Boy 8-bit is a bit of an office favourite. Quintessentially Fat!, his forward thinking approach to his sets and original productions are synonymous with all that we stand for. The unique sound of ‘The Keep’, ‘Cricket Scores’ and ‘The Suspense is Killing Me’ have rocked dance floors the world over and after smashing it at last summer’s Chew the Fat! we could not wait to invite him back. Ahead of this Saturday, we caught up with the man himself for an informative interview about his forthcoming album. We also have the unreleased Bowski remix of ‘The Keep’ available to download to get us all excited. Roll on Saturday!

Thanks for taking the time out to answer our questions, What stage is the album at?

I’ve recently been through my computer and gathered together all my projects from the last 7 years.. I think I have over half a terabyte of stuff. So, in terms of raw material I have an album done! But I want to go through it and pick the best and try and shape an outline of the album. Thankfully the work I was doing towards the end of last year easily lends itself to an album so I can incorporate some of that. Or I might just start everything from scratch. Its really hard to put a figure on it, but I’d say 50%, hopefully the second 50% might come together a lot quicker than the first!

How have you approached writing the album?

I wanted the album to flow like a mix, but be an album. Like a concept album of sorts. I have tried to stay away from the whole unmixed club  tracks style with vocals put on for commercial appeal angle. Though I hope to have a couple of vocal tracks on there. No bargain bin MC’s or stuff like that though. I want to keep the whole thing concise and I’m not really bothered by it being overly club friendly – or being clubby at all really. Its just electronic music. I will probably aim to do club edits of a few of the tracks, but I might try and keep my club output separate. Ideally I’d like to use this as a chance to spread my wings a bit!

Is there an overall theme or concept?

Yeah, there is a concept. I have the basic “story” in my head, but it needs refining! Your usual thing… Destroyed villages, revenge.. double crossing, love, Mermen, Undead ferrymen… Dice games with Death. Frozen wastelands..

You played guitar for the Black Ghosts a while ago, have you recorded any live instrumentation for your album?

There should be guitar / bass in there and some other bits and bobs. Ukulele, penny whistle, tambourine. Castanets.. Field recordings. Shouting… Gong..

What producers and artists have had an influence on the record? Do these differ from whose music you play in your DJ sets?

Old prog / psyche records, folk, 60′s / 70′s production techniques and sounds. Vintage FX.. Atmospheric Black Metal. Lounge music. C64 music, neo classical stuff. Weird electronic albums designed to relax children. I dont know if any of that will appear on the album, but its what I’ve been into! I’d also imagine it wont tie in that closely to my DJ set style. As mentioned earlier I’d like to try something a bit different.

Your last release, Tropical Heat had a Soweto vibe, can we expect more world stylings?

Is Soweto a genre now? God, I cant keep up. T.H. was just a weird baltimore thing I did.. I put it in the Essential mix and people seemed to like it. If I was a genre knobhead I could call it posti-more or something, but to me its just a Baltimore record. I love that sound and the old loops and drum sounds and the way it can bump along nicely. I just wanted to try something different with it. Not just make some R&B remixes or novelty records. I think that sound has a lot of potential. It great for clubs. I just don’t find that many records I want to play out… Rhianna remixes don’t really do it for me I’m afraid. I imagine there will be a Bmore influence on the album. In some form.

I’d love to do a 12″ of weird Batimore cuts under an alias. Alas it could turn out as an exercise in throwing my money down the drain! Though actually people like Loefah are putting out records with a bmore influences in them, like that “Work them” by Ramadanman on Swamp81, to great response. So maybe there is a market after all!

Are there any guests or collaborations on the album?

Probably no production collabs or guests, but hopefully vocalists, we are just approaching people now. I recently worked with the artist Ed Repka, legendary US Thrash metal cover designer. Would love to get some art for the album from him. If that is classed a collaboration?

When can we expect the album to be released?

In this day and age, who knows! I would hope second half of the year. With a couple of singles to come before that.

Are we going to be able to get a sneak preview of some of it during your set at Chew the Fat this Saturday?

I think it would only be right for me to play something now you have asked me so much about it!

Boy 8-Bit plays Chew the Fat! this Saturday at Cable alongside Zinc, Sbtrkt, Untold and Dem Slackers. As special treat to get you all in the mood, we have the unreleased remix of ‘The Keep’ by rising producer Bowski to give away. Listen and Download below.

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Boy 8-Bit – The Keep (Bowski Remix)