Interview: Butane

Après un premier essai sur son label Alphahouse, Butane livre cet été son second album, et pas n’importe où, puisque c’est Crosstown Rebels, structure de Damian Lazarus, qui l’héberge. Hommage avoué à Darwin et sa théorie de l’évolution, Endless Forms exploite la simplicité à travers une techno minimale qui renouvelle les principes du genre. Il répond succinctement à nos questions, avec un petit coup de gueule final à propos du téléchargement…

TheClubbing: First of all, who are you and where do you come from?
Butane: I’m Andrew Spencer Rasse, and I come from Marshall, Missouri, USA.

TheClubbing: How did you get into Crosstown Rebels?
Butane: Been a fan of the label for some time, as the guys have always put out quality music. Met Damian in Detroit a couple of years ago, and ran in to him in Berlin last year, where he asked me for some music. The rest is history.

TheClubbing: Damian Lazarus released an amazing album, using a large part of his influences (folk, pop, electro). What kind of music do you listen to?
Butane: My Ipod is full of folk, pop, jazz, classical, indie, hip hop, and bluegrass!

TheClubbing: How could you define your music? Can we call it « minimal »?
Butane: I try not to define my music. You can call it whatever you want to.

TheClubbing: What about the title, Endless Forms? I read it was an homage to Darwin. In which way?
Butane: I look at the world through the lense of evolution. I evolve, and my music evolves with me. Endlessly.

TheClubbing: Has the evolution theory an influence on your sound?
Butane: Making music in the studio for me is akin to what scientists do in the lab. I experiment with ideas. There are many hypotheses, and only a few conclusions.

TheClubbing: What was your purpose when you composed this album? How do you want the listener to feel himself?
Butane: My purpose composing the album was self-exploration and growth. I don’t want the listeners to feel anything particular. I just want them to feel.

TheClubbing: Why did you choose to live in Berlin? Is it really the place to be for electronic music lovers and producers? Would your album be the same if you still lived in USA?
Butane: I chose Berlin for practical reasons. I live here because it enables me to further my art. My album would most definitely NOT be the same if I lived in the USA.

TheClubbing: What kind of artistic lessons do you learn when you travel all over the world for Djing? Where is the best place to live and to DJ, according to you?
Butane: You learn that everyone has different tastes. And you can’t please everyone all the time. As long of you do what you believe in, with passion, most of the time people will respond to it.

TheClubbing: What is your position with legal and illegal downloading?
Butane: My position with illegal downloading is that it hurts artists, and lowers the quality of the music overall. I’m not talking about big studios and Metallica here. This is do-it-yourself music. It costs money to produce high quality music at a high level. Studio equipment is not cheap. Time is not cheap. If everyone that downloads my tracks for free would stop and think, they would realize that they’re sacrificing the quality of the exact thing they desire. Would you rather that I move home to the USA, and work a full-time job, making music in my spare time with sticks and stones, recorded on 2nd rate equipment? Or would you rather I stay in Berlin, making music full time, spending money improving my studio, and therefore having more tools to improve my art? If you’re a so-called music lover, which is better for your enjoyment? Then people say… « well it’s all about promotion, and you get more fans with the illegal filesharing, etc. » That’s bullshit. What about the guys who don’t want to be famous? What about the guy who just wants to make music, alone in his studio, but has to tour the world when he’s 40 years old destroying his back on 12-hour flights, so he can make enough money to live, because people steal his creations instead of paying for them? Artists must be paid for their work. Period.

Thanx to Butane and Melissa Maouris for this interview.