On Saturday the 10th of September I went to The Toff in Melbourne, as I had bought a ticket to see “A Conversation with Larry Heard”. These days I prefer to sit down and enjoy music, rather that standing and/or dancing at an event, so this was my chance to see one of the innovator/originator of House, without going to see him DJ at a “nightclub”.
We waited a few minutes, then Rambl got on the stage and announced that Larry shouldn't be too long as he was just finishing his lunch. While we waited, Rambl put on “Can You Fell It” (instrumental), to cheers from the crowd.
A few minutes later Larry appeared on stage to an applause from the audience. The event was hosted by Melbourne DJs Rambl and J'Nett.
Here is some of what was said this afternoon.
Larry's family were a notable influence on his musical career, as his mum and relatives would sing and play piano. Asked about music influences, “there are too many to mention”, Bob James, Parliament, Earth Wind & Fire....
His main instrument through his early life was the the drum kit, he mentioned that he would have drum battles with friends in his local area.
He tried his hand at guitar and piano in school but felt he wasn't great, finding theory and reading the “dots” difficult. So he is self taught, as a musician, not knowing what key his songs are in or chords he is playing.
The role of the drummer suited him initially, as he was an integral member of the band, but always in the background, out of the limelight. But on the downside, the drummer was rarely integral to creating the music or composition, this is what led to Larry pursuing swapping his drums for a drum machine; the Roland TR707, “as the TR909 were too expensive, few could afford them at the time”(sounds like history repeating with prices for the 909 now climbing above $3500US).
He loves watching documentaries on TV.
He spoke about his love of architecture (he might have been an architect, if it wasn't for music), and enjoys photography.
He also mentioned that when watching movies, he often has to watch them several times as, he misses the dialogue, because he is concentrating on the music score.
During a break in conversation Rambl played Larry's track STARS, J'Nett mentioned that it is her all time favourite track. Rambl referred to it, as an early piece of Techno music, to Larry's surprise.
I would say that STARS clearly references Larry's Disco roots, with the synths creating a cosmic flavour. Call it House, Techno or Disco, it's a great piece of timeless music.
Over time Larry had accumulated a large collection of records, realising that he had too many after tripping over them, he donated many of them to goodwill.
He also gave away musical equipment; he mentioned that, he thought he had given up carrying heavy instruments to gigs when he gave up the drum kit, and it was happening again, carrying the Roland Jupiter 6 to gigs. So he was happy to give the Jupiter synthesizer away.
But the ultimate act of generosity (apart from generously giving us such soulful music) came when he spoke about the use of his music without authorisation. He didn't really seem concerned (or was he just feeling, why waste energy thinking about it) that Kanye West copied(slowed down and pitched down) Larry's bass line in “Mystery of Love” for West's track “FADE”.
Asked about the lofi nature of his music, and that many people today are producing lofi music, he responded, “I don't know why people spend $500 on headphones to listen to lofi music”, the audience laughed in response.
Today Larry mainly uses Reason 7 as his music production tool, also using Cubase and Sonar if needed. He did also mention a Yamaha DX7.
Peppe Fizz
(Melbourne, Saturday 10 September 2016)
