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Written by Alex Mills for www.shejay.net
Monique Bingham is a name that will echo through the ages when it comes to quality underground music. Working with some of the prolific names on the House scene, from Quentin Harris to Frankie Feliciano and frequently appearing at New York hot spots such as Shelter.
Her unique writing style has earned her a place in the hearts of all who have had the pleasure of hearing her and her voice is one that soothes and inspires the Soul.
I had the satisfaction of catching up with the lady herself at this years first Southport Weekender…
INTERVIEW w/ MONIQUE BINGHAM by ALEX MILLS
A. Hey Monique, how’s it goin?
M. Hey Alex, I’m great thanks!
A. You’ve not long been off stage… How are you enjoying yourself so far?
M. Well I didn’t really get to hang out as much as I wanted to this time but this crowd is the best crowd in the world. So much energy and you just don’t get this many heads in one room anywhere - so it’s amazing.
A. You said you were here last year, how does it differ this time?
M. Last year I was just here to hang out, but got dragged up on stage, well not on stage but King Britt was doing a set in the Bacardi room and he pulled me up and I did a track, but you know getting up in the power house is completely different. It was great!
A. There are a lot of heads from New York, do you guys tend to stick together over here?
M. Not on purpose, but I only see these people when I’m out of the country and I only live around the corner from so many of them. I just bump into them over here its so funny.
A. We know your career first kicked off with Abstract Truth with ‘We Had A Thing’ and ‘Get Another Plan’ but what were you doing before that? What were your aims? Was singing just a hobby or was one of your goals to become an artist?
M. Not a hobby at all no, just delusions of grandeur... (Laughs) you’re a singer and you know you wanna be a super star. Back then it was Sade, I wanted to be Sade more than anything but before Abstract Truth, I was in school and the first time I played in the band I was like studying for tests in between sets.
A. How old were you?
M. I was 24…I aint 24 no more that’s for sure… (laughter) But that was such a long time ago.
A. What happened to Abstract Truth and the relationship between you and them?
M. Well it’s such a huge band. Nobody wants to pay to fly all these musicians out so we kind of stopped playing out for a little bit simply because a lot of people couldn’t afford to do it.
A. How many people were there in Abstract Truth.
M. Argh, three horn players, a drummer, conga, bass player, keys. When we were all in the same place there was a lot of people!
So we didn’t formally separate or say we’re not gonna do it anymore. It just sort of happened that way. But still I’m in touch with all those guys they’re all like my friends.
I actually started working with the bass player on another track that’s coming out on Symple Soul, so I think we’re gonna like slowly do something.
A. What is it like working with musicians like that? How do you tend to write? Do you have jam sessions or do you get a bit of music and the go off and write to it?
M. Well with the music, somebody will flesh out something like bass or drums. Sometimes I would flesh it out and write the song by myself which is a totally solitary experience. And then I would give it to the band and they would do what they do.
A. What tends to happen now then?
M. Its really like they do the track and I put mine on it. Sometimes we’ll go back and change things around but I’m definitely alone when I’m working. And on stage now too.
A. Do you play any instruments yourself?
M. I play bass really bad (laughs), drums even worse (laughter), keys almost not even! (More laughter)
But no I have enough to get me by to produce a track. I have a little studio set up at my home so definitely enough to write to.
A. Have you come from a musical family?
M. No there are like no musicians in my family. I don’t know I heard ‘Sly and the family stove’ one day and I was like that’s it. This is what I wanna do with my life.
A. Who inspires you lyrically?
M. You know the usual suspects. Your Stevie Wonders, and Bill Withers.
But lyrically I’m just looking around at people and coming up with stories.
Well that was my major in school I was a creative writing major.
I really kind of approached it through a story telling kind of vibe. There isn’t any particular type of people that inspire me. Songs inspire me more than people.
A. Some of your lyrics are quite risqué.
M. It’s so funny I’m such a prude in real life, but the way I write, I sound like a dirty sailor (laughter).
But you know people talk like that and its amazing to me that there’s not more profanity in music because that’s how people talk. So to me it’s just a natural way of speaking.
A. Were you trying to push boundaries?
M. I'm not trying to. To me as long as it’s not boring you’re ok. Not to say that just using profanity makes something interesting but I’m not trying to push boundaries. But sometimes I put something out there and I’ll be like…Hmmmm?
Someone might take issue with that…but then I’m like fuck it! I don’t give a damn, this is the underground.
If you can’t do it here, where else can you do it?
A. So tell us about working with Quentin Harris?
M. Awwww, Quentin’s my boy,
Quentin’s totally cool, you know he’s so focused and into what he does. We actually met threw Timmy Regisford. He introduced us and you know wanted us to do something together and now we’ve just been working together ever since. Quentin’s great.
A. Out of all your songs, is there any one that sticks out as your favourite? I know I consider my songs as my children, but is there any one that sticks out for you?
M. Honestly. All of them! I mean I wont put something out until I feel like its, like you said my baby. I can’t love one more that the other so…
A. And on that front, are there any ‘dish water brown, tall and fine’ men in your life at the moment.
M. (Laughter) There actually is a ‘dish water brown, tall and fine’ man in my life (laughter) yeah.
I’ve been with the same dude, who’s totally down for me, been with him for years and year and years. My baby, Frank. We live together, we just bought a house….so now I’m broke (laughter)…….. More broke than I was before (More Laughter)
A. What’s Shelter like through your eyes? I mean your from New York, you get to don there quite often. You’ve performed there as well, hat is that like, is that home for you?
M. Yeah, It’s starting to become home for me. I mean I’m starting to become more involved so much you know with Quentin.
That’s home base for him really too. And Ben Johnson who manages the club just started a label and Ben is… Well that’s my [business] partner now.
Were making all kinds of records on his label. ‘Poor people’ came out on his label ‘Symple Soul’.
Yeah they all just became family.
It happened really recently, like in 2003 but it’s a great party there’s nothing like Shelter, its got a real vibe. It’s like here… There’s nothing like this!
A. People are here for the music basically…
M. Yeah, yeah for real!
A. Was there anybody here in particular that you were looking forward to seeing?
M. Yeah, and I missed them all. (Laughs).
I was in my room trying to be a good little diva, you know get my rest so I missed everybody. But I got to see Byron he got here five minuets before I went on stage so I’m gonna hang out now. I can relax and have a drink or two and chill out but I missed everyone.
A. Do you get wound up before you sing? Do you still get nervous?
M. Yeah. Like lately now I’m performing so much more, I’m getting a bit more of a little feeling in my stomach, more than usual. But honestly the more you play the more you get used to it.
A. What other genres of music do you like? And is there anything you just can’t get down with?
M. No, I can’t say that, if someone’s good at what they’re doing, they’re good at what they’re doing! I find that in England there’s so much importance placed on naming and categorising everything, to me, it’s so cliché that music you know, I mean the Hives put out a record that I totally dug, I mean if its hip its hip! But at the moment I’ve been listening to a lot of Fela Kuti.
A. Where’s he from?
M. Fela Kuti is African. He’s deep! I’m reading a book about him too and I mean that’s what happens to me. That’s why I don’t listen to that much music. I’ll find something, I’ll get into it and then that’s it, for like months.
That’s when I have the chance to listen. So I’m a little under a rock when it comes to music.
But yeah, Fela Kuti, Peter King. A lot of like Afrobeat a lot of old stuff. I’ll go back and listen to like Bill Withers and Al Green and stuff like that.
A. What was the last book you read?
M. The last book I read..! Now I’m embarrassed (laughter) cause it was such a stupid book!
(A lot of laughter)
I never thought you would ask me that. ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ (Laughter)
I read it in like two days and I totally loved it. It’s so funny that you asked me that question.
I’m reading Fela Kuti's autobiography now so that might redeem me a little bit.
But yeah ‘The Devil Wears Prada’
(Laughter)
A. You nutcase! (laughter)
A. Is there anyone throughout history that for whatever reason you’ve really looked up to and rate and who has been an inspiration on your life?
M. What musically?
A. Not just musically, anybody who sticks out at all?
M. There’s so many people, I can only think musically now. Karen Wheeler. When I heard her voice it was like was back in ‘88 when Soul2Soul first broke on the scene and I was just like… Whoa!
That’s the way I want to sing. You know it was such a wonderful mix of jazz and soul and almost American Soul but backwards!
A. Yeah…
M. And there’s so many UK acts like that but I didn’t know they were from the UK because you didn’t find that out, like Junior and Loose Ends and all those people.
And I’ve realised like now after having a career that’s definitely more important here than it is in the states…
A. Really, Yeah I guess because there’s so much music over there, there isn’t that much of a place for it.
M. Yeah I mean everything is so corporate that if you’re not on some major label people don’t hear you unless they go out. So its hard to create a scene
A. Or compete I’d imagine
M. Yeah, it’s such an indoor TV culture so if it isnt on the TV people don’t even really know about it.
A. Who do you think is going to be hot for this summer?
M. God I don’t know. I’ve heard a couple records that really got me like Peven Everetts Stuff. He’s hot!
Errr… I don’t know. Im hoping a couple of mine. Cause I got a bunch coming out so.
(Laughs)
A. Did you go to Miami this year?
M. Yeah I was there.
I was performing like so much. One night I had to cancel a gig cause my voice was dead.
Running around all night talking to people it wasn’t even from singing it was talking. It was dead!
A. Do you get that a lot, getting run down?
M. Yeah and you know you live and you learn the more you do it the more you learn, you can’t hang out if you got a gig. You just can’t hang out that night.
A. Tell me about it…
(Laughter)
A. Do you find it hard conditioning yourself to be good?
This being such a big party scene, I mean this is a weekender most of the people here haven’t slept in days do you find it difficult to stop yourself?
M. Yeah it’s hard, its hard you wanna party and you wanna hear the music and you wanna hear people, but at the end of the day its work, and they didn’t bring me over here to party!
A. Are there any instances where you’ve compromised it and partied just a little too much and maybe felt you didn’t perform to your best?
M. Just Miami! Miami was the only time and again I’m usually pretty good about that. Again I’m a total prude in real life… It’s only on records that I get nasty!
(Laughs)
A. How did the relationship between you and Sir Piers start up? He mentioned that he did some stuff with you quite a while back as well?
M. Piers called me totally out of the blue one day, in like 2001 and he just called me. He got my number from someone and he was like “Hey, I’m a producer do you wanna come over and do a record?” You know just come over for a week?
And I was just like, you know……ok!.
I swear the first time I went over there I had never met him so I brought my boyfriend with me cause I’m like this guy could be a lunatic! He’s going to kill me when I get over there…
(Laughter)
But I still went and actually it was totally cool.
He never killed me (laughing) He is insane though! But now he’s like my friend you know we’re friends and its great we’re just working on stuff all the time back and forth.
A. Cool! That’s fantastic Monique thank you very much for giving us your time and giving us an incite into the world of Monique Bingham you’ve been fantastic, thank you very much.
M. Thank you darling |
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Interview by Mona Jonz for www.shejay.net
So who is Miss Patty? I\'ve been hearing a lot about this lady recently in the house world and thought I needed to hear more from the lady herself. With the current success of \"Da Bump\" where she is featured alongside Mr V and an upcoming debut album that\'s already got a buzz going around about it, I knew we had a big up and coming talent to reckon with…
I was told that you got your start at the Red Zone the age of 15. Such an early start! What inspired you to sing, and how did you end up at this legendary club?
I\'ve always loved to dance, and loved the club scene even before I ever stepped foot in one. Our living room was set up like a club with strobe lights, a big sound system and a whole wall with mirrors from top to bottom, thanks to my father who is a music lover and a record collector too. I think I\'m living his dream. My first time at a club I went with my brother\'s ex girlfriend. She said she\'d take me if my mom let me go so being that my mom trusted her she let me go....That was it from there on, my mom knew she created a monster! Red Zone and The Underground were my first love.
You also started DJing at the age of 20. How’d you begin, and how do you incorporate that with your vocal ability?
At around 14 I started collecting records, mainly freestyle and house music. I started DJing at 18 at a friends house just for fun then when he DJ\'d at my 20th birthday party at my house he left his equipment there for a few days. My father saw it and loved what it could do so he bought me my first turntables (Technic 1200s) as a birthday gift. I think DJing contributed to production more than it did vocally. I took vocal lessons when I decided to get serious with singing and I would recommend that to anyone who is thinking about becoming a singer or if you just want to learn to sing.
“The Intro” is your awaited debut solo album. Tell us about the production process and who you worked with?
On this album I got to work with many different people who do other types of music such as funk, rock, salsa and house so you can expect to see names you probably never heard of like David Sampson, Edwin Vasquez and Fernando Rentas…as well as more familiar names such as Mr. V, Alix Alvarez and Wil Soul (Reelsoul). This has been a production in the making going on five long years now. I\'ve had a lot to learn about everything during the making of this album, which is why it took so long then gathering the songs I saw fit for the album. I\'ve come a long way. They say good things come to those who wait.
How would you describe the sound of “The Intro?”
The sound is somewhat out the box. I\'d say versatile, eclectic and different. It\'s a bit of a journey and I think it\'s what most people won\'t expect to come from me.
What inspired you to create a solo album?
The fact that I have a versatile sound. I didn\'t think of doing an album until I saw that I had accumulated quite a few songs of different genres some that I had produced and I thought that making an album would be a good way to share my music with everyone because I knew it would be hard to put out some of the songs as singles because they\'re not all house music.
Who have you enjoyed working with on The Intro?
I\'ve enjoyed everyone to be honest. Everyone has something to offer and I learned a lot by watching everyone.
Who would you like to work with next?
Hmm....good question....I\'ll say James Brown, Kenny Dope and Blaze just to name a few.
Will Shejay readers be able to see you on tour?
I\'m not sure it\'s kinda early to say when but I do know I have gigs coming up to tour overseas with Mr. V to perform our most current single Da Bump.
You’re a mother, vocalist, producer. How on earth do you fit it all in?
Don\'t forget hairstylist too!! I still work doing the other art I love to do which is hair three days week in Brooklyn. My son is 10, and my husband helps me with him (when he is home) so I could have the time to cook in the kitchen and in the studio and also I don\'t pressure myself. If the home and the family is taken care of everything else falls into place. My family is closeby too, so I can\'t complain about anything to tell you the truth. God has been good to me and I always make sure to say thank you.
When is the release date?
Fall 2006.
/www.myspace.com/heymisspatty
www.solechannel.com |
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