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The following interview was done by DJ Theory
sometimes last year, but never saw the light of the day. With
the success of the latest PowerHouse single on Strictly Rhythm,
we decided to revive this interview. Although it was made last
year, it is still fresh and contains lots of info about the people
behind PowerHouse called MODU Productions.
The DJ Consortium
June 1999
The following interview was conducted by DJ Theory in November
1998:
Since you're a new team to the industry, let's
start with introductions.
Moises Modesto (MODU): I'm Moises. I'm pianist
and producer with MODU Productions. I started out with classical
piano, working my way up to contemporary. I was in a few bands
before MODU. I'm 27 years old, Dominican, and live in Jersey.
Duane Harden (MODU): This is Duane. I'm 27
and live in Manhattan. I grew up in a family of gospel singers.
That was my exposure to music, until I attended Boston University.
I sung in the.gospel choir there. I've taken piano and sax before.
Anyway, while at BU, I did a track for Armand (Van Helden) that
did very well. He in turn introduced me to alot of industry people,
once we both made the transition to New York from Boston. My friend
Calvin in Providence convinced me that I should enter the business
of music. So, I went out and bought all this equipment. And one
day I ran into this girl on my way to D.C.. That was Takitha from
WuTang Clan (she drops in January on Epic). Once I recognized
who she was, we clicked. So I wrote a song for her, "The Love
I Once Knew." One weekend, I was hangin' out in New Jersey, and
ran into Moises. We used to work together, and both went to Boston
University (it was a telemarketing job). Neither one of us knew
that the other was doing music at the time. I told him about the
song that I was doing for Takitha. He said that he had been doing
music since he was 5 years old. And I was like, "good, I'm lookin'
for a partner." And we hooked up. This October made it a year
since that MODU productions has been together. We finished the
demo for her, and we'll see what happens with it.
It should do well.
Duane: So, Moises comes from the commercial
tip, kinda. And I come from the more deep underground. So it's
great to see how these 2 styles come together and meet. It's a
good thing because, what good is it to be in a partnership if
each person can't bring something different to the table? And,
we were hangin' out at Little Louie Vega's place, when his girlfriend
Ana suggested that we take our material to the Winter Music Conference.
So from that night on, we spent the next 2 and a half months writing,
composing, and recording 6 songs. It was called "The Rude Awakening."
The first song we recorded was with Melodie Daniels (known for
her background vocals for Mariah Carey.) By the way, we want to
say congratulations to her for landing a gospel deal! But she
really doesn't do house music. However, she listened to the song
and really loved it. I told her that I really need the favor.
So she did the project for us, and it was called "Don't You Ever
Give Up." That was the first thing we had done after Takitha.
Well, we ended up in Miami. We passed out about 25 or 30 tapes.
Originally we copied about 100, and brought most of them back.
We were very selective of who we gave it to. Once we came back,
we started getting phone calls. And one of them was Frankie Feliciano!
So the project was signed to his Ricanstruction Records, and that
is the first commercially released thing that MODU has done. And
it all goes from there.
That actually answers questions I had concerning
the amount of time you two had been together before the Innervision
release.
Moises: It's been relatively short. We just
had our one year anniversary in October. In the meantime, l had
been learning all of the eq voice lessons. If you had listened
to that first demo that we did, you'd see it was completely from
scratch. There's not one sample in it. So, our next project is
going to be our second "dance" project. We did a follow up to
"The Rude Awakening," called "The Second Coming." It consists
of R'n'B and pop music. We entered it in various songwriting contests
such as Discmakers, John Lennon Songwriting Contest, and Duane
won 4th place in the Unasong, right?
Duane: Pretty much.
Congratulations! Elaborate on the self-coined
genre of "CODEE."
Moises: Well, I'm from New Jersey. I listen
to commercial house music, because that's what they play in clubs
around here. And Duane is up in the city, with places like 'Body
and Soul,' where they play deep deep house. So the actual lyrics
will be on the commercial side, but the background music will
consist of deep house music. Or we can flip it around, and make
the lyrics deep, inspirational, and social, while making the background
music commercial. And we see what we get out of it all. Finally,
Duane came up with "CODEE," commercial deep house music.
Duane: Also, on some of our songs, they'll
be commercial ones. But all of a sudden, it flips deep. For example,
our remix for "Don't You Ever Give Up" does it.
Yessss! Exactly! How does MODU Productions, as
a unit, go about writing a vocal track?
Moises: As of now, we've done them separately.
A few sessions ago, though, we got together and wrote for the
first time. I had a little hook I came up with, and Duane elaborated
from there.
Now, because of the Innervisions project, I thought
you guys were strictly about garage productions. However, you
just ran down a couple of downtempo things, that you've written.
That's great!
Duane: Well believe me, our next focus is
on the downtempo. Because of school and the new Armand project,
as well as a possible artist deal with Strictly, there is alot
going on right now. So my top priority is my master's degree,
which I should be receiving in December. Therefore I've been on
a hiatus. Moises is steady working on stuff, that I'LL have to
finish. And we have a pop & R'n'B project that I want to start
shopping. Hey, check this out, http://www.unasong.com . That was
the 3rd contest we entered. And out of 4,282 entries, "Don't You
Ever Give Up" won 4th place. Moises came in as a finalist, for
a pop song that he wrote. So we are not limited to just dance
music. Music is music.
Moises: You can find a way to relate to any
kind of song. And in turn, actually feel yourself being diverse
in that way.
Where exactly does the motivation for your lyrics
come from?
Duane: I never feel obligated to write a
certain way. Whatever I write is what I'm going through at that
time. Like with "Don't You Ever Give Up," there was a producer
that was just being very negative. He had said that I should have
stuck with just singing. Just very negative in general. And I
was feeling down, and "Don't You Ever Give Up" is what I came
up with. Or, the song with Armand, "You Don't Know," that is exactly
how I was feeling at that time! If you write from your heart,
then it means something. I'm not trying to please anybody! If
no one else likes your stuff, it is something for you. No one
else can take it away for you.
Moises: For myself, motivation comes from
sitting at the piano. See, Duane has the gift of words. Me, I'm
into melody. Melodies from the piano inspire me.
Duane: Another thing that I do, is that I
write on my bus ride to work. It's a 2 hour bus ride. Also, when
I go out to Club Vinyl, or Subliminal, and there is a song on
that's got me going, I'll just come up with a hook right there.
If you ever go to Vinyl and hear someone singing in the crowd,
it's me! You can actually hear me over the sound system almost!
In fact, Louie (Vega) has called me up a couple of times, asking
me to come out that night. He likes to get pumped up off of the
crowd.
You know, I may remember you from this past July
4th @ The Shelter!
Duane: That's a crazy way of going about
it. But it's all about feeling the track. Well, ya know, if I
had to say that someone discovered me, it was Armand Van Helden.
I used to do this same thing in Boston at a club called 'The Loft,'
and that's how he found me.
Describe any other vocalists you are, or have
been working with.
Duane: There's Reina, who's signed to Groovilicious.
We just did some things with her. I've ran some stuff by Tasha,
who's Luther Vandross' niece. I'll be working with Soul Solution
next week. Basically as far as vocalists go, it's whoever comes
our way.
Now your work is being done in 'Cat Out Of the
Bag Studios,' right?
Duane: Yes, 'Cat Out Of the Bag' in Harlem
(116th Street).
I wanna touch on your relationship with Frankie
Feliciano. Did things start with the last Winter Music Conference?
Duane: With me, I already know many of the
heads in the music industry in New York. So I wrote the song,
and when we came back from Miami, I gave the tape to Frankie at
Club Vinyl. He called me back, and said that the song was phat.
A couple of labels were already interested in it. But I started
remembering calling Frankie at 2 o'clock in the morning, asking
him how to use this S-2000 sampler, or how to manipulate chords.
And he would sit on the phone with me, and teach me production
techniques. And I realized how much he had been there for us.
So I immediately gave the song to him for Ricanstruction Records'
4th release.
How did the Web site - http://www.moduproductions.com
- come about?
Duane: The bad thing about house music, in
comparison to other genres, is that they (labels) don't promote
it. To me, "Don't You Ever Give Up" is something you have to stumble
across. So that's where the Web site came from. People have to
take on the ownership of their own success. I wanted to do everything
possible to promote our project.
That brings me to the situation at-hand now. 10
years ago, records such as "Don't You Ever Give Up" were constantly
riding the charts (Billboard and everything). Radio was on it,
and these records were really blossoming. That's no longer the
case, here in the United States. Explain what you think it will
take for the U.S. garage industry to get back to that standing
(that is if you want that).
Moises: The last Winter Music Conference
had a huge buzz from A&Rs saying that the genre needs vocals.
We need to hear lyrics. You can't just put out dub mixes with
4 lines in it. You can no longer sing along to any of the joints
they play in clubs. What happened to that? Right now it is all
about tracks. It's like "101 Things To Do With a Sampler!* I remember
the days of Latin freestyle. There were alot of changes and variations
within each song.
Duane: It's funny because I was telling Moises
that I planned on being the first black guy doing a salsa jam!
(laughs) I hang out with Gladys Pizzaro from Strictly alot. She's
Puerto Rican. But when we were hangin' out in Costa Rica, I knew
more jams than she did. So it shows that MODU is not limited to
just one sound.
Describe the some of your upcoming releases.
Moises: It's really important to me that
our sound remain "CODEE." I want to be able to grab the deep crowd,
as well as have the marketability of a commercial track.
Duane: Anything you see us involved in is
done strategically. We try to reach all crowds. It's not selling
out. You have to think of the marketability of everything you
do. So, on side-A you may hear something very deep, and side-B
you may hear a WKTU tune!
Now we have a shortage of full lengths in this
genre of the industry. Do you guys plan on producing full-lengths
for MODU or someone else?
Duane: That's eventually our goal. Right
now we are still learning. Therefore, we have to continue to work
with others and learn before we can do that. I think we have come
a long way, for only being together one year. So we'll keep the
momentum going.
How do you see the future of U.S. garage music?
Duane: I think right now everything is too
regional in the U.S. So people like us have to get out and see
California, and places like the U.K. or Germany. These people
are on a totally different vibe. But right now, the future looks
grim. However, we are going to stick to our guns, stick to doing
what we believe in and...
"rise above the storm," right?!
Duane: You got it!
I'd like to know your individual influences, particularly
from the early days on up.
Moises: As a pianist, I worship Elton John
and Billy Joel. My classical background forces me to relate music
from the classical era to today's material. There is alot of correlation
there. Then there was Latin freestyle. I worked with a girl named
Belinda Torres.
Duane: Well, I'm from Georgia! (with a twang).
I was influenced by the gospel singers that my Mom exposed me
to when I was younger. People like John P. Kee and guys like that.
I've learned so much vocally from them. Also, I grew up listening
to Aretha Franklin,The Whispers, The Temptations, and all of that.
I didn't get introduced to house until I moved to Boston University.
So, I had missed all of the garage days, and I didn't know about
places like 'The Red Zone' and... actually I was able to sneak
away in my freshman year and catch the last bit of 'Zanzibar,'
and I had been to the 'Shelter.' That was it. In Boston, we had
Armand and DJ Bruno. As for today, we aren't DJs, so we don't
really who's who when a record comes on, unless I know you personally.
So I probably couldn't name any of the stuff coming out now. So,
vocally, it's gospel singers. Now on the production tip, it's
Masters at Work, Armand, and David Morales. We'll probably be
doing something with them, next year. Oh, and I like the Mike
Delgado tracks as well. Dance music is dance music. It doesn't
matter. And then I also like Faith and Mary J. (Blidge). A little
of everything.
I love visuals. Will MODU ever do performances?
If so, describe a MODU performance.
Duane: I really wanted to go out and perform
"Don't You Ever Give Up." But keep in mind that Sister Melodie
(Daniels) doesn't do house! Plus she's extremely limited on time,
working with Mariah and her own LP. So oh well. There will be
other projects. However, I'll be touring with Armand soon. You'll
get a chance to see MODU in Armand's new video for FFRR.
Is this the one for "You Don't Know Me"?
Duane: That's the one. Also, be on the lookout
for a track called "I Got What You Need." It's PowerHouse featuring
Duane Harden, produced by Lenny Fontana (Strictly Rhythm). That's
me, Angie B., and Melodie Daniels on background. But, anyway,
who knows? You may see us on stage at the next Winter Music Conference,
working a Wamdue-type stage show... don't know.
Moises: I'd love to do something like that!
It was quite a positive learning experience when building with
these two talented songwriter/producers. Up and coming acts, such
as this one, definitely show that there is light at the end of
the Tunnel (pun intended) for Garage House music. We here at UF
wish MODU much more wonderful success in their efforts to provide
the world with lovely music (no matter what genre)!
DJ Theory
June 1999
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