Found together

Fred Everything returns to Montreal with
a new release loaded with friends

CONNECTED AND RECONNECTING: Fred Everything

By SCOTT C

Montreal’s own house music ambassador Fred Everything packed it in last summer and moved to San Francisco to maintain the momentum he’d created for himself. Last week, his new album, Lost Together, dropped on Om Records, and it features collaborations with Tim Fuller, N’Dea Davenport of Brand New Heavies, Lisa Shaw and Tortured Soul, but this week he joins Colette, DJ Heather and Andy Caldwell at Stereo for the House of Om Tour. The Mirror caught up with Fred in Calgary, Alberta during the Calgary Stampede.

Mirror: Has your move to San Francisco influenced the sound of the new album at all?

Fred Everything: Well, not really, because most of it was done in Montreal. In fact, everything was written in Montreal, or during my travels while I was living in Montreal. The only work I did while I’ve been in San Fran involved finishing up the record. I recorded N’Dea Davenport in L.A., but the track was done before. Nothing has really changed either, in terms of my sound.

M: You mentioned that you recorded “Don’t Nobody,” featuring Davenport, at Raphael Saadiq’s studio. How did that come about?

FE: The guy that I share a studio with in San Francisco, Olivier Desmets, used to share our studio with a guy named Chuck Diesel, who left for L.A. and started working for Raphael as an engineer over the last few years. He’s just a really nice guy, and he offered. N’Dea was in L.A. for the Grammys, so we just met up and had the opportunity to use that studio. It was really cool.

M: Were you able to get everyone you wanted to participate on this project?

FE: I did. I’m pretty lucky that it happened that way. There are people that kind of give you that vibe like they’re not interested, or that they’re bigger than that, and then there’s people like N’Dea, who was great. She showed interest, and when she joined the Brand New Heavies again, I thought for sure my project wouldn’t happen, but it did. You can’t be friends with everyone. It’s not like I meet someone for the first time and instantly start talking about the project. Like when I was introduced to Tortured Soul, the vibe was immediate. I met them after one of their shows at the Jazz fest the first year they came, and went backstage to show my appreciation, and they were already returning the compliments, saying they loved my music and that they were coming to the afterparty. So I don’t try to connect with people that I’m not already connected with in some way.

M: What’s your favourite place to listen to a track when you think it’s ready to leave the studio?

FE: That’s a good question. It’s weird, but since I listen to so much music on my laptop, sometimes that’s kind of a good ballpark. It’s not the most inspiring, but sometimes I just kind of know how it’s going to sound. I put the track on a USB stick, I leave the studio and go home and it’s a different vibe. It’s almost like a finished project by then.

M: So you’re not big on trying things out in the club?

FE: Oh yeah. Well, I do and I don’t. I sometimes just get tired of a track after working on it so much. Sometimes I won’t go back to it until I hear someone else playing it out and realize it’s not really that bad (laughs).

With DJ Heather, Andy Caldwell
and Colette at Stereo on
Saturday, July 19, 10 p.m.