Back in December a friend sent me a message with a link to U-Tern’s Brooklyn Radio segment that said “You have to hear this song”. When I got around to the song he wanted me to hear, I was an instant fan of POPCOP. I was even more excited to play this song at Discovery, as Aaron and I have a subtle ch00n competition every month.
“Whenever You’re Ready” is a fantastic dance tune. For me it’s a perfect example of a dance song standing out not because of 20 elements but rather a few key parts, which in this example are an amazing bass line and catchy vocal. Many classics have the same formula, showing me as a producer that amazing songs are built on the quality of the elements, not the quantity. That may sound really obvious, and when standing back from a project makes perfect sense; however, it’s pretty easy to lose oversight when “in the zone” on a song, to stop and say, wait… why would someone play this again?
POPCOP’s subsequent releases have shown me that he’s obviously been consuming whatever the fuck they’re handing out at the Scottish Department of Choons, along with CH and Mylo. He was kind enough to sit down with Kiss Atlanta for an intarweb interview to talk about production, DJing, and carbonated beverages. He’s also bestowed us with an exclusive mix tape.
KA: Thanks for sitting down with Kiss Atlanta. We first heard your songs on U-Terns radio show, and were immediately blown away with “Whenever You’re Ready”
KA: How long have you been producing music?
PC: Ive been messing around with electronic music for about the last 4 or 5 years
KA: Where are you right now, and what time is it?
PC: Im currently sitting in my cold flat in Glasgow, the time is currently 00:17…. its snowing outside
KA: How old are you?
PC: Haha, i always hate that question, im 31
KA: It’s cool, we’ve been 24 for some time now…
KA: We’ve seen several amazing Scottish producers the past few years, what’s the scene like in Glasgow and Scotland for electronic / house music? Do you get to play out much?
PC: Its like anywhere really, there are so many ‘bedroom producers’ here and none of them really get a proper chance, which is a shame. Glasgow is a bit of a strange place when it comes to giving new producers/djs a chance. Ive not played in Glasgow ( yet )
KA: What instruments do yo you play? What was the first? Any funny / embarrassing side projects or bands?
PC: I used to be in a band around the time of ‘Britpop’ here in the UK, slightly embarassing but hey. I play the guitar and bass but i have no co-ordination when it comes to drums, thank god for drum machines. I own about 7 guitars and 1 bass
KA: Your bass lines are amazing, do you bathe them in unicorn tears or virgin blood?
PC: neither, they take bloody ages though, im a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my basslines, i can spend about 2 solid days working on just 2 bars of a bassline….. sad i know
KA: You’ve mentioned that many of your songs are off and on the shelf for a while, does it take you a while to finish a song because of perfectionism? Inspiration?
PC: i lose interest very easily on things im working on, i think i have about 200 unfinished ideas on my hard drive just now, ill get round to them eventually though…..honest
KA: When people ask you what your music sounds like, how do you normally answer?
PC: ive never really been asked before but id probably say i was aiming to create funky electro disco with a slice of lemon & lime
KA: When did you decide you wanted to create dance music? Any specific Artist or movement that inspired your sound?
PC: Mainly from the whole french scene, not so much daft punk though, i was more inspired by the big bassline tracks, the one track that springs to mind would be ‘Sedat The Turkish Avenger – Take Me Ce Soir’
KA: I love that song…
PC: Classic track
KA: What’s been on your stereo recently?
PC: ive been listening to lots of GRUM recently
PC: Although i had the Best of Fleetwood Mac on in the car today 
KA: Nice
KA: Favorite song of all time? Song you wish you could delete from history?
PC: Hmmmmm…..tough question
PC: ill need to come back to that one
KA: no prob.
KA: What do you use for production, why?
PC: I use FL Studio 9, ive been using it since i started making music and im just really sticking to what im used to, ive tried cubase, reason, and ableton but i just dont enjoy using them as much, its a very underrated bit of software
KA: When you DJ what’s a song you can’t live without? When you produce what’s a plugin you can’t live without? Staples… if you will.
PC: Stardust – music sound better with you
PC: Pro-53
KA: Awesome… yeah they tried to remove that from the Komplete set, I wasn’t happy about that.
PC: i have stashed away on a hard drive somewhere
KA: So what were you going for with this latest mix?
PC: nothing special really, its a bit of a mixture which i prefer doing, too much of the same thing gets very boring, you only need to go see the Ed banger guys djing to understand what i mean :S
KA: haha
KA: So you’ve been giving away a lot of your music for free lately, but some is still on juno. Is it due to sample clearance or some other reason? What are your thoughts on blogs, out of hand, good, bad?
PC: Superstar was a freebie because the chances of getting the sample cleared would have been very very slim, im glad it was released that way though. Im planning to release most of my future stuff like that as well. I love blogs, id have never have discovered half the music i listen to now if it wasnt for them so its thumbs up from me
KA: How did you pick your name? What’s it mean to you?
PC: it was the name of song from my mates band back in the 90’s i thought it was pretty clever so i thought to myself… ill be having that thank you very much
PC: http://eil.com/Shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=301178
KA: haha, excellent.
KA: What’s coming from you this year?
PC: well im working on an EP just now, hopefully ill have that finished in the next week or two, im due to work with Hugo van Dyck soon, Im working on some remixes, but i really want to start doin more djing thats my aim
KA: Any touring planned? (aka come to New York and play Discovery WINK WINK)
PC: New York is number one of my wishlist of places i want to go to, not just to Dj but to actually see… get your people to talk to my people and its a done deal
KA: coke or pepsi?
KA: answer carefully….
PC: haha
PC: neither, we drink Irn Bru in Glasgow
(Kiss Atlanta does not endorse or repel you trying Irn Bru)
KA: sounds….tasty
PC: ill send you over a can, you’ll love it
KA: Ok last question, why do so many people in the UK use MSN!!!? Mac haters?
PC: haha… we’re all brainwashed.
KA: Thanks so much, have a great night!
PC: my pleasure see you soon hopefully
Here’s some of POPCOP’s releases as well as the mix tape for Kiss Atlanta, I highly recommend all of them. Everything’s in 320 except for “Whenever You’re Ready” – you gotta grab that on Juno. ^_^
POPCOP – February 2010 Mixtape for Kiss Atlanta
Ellie Goulding – Starry Eyed (Russ Chimes Remix)
Super Mal And Phonat – Pixelated
Ali Love – Love Harder (Mighty Mouse Remix)
Magistrates – Gold Lover (Grum Remix)
Strip Steve – Breakin’
Boris Dlugosch – Bangkok
Janet Jackson – Make Me
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix)
Lorenz Rhode – Like A Player
Popcop – Superstar
Ghosts of Venice – I Learned from the best
Pierre De La Touche And Norman Doray – Dance All Night (Distorded Remix)
