NYC-based producer Child Of creates melodic house and techno with real sonic character, influenced by his myriad musical passions. After touring the world in some hugely influential bands as a young, (formerly) straight-edge guitarist from Long Island, he gradually shifted his love from mosh pits to dancefloors and Child Of was born. Infused with a sense of real, raw emotion: music that seeks to explore the idea that, ultimately, we’re all children of the same life source.
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One of the artists invited to remix a track from Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s final album, Child Of’s remix of Life In An Experiment is a nine-minute electronic epic. Commencing with crisp, delicate breakbeats which are soon joined by Perry’s inimitable vocal and increasingly intense synth lines and melodies, by its final third it has evolved into a stone-cold techno thumper without sacrificing any of the emotion or atmosphere it so patiently built.
Thanks for talking to us today – how’s the year been treating you so far?
Thanks for talking to me as well! This year I’ve already been through a few portals it feels like 🙂 Feeling good and in a great place!
First of all, we want to get to know you “from the beginning”. How did your history with music begin?
I had the unique opportunity of growing up in the New York and Long Island Hardcore (an evolution of punk) scene. At about 15 years old I went to my first local hardcore show and it changed my life. The band was called Vision of Disorder or V.O.D. I had already been playing guitar for a few years and I remember looking up at the stage and saying “These guys are like me. I can do this!”.
It was thrilling and dangerous in there. The musicians were relatable because they looked like my peers and not rock stars in a stadium. That set my musical life in motion. I call that scene and time of life “My true high school.” It was a true musical school. Not theory, but how to hussle and create a fanbase… even musical ethics.
I had hundreds of friends I saw multiple times a week at these shows and we all lived within a 60-mile radius of each other. A shocking amount of those people all had bands of their own. Fast forward a few years and this scene steadily grew to thousands and thousands of people.
My band at the time was called Glassjaw and that band grew to become my full-time job. From then until now I’ve been in another handful of bands that have toured extensively as well. I’m very grateful to have lived this life of music so far and that message of gratitude is one of the primary messages I aim to bring forth with Child Of
What’s the main difference between mosh pits and rave dancefloors?
You know I’ve thought about this a lot actually. I like to say I’ve always been a fan of creating “reaction” music. Where you get a direct, measurable reaction from the crowd. Like for a mosh pits you are creating “breakdowns” in your music while building tension throughout the song around these breakdowns to try and get the biggest crowd reaction. The same is true for dance music in a different way. I realized that I gravitate towards music that you can in a live setting have this direct, measurable symbiosis with everyone in the room. The difference between raves and mosh pits is much less than you might think. Maybe the biggest difference is that on the rave dancefloor, you have distinctly less of a chance of getting kicked in the face.
How did you become involved in the Remix The Universe project?
I got a call from an old friend Eric Breightenbach who is the drummer of New Age Doom. He was like yooooo you will never believe this but we made a record with Lee “Scratch” Perry. He asked if I wanted to do a remix and my mind exploded. It wound up being his last ever recording and it is actually pretty surreal for me to process still. It is definitely one of the greatest musical privileges and honours of my life so far.
There’s a real evolution if your remix – is this reflective of your different influences do you think?
Yes absolutely. I wanted to attempt to create a journey that wasn’t totally linear and that would support Lee and his out-of-this-world message/energy. Hopefully, I scratched the surface on this. That’s all I can ask. There were a bunch of versions of this remix actually. I kept starting over (there are probably 3 or 4 other remixes on my hard drive haha). I called in my buddy Kyle Patrick who is a vocal production mastermind on the last round, the version that became the final, to give the vocals the extra rose petal pampering treatment. The end product I could not be happier with.
How important is harnessing and evoking emotion in the music you create?
Honestly, it is the most important thing for me to feel. Sometimes this is even to my detriment as it takes a lot out of me. I have to go through all the emotions myself over and over while creating. These feelings are definitely not all rainbows and unicorns but ultimately it’s what makes my best work and I wouldn’t/couldn’t have it any other way.
What does your current studio set up look like? Lots of hardware, or are you mainly ‘out of the box’ type producers?
I’m equally both I’d say. On this remix, hardware wise I used The Moog Subsequent 37, The Waldorf Streichfett String Synthesizer, and also the Behringer Deepmind. The Behringer has been a surprise favourite for me lately actually. It’s extremely fun and versatile and I did not expect it to be. Also, I played my Jazzmaster guitar on this. I always try to put a little guitar on every track even if it’s just some feedback or some string noise
What should we be looking out for from you in the next few months?
I’ll just be over here trying to transmute my feelings onto as many dance floors as humanly possible
What is the best advice you ever received as an artist?
Every note you compose, every release you put out, every show you play, no matter how big or small, is a block put onto the tower of your career. Whether it’s one person, or 1 million that see you or hear your song, it’s all just another little block. The key is to be patient and not take anything personally while doing your best and continuing to add blocks to build something that’s yours and that you can be proud of.
Anything else you’d like to tell us…?
Thank you to this universe for the existence of music. And R.I.P. Lee Scratch Perry.
Thank you.
