Exposed Vocals just caught an exclusive interview with BRKCHK – a music producer and DJ from Houston, Texas

BRKCHK (pronounced “break check”), otherwise known as Jacob Fleming, is a music producer and DJ from Houston, Texas, where he has been active since mid 2004.

Coming from a city like Houston proved to be a pivotal part of the foundation that he would build his sound upon, drawing heavily from the hiphop roots that are so embedded in the cities’ culture. Growing up, he was a huge fan of Gangstarr, Nas, Scarface, DJ Screw, Erykah Badu, LL Cool J, Run DMC, and a plethora of others… He was drawn to pretty much anything he could get his hands on. In addition to the hiphop scene that pretty much dominated the landscape of Houston in the 90s, he was raised listening to the likes of BB King, Eric Clapton and Son House, blues musicians who would not only demonstrate what it meant to project emotion into your music, but would eventually become the inspiration that would bring Jacob into the world of music production. At first, he taught himself to play the guitar, and spent days on end playing with different effects and pedals, his first attempts at sound design. He would record loops and apply various effects to try and emulate the tones of the guitars of those blues musicians that he idolized, in addition to just trying to make interesting sounds that his friends thought were cool. Then, after a chance encounter with label co-founder Tyler Raymer (Amathyst) at 13, Jacob was introduced to FL Studio, and immediately got to work on finding his sound.

Little did he know, that would prove a bit more daunting a task than he’d expected. In the 12+ years that BRKCHK has been producing music, he has covered a wide array of genres and sounds, from miscellaneous subgrenres of house music, to drum and bass, to hiphop, to glitch, to moombahton, to dubstep, the list goes on. He’s produced and performed with DAM (a dubstep group consisting of him, Amathyst, and another local producer by the name of Fabian Gonzalez a/k/a Kinetic), Thought & Process (his current drum and bass project with Amathyst), as well as in a tech house/electro group known as Frezh Kickz (including him and Jay Key, a UK based house producer/DJ). He produced various hiphop mixtapes for his friends in high school/college, all of which containing beats from his catalogue. For about seven years, he searched, discovered, listened, produced and was generally involved in just about every bass music genre you can imagine, absorbing as much influence as he could muster. That is, until the questioning was over. Combining the inspiration from his influences, and the knowledge from 7 years of music production, BRKCHK was born in 2012/2013, and Jacob hasn’t looked back since.

Fusing his hiphop background and his knowhow in the realm of electronic music, BRKCHK’s sound is very much a blend of various different soundscapes and styles. From jazz drum and bass rollers like “Natural Rhythm”, to the in-your-face halftime style of “Devils”, there’s hardly anything that BRKCHK hasn’t been able to pull off. His label affiliation history includes Prime Dub Entertainment (UK), Free Love Digi (PHX, AZ), and as well as the sister label to FLD (and the precursor for Multilux), Study. He’s worked with FRENZI, a drum and bass crew out of Houston, as well as the pirate radio station Rood.FM (UK) and Nekor, a clothing line out of LA. His music has received radio support across the globe, from the Spectrum Sessions on RTE Pulse in Ireland, to pirate radio stations based out of California, to the dance floor of Ministry of Sound, all the way to warehouse parties/drum and bass nights in Belgium… BRKCHK’s music has reached further than he ever could have anticipated was possible.

In 2015, Multilux Recordings was founded, and BRKCHK & Amathyst fulfilled a lifetime dream that they both shared: to start their own label, and to make a positive impact on the music culture that had given them so much over the years. Since then, much has changed, and the vision that Jacob had for himself as he was developing his sound remains the same. But now, he has the opportunity as Head of A&R to share that vision with the team over at MLX, and the artists that he brings into the MLX family as he continues to push himself, as well as the artists he represents.

Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?

Man, honestly, I wish this was a better story. Haha But I was sitting in traffic one day, thinking about how much I hated the moniker I was under at the time, and I guess someone may have tapped their breaks or something? Because the next thing I know, I had the name in mind, and it just made sense to me. 

 

Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

I always love putting out free tunes for people who follow my music as a thank you for being supportive of what I’m trying to do. The weird thing is, that even if that fan were to illegally download a track of mine instead of purchasing it,  is he/she still being supportive? I like to think so, but what it comes down to is, if I spend a year or so working on an album, it’s pretty uncool to take a part (or all) of it without going through the proper channels. It’s pretty disrespectful towards the work that was put in, but who knows. In ten years music might be free anyways.

 

Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

Persistence, persistence, and a positive attitude will get you anywhere you want to be. 

 

Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?

 You know, nobody is perfect, and of course errors are made from time to time. If I muck something up on stage, something small that is, I would (and have) just rolled with it and fix whatever the error was on the fly. That’s part of DJing I think, being able to make those quick judgements. 

 

Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?

 Not just yet, but when that opportunity comes around I have some pretty sweet ideas. I have had a dude get on stage and jam out with a broom before, that one was memorable to say the least. 

 

Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

I draw my inspiration from everyday life, and my own journey through it. Each tune I’ve put out has a very clear meaning behind it to me, but that meaning is created in the same process that the music is. When I go into the studio, I usually have no fucking clue what I’m going to make.

Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?

 www.multiluxrecordings.com, you can also find me on Soundcloud, and all my remixes are on
Bandcamp.

Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?

I’m not really embarrassed by any music, but I guess I’d have to say some of my early stuff that
somehow made it onto my phone is pretty embarrassing… lol

Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?

Simple, Jamaica. You would find me there, probably drunk.

Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

Yes, many planned upgrades are in the future. It’s funny, because right now I’m rocking a laptop, a subwoofer, and one working Logitech speaker. Having the tools makes everything much easier, but I didn’t grow up in an environment where my music was supported, so I had to learn on really shitty gear. I think that’s why I can make this setup work for now, but needless to say, that will be changing.

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

  I don’t really focus on that other than tweeting about it or posting on Facebook, but I prefer the traditional approach of sending unreleased tunes to DJs. See, I’ve always really despised people who buy their own way into something, and you see that happening a whole lot more these days with social media sites offering more reach for your money, and people are accepting that as a reliable “strategy”. I prefer the more subtle approach cause thats how I’ve always done it.

 

Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?

 Oh man I have an entire list of people I would love to perform/work with. Some of those that top the list would have to be Erykah Badu, DJ Premier, Eric Clapton, Nas… Trust me there’s a ton. 

 

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

  I have a couple singles lined up right now, and a 17 track LP, which I haven’t discussed in great detail yet publicly. It’s my first LP that I ever actually finished, even after a decade of making music. I poured just about everything I had into the production of that thing, and I honestly think fans of my music will resonate quite well with how it sounds. I don’t want to give anything away, but you can expect something, different. 

 

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing? 

 That… Is a terrifying thought. I have no idea, but I’ll just be thankful that isn’t the case.

Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?

Oh man… I remember the first album I ever owned was Jay Z s Unlpugged record he did. As far as the first one I purchased… Man, I can’t even remember. I know the first record I bought on wax was “Enter the 36 Chambers”, and I remember being more excited than I probably should have been. 

 

Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?

 I keep all artistic endeavors separate, so much so in fact that those two things rarely come up in conversation together. I think that’s how, but then again, “life management” isn’t exactly a skill I would say I excel at. I’m lucky to have the fiancee I do, that’s for sure. 

 

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?

 Some major moves being made over at Multilux HQ, and of course, more music, and probably some cat photos.