Where does one start with Joe Goddard? The man who represents half of The 2 Bears and co-heads Hot Chip remains as death-defyingly busy as ever, his towering workload elevating rather than burying him. Music is, in every sense, Goddard’s labour of love. He juggles a relentless swirl of projects, yet feels comfortable in the middle. The added bustle of children and family life only heightens his contentment. There isn’t, it seems, stress; only a deepening, maturing connection to the cool groove.
Goddard met Hot Chip frontman (and fellow writer) Alexis Taylor at a school in south London, aged 11. As they grew, playground banter made way for gigs and then, after university (Goddard attended Oxford), bedroom production and lo-fi self releases as Hot Chip. From there, in 2003, followed breakthrough album Coming On Strong (via Moshi Moshi). The group’s unique indie synth-pop pizzazz opened the doors to four further albums (2012’s In Our Heads being the most recent), a string of hit singles including ‘Over And Over’ and ‘Ready For The Floor’, prestigious Mercury Prize nominations and high-profile global touring.
Beyond Hot Chip, Goddard has enjoyed swaggering success with Raf Rundell as The 2 Bears. The duo’s broad, feel-good fusion of everything from ragga 2-step to deep New York house has earned it huge dancefloor love and critical praise – excitingly a new album, The Night Is Young, arrives next month. Goddard has also worked with Mercury darling Jessie Ware. That’s not forgetting his solo outings on his own hot-to-trot label Greco-Roman, including 2011’s quirk-Balearic revelation ‘Gabriel’ and this year’s ‘Endless Love’; and then there’s his epic remix of recent The Black 80s’ Defected release ‘Give Me Something’.
We’re amazed he even has time to stop for this interview....
So, your reputation for being one of clubland’s busiest music makers remains....
Yes, I’m still just as busy but it’s manageable. There are moments, with so much going on, where I’ve really had to focus to complete projects. I just try to work methodically and get through things. Generally, I work hard at keeping my head together.
What specifically drives you?
It’s the excitement to keep trying and improve. I’m a DJ, producer, remixer and singer - there’s so much to learn across so many fields. In some ways I feel like I’m only just getting started. I want to improve as an engineer; I want to improve in using synths. As for remixes, they’re like a puzzle that I want to solve. I find that really exciting. Once you have the stems of a track, you’re trying to re-imagine it in an interesting and relevant way. It’s a really interesting problem to have.
Tell us about your recent remix of The Black 80s’ ‘Give Me Something’ for Defected:
Luke Solomon got in touch about it. I really respect him but the opportunity to work together hadn’t previously happened. I just thought the song was excellent. The vocal was great – it had real feeling...it was heart-breaking. I don’t know much about the singer but they’ve done a fantastic job. I get sent so many vocal house records and many of them have little to say; this one was different. Luke actually suggested a remix ‘swap’; so I’ve remixed ‘Give Me Something’ and now, he’s completed a fantastic remix of ‘Endless Love’. I’m really pleased about it.
What about The Night Is Young?
There’s no specific concept; Raf and I don’t work like that. Like the first album, we just wrote freely, collected songs and grouped what we particularly liked. Then we started to find our way stylistically, before broadening and deepening the record and adding complexity. It’s taken a long time. If the first record had a positive, sunny, life-affirming feel then with The Night Is Young we’ve looked to express more emotions; a wider range of opinions and feelings.
Can you elaborate on this?
Well, I think this record expresses a lot of the frustrations of life in modern Britain – social and political frustrations. And then there are tracks like ‘Not This Time’ [the lead single] and ‘Get Out’, which offer deeper ‘woman done wrong’-style vocals; something Raf and I have always wanted to do. Overall, the album has greater depth in terms of its sound – the elements of hip-hop, techno and reggae are all in there. I think it’s really important that dance albums feel full. It’s also really interesting when dance music presents different ideas. I always love it when I’m in a club and I hear a melancholic rather than uplifting vocal. That’s really interesting to me. But then I grew up on bands like Depeche Mode, so I like the darker stuff, and the minor keys – all of it provokes different ideas.
What’s the relationship like between you and Raf?
Raf understands house music. He’s held a lot of different jobs on the scene, everything from working record pools to DJing Basement Jaxx’s parties before they blew up, so is great at gauging stuff and how people will react. He has a lot of samples and ideas, and has written some great songs. But he’s not your typical computer user. I do that and help produce everything. That’s probably the simplest way to put it.
Do you ever worry that having so many musical sides makes you confusing to the public?
It’s true that if you do mix your genres a lot you can confuse people. You DJ sometimes and want to play eclectically but people only want one thing – mixing it up is a problem for a lot of people. But it’s never been a big issue for me. The online space is crammed with different music these days, which can also be a confusing prospect, but the key is to be clear about what you’re doing. I like to be able to mix genres and I think all of the projects I’m involved with have clear identities. They’re simple projects – The 2 Bears is driven by samples from Raf, whereas my work with Alexis for Hot Chip is more poppy, and song-orientated. The differences are clear.
Some commentators are saying Joe Goddard has grown bigger than Hot Chip – does the constant, digital whirl of opinion, review and criticism affect you?
I do look at stuff, but then I quite like all the commentary. That goes back to the old days of MySpace and running a page there for Hot Chip. I like the personal interaction with people, and to hear what people think. When I’m DJing, I try and help people out if they come up to me and ask for particular records or have certain ideas. Most of the time, it is positive stuff. Then again, when I’m creating new music you need to be able to listen to yourself, so I do try and switch off to everything else.
What about your young family – what kind of effect has family life had on you?
My children are inspiring; those feelings influence the music in all sorts of ways. In practical terms, my studio isn’t in the house now. I just couldn’t get stuff done because my kids always wanted to be in there, and play around with the synths. It’s lovely to see them so excited but I needed to be able to record! Generally speaking, I work less now...not staying up quite so late at night. Having a family has helped me organise better. I’m more methodical with projects now; I like to be there for all those family things. I don’t over-work stuff in the studio - there’s no more eight-hour sessions on just the hi-hats! That helps to make my music more natural.
What else do you have coming up?
I should have a new EP out on Greco-Roman in due course and there’ll be a vinyl remix package for ‘Endless Love’. But there’s not a lot from me. I’m spending most of my time in the studio with Alexis on Hot Chip’s next album.
How’s that shaping up?
In very, very general terms, there’s more of an R&B feel. We’ve moved away from house and trad-disco. We’ve been exploring sounds more along the lines of Timbaland, De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. But I say all this very generally; there’s a lot going on and the record isn’t finished yet.
Do you have any longer-term plans?
I tend to think a couple of years down the line. There’s The 2 Bears stuff for now and then Hot Chip next year. We’ll be looking to tour internationally and do the festival circuit; and I feel like I really, really want to do that. There’s been a bit of a break on that side of things, so the idea of properly touring again is exciting. Beyond that, who knows? I think I’d like to build a proper studio somewhere and maybe look at writing and producing for other artists but it’s so far ahead and other things are likely to happen first.
Joe Goddard’s remix of The Black 80s’ ‘Give Me Something’ (other remixes by Jullian Gomes, Overnite and Hollis P Monroe) is out now on Defected Records. The 2 Bears release new studio album The Night Is Young on 13 October via Southern Fried Records.
