Jamie Reinert: The music on your new record has this very raw energy to it. It sounds as if it all came out in one huge explosion. Was the composition process also as immediate or did you spend days getting things right?
Louis Cole: I guess the process for all of the tracks took a long time, but I guess the idea for doing it as a live session just came as an explosive idea and I just went with it. Some of the songs are really old, from around 2008 and 2009 and 2010, so it kind of spans a long time.
The arrangements are quite complex. I imagine it doesn't all come out in one go or does it?
The arrangement for the first song "F it up" came out in one night, within an hour and a half probably. I sat down and wrote the whole thing from my head. Sometimes it works like that and you get lucky but not all the songs were that quick.
The music videos you shot with a bunch of heavyweight collaborators are very entertaining. How many takes did you have to go through?
For each song I would say four, maybe six takes.
And as far as I know you created the videos all yourself.
Yeah, I had all of these goals, ideas for art that I wanted to do, and I didn't have any money to pay anyone or even knew anybody who even knew how to do the things I wanted to do. I've always just tried doing things myself since the beginning, like video-editing for example. I get help from friends and family but mostly it's just about going on to YouTube, look up a tutorial and learn how to do something and go from there. I kind of like it. I think DIY is just really close to my heart. Even if I had an infinite budget it the videos would still be DIY looking because that stays true to the music and who I am. It feels more me and creative I guess.
It definitely wouldn't be the same if you'd do it on a grand budget scale.
I mean I would definitely have some more helicopter explosions and car chases and stuff, but other than that it would be pretty similar to what it is now (laughs).
In your videos it's quite apparent that you play a whole range of different instruments, mainly keys, drums and guitar. Have you taken up any other instruments recently? What would you love to master someday?
Man, that's such a relevant question because I spent the last four months practicing slap bass every day. I want to make one song with slap bass. (laughs) That's my goal right now.
So no other different, maybe weird instruments on your list?
Well, I bought a cello a while ago off eBay and it came with a free violin. As you can imagine, it's like the worst violin ever (laughs). I think I want to get a new violin, just even to play long notes on my songs, one note at a time. Maybe I want to get better at that so I can do some stringy kind of arrangements myself.
And put in a wee Stéphane Grappelli solo here and there...
(laughs) Oh my god, that guy's so good. I don't think I'll ever get to that level of any kind of thing on violin, but yeah, that would be pretty cool.
Coming back to slap bass, currently you get that sounds out of keys don't you?
Oh yeah, I have this garage band slap bass sound I use all the time because it doesn't really sound like a real slap bass, it's kind of like its own thing. Sometimes I use that for sure.
How did the song "Doing the Things" come about?
This is just a song I used to do live when we'd do these big band shows. I wrote a bunch of extra stuff on this song of mine called "bank account" and it kind of turned into a whole other song. That's this song.
There's a lot of humour in your music. Something you share with fellow musician Thundercat. What are your thoughts on music and humour?
You know that's a weird thing. Sometimes I think for me as a listener it doesn't really work on everything. I don't always like it personally but I think with my stuff it's just who I am. I'm always joking around with my friends. My family's also always been like that. Always joking around. So I think it's just so part of my DNA that when I write lyrics or work on a video, it's just part of me. I hopefully try to incorporate it in a natural way (laughs). So it doesn't take away from the end product.
It does come across as funny.
Good (laughs) Thanks man.
Is there a musical influence concerning humour? Many people cite Frank Zappa...
Man, so many. My Uncle, his name is Clint Bazz, you might still be able to find some of his music on the internet. He's one of the biggest influences on me ever. Some of his music is super funny. It really wors. Still some of my favourite music to this day.
I've never heard of him before...
Yeah (laughs) I don't think anyone has. You might find some stuff on the internet.
Which music has made you laugh the most?
I guess his and I really like the music in the Tim and Eric Show. They really know what they're doing.
You're part of a current Jazz Funk sound which includes bands such as Snarky Puppy, Vulfpeck, Thundercat and Kneebody, who exemplify an extremely virtuous and maybe even polished style of playing. Is there such a thing as too much virtuosity in your opinion?
Oh yeah, totally. I mean it just depends what you're trying to do. I mean if the song needs total shred zone, then it's perfect for that, but if the song doesn't really need that and it's taking away from the beauty or the core idea of the song, then it might be too extra for that. It just really depends on what song you're doing or how you're doing it.
So how does this work for you? Do you find yourself cutting back a little in performance or do you tend to push everything even further?
I think for recordings, that's where most of my energy and thought goes. I definitely hold back a lot if it's too much to put something in. If it doesn't make sense to have like a drum solo or whatever. Live, usually there's a little less cutting back (laughs) Usually if you get an idea you just go with it. So there's a lot more just playing really fast when we do live shows but I would say for recordings there's a lot more limiting if something doesn't really serve the song.
You've collaborated with many renowned musicians over the years. Thundercat, Nate Wood, Ben Wendel and even Brad Mehldau who's currently artist in residence here at the philharmonic in Luxembourg. In a dream scenario, including musicians who are no longer amongst us, what would your fantasy band look like?
Oh man. As far as drummers I'd like to work with... well Nate Wood was one of them so that was cool. I really like Tony Williams. His drumming and his writing. Jack DeJohnette too and I guess James Brown's been a huge influence. Though I don't know what he'd be like as a collaborator.
Might be difficult.
(laughs) Definitely Skrillex, he changed my life. God, there's so many. I mean I'd love to hang out with like Chopin and Ligeti and stuff. There's so many. Miles Davis even, or Gil Evans that would be cool.
Absolutely. Is there any new project you're working on that you can tell us about?
I'm working on my own album and a couple of short songs which are just songs which don't really go on album necessarily but I just release them. I'm also trying to get new music going with Genevieve Artadi for Knower. A lot of stuff.
Which music has recently blown your mind? What's on your record player?
Gosh, I'm still listening to "Songs in the key of life" by Stevie Wonder. I mean a lot of my friends write really great current music. My cousin Spencer Cole, he just released this piano album which is really pretty. I think anyone whose listening should check that out. I really like Thundercat, he's great. Genevieve has a solo album coming out at some point, which is going to be really good. Thom Gill from Toronto is great and Bernice from Toronto.