’d that summer in the local Skyros discotheque when I met Shem McCauley. He was a hip hop DJ and remixer from London, and on vacation there. He was the first ‘real’ music industry person that I met, and we became good friends. He went on to make amazing records under his alias ‘Slacker’, and I started making remixes too after he showed me that you could have a real career in that. He was a great inspiration, great friend and mentor. Unfortunately Shem is no longer with us, but he has a very special place in my heart.
Dimitri: Have you attended any music production courses or you are totally self-taught? Do you think that music courses can enhance EDM productions at all?
The Scumfrog: A good education will certainly make things go easier. I am self-taught, but it took me quite a while, and after 15 years of working in Protools and Logic, I am still learning things that some people learn in their basic Audio Engineering studies. However, the most important thing you need to make music is your ears, and the ability to be honest with yourself when something doesn’t sound good. That is the most difficult part.
Dimitri: Can you mention for us the 5 most important EDM producers/DJ’s/ or singers that have been a major influence in your career and have supported you to become well known and help you find your way?
The Scumfrog: There are too many! Shem was the first, then when I moved to NYC there were Roger Sanchez and Danny Tenaglia, who were great mentors and inspirations. I have always had great respect for artists who stay on the cutting edge for decades, like Armand Van Helden, Daft Punk, Lawler and DubFire.
Dimitri: Your back-catalogue is so huuuge with many originals and great remixes for other artists. Is it possible to pick your Top 3 remixes that you produced for other artists and maybe to tell us the reactions from those artists to your remixes?
The Scumfrog: The main reason why I stopped doing remixes for major labels was because most of the time, the artists didn’t even know that their singles received remixes. If they knew, then most of them didn’t care. So I increasingly worked with artists who actually wanted to work with me, rather than taking remix jobs that were given to me without the artist’s knowledge. The first major artist who sent me a ‘thank you’ note was George Michael, back in 2002, and that made a big impression. Another project that I am very happy with is my versions of Dirty Vegas “Days Go By”. Those will be re-released this year. And Annie Lennox was also a big favourite. I did three projects with Missy Elliot, and her creativity is just so much fun to work with.
Dimitri: You have been recognized in various circumstances for your productions as Best Remixer at the IDMA’s in 2004 and you got a nomination for Grammy as well for your Cyndi Lauper album. Has all this recognition has helped you at all in your career, and in what ways?
The Scumfrog: The recognition is nice, of course, but you don’t automatically go to the next level when something like that happens. If you see artists evolve to the next level, it is usually because they are talented and they work very hard. The awards are just an occasional side effect of that process. I am personally not a big fan of all the ceremonial stuff.
Dimitri: During your career you have released great albums and compilations. Do you prefer to work on albums or compiling mix compilations?
The Scumfrog: I like switching it up. Variety keeps it interesting.
Dimitri: Your latest album is about to get released on Armada Music. Why did you name your album ‘In Case We're All Still Here’?
The Scumfrog: I made my album during the whole Mayan calendar commotion, and I knew that the album would be released after the ‘end of the world’, so the title refers in part to that. At the same time it refers to the very long time it takes to make an album, especially now that the life span of a track is no longer than a few weeks. You can put out singles each month and thus keep tabs on what works and what doesn’t work as you go. But this album took almost a year of solitary recording and programming in the desert, so sometimes I wondered if anyone would still be here by the time I would finally finish.
Dimitri: Is there a concept that binds the whole album together? Did you have in mind something special that you wanted to convey through it, or maybe some messages that you wanted to send through this album?
The Scumfrog: Armada were great in believing in my judgment, and they told me I should make an album of music that I ‘wanted’ to make, without worrying about trends and styles and what other people make. Living in the New Mexico desert definitely helps to clear your head, so the album turned out very personal to me. It is great to have an opportunity to make something like this, because no matter if this album sells 2 copies or 2 million copies, I am proud of it regardless.
Dimitri: Did you produce it as full time occupation or did you have and a daytime job? If so, what kind of daytime job did you have? What was your occupation before getting into EDM?
The Scumfrog: I have been making and DJ’ing music full-time since 1996. Before that I worked in record stores (kids, ask your parents what a record store is), record companies, and radio stations.
Dimitri: It would be great to give us a small comment about each track from your album including any stories related with the production and collaboration with the singers involved in this project.
The Scumfrog:
1 Lost Your Number
“Calling On The Blue Sky” is a vocal I recorded to play over Deep House tracks during outside daytime (beach) DJ sets. For this album I finally took the vocal and gave it a home in an original track. It’s definitely a daytime-groove.
2 Middle Earth
Most tracks on the album revolve around the beat and the groove, but I wanted to have one badass synth track where synths rule. This was the result.
3 Dubsticles (The Scumfrog vs Christian Burns)
Christian and I made a great pop song called ‘Particles’ for Christian’s album. For my own album I wanted to make a stripped-down version of his vocals, and decided to call the result ‘Dubsticles’.
4 Don’t Give Up (Deep Playa Dub) (ft.Vassy)
This is a new version of my 2011 song. Armada really wanted to include the song on the album, so I made a new version that fits the album feel. I love how the piano came out. Very happy with this one!
5 Material Favors (ft.Vince Elliott)
Vince is an awesome singer and a great guy who also came to New Mexico from the East Coast. We met here in Albuquerque a few years ago when he played here with his band. We stayed in touch and I asked him to do the vocals on this song. I love what he did with it!
6 Clones
Groove!
7 Slippety
Everybody who has ever made an album knows that there is always (at least) one ‘nightmare’ track. Some tracks (like Clones) work immediately and instantly sound great, and others (like Slippety) have a golden concept, but need a lot of time and work for that concept to really shine. It was one of the first tracks that I THOUGHT I finished, but I didn’t mix down the final version until all the other tracks were done. But now I am very happy with it.
8 I Got Love
The slightly more aggressive track on the album. I made a track for Umek’s label 1605 back in 2011 called “In Love”, and I really liked that slightly tougher vibe, so I wanted to do something like that for this album as well.
9 Post Mayan Hustle
The hands-in-the-air track of the album. This one does really well in my DJ sets, especially in clubs where not everyone is super educated about underground music.
10 If I Ever Lose My Faith (ft.Sting)
The entire project started with me wanting to do something specific to that song. The song has a very special chord progression that lends itself very well to a euphoric Dance Floor feel, but at the same time it also has key changes, which is unheard of in Dance Music. So I wanted to take the challenge of making a dance track, loosely based on ‘If I Ever Lose My Faith In You’, with key changes and all, and try to make it the highlight in a one-note-tech-house set. This idea lived on my hard drive in various stages for about two years, and in that period, my good friend and former NYC studio partner Dave Darlington was mixing Sting’s album ‘If On A Winter’s Night’. So all of a sudden I had this project on my hard drive, and a direct line to Sting. I sent the rough outline of the track to him, and he must have understood what I was going for because he rather promptly sent me his vocal session of the song. He and I did not actually work together in the studio on this project, but just the fact that he approved it was enough for me to feel incredibly honoured, because he is one of my all-time musical heroes. The entire project was very close to my heart, right up to the selection of the remixers
11 Now That We’ve Begun
This is probably my favourite track on the album. It is an anthem but has a very unique sound. My favourite place to DJ is the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert, and this track is made for that place.
12 Theme from “The Dust Frontier” (ft.Static Revenger)
I wanted to make a retro-sounding dance record reminiscent of the sci-fi stuff that Giorgio Moroder made when I grew up. Dennis (Static Revenger) is a very dear and long-time friend of mine, who also happens to have a voice like David Bowie, so that combination worked really well, especially since the two of us are huge Bowie fans.
Dimitri: Is it possible to describe for us the process of producing a track? From which sound element do you start to build the track, and how do you develop it from there?
The Scumfrog: That is different for each track. Sometimes you start with a great beat, and other times you start with a vocal, or an idea.
Dimitri: Can you give us a brief list of equipment (software or hardware) that you used to produce your album?
The Scumfrog: I use Logic with the occasional outboard toys.
Dimitri: Do you have a friend or relative that you trust a lot who you give the chance to hear the tracks for the first time, and they give you feedback on them? If they don’t like it do you change it or do you stick with your own belief?
The Scumfrog: Yes, my wife is very critical, very educated in music, and a very soulful person. On top of that, I know her so well. So if I play her something and she says “that’s nice dear”, then I know it sucks. But if she plays a new song constantly in her car and she wants to do certain things to me after listening, then I know I am onto something. No track is ever finished before my wife has done ‘those things’ to me.
Dimitri: You have your own podcast/radio show called Glum Scum International. Do you believe that is important for every DJ to have his own podcast or radio show? Have you noticed that your podcast has helped you considerably to become more known?
The Scumfrog: It has helped me in terms of exposure, but most importantly it forces me to listen to new music every week. If I did not have the radio show I would probably get lazy and I would risk losing touch with what’s going on. www.glamscum.com
Dimitri: Are you going to support the release of your album with a global tour?
The Scumfrog: Preferably. I will play everywhere where they will book me!
Dimitri: From the various clubs and events that you have performed in so far which one is your all-time favourite and why?
The Scumfrog: The Burning Man festival. I play there every year. It is better than anything in the world. But I have some amazing memories of every corner in the world from my past ten years of travelling as a DJ.
Dimitri: Are you active user of facebook & Twitter? Do you see those social networks as vital for the artists to spread the word about what they are doing? What is your opinion about artists who give too much information about their life in social media? What is the best feedback you have received about your tracks or sets through your social media pages?
The Scumfrog: I think maintaining those pages is essential, whether you like it or not. Sure, sometimes you can spend too much time on Facebook, it is easy to lose a few hours that way, but it is such a great way to discover which elements of your career find resonance and which ones don’t. But no matter how great your new song might be, it will never get as many ‘likes’ as a photo of a stupid cat. And that is something I will never get used to. https://www.facebook.com/ScumfrogArtist
Dimitri: Last question is to ask for your advice or tips for young DJ’s and producers who are starting their careers at the moment? How they can build a healthy and long lasting career?
The Scumfrog: I have been saying this for years now, and it becomes truer each year: If you want to be in the music business, be very aware that with each year there will be less ‘business’. That means that if you simply want to make money, this is not your scene. So, if you want to make music because you love music then do so, but first take a moment to think about what you want to say. Do you want to say “I can make a record that sounds just like Levels” or do you want to say something that has not been said in a long time? There is no right or wrong answer to that question, but if you are honest about answering it, it will save you a lot of time defining who you are as an artist.
Dimitri: Big thanks to The Scumfrog for replying to this interview. We enjoyed every single answer.
Many thanks to Carmen van den Werf at Armada Music press office for her support in organising this interview.
Many thanks to Tjerk Coers at Armada Music office for his great support on my radio shows.
Many thanks to Paul at 1mix Radio for proofing the final version of this interview
You can read it on 1mix radio web site as well Click Here
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