Interview: Young Franco @ Stranded Festival

Brisbane-based producer YOUNG FRANCO has Australia wrapped around his finger, and it’s not just because his music is currently taking over the nation, but he’s also one of the nicest guys on the electronic scene today.

The producer recently played the very first instalment of Stranded on South Stradbroke Island and we sat down with the producer to talk remixing and collaboration.

Your recent remix of LUKE MILLION’s track ‘Light & Sound’ is really smooth, how was the remix organised?

You know what, he hit me up for ‘Light & Sound’. He was like, hey man I’m doing a new EP and a new single, do you wanna do a remix? and I was like of course I do! That was basically it and I asked if we could do a trade so he wrote for me and I wrote for him. I was just so stoked because I’m a big fan of Luke, he does great disco and he’s such a talented musician. He was really good; he turned it over really quick and helped me with the mix down. It just worked. It was just one of those things where you write something your happy with and he wrote something that was dope too, so it was perfect.

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How did you and JOY get together for ‘Close 2 U’?

I think we had each other on Facebook, I don’t even know how, and she posted a cover that was really good. She also has a lot of videos that she’s done and she’s just got a really good voice, it’s very unique and I think that’s an important thing. People are just writing the same shit and I sent her the song, and she sent something back three days later. She said that it was an iPhone recording and you know when you know, you just know?

The remix EP for ‘Close 2 U’ has just been released, gun to your head, which remix is your favourite?

If I were to play one out, the best one would be Airwolf’s remix. The one I like to listen to when I’m in the car is Luke [Million’s], the one I like to really get drunk to is Benson’s and Capetown’s is just overall really, really good.

You’ve become extremely popular over the last year; do you have people recognizing you out on the street?

Certain areas. In the Valley on a Saturday, it kind of depends on the people who are there and whether they’re interested in the music. I’m getting quite a lot of feedback and people are slowly [getting] interested in Franco. It’s good, people are into the whole Franco thing, it’s not just the music they kind of follow it. I’ve been lucky enough to just have people who are into it.

We debuted FUTUREFUNK on Purple Sneakers and we loved the sound that it produced. ‘Close 2 U’ seems to wander into a different territory, are you experimenting with some new sounds at the moment?

I’ll wake up one day and think, I wanna make bangers, I wanna be What So Not. Then I’ll wake up another day and think, I wanna be Motez and another day I’ll think, I wanna write incredible pop hits. I think it’s the best thing because it keeps it interesting. I wrote it because I liked that kind of sound and I liked all the elements and I tried to put it together like that.

You’ve been touring a hell of a lot recently, what’s been your favourite place to play so far?

Brisbane’s incredible TBC’s awesome. Perth is incredible. Perth every time people have just been really into it, which is just awesome. I love playing everywhere; everywhere is just a little bit different, which is good.

Stranded is only the start of your new tour, do you have some new material that you’re going to try out during your set?

Yeah one hundred per cent! I tested out a few yesterday and I kind of thought to myself, if people don’t like this then I’m gonna kill myself [laughs], but people were into it and it was like 1 or 1:30am and I played it, it didn’t even have a top line on it yet and it was good to test it out. Sometimes you just sit there in the studio and you’re thinking, what am I writing? You could be there for five hours working on a bass line and it becomes a big blur and you lose sight of what you’re actually doing. I played like three unreleased ones and all of them got a good reaction, which was good.

If you weren’t a producer what would you be doing instead?

I’m studying engineering at UQ (University Of Queensland). I took last semester off and I’ve just gone back, but I probably wouldn’t be doing that if I wasn’t producing. I’d love to be a runner, I’d love to do professional running but I’m not good enough. I don’t know, I like economics, which is weird. I don’t mind electronics and electronic engineering and writing software; I think that would be cool.

What’s the best part about being a producer?

Being happy with yourself and doing something you thoroughly enjoy. I think the best part about it is playing your own songs and people liking them. Being tangible, like people hearing a song and thinking, oh shit it’s Young Franco I know this one and I’ll think dude this sucks, but when people do hit you up and say that they like your songs, it’s crazy.

YOUNG FRANCO is currently on tour and the dates you need are below:

YOUNG FRANCO ‘CLOSE 2 U’ TOUR DATES

Sat 20 Sep

The Factory, Sunshine Coast

Sun 21 Sep

Stranded, Stradbroke Island

Thur 25 Sep

Baker St, Gosford

Fri 26 Sep

The Small Ballroom, Newcastle

Sat 27 Sep

Carmens, Miranda