Producer Tensnake is set to release his debut album Glow on Monday (10 March) and it features a collaboration with a certain Nile Rodgers… So how did the Hamburg-based musician get the Hitmaker on his album without dressing-up as a robot. In an exclusive guest column for Q he reveals, it’s a case of if you don’t ask, you don’t get…
There are many artists out there who have influenced my music, from Radiohead and Talk Talk to Mount Kimbie and Move D. But I have to say, working with Nile Rodgers from Chic was an honour as he is someone I have followed since I was a kid.
The first record I can remember holding in my hands was a Best Of Chic record. Diana Ross, Madonna, David Bowie, Duran Duran, Sister Sledge, he’s done so much – and he is still going strong. I actually don’t know where he gets the energy from, he never stops! I’m also very happy he’s back on top, the three Grammies he won with Daft Punk were actually his first ever Grammy wins.
I first got in contact with Nile via Facebook – I wrote him and he got back to me an hour later. What was amazing to me was that he knew of me through Coma Cat. I sent him my album and he loved what he heard. This was all before Get Lucky exploded. Later we got to meet and have dinner in Miami at a seafood restaurant called Joe’s Stonecrab Café and he just shared incredible stories about Madonna, Diana Ross, everyone. He’s a very nice guy, very down to earth and we ended up working on two tracks together, my current single Love Sublime and also another track with Fiora called Good Enough To Keep, which is also on my album Glow – it reminds me of China Girl by David Bowie somehow.
Like Stuart Price, who I also worked with on my album, Nile is very, very quick. I’m not very esoteric and I honestly believe that true creativity comes from a place that we don’t quite understand. Very often when I’m working on a remix, on a loop, and I’m struggling for an idea, then all of a sudden, boom, it moves into your mind. But more than anything else, I truly believe that whether you are writing, making music, building a house, or whatever, if you do it with love, you will always be more successful.
I am really happy to have worked with Nile – we have since hung out and stayed in touch in Ibiza and London, where we did a photo shoot together and we’re also on the same bill for Lovebox this year – so who knows what will happen next…”
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