Interviews
Alex Bedwell headlined on Wednesday night playing progressive house. It was an amazing set. We were able to sit down with him a few days later to chat about his set, his music and his label, Pastdeux Music.
TF: So how was headlining this year?
Time one. 45 minutes compared to 2 hours. Also when you are animated as I am, that tends to wear you down. I love to dance, jump up and down and yell. My music selection was very different. I thought I brought enough music but 2 hours ate up more than I thought. I will greatly diversify my music when I play out from now on. It was a lesson to have to play what I was going to play after the last DJ.
TF: How often do you play?
When I started producing, I reduced my gigging to little or none, for the simple fact that my drive is to make music. By the time I want to gig, I want to be able to bring something new to the table. People will know that I am bringing something professional, something solid.
TF: How has your production progressed?
Its funny, I started writing from scratch. I had no music training and in the first month or 2, I had actually written my first song. I sent it to people and they were tripped out because it was pretty decent. I wrote a few, and then To Russia with Love and people loved it and then I got writers block. I couldn’t write anything. I quite using Reason and went to Ableton. I switched in April and its going well. The more I pour out into it, the more it makes sense. I quit playing with stuff until something works. I have a sound now and if I can't do it, I figure out how to do it. I have something in my head and I sit down and work on it. Sometimes I have to keep myself in check. I don’t really have a process that I go about.
TF: How is Pastdeux Music doing?
The label itself is doing ok for being so new. For myself, I don’t care much about sales or money making. I just love being a part of a label. Its awesome. But first and foremost, beyond sales, hits, or floor killers, I want to release good, solid tracks, track of the year or not. From production, it is sort of scary. The other guys have really challenged me to step up in production. It is hard to focus sometimes so being part of the label helps me keep focused on production. But I would rather wait until I have a few quality tracks, rather then release a dozen that are aren’t any good.
TF: What has God really been teaching you over the last few weeks?
After Cornerstone, I came back with a very refreshed, not in my outlook, but feeling. I felt like I had become complacent. I talked with a drummer with a powerful testimony and I feel like I had a different perspective. It wasn’t something I tried to do, maybe I was just ready to stop claiming Christianity and not acting like it.
Alex Bedwell wished to send a shout out to Paul Hamilton, the Chuck Norris of pizza.