01/06/10
Text: Nik Mercer
Photographers: Shawn Brackbill
With what seems to be an infinity of indie rock bands popping out of Brooklyn these days, there's something refreshing and encouraging about Runaway, a house music revival―and reinvention―act from NYC's biggest borough. Comprised of Jacques Renault and Marcos Cabral―both NYC heavyweight producers and DJ's who have seen releases on numerous labels over the past decade or so―Runaway aims to merge the best traits of classic Chicago, Detroit, and New York house, modernizing the styles in the process. Before the ball dropped to usher in a new year and decade, the duo dished out their latest 12", the infectious "The Fire Below," through their own label On The Prowl. Read on for an in-depth Q&A with the guys about their pasts, their futures, how they make their tunes, what music inspires them the most, and a whole lot more, including some 2010 sneak peeks.
On The Prowl, which is your own label―tell me about it.
Jacques Renault: We talked about it with you for the first time at that Diesel thing.
Marcos Cabral: Yeah. All three releases so far have been by us. The first one was just us, the second one had a TBD remix on the b-side, and now the third one is us with a Cosmo Vitelli remix of the first release on the b-side.
"The Fire Below" is your third On The Prowl release then.
J.R.: Yeah. The remix is of "The Poltergeist."
M.C.: We're going back and forth with the tracks. Like, a track from the second release will have a remix of it on a record further down the road.
Are you guys planning on doing stuff with other people through the label?
J.R.: We'd like to. There're a couple artists out there.
M.C.: Down the road. It'll probably be one of our remixers. Brenna Green is doing a remix for us right now. That'll be on the fourth release. If it is somebody, it might be one of the people we're already working with.
You do everything independently, right?
M.C.: We actually do the label with a distributor in the U.K. It's a pressing and distribution deal in the U.K., which is great because the U.K. presses really loud club records.
J.R.: It's less expensive. The bulk of our audience is in Europe, so it makes the records more accessible and it's cheaper for them to buy.
I heard that because of their higher voltage, the mastering process is different and louder.
J.R.: Wow―that's cool.
M.C.: Yeah, if you listen to a record in the U.K., it's, like, twice as loud as it is in the U.S.
Why'd you call it On The Prowl?
J.R.: That's a good joke.
M.C.: It came out of a joke... we'd say we were on the prowl while going out at night. The more we used that phrase the more it stuck. It's almost as if every title we have comes from an ongoing joke we have.
I really like "The Fire Below." There's more stuff going on with it. It's more complex. How long have you been working on it?
J.R.: A long time [both laugh].
M.C.: It's something we've been chiseling away at for what seems like forever. When there's a lot going on there's a lot to mix down. For everything to sound like it has its own place in the mix... it took forever.
You work between your two apartments. Why do you choose one over the other on any given day?
M.C.: At this point it's just because we have different gear. Different keyboards.
J.R.: It's a nice variety for us.
M.C.: We also have different monitors... it's nice to hear stuff on different speakers to know what things sound like as a final product.
So you use all of these keyboards?
J.R.: Yeah, we use all three. This one I've had since high school. I lent it to a friend for a few years and finally got it back a year or so ago. I got it all fixed up and it's really good. It's an old Japanese organ.
I love the sax setting.
J.R.: It's really cheeky. This [other one] I acquired from a roommate in college. But this―this is what we've been using a lot: the Mu-Tron [effects box], which is the bomb. (I just said that.) We've been having fun with it. But yeah, the Alpha Juno I'd acquired from a roommate in college and it's been with me since then, but I only brought it out recently. Great strings. Late 80s. It's a great beat synth.
How much of your music do you record with these instruments?
M.C.: Everything's coming from keyboards―except for the drums. The drums are definitely a combination... half sampled, half synth.
