Just in time for his show at U Street Music Hall tonight, get to know a little more about Brooklyn-based producer and DJÂ Bit Funk. Bit Funk will be supporting Classixx tonight at U Hall, accommodating the crowd with a unique set of nu-disco and indie dance vibes – see event details.
Blisspop: We’re excited to have you in DC! Is this your first visit?
Bit Funk: Most people don’t know it but I was actually born in DC. It’s all slightly complicated because I’ve moved so many times. I’m really looking forward to coming back to DC though. It’s been a while since I was there.
You’ve often been mentioned under the name “Randolph Anatole Vespasien III.†Major props if this is your actual birth name! If not, how did this name/alias come about?
Nah, that was just a joke. My real name is Federico Vasco Raymundo Jr. […that was most likely was another joke]
Can you tell us about your background growing up Toronto, living in windy-city Chicago, and what led your decision to move to Brooklyn?
I actually did most of my growing up way over on the east coast of Canada in Halifax, then I moved to Toronto after that. Toronto is a great city. I love it there. It has a really active indie music scene and the people still have that Canadian friendliness, even though it’s a decent sized city. Chicago is awesome too – it has an amazingly rich history in dance music, which unfortunately I think is forgotten by a lot of people there today. The few people still working to keep that legacy alive are amazing. Moving to Brooklyn, was kind of inevitable for me. I’ve known I would eventually get here since I was about 10 years old. My family are all originally from New York.
Where exactly did your interest with music production first spark? What or who is the honorable cause(s) of your disco fusion?
I started playing music when I was 8. First piano then soon after I switched to the drums. I was very serious about learning drums, and it’s actually how I first got into production. I played in bands and studied with an amazing coach for many years. He would always come up with these totally insane exercises for me to do. Things where each of my hands and feet would be playing in totally different time signatures and completely ridiculous stuff like that. I was never the greatest sight reader, but I found that if I could hear it, I was pretty good at figuring it out and being able to play it. So I found a free program called MOD Tracker for my computer and programmed in these beats so that I could listen to them any time. Trackers basically look like Excel spreadsheets that play music. It’s really old school. Anyway, that kind of sparked an interest and I just slowly got more and more serious with writing my own music and learning production.
Your recent track, “Rap Music,†got huge response when it was released last year and has been a lively banger on the dance floor ever since. What are some specific influences that helped guide your idea for this track?
To be honest “Rap Music†is kind of a joke track. The vocal sample is from the classic hip hop record “Urban Sound Surgeon†by 4-Ever Fresh. I had that sample sitting in my “use this in something†folder for a while. I just loved that vocal line “create rap music ’cause I never dug disco†and thought it would be silly to make a ridiculously banging disco house song with it. The rest of the track is from “Straight From The Heart†by Loose Change which is really a golden track to begin with. I could probably make an entire disco house album just sampling different parts from that one track. But, I ended up only using a few notes of horn and wrote new bass, guitar and synths for it. I guess “Rap Music” was fairly successful. Probably mostly just because I gave it away free. Hah. Everyone goes nuts for a free download these days.
Living in New York must offer great opportunities to share your music and it seems you’ve been doing just that with all the local performances. In what ways do you feel NY’s audience has transformed your music?
The audiences in New York have been great. In terms of making music here, there is definitely a push toward the extremes. Most producers either go full on mainstream or totally deep and only accessible to the die hard fans. I’ve always tried to ride the middle line, so it’s been interesting.
Where can people usually hear you perform in New York? Do you have a regular venue or do you normally just jump around different places in the city?
It’s kind of all over the place at the moment. New York has a lot of great venues and parties.
By the looks of your Instagram photos on Tumblr, it looks like you’re quite a fan of food and traveling. What are your top 3 restaurants? Where are they and why are they such nom-toppers?
Hah! Well, I’ve been on a little bit of a “take a picture of my food before eating it†kick lately. Instagram is great for that. But, to be honest I’m really not a gourmet restaurant kind of guy. I’ll take a run down family owned place that looks like it hasn’t changed since the 50s over some new flashy bullshit any day of the week. So, instead of my top three restaurants I’m gonna give you my top 3 late night greasy eats. The number one has to be Mars Diner in Toronto. I used to live a block away and absolutely love that place. Get the Space Burger. Second place is Super Sub in Chicago. Try the Gyro platter, or if you don’t mind shortening your life expectancy from the grease, their Philly Steak is great. Third place, winning by default because it’s the only thing that stays open late in Greenpoint where I live now is Palace Fried Chicken, it’s pretty horrible but anytime you’re there you won’t care.