So, Saturday night and I knew Mathew and Nathan Jonson were in town to do their Midnight Operator thing at Fabric and, since Nathan had been kind enough to drop us a pretty spesh mix for the podcast, we'd agreed to meet up beforehand to have a little chat so that I could put it up for you good people to read. I don't generally do much preparation for things like that; I don't particularly care for conversations about whether they prefer Logic to Ableton or how long it takes them to programme their live sets, but as I wandered down to Fabric that evening I guess I had some idea of how the chat might run, in my own head at least. I think it's fair to say I was kind of mistaken.
We hit our first stumbling block once I got to their hotel, the usual one where everyone stays when they play at Fabric, just past my favourite street in London, Fox And Knot Street (there's nothing on it, but try and find a road with a better name than that). I called Mathew. He sounded pretty ropey. Nathan had been out at the Tate Modern with the rest of the Wagon Repair crew whilst Mat was in his hotel room being pretty sick. There was no way he was going to make the interview. He might not even make the sound-check. He wasn't entirely sure he was going to manage to play that night. Either way, it looked like it was Nathan & I, plus we didn't have that long- sound-checks at Fabric are rigorous and kinda lengthy and we were already running behind.
So I hung out in reception for a bit, spamming people on Facebook, checking my emails and such. Nathan turned up. He said Todd and Colin (aka Konrad Black & The Mole) were at some pub down the road, shall we go there and get a pint? Yep, I mean, it was Saturday night- what else would you do? We wandered out, past Fox And Knot Street, down almost to Fabric then turned round and started walking back- neither of us knew the name of the pub we were trying to find. Ran into the other two some half way back to the hotel, spotted a crowded but fairly excellent little boozer, squeezed to the back and I hit record on my Dictaphone.
Now at this point I have to mention two things- one, I wasn't expecting to find myself in this situation. We were in a pub! There was a lot of noise! There were four of us! My Dictaphone was just not designed for that purpose. Secondly, transcribing stuff is pretty dull and even if I could hear everything we said on there, I have better things to do than type it all out just to edit it down. So based on our chat round that table, I've summarised below what I learnt. Before you read this, let me say something- if you want to know anything concrete about any of these guys, go read their biogs at Wagon Repair. If you want to know about their releases or upcoming dates, try Resident Advisor. If you'd prefer to get to grips with their thoughts on ducks, customs or labyrinths, then carry on.
Nathan Jonson (aka Hrdvsion) He wasn't around as long as the others due to that aforementioned sound-check so I'll begin with what I learned about him- firstly, he doesn't drink tea, or he does but only when he's ill. Secondly, he can do a really cool trick with de-shelling eggs- it's sort of a party trick but also has a very practical purpose and I think this is what he was talking about. Thirdly, he hates being misquoted, particularly when he's citing a quotation from someone else. And lastly and most tellingly- Nathan can't lie. Or rather, as Colin put it, he's not a bad liar, just a nervous truth teller. They all live in Berlin, have done for five years or so, and whilst they clearly fit right in there, none of them speak German and they're all obviously Canadian. So coming over here through German customs, Nathan found himself in one of those awkward ‘visa conversations'. It's fine, he's allowed to come and go, his visa's all sorted- but faced with some hardcore teutonic questioning, he kind of went to pieces- his brother's stuffing cash into his hands, the others are standing right behind him, he's saying all the wrong things about Switzerland and working and when he's coming back... imagine the scene and you've got a good idea of what he might belike- totally right and straight up and honest, but struggling to convince himself let alone the customs people of that... He got through, he's pretty chilled about it but a bit concerned about getting back in, there was talk of trains from Paris to get around it, of the others coaching him through it... And then he had to go in a bit of a rush for the sound-check that his brother would miss and there were the three of us at the table.
Colin (aka The Mole) Sitting opposite me, Colin was hungry. Menus were looked over, they hadn't really eaten after flying in earlier that afternoon and on the menu there was duck egg with rarebit soldiers. I think we probably talked about this for some time- rarebit is not an easy thing to explain to non-UK and even some UK people. I mean it's not simple to convince them that a.) it's not rabbit and b.) there is definitely no meat involved. They ordered some food, there weren't lots of soldiers but Colin insisted on sharing. I think it was a success and he liked the duck egg, too. He likes ducks a lot and has a bit of a problem with their treatment- I told him he definitely wouldn't have approved of this incident. And he didn't- told us a story of a dreadful duck killing when he was at school (not by him) that had stuck in his head and so he knows exactly how to kill a duck but really wouldn't want to. He has no moral qualms about eating them- crispy duck is excellent- but he's not sure about whether it's humane to keep ducks. They are monogamous creatures except for two weeks of the year; they are loyal, faithful, beautiful animals. It was a considered, well-explained run-down of everything pertaining to ducks. He'd seriously thought about this duck thing. And I can't really imagine he'd approach any subject or project or idea in any other way. He ate the egg and soldiers and left to go and kindly stand in for Mathew (who was still being sick) for the sound-check with Nathan. I saw him play later that night, but he was so deeply involved with the music that I felt bad interrupting just to say hi.
Todd (aka Konrad Black) So before he leaves and after Nathan has, Todd comes back from taking a phone call and there's the three of us back at the table when attention turns to common misconceptions, to finding the real meaning behind what may appear to be correct. Germans, for example, are definitely not as organised or knowledgeable as they may seem and disoriented and disorientated are actually interchangeable terms, there's no right answer there. Then we start talking about the difference, for example, between mazes and labyrinths- at first they might seem kind of the same, but they're not, there are all kinds of subtle differences & we agree that the debate and lack of a way out of the discussion definitely reflects the very essence of their physical nature. Colin leaves to do the sound-check, we sit and chat about Columbia and South America, walking right across town when you can't find a cab after a night out, the ‘alternative' names he's been called on airport placards (Pood was one of them) & the fact he ignored New Year to spend the following three days partying with friends in New York instead. We've finished the cheese and the drinks and he's done with the onion soup though hasn't eaten the onions and then time's up- it's nearly ten and Fabric's calling. We squeeze back out onto the street and I see him later on, hanging out in the booth while Colin's playing. Mat's still sick but he's said there's no way he'll let Nathan down. Todd hasn't been to bed, not tonight and not last night either and I guess the easiest thing would've been to get some sleep before his set, which doesn't start till 5am after all. But I can't imagine the obvious thing is something he's that concerned with- he wants to be there to support Colin, Aril Brikha's on in the back room that night and doing things in an everyday normal way perhaps just wouldn't be that normal anyway.
And that was it. I didn't see them to chat to again and I certainly failed to ask any kind of direct questions that might tell you anything definite. But I'll say this; I once had a conversation with a friend of mine about the things you need to succeed in any given sphere- passion, perseverance, knowledge, dedication and courage to do things differently are the ingredients we pretty much agreed upon. I didn't have chance to talk about that with Nathan and Colin and Todd that night, but I would say they're pretty good examples of all those things, both individually and especially as a team. And I think they'd agree on one point at least- there's not much better proof of that kind of success than Wagon Repair itself.
Words by Helen S
