WATERFRONT
dining
ADRIAN
one night stand
postcard
It's more than evident to most I'm sure that I am very much into all (most?) things 80s. I believe it stems from having grown up in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia from 1980-1987, and moving to New England due to my father getting a new job that required relocation. I loved my childhood - from school to friends to home life - and was deeply saddened when we had to leave. And things did not get any better, because as we all know, kids are terrible, and kids in New England are brutal, and downright vicious - at least in 1987. Now 41, I love where I'm from now, with both Massachusetts and West Virginia having equal importance to who I am now. But because when we moved here, and I wasn't so happy about it, there has always been a longing for me in keeping the past close in both heart and mind. Not that I would want to live in that time again (although a time travel visit sure would be nice), but embracing - without any forethought - culture from those times, has been my way of connecting with that time that I remember as being so happy.
This all explains my love for this relatively new music scientist known as Waterfront Dining. As part of my love for the 80s, I've been watching videos on YouTube lately by a gentleman named Dan Bell. He either started or helped popularize this fascination amongst a certain mindset, of Dead Malls, which are malls built in the 70s and 80s that now decades later have been abandoned (or just one store away from closing), but remain standing. People such as Dan seek out these malls, and film their visits walking through their cavernous, museum-ready halls. Most of these videos are quite eerie, and one of the first that I viewed had music by a musician who went by the name of Disconscious who created a beautiful collage of songs and sounds that sounded like exactly what you were watching - an empty, hallowed out, abandoned 80s mall, with "mall music" still being broadcast over the public speakers. It blended so well that I thought the soundtrack was actually music still being played throughout the mall! So, I became somewhat addicted to these videos, and eventually I heard an entirely different artist used during one of them - Waterfront Dining. I searched the web after hearing one song, and it turns out this artist was quite prolific, with over 40 releases to their name. I'd say approximately half of them were full albums, and another half were EP length, and all were released in just the past few years. How is this possible? What is this music? Why does some of it sound so familiar? How are this many songs all so good? I had to find out what the heck was going on here. So I reached out to Mr. Dining, and we ended up putting together a fun little interview where I ask questions, and then get schooled by his answers. So, check out the three songs above - some of his best work in my view - and check out the interview below. He's a great and interesting artist, a nice guy, and if any of this strikes your fancy, you should pick up his entire discography, which is available for an amazing discount through Bandcamp.
Tell us about who and what Waterfront Dining is. Everything sounds so big - big songs, numerous singers, an extensive and consistent discography - and yet I feel it's likely you'll say this is actually quite a small operation. Tell us all about it.
Where are you from and does it influence your songwriting? What drives you that makes you so prolific, with nearly 40 releases to your name?
Thanks for listening. ‘waterfront dining' is a solo, sample-based experimental music project that I started in August 2014. Basically after years of creating more traditional types of electronic music I wanted to move on to something different. I was hoping to start producing ‘poppier’ sounding music and working with vocalists, and I’d been on the lookout for a while, but it’s something that just wasn’t going to happen for whatever reasons. I was also at the time producing part-time at a local radio station that played ‘way back 80’s/90’s music’, so I was constantly hearing all sorts of older pop songs and arrangements. Being involved in the underground noise/cassette community for some time as well, I was starting to see a much bolder take on sampling. All of this sort of came together, so I felt it was time to contribute a piece of work, so I self-released ‘FEELS 感じている’as ‘waterfront dining’ to Bandcamp on August 14, 2014.
I’m from and live in Southern Ontario, Canada. I definitely think an artist’s environment effects their art. What that is exactly can vary I guess. I’m not sure how it effects my music personally, I don’t think I have the perspective to say at this time…others may notice. I notice it in other artists. I’m really not sure what drives that, I just love producing and creating art for people. I like to keep working. Music is what I do.
How old are you and the other members of your collective? Did you grow up in the 80s to be able to understand what worked in pop music from that time? If you didn't, how do you do it? Do you have musical influences?
I was born in the early 80’s, so I grew up with the music and general themes that make up waterfront dining. And coming from a family of musicians reinforced that musical sense as well. As far as friends and associates in the vaporwave community, they can range anywhere from 20 and up.
A genre you identify with a lot is "vaporwave". What is vaporwave exactly, in general, and to you? Your Twitter page also describes you as a "vintage chop artist", and one of your most recent releases ('Clock Mannequins') was described by your label as 'R&B-influenced', which I think is very apparent in recent releases especially. Are all these genres constantly in play with your music, or is this part of an evolution of the Waterfront Dining sound?
I honestly don’t think I can say what vaporwave is at this point in time. I don’t think there is a consensus, or that there will be one anytime soon. To me, I’m grateful to be associated with the term, as it’s a description that helps new listeners discover wd. Some of the think pieces and definitions I’ve read do resonate with my work, so I have no complaints. I tag my music on Bandcamp and Soundcloud as vaporwave, but I also tag it as other things as well. I was lucky enough to come up and be a part of an online community that had a label to identify with at all, and you can even see the very first waterfront dining song I publicly posted to a vaporwave subreddit if you dig up my username. So I’m not against it or for it really, and I am very grateful to those in the community who have helped support wd. But it’s not something I self-identify with too much.
’Vintage chop artist’ is actually a term my friend and fellow producer Tiger over at his blog ‘Glo Fi Must Die’ once used to describe waterfront dining- ‘chop’ meaning ‘audio edit’ or ‘cut’. It’s just a fun word really. I liked it a lot though, as I felt it described my style more accurately, as opposed to such an ambiguous term like vaporwave. But yes, recently I’ve been getting more into R&B type ballads, and bigger more elaborate arrangements, but I go through phases of what I’m into. R&B, Funk, Soul, Hip Hop, Soft Rock, New Wave, it’s all in play and the lines blur. The more obscure the better.
There were a couple obvious cover songs throughout your discography (Boy Meets Girl's 'Waiting For A Star to Fall'; Exposé's 'Point of No Return'). Are most of your songs originals? Perfectly disguised covers?
You keep quite a low profile. There's really no photographs out there of you or your crew, no interviews, barely a review. Is this all by design, being elusive as part of the world of Waterfront Dining?
I guess I’m just a private person. It’s definitely not by design or part of any branding or ‘act’ to try and be mysterious. I just like my privacy and prefer the music to do the talking. I love producing and I’m not really a fan of doing live shows or really putting my face out there. I guess the nature of what I do as well causes me to sort of keep a low profile. Some people can have pretty mixed feelings about what it is I’m doing with wd.
What role does cinema play in your creative process? Do certain films, or directors influence the feeling you aim for in your music? The song "Everyday" from 'Clock Mannequins' has these synths layered in the background that sound like the love scenes in the 1987 Michael J. Fox comedy 'The Secret of My Success'. Personally I hear lots of Art of Noise influence in some of your production. These are completely random observations but my thought is, it seems to me there are much more minute details/inspiration to your music that are so important to the development of your sound, but may not be apparent to the average listener. Or perhaps the interviewer is reading far too much into it. :) Any thoughts on that would be most interesting.
Thanks. Cinema has a huge influence on what I do musically, always has. I grew up watching TV recorded movies on VHS. There’s a couple of movies that I’ve seen the digital remasters of, and I just can’t watch them the same because they’re missing all of the glitches from the original VHS I had. I like to approach wd albums kind of the same way, like nostalgic movies and stories with different themes and moods…distorted versions of the past.
‘Everyday’ is a re-imagined, re-edited version of the song from that very Michael J Fox movie. And no, I don’t think you’re reading too far into it at all. To me the smallest things are what matter, so that’s a totally valid observation. I put a lot of work into the details, so I appreciate that. But yes, a lot of what goes on with wd is very subtle, so the average listener might not even be aware of what it is exactly they’re hearing, let alone how the sound is developing over time.
No, the waterfront dining catalogue is not made up of original compositions. It is almost 100% sample-based. Plunderphonics some would call it. I do not write the music in the traditional sense. They are not covers either actually. Sonically, they are digitally sampled reinterpretations, re-edits and rearrangements of these vintage songs, manipulated using a DAW, modern production toys, audio tricks and additional layered sounds.
I can't believe I somehow pulled that 'Secret of My Success' sample out of thin air! I thought you would read the question and think "what is this dude talking about?"
To give readers an idea of how your process works, can you tell us how the breakdown of one song goes? For instance, with 'One Night Stand', to me it sounds like an entirely fresh, new song. But it's all samples, so can you divulge what songs you sampled, or at even just one song?
It’s just one stereo song that is being sampled. I like to approach each song/sample differently. Generally, from a technical standpoint, it’s a process of hunting down songs/samples that I like, processing the audio, adding effects and sounds, mixing, and lots of digital editing. To make these tracks sound ‘natural’ takes a lot of work. It’s a process that I’ve refined over many years working in professional audio. My technique has evolved quite a bit since ’Night Lights in Japan’ as well, so it’s something that I'm constantly developing.
I actually don’t know what the source is for ‘one night stand’. The original song/sample is from a mix that doesn’t have a track listing! I believe it’s an old Italo Disco song.
You mention this is a solo project, so are all the vocals sampled as well? I get the sense those deep, warped vocals are actually you, and then the rest are friends and collaborators, etc. Are the lyrics entirely new and fresh? Reworked from the original source material? A mix of both? Perhaps none of the above. :) Tell us all about it!
It’s all reworked from the original stereo source. A waterfront dining track is basically a reworked stereo source.
Have you ever considered adding some of your own instrumentation: some guitar textures here, some bass slaps there. :)
Actually I play the drums. I also sound design and program synths, so the sounds added are usually going to be drums, percussion, synth pads or sound effects. I’m not a huge fan of big guitars and I’ll usually edit them out if I can as I like them to play the rhythm component if anything on these tracks. I’ll throw out an otherwise perfectly good track if it has too much guitar and I can’t work around it. So many great songs ruined by unnecessary guitar leads and solos. I much prefer synth textures.
Where did the name Waterfront Dining come from, and how do you feel it best represents your music?
The name just sort of came to me as I was putting together the first album FEELS. I felt it suited the overall aesthetic of the album. Initially I had thought of it as a kind of advertisement or menu for a fictitious ‘restaurant’, but as the project evolved and I released more music, I expanded the meaning. Now the name is basically an association for my particular style and vibe. It’s subjective and can mean many things. It’s not a forced concept that I’m pushing onto you and I wouldn’t want it to be.
What's next for Waterfront Dining?
All sorts of great stuff coming up. New albums, reissues, mostly just continuing on ahead, further refining the sound. We’ll see what 2017 brings.
Thanks so much for doing this interview. Once in awhile I'll stumble across something new musically that is still able - at my young age of 41 - to awe and fascinate me, and Waterfront Dining is definitely one of those rare instances. Great speaking with you - and keep up the great work!
Thanks for having me!
Yes! You nailed it with that 'The Secret of My Success' sample, so funny, I laughed pretty hard.