“The first time I listened The Funk District I tought man this is indeed “Funky” I felt very happy when I found he is a fellow Mexa, even when House Music has become a trend or a fashion Worldwide in Mexico it seems there’s only a few places with this preference mostly at Mexican Caribbean a place rich in culture and diversity, People from all over the world not just Travel to visit this sunny paradise but to stay and live all out of it, this Paradise we are talking is Mexican Caribbean and to be more precise Cancun the homebase of Fernando the mind Behind The Funk District”
We want to say thank you to Fernando who agreed to an interview with 808blogg and the results are very interesting, and insight not just to the music past and future, but to the person behind this project itself, enjoy:
1.- Your first release as The Funk District is dated 2015 under the Whiskey Pickle label, what was the trigger for your project? What was your first approach to Funk / House music?
Well actually the first release I got signed by a label was the “Get On Down EP” released by Hotbox Boogie but it took longer to be out than “Robot Soul EP” on Whiskey Pickle so it looked the other way around. I would say both releases helped me trigger my carreer with this project as it got the attention of two important blogs such as Discobelle & MusicIs4Lovers which definitely helped getting on the spot for many artists going on the same direction. Concering my first approach on Funk combined with House music and modern Edits / Re-edits I would have to say it was with artists such as Frank Booker, Ray Mang, Dicky Trisco, Dave Allison, Ltj-Xperience to name a few so I was really impressed on how these guys where bringing organic music into the modern electronic scene so it blew my mind and decided to start this project.
I would have to say that I had the chance to see the Disco / Funk / House scene grow all around the caribbean during the last 8 years, specially in Playa del Carmen and Tulum which were places that had a big scene already but genres have been changing on the last years. On the other side here in Cancun there has been just a couple of bars – restauranst providing good music but I wouldnt say theres a scene itself as everything has been dominated by commercial and reggaeton music all around it. This is what I would love to change about for sure but its not an easy task.
“otherwise making streamings might be the future on live performances but Im not much into that to be honest”
4.- During this year we have learned through the Pandemic Crisis that performances might take a long time to get back, what is your strategy now to approach your followers? What would you advise them to do in order to adapt and survive?
This is a really good question as I have no idea what will happen with the world on the next months, but I would totally advise to keep producing and visualizing yourselves as if there would be no crisis and Im sure little by little (if the crisis stops) the clubs and places will start growing interest in you and your live performances, otherwise making streamings might be the future on live performances but Im not much into that to be honest. Another advise I would give is to canalize and stay in touch with the labels that really pay back for your work, some do and some other dont pay royalties, in
these times any payback could help to survive this crisis.
5.- About Disco, Legofunk, Whiskey Disco, Smokecloud records, you really seem to have started at a very good place putting your music in some of the best labels around and get it played by Top artists like Mark Farina, to be honest that’s is impressive, what is the best advice you can give to people involved in music to achieve their goals?
The best advise I could say is to really put a lot of heart and effort into your productions, I mean if the product is great then most labels would have interest in releasing your music, so dont rush in wanting to release a lot of music everywhere, as they say: less is more so releasing quality instead of quantity works quiet well and gives more value to your work. Im pretty sure Apple does the same with their products haha 😉
6.- How do you perceive the overall House music scene in Mexico, and what other Mexa Artists do you like to recommend to our followers?
I think Mexico has been positioned as one of the biggest overall House music scene in the world on the last years. There’s always been a constant movement on genres and artists but before the crisis I might say it has had an exponential increase. A lot of mexican uprising talents have been positioned on the charts lately on many digital platforms and their music have been pushing the scene quiet a lot. Im really proud of my friends and would highly recommend (Im sure you know them already) Hotmood, Sould Out, Juan Soto, Lemon Mint, Rafa Navajas, Monsieur Van Pratt, The Velvet Stripes, More Lotion, Andruss, Jizz etc.. and Im sure there are many more to be mentioned.
7.- Can you please talk about a bit of what is cooking on the Funk District?
- Saint Wax (Split release with Vagabundo Club Social)
- Legofunk Records (Split release with Lego Edit)
- SpinCat Records (Shared release with Hotmood, C. Da Afro, J.B Boogie and Monsieur Van Pratt)
- Discoweey (2 tracks)
- Editorial Records (1 remix)
8.- Please name your top 3 Funk District Releases.
3 – Get On Down EP (released on Hotbox Boogie)
“To Finish we want to thank you for this Amazing chat we are looking forward to hear more from you friend.”
“Thanks for the interview!
Saludos,
Fernando Mendoza (The Funk District)”
More About The Funk District: https://bit.ly/385ozGx
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Hey guys I’m Spik3 from 808blogg a freaky melody digger who loves cult stuff animes and video games, and I wrote this interview you can get more 808blogg content by visiting our Patreon.
Thanks for reading and please don’t ever say no to good music…
808 blogg 