A Chat with The Forces (23.08.22)
Blending elements of jazz, indie-pop, rock, soul and everything in between, The Forces is an eclectic Dutch project that can get you jumping to his sound. We speak to writer and producer Joshua Boon about their self-titled EP (to be released September 9th), good and bad advice, and future plans.
OSR: What drew you to music?
Boon: I grew up with music always around me. I remember from an early age that my mother played The Beatles, Cat Stevens, and Kate Bush – to name a few. My father played Bowie, Prince, and The Rolling Stones. When I was around 10 I got into hip-hop, getting cassette tapes of Public Enemy, Beastie Boys and LL Cool J. From that moment on I always wanted to have turntables, a mixer, drum machine and a sampler. But all we had the money for was the old piano in my mom’s living room. So I started composing little songs from 12 years up. I can’t read notes so I just play around. Getting the music in my mind onto speakers.
OSR: What makes you unique as an artist?
Boon: That’s hard to answer because I guess all artists are unique. But, I always feel that there are musicians that compose/produce and producers that are more on the beat-making end (chopping/looping, etc). I think I am in the middle: I love making beats but I also want to tell stories and play with the build-up of a song. In the end, I try to compose songs that hold up when they’re performed with only vocals and guitar.
OSR: What can you tell us about your upcoming self-titled EP?
Boon: I always wanted to make something Beatlesque. Their open outlook on all kinds of music reminds me of the attitude of hip-hop producers like Pete Rock or Madlib. I did a lot of psychedelic soul stuff in the past – so that also creeps up in my sound. The big difference with The Beatles (or The Beach Boys for example) is that in their time they had the most advanced studio techniques out there, they were producing the sound of the future.
Now, I listen to it with my hip-hop mindset and hear the lovely old-fashioned sound and that’s what I try to achieve – to bring that melancholy to your ears. Like that feeling, you would get when you heard dusty jazz samples on A Tribe Called Quest record. I recently also found out about hypnagogic pop (pop or psychedelic music that evokes cultural memory and nostalgia for the popular entertainment of the past) and hauntology. I guess that’s in there, looking back on the psychedelic (and baroque) sounds, choirs and song structures of the 60s. Although I also definitely incorporate sounds and ideas of now. And like stated before, apart from the production I try to work on good songs and write about things that interest or concern me.
For the music, I worked with musicians from all over the world. I give them the melodies and tell them what I want and I get it back as audio.
OSR: What do you hope people take from the EP?
Boon: That there’s an interesting overlap, a middle so to say, to the experimental mindset of the 60s and hip-hop.
OSR: Do you have a favourite track on The Forces?
Boon: That changes from time to time!
OSR: What about a least favourite track?
Boon: Ha, that also changes from time to time.
OSR: What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?
Boon: “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong f*cking room.”
OSR: What about the worst piece of advice you have ever received?
Boon: Really, nothing comes to mind. I am sure that someone at some point must have given me terrible advice, but I am sure lucky to have forgotten all about it!
OSR: If you could spend the day with any person (not necessarily a musician), who would it be and why?
Boon: I’d say dead: Stanley Kubrick, and we’d talk about everything regarding movies. Alive, it would be the RZA. What he did with the Wu-Tang Clan is groundbreaking and inspiring.
OSR: What can we expect from The Forces in the future?
Boon: I hope that this EP is just a small preview (or pre-listen) for a whole album. Hopefully, some people will be interested in the full The Forces story so it can be released.
Many thanks to Joshua Boon for speaking with us. For more from The Forces check out their Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
