Chew Fu talks Chromatica, legends of hip hop, & shares a remix with GGD

[ChicaSkas 22,945]

Chew Fu talks Chromatica, legends of Hip Hop, and shares a new remix with us!

Chew and his sax.                          photo credit: James Barker

(all text and interview by Katharine Styles-Burroughs aka ChicaSkas of GagaDaily) 

 

As always with the release of a new Gaga album or single, the fanbase can expect a re-imagining from one of the best remixers of Gaga sound, Mr Chew Fu. Chew has just dropped his version of Rain On Me, and agreed to sit down and chat with us today. He's been on musical journeys this year with Bootsy Collins, the Reverend Al Sharpton, and other legends of hip hop. And he spills his top 3 favorite tracks off Chromatica with us.... hopefully tantalizingly close to remixing those too! Let's have a listen:
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Good morning Chew!

Good morning Chica, and GagaDaily! I'm super excited to share this with you, and talk to you about it. 

It's been about a year since you and I last chatted. How have things been in the past year for you musically?

Actually, I began working on some projects with the bass player Bootsy Collins, who used to be James Brown's bass player. I released a single with him and Reverend Al Sharpton in January, and one in March. I've really been focusing on that project, we've made a bunch of singles, and we're working with this record label in the Netherlands. It's called STMPD Records. (pronounced Stumped) It's been really fun getting that music out there. It's like a cross over project -- funk and electronic music. I've wanted to have that out for years!  That felt really good, you know what I'm saying? 

 

I think it's especially relevant with all the things that have been going on. I've been hearing a lot more James Brown on the radio, thats for sure. They were chanting "Sing it loud, I'm black and I'm proud," just a few days ago in my city, during the George Floyd protest marches. 

Oh my god, you're so right. Me too. It gives me goose bumps when you say that -- it's so powerful.

It's profound, and it's something we need more of now , to remind people. 

I think it's so interesting, how music can ultimately inspire people and give strength. I thought it was really interesting to see all those things happening, all those emotions, and how people hold on to certain songs [like I'm Black And I'm Proud] -- that's the message. It's truly powerful. 

Like a spiritual fight song. 

 Exactly. 

What's it like for you moving your live shows to your home? Like with the Quarantine Revue? I've been watching some of them and they are great! 

I have to say it's been a lot of fun to do. It was something Breedlove and me decided, when New York went under lockdown. We were both like, "What do we do with this energy we have? This mix of anxiety, and other wierd emotions?" 
Well, we wanted to keep doing our show, somehow, that we used to do, Magic Monday and Tragic Tuesday, to see if we could do it online. "Let's call all our friends together, and let's see what we can do. We are gonna need our friends in these times." So it was the most organic and natural thing to do. 

The first show was just incredible. We were both so happy with the energy it created. We got re-inspired, by what it did for us, and our music. We have a routine every week. It keeps you busy, you know? It keeps your mind off other things without living in a bubble. 
A lot of artists go into a bubble. It's really easy when you have a big imagination, to go into that bubble. But right now it's important to express yourself out of your safe bubble, and look at what's happening in the world, and do something. 

To not stay in a rut?

Yes. It would have been so easy to lock myself up, like I always do. Like, I'm the type of artist who would be like, "what's better than to sit inside with all my keyboards and just make music? Create a safe spot, and create fantasies, that everything is great, or happy, or sad."

But it was the time to do something [with that energy] instead. It's like magic how everything came together. We both didn't expect the amount of inspiration it gave us.  Last Saturday, we just couldn't do it, though. We are taking a break out of respect to everything that's happening in the world right now. This coming week, we'll pick it up again. 

In a way, you were letting the times have the floor, so to speak, let the BLM movement and the rightful protests have their space. It's more important.

Yes, thank you. It was. 

 I was so excited to see an email from your team about a new Lady Gaga refix! Tell us all about it! 

 

 

So, it was really pretty interesting. I wasn't sure if I was going to remix it or not. It really has to inspire me. If I hear a song, I gotta be like, "I can't wait to do this, or that, with the track." In my process, I listen to the original, and then I don't listen to it anymore, and see if anything happens [in my mind]. When it first came out, I was one of the first persons that heard it, unlike every other Gaga fan. Then I just let it rest. And actually, right before I was recording an episode of the Quarantine Review, I suddenly started to sing Rain On Me vocal in a different way. And I was like, "Hey, I hear this baseline!", and I think in a period of three hours time I put together the whole skeleton of the track. I had a force going with the vocal, I had it in the right tempo, and I just could not wait to play it to all my friends. 
I spent another two or three days finishing it up, getting feedback from my friends and my team. And then we reached out to you! It's all so fresh still! 
 
Thank you for giving us some insight into how you make remixes! And for granting us an interview first. You have a nice mixture and cross section of fans, you have your own fans from your funk and saxophone roots, and then the fans of your refixes over the years. I'm sure people are going to be stoked to hear your take on Gaga. 
I listened to Chewnami, and I love the compact intensity and tightness of it -- but it feels like its over too soon!  I feel like I want to get lost in it more. Like we need an extended cut or a club version! 

*Chew laughs* I hear you! I have to say, when I made it, i was like, "Ahhhhhh.... 2:47?" And then I was like, well, I'm just gonna play it again! That's been my thing right now, for extended version, play it twice!"'

But, I am going to make an extended version for DJ's. It will be like 2 minutes longer. So this one would be, I guess they would call it the Radio Edit, or the short edit. 

The great thing about extended edits is, you can get lost in them for a little bit longer, prolong the mood for a bit longer. Like you did with Bad Romance -- you have, if memory serves, an almost 7 minute track there, which is absolutely trance inducing, so powerful. 

There is one coming! Thanks for reminding me, and also thanks for sharing how you feel about those extended versions, because, when you make music, it's like, you never know [what will hit people and how]. I just make it because I love it. 
And with Bad Romance by the way, that was the first version I had made. So , I hesitate calling my remix for Rain On Me a radio edit, because it is the first version I made. My inspiration said, I'm gonna make it SHORT, in and out, you know what I mean? With Bad Romance, it was from the beginning on, I just knew it was gonna be a longer mix. So I set it up differently. Now with Rain On Me, I'm starting to get ideas for an extended version. So it's cool to hear you say that, because it gives me inspiration, like, oh, people actually care! It sounds silly, but it's real. 

You know, they really do... you know, it reminds me of something, Chew. I'm a member of a great circuit DJ group on Facebook, many of them based in South America. It's called Music Is My Life - Divas and Other Beings. There was a recent topic discussing how these DJs, many of whom have been mixing since the 1980's and 90's, are handling the shorter attention spans of the younger people coming up. These younger people really aren't appreciating some of the longer tracks. And I know that's a big generalization --- I don't mean to say  ALL younger people are feeling this way, and not all longer tracks are necessarily good -- but it was a concern that it was becoming a trend in modern music, for these shorter, quicker bursts of sound in dancehalls. 

Some of these DJ's who've been mixing for so long were stating that they feel it's becoming a lost art -- you don't have too many people out there making the extended cuts people can get just get lost in. 

This is interesting and I'm listening -- you know a lot about it. You're on point with that. I absolutely notice that as a DJ. I love making extended mixes, but here's the interesting thing: when I DJ live, I like to mix really quick. So even, if you would hear me play Bad Romance live, I will probably only play it for two minutes and go to the next track, even though the track is really long. But, I will also do sets on vinyl, in really big club rooms, where you play deep house. And the buildup is really important, really introverted, really slow. I love doing that, too. And I think that's art.

 Danny Tenaglia used to have [a show] here in New York, where he just did seven hour DJ sets. He inspired me to make long mixes. I was living in the Netherlands, and house music was a real subculture there. And you know how it works with subcultures -- you bite into it even more because it is out of your reach in your culture! I was hearing all these stories about the 7 and 8 hour mixes he'd play. But the attention span is really shorter now. I mean, you see it in everything, from commercials to whatever. Everything needs to be flashier.

But here is the interesting thing -- what you always see in music, is, it's gonna go the other way in time! People are suddenly like, "This is way too short, I want longer versions, now!" And that's what's happening. Especially in the last couple of months, in a weird way, people have gotten longer attention spans, staying quarantined at home. People are listening to other music. I notice that. People are listening to my saxophone tracks, after years. 

But taking it back to Rain On Me, I am definitely going to make a really cool extended version of this! 

I'm all over that! And you know, you're right, too, everything's been boiled down to this TikTok world, and people who were given this opportunity to slow down over the past 3 months, they are reconnecting with some of the more analog traditional things, being with family, devoting time to hobbies. So it's only a natural extension, like you were saying, that they are spending time listening to longer cuts of music, getting deeper into it, because they have more time to do so! 

Yes, exactly. 

You've heard Chromatica -- of course -- did you have a track that you really liked besides Rain On Me? 

There are a couple tracks that stick out to me, I would say, for sure 911, and Replay. Replay I really love. Replay has a Diana Ross sample from "It's My House" . I love that. And I love Babylon! I would say those are really my favorites. I'm listening to those, to see if I hear any remixes I want to do. I just love them though. They jumped out to me. I've played them more than the other tracks. 

I'm pretty sure soon we will have two versions of Babylon -- the version she used for the Haus Labs commercial and the official album version! Soon you'll have two different experiences of the same song to enjoy. One might hit you differently!

Absolutely, and that's the fun thing about rearranging a track or reordering a track. I can't wait!

Going back to your work with Bootsy Collins, do you have more planned? What can we look forward to with him? 

I just created a whole album with Bootsy, that I call "Legendary".  because the artists that are collaborating with us are all legends in their scene. People from A Tribe Called Quest, Black Sheep, Greg Nice, those are all people I really loved to listen to on mixtapes, growing up. So this idea started to form a few years ago, and in the last seven months, I put everything together in a big crossover. LIke, what I liked in electronic music, what I loved in old school hip hop, in jazz music, or funk music. Bootsy, by himself, is already like, in another universe. He always was a trendsetter. It's really cool to work with him, because everything goes, as long as it's funky and real. We've lined up a few other releases that will be out on the same record label. It's actually a record label owned by Martin Garrix, the Stmpd one I told you about earlier. We are gonna keep doing funk crossover records. So you can all expect more of that. 

Thanks for your time today, talking with us about your musical life. We love your work over here, keep on keeping on! 

It's great to talk to you again, and a big thank you to GagaDaily, we love you!

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You can hear some of Chew's new work with Al Sharpton and Bootsy Collins here:

And, of course you, can play the new Rain On Me track he refixed, here:

 

 

And you can see all things Chew on his website, chewfumusic.com !

 

Thanks for reading!
-- ChicaSkas 

(link to the previous archived interview: 

https://gagadaily.com/forums/topic/290920-ggd-exclusive-interview-chew-fu-on-gaga-mixes-asib-st-jeromes/ ) 

 

[GreenDiamond 6,286]

waiting for his legendary Lovegame remix to be Rereleased 

 

[ObezyankaNol 3,084]

Usually I love his work but I don’t like this remix 

Great interview tho 

[Meruk Holland 2,277]

13 minutes ago, ChicaSkas said:

"There are a couple tracks that stick out to me, I would say, for sure 911, and Replay. Replay I really love. Replay has a Diana Ross sample from "It's My House" . I love that. And I love Babylon! I would say those are really my favorites. I'm listening to those, to see if I hear any remixes I want to do. I just love them though. They jumped out to me. I've played them more than the other tracks. "

The man's got good tastes. 

[McYves 1,612]

"There are a couple tracks that stick out to me, I would say, for sure 911, and Replay. Replay I really love (...) And I love Babylon! I would say those are really my favorites."

This level of taste !

[giskardsb 12,565]

cool interview thanks!

Bootsy is a genius.  Started with James Brown then moved onto Parliament Funkadelic and Bootsy's Rubber band.  I lost my mind at few P-Funk and Rubber band shows over the years. 

 

[OCD 405]

Your fix hits the spot as usual giving a new construction to the track, a new exciting experience of listening to what I thought I knew well and getting a whole other shocking dimension by surprise! I blasted my speakers with this one on loops, as usual with your material - THIS IS GOLD. Can't wait for hearing what a 911 reFix is gonna be like, I genuinely had a dream about it last week, and I feel this one is just you to begin with.

Chika as always - thank you for being the voice of the community, a goddess of original content, and making your interviews so interesting!

Ever since first hearing LoveGame ReFix - Chew Fu - IM A FAN!

[Guest]

You post a lot about Chew Fu.

Are you him?

If so, we need to talk about that Rain On Me remix.

Boy what are you doing?

[ChicaSkas 22,945]

3 minutes ago, Agunimon said:

You post a lot about Chew Fu.

Are you him?

If so, we need to talk about that Rain On Me remix.

Boy what are you doing?

Nah I'm just a huge fan of Chew. His team sent me the remix early and I wanted to hype the fanbase! And I talked to him on the phone yesterday morning and could feel his joy and enthusiam for the Gaga music, his art of it, and us as fans. So I guess you could just say I'm in a Chew mood right now

 

[SKANK 14,288]

Great interview @ChicaSkas

[Illuminati Freak 2,432]

Loved that he talked about my favourite DJ the legendary master of house music in 90's NYC Danny Tenaglia. The Bootsy Collin collaboration is too damn funky it's amazing. Also loving his ROM remix. Glad he didn't go the typical generic EDM drop beat. He kinda experimented and combined old skool breakbeat with a rock thing going on it's interesting. Although I kinda wished he would have done a 1990's Tenaglia style marathon house mix now that I read he was inspired by him. 

[ChicaSkas 22,945]

3 hours ago, Illuminati Freak said:

Loved that he talked about my favourite DJ the legendary master of house music in 90's NYC Danny Tenaglia. The Bootsy Collin collaboration is too damn funky it's amazing. Also loving his ROM remix. Glad he didn't go the typical generic EDM drop beat. He kinda experimented and combined old skool breakbeat with a rock thing going on it's interesting. Although I kinda wished he would have done a 1990's Tenaglia style marathon house mix now that I read he was inspired by him. 

You know, I found myself getting lost on youtube today in the older Tenaglia tapes. Those were so cool. I can literally play them around the house!!

 

 

[PopCultureWhore 9]

Does anyone have a DL link for his remix of Monster? HQ? thx