1 More Mix 101: Forbidden Society

An in depth look into the creation of Lonely Road...

The latest 1 More Mix is a thudding, thunderous and meandering multi genre masterclass from Forbidden Society

Fresh from the release of his Lonely Road album on Vision Recordings, this mix literally has it all. 140, garage, techno, halftime and drum & bass, not to mention the mix is packed full of dubs which you can expect to hear on labels like his own imprint Forbidden Society Recordings, Overview and the aforementioned Vision.

Known for his heavier mixing in places like Czech Republic, the twists and turns in the style bending showcase below represent the true experimental side of Forbidden Society.

 

Lonely Road is a 15 track phenom full of fierce, moody and emotional tracks which perfectly fit the artistic persona of the man behind it all. Saturday 15 June saw the album launched in style with a show at Simplon in Groningen alongside Emperor, Fade Black, Monuman and Trinist.

In the chat below, Forbidden Society talks in depth about some of the challenges you face as an artist, he explains his delight at conquering his own personal Mount Everest, he lays down his thoughts on social media, he talks us through the process behind some of his tracks on the album and much, much more.

So be sure to hold on tight, stay forward facing, Forbidden Society is about to take you on a turbulent journey…

Thank you so much for taking the time to chat! Firstly, Lonely Road, it’s an amazing album. How did it all come together?

It was like actually two years ago I got a signed track to Vision and it was supposed to be on the Mission compilation. The track was actually pretty old, it was a 140 track, and they asked me if I have something a bit more up-to-date. I’d been making a lot of tunes so I just sent them a folder of what I had and they just picked one track, they signed it to the compilation. It’s called Replica, it’s already out. They said to me that they found some of the stuff pretty cool, and I should keep working and let’s see what happens, maybe it’s a single, EP, let’s see what happens. But even that didn’t mention the album, you know, and I just kept working on stuff and then things started to get together and then Nick was like, okay, we have some cool stuff here, let’s make an album. I was like, an album on Vision? Then I started to work on some other demo stuff, and sending them like 40, 50 tracks or something like that, and we picked those final 15. With those 15 tracks, I just kept working on them regularly, until we were happy with the result.

It’s such a mixture of genres and it’s an absolute journey of a creative piece. Would you say that fully represents yourself as a creative person?

100 percent, I don’t think I could do an album like that for my own label or maybe just for other labels. I don’t even think I could ever do an album like that if they hadn’t asked me to do an album for them because I have a strong relationship with the label, with the people there, and it’s just that kind of energy that kept me doing the stuff I put out on the album. Each of those tracks has it’s own story behind it. It was not actually anything forced, it just came naturally and easy. Some of those tunes were pretty hard to finish, like Lonely Road, because it’s really intense and I just needed to stop a couple of times because I really related to that track. So it was difficult to finish but not in a technical skill way, more in an emotional way. But the other tunes, I just kept going and it was pretty like a natural way to finish them.

Lonely Road feels like a really emotional piece just from the sounds of it. What’s the story behind that track?

Yeah, that was actually made in December and usually in December, I have a really busy schedule. Sometimes I’m playing 8 shows in that month and usually, people around Christmas stay with their family and enjoy the holidays, but around that date, I’m really busy. I was going with my car for a gig on the 23rd, before Christmas, and then I had another one on the 25th. It was snowing really heavily, and I got lost in the middle of nowhere. My phone died, which had the navigation, so I didn’t even know where I was. I was thinking, do I really need to do this? Why am I not staying at home with my family? Then I came to the event, and the people were really nice, great hospitality, the crowd was amazing. I realised you need to sacrifice something to get something. It’s about balance. The second message behind this track is to be independent, for me, it was always important to be independent. That’s why I have my own label, I don’t have any management or booking agency, it’s just me doing all this. That was the second part of the message behind this song, about independence, it’s got two different sides.

I think a lot of consumers don’t realise how much of a lonely road it can be as an artist. You must have made a lot of sacrifices over your career right?

Oh yeah, a lot of sacrifices, but only because I love the music and the process of writing and playing music. I’m not looking around comparing myself to others, like those guys are playing that much or these guys have a higher fee. I’m looking at it from an artistic perspective. I know where I am and what my place is. The thing is, I had my own personal Mount Everest, which was releasing an album on Vision. I conquered that, and that’s satisfying for me. Whether there are more bookings, fewer bookings, or if it stays the same, it’s all fine. The main point is that I love the music and the process. If the project is not easy, like this album on Vision, I enjoy it even more because I like things to be a bit complicated so I need to focus more and give more of myself to finish it.

That’s very inspirational, a lot of people flourish when out of their comfort zones! Who or what were some of your inspirations for the album?

Yeah, I don’t mind speaking openly about that. A lot of inspiration came from the new guys from the Netherlands, like IMANU, Buunshin, all those people connected to Vision, Former, Posij and Sleepnet. Nik was a huge part of the project because each track, we had a chat about which direction to take. He didn’t force me to do anything, he just suggested what would be cool, but in the end, it was all on me. I found out he was completely right, so he’s a huge part of that. A lot of those guys from the Netherlands, and Alix Perez, him and his label are really inspirational. It’s inspirational to see what those guys are doing and how they’re experimenting, I’m getting some vibes from their tunes.

Would you say that this is your most experimental project to date?

Most definitely. If you had asked me a couple of years ago about the tunes I’d have been releasing on this album, I would have said, “no way, that’s not me, I’m not doing that.” But then it started coming together, even the garage tunes like Deep Blue, it’s emotional and that just came from nowhere. I also knew that the label had given me complete freedom, even with like the techno stuff. It was really interesting to do something new, something completely different from the stuff I’ve been doing for 10 years or more. There is some techno, 140, garage, minimal drum & bass and some more ambient stuff, it’s the most variable and experimental album I’ve ever created. As an artist, it’s one of those once in a lifetime projects for somebody where you get to do all these different things, that’s this album.

It seems fitting that it’s been released on Vision. What’s your relationship like with them?

They are like family to me. I have my blood family and then my spiritual family at Vision. We are so connected, they are such nice people. Playing for them and going to see them feels like visiting family. Especially with Nik and Frank, there’s a strong connection and understanding. The connection I had, especially with Nik, was just amazing and this kind of spiritual connection is invaluable. I literally didn’t have to say anything to him, I would just send him the tune and just completely understood everything I was trying to say through the track. The way they just understand the music and the messages behind the music you are creating, they’re really amazing. All of these things, these are things that you cannot buy, it’s just there, I love those guys.

The mix you provided for us is a real journey as well. Is this a typical Forbidden Society mix?

I used to play a lot in the Czech Republic, the most popular genre of drum & bass is the heavy stuff, so I usually play really heavy sets there, I like that because I come from the heavy side. There are a few crews over there promoting deeper drum & bass. The mix I provided is not something I would usually play in the Czech Republic unless booked by those deep promoters. Outside the Czech Republic, it’s confusing for people because I release different kinds of music. If people want to hear my deeper stuff, it needs to be at specific parties like Vision or Contrast in Vienna, which is strictly deeper stuff. Most of the time, I play heavier stuff, I would love to change that but it’s difficult because people box me into the heavy stuff. I enjoy playing heavy stuff, but I would love to play more varied sets. I have played over in the UK but I haven’t played there for about 5 years now so hopefully we can make that happen in the future.

We would all love for that to happen! Your track Posers is interesting, can you tell us a bit about that?

I’d been watching some videos online by some rappers, some of the from Czech Republic, and I’d known them from very early on. They always had this certain mindset which I trusted, I always agreed with what they were saying in their lyrics. They evolved through the years and changed their minds and started doing the complete opposite of what they used to say. This made me wonder what happened to them, you should always keep this vision of yourself or you will just be lying to yourself. So this was where the idea started coming from for the track, I was looking at what one guy was doing, another one was doing the same and then I saw this other guy talking about the underground in a certain way, but he was saying all of this on TikTok, speaking against the mainstream. This didn’t seem right to me, I may be slightly old school in my thinking but I’ve played at squat raves in Berlin, I was close to the punk scene, I know what, for me, the underground is really like. So this all inspired me to get into the studio and create the track.

Social media is very prominent nowadays…

I don’t mean to say anything along the lines that social media is wrong, because it can be really helpful. It’s a good slave, but a bad master. Some people use it to manipulate other peoples minds with that information, which in my opinion, is the wrong way. These things also happen in real life though, you can be speaking to somebody and they say something in one way, but then are acting completely differently.

It’s for sure a modern way of pushing propaganda! There’s lots of trend followers for sure…

I was speaking to one of my friends recently who is also a producer, he’s always been the quiet type but releasing really good music. Then from one day to the next, I saw him making these funny videos and I was just really surprised. He told me that one of his friends, an influencer, had advised him to do these videos to get some reach. I just wondered for what reasons he was wanting to get more of a social media reach, is it to get more bookings? I fully respect what he does, everybody has their way of doing things but for me and for this release of the album on Vision, it doesn’t need those kinds of videos. So if people remember this album 5 years from now, then the mission is complete.

A lot of the tracks on the album have a darker feel to them, even the names of the tracks. Where does this come from?

If you look at my discography, all the names of the albums, EPs and singles, that has always been there. It’s just like a mindset which I cannot change because it’s just not me. I couldn’t ever write a happy tune, I don’t know what that is too much. Sometimes I can listen to a track by somebody else and I’ll be like “wow, I wish I could do that.” But I just can’t do that man, even the names of my tracks, I can’t give them happy names because it doesn’t fit. It’s all dark, it’s blurry, but that’s where I’m getting the inspiration from to write those tracks.

This has been so awesome! What’s coming up for Forbidden Society in the near future?

I spoke to somebody backstage recently and they asked me if I had post album syndrome. I had no idea what he was talking about, then after the set, after the last premiere and everything else was done, I got these weird, sad and depressed feelings. But when you live a certain way for 2 years, you have ups and downs but in the back of your mind, you have the album there which kept me alive in a way. Now all of that is gone, it’s been a bit like, what am I going to do now? So I’m taking a bit of a break at the moment, I have lots of stuff finished. I have a 140 EP that I will probably release on my own label, some of those tunes are in this mix. I have 3 tracks signed to Overview which I think are coming out in December. I have another track signed to Vision which will be on the next Mission compilation. Let’s see what happens man, I’m like an empty book now, and something needs to be written on some of those pages.

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