The French Touch: Miguel Campbell pays Homage

Miguel Campbell shot to fame in 2011 with his massive hit on Hot Creations, 'Something Special', but he had already spent more than a decade honing his sound on the Leeds DJ circuit.

One of his biggest influences was the legendary 'French touch' movement at the turn of the century - you can hear it in his production and no doubt when he spins at Sankey's on October 10th for Tribal Sessions - so we had a good chat with him about the sound that inspired him to get him where he is today...

When we were at Zoo Project Festival the other day, we had the pleasure of witnessing the synthy madness of DJ Falcon on the Red Bull stage, which got us thinking: people like him were serious inspirations to you, weren't they?

So for people who don't know, for the fans of yours who were maybe too young to hear it first time around, explain what the French Touch sound actually sounded like? What instruments, production techniques etc. 

I would explain the original French touch sound to be funk and disco-based house music with a bit more of an emphasis on a groovy feeling, and it was heavily sample based. The art was in finding obscure samples; selecting small parts of a song that when played on a loop, sounded fresh and new in themselves and the more you hear it back, the more it said.

Layering up these loops with other drums, keyboards, basses and efx is what brought us disco house but the french touch relied heavily on the mix of these elements and their dynamics to bring its cult sound.

Who were the key players as producers and DJs, and what were the main labels?

Daft Punk, Alan Braxe, Fred Falke, Cassius, Etienne De Crecy, Patrick Alavi, Jess & Crabb. These are all guys to check out. The guys from Daft Punk each had a label of their own which were my absolute favourites, Roulé and Crydamoure.

Vulture, We Rock, Sismic & Cyclick are some other imprints worth checking out too. 

How did you first come to hear that style? 

I was at a house party in Leeds with some of my friends when TruLuque, my partner in HCB, played some jams to me. At the time I was playing lots of garage and nineties house music. I have always been into uplifting tracks and I was blown away by the quality of the productions and the feeling I got from this music.

What was the song from that era that really did it for you?

There are way too many to mention here but Thomas Bangalter 'Club Soda' has to be up there! (hear below)

What were the French guys influenced by? Obviously there's a straight forward disco influence to it with the vocals, but the warm synths, the filtering etc... what other reference points can you pick?

There were definitely reference points taken from lots of different genres as you can hear by all of the different instruments used and the different genres that the samples were borrowed from. If the samples had emotive content then it would be used in a track.

The boom in filter usage was a Daft Punk thing for sure and with mix techniques similar to those used in old funk tracks you have the main reference points for the style.

Other than the originators, who are the other industry bods/DJs that share your love of the sound? We bet there's one or two you know where the conversation always seems to go back to it.

Matt Hughes and I always go back to referencing the old French Touch sound and we talk about it all the time in the studio. Conversations always seem to go that way with my mate Bobby Connolly from 2020Vision too, as he is a fellow fan of the genre and we had a mega discussion on the subject the first time we met at a party in Leeds.

I always end up chewing the ear off my mates Paul Woolford and Steve Mac whenever I see them too, both supporters of the genre and I managed to get some key technical info from both of them in the early days.

Have you managed to appear on the bill with your heroes from that scene? And if so, were they surprised how much you gave a damn about their past?

I have been really lucky actually as I have managed to play music alongside a good number of my heroes and I always find it overwhelming to be stood on stage with these guys. One that means a lot to me is when I first met the guys from Cassius. 

We were sharing the bill at a gig in Italy. We had dinner before the show. I was honoured and surprised that the guys even knew who I was and we chatted about the various records they had made, their techniques and how this had inspired my friends and I and still does to this day. It was a great time for us.

Taking your most famous track, 'Something Special' as an example, what elements of that are most consciously influenced by the French sound would you say?

With 'Something Special', the main elements that were influenced by the sound were the dynamics and the bassline. The way I produced the track was really straight forward but I managed to capture a nice feel in the dynamics of this record because of the compression and the bass tone (a reminder of that warm bass below on the track below).

When you DJ, do you drop in some of the old French classics in amongst new stuff? And if you do, does it blow people away? Are they like 'what's this?' assuming it's some kind of new sound?

I always play French Touch records in my DJ sets, but some of the tracks have stood the test of time better than others I must say. I often come across an old track at home or in my car and will think it sounds dope so I will drop it at the very next opportunity. Classic tracks will always have a place on dancefloors - it's just all in the timing.

Broadly, it's fair to say that the sound we're talking about here and the Hot Creations sound that you are, like it or not, most associated with, are doing a similar job, i.e. 'happy music with vocals and catchy grooves that's easy to dance to'.

Can you see the wind blowing in a different direction from this? Has the end of the cycle come, where most dance floors might decide they want something more rough around edges?

I think that the sound of the dancefloors have been evolving lots over the last year but I definitely wouldn't say that it is the end of the cycle.

I play lots of different types of shows in many countries, some shows which are more suited to my Outcross Records style of music and some more suited to my Hot Creations style. For instance, in the UK and Ibiza my sets have been a bit tougher this year but in France and Belgium, it's a lot easier to play disco tracks in the main room.

Another big influence of yours that may surprise people is the Inland Knights. What was it in their music that inspired you?

These guys are two of the best DJs and producers I have ever known, without doubt and to top it off, they are two really nice people.

The music they release on their Drop Music label is always solid. I would always carry my selection of 'Drops' to every party, as would my friends, because there was something in there for everyone. There was much more to their inspiration than just the music though.

I would be out in Leeds record shopping and I would bump into Laurence and Andy whilst they were transporting their wares from shop to shop... a real DIY thing and this gave me the guts to do it with the first release we had on Outcross.

Whenever I saw these guys at one of their gigs, they always took the time to speak to me and were humble. After signing their music to my label and becoming good friends, I continue to take lots of inspiration from their sound and their careers.

So are you old enough to have been a part of the whole midlands free party scene that they were at the heart of?

No - I'm old but not as old as those guys!

Catch Miguel with the likes of Maxxi Soundsystem and Darius Syrossian at Tribal Sessions on Friday October 10th. Tickets available here.

Interview: Mike Boorman (follow him on twitter here) 

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