What started out as loud noise in a Chinatown, NYC apartment quickly evolved into what we know today as “The Knocks”. The duo comprised of Ben Ruttner and James Patterson have been around for a while now, more so behind the scenes producing beats and creating remixes for everyone from Katy Perry, to Ellie Goulding, and working with Wyclef Jean, before venturing out in 2010 to forge their own path. They’ve since shared the stage with Diplo, DeadMau5, Weezer, Big Boi, and many many more.
Interview and photography by Mike Greene
What is your inspiration for creating such upbeat and pop groove sounding music? Do you feel that your experiences either positive or negative affected the way you both create?
James: For me, I am always trying to add the element of groove or funk into our music because that’s what I was raised on, like earth wind and fire or the meters and stuff like that. It’s sort of inevitable, when I sit down to play something like that, I’m drawn towards the groovier stuff.
Ben: I come from being a DJ, it’s been my life since I was 13. I’ve always been party rocking and making people happy. I feel like that’s the best music but it’s ironic when I go home, I listen to a lot of sad music. I think it’s from being in the studio and making so much fun music, I need that balance. For the Knocks, it’s always been our forte to make fun and upbeat music. This album has stuff that’s a little bit melancholy and darker to show that we’re not just trying to be party boys
Do you guys feel that Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Gospel, Jazz music you both grew up because of your parents, affects your music today?
James: It’s the foundation and inspiration, the first music that hit our ears as children.
What does Taylor Swift represent in your song? How do you think the everyday woman, or man for that matter, can relate to her?
Ben: Taylor Swift represents the idea of success, and living your life. She probably could mean some good things to some people and some bad things to others but I think she’s killing it right know with songs that she actually wrote She’s not having people write songs for her – she’s a performer, she’s a musician and she’s powerful – she has a voice that people listen to. It also doesn’t hurt that she’s literally making more than any male pop star in the world right now, so.
Do you think there’s like a male equivalent of Taylor Swift?
James: Probably was Justin Timberlake at one point.
Ben: Probably Bieber, but he still has a way to go. Taylor is literally in a league of her own.
“It’s ironic when I go home, I listen to a lot of sad music. I think it’s from being in the studio and making so much fun music, I need that balance…” Ben
It seems like the majority, if not all, your music videos have a powerful and dominant female lead. Why is that?
James: In the Brightside video we had a dude in a video and everybody thought that dude was us. We write about the game, and it ends up an analogy of the girl.
Ben: A lot of our songs end up being about girls. I wish video has a badass chick, and we love women and want to keep them in power.
What’s your role in creating music videos? Do you guys play director, producer and come up with the concept, the idea
Ben: I’m pretty hands on with them – I tend to reach out to directors personally to collaborate. The past two videos we shot were with friends and I definitely had a hand in the ideation process. I love the visual aspect of music in general, the marketing and brand side things excite me. I think the best way to create a good video is to be hands on
What are your thoughts of adding live instruments to your show similar to Odesza or the Glitch Mob, for songs like “Dancing with the DJ” – the saxophone, or “I Wish” – the keys.
James: We pride ourselves on being a live fusion duo where we’ve been doing it for the past few years. When we first started we thought we weren’t a band, so we tried setting ourselves up with Ableton session with tracks, or filling in the gaps with our instruments. Early on, a lot of people didn’t get it – are they singing, are they being real? Now, it’s the other way around where people are doing it.
Ben: We’ve slowly added more and eventually we’d like to add on a live band but it’s just not realistic now. If you add on a full band people might get confused with who “the knocks” are. We already have such an organic mix going on that we feel it isn’t needed. We have the synthesized instruments and we try to make each show more of a hybrid DJ set. People who come to hear you want to hear the songs and not a live set with instruments.
What’s been the most memorable experience to date?
Ben: For me it’s been the music hall of Williamsburg show – it sold out and we had so many guest vocalists. Nothing went wrong and it pretty much went perfect. We played Sasquatch festival last year and it was one of the craziest show. A good live show, you never forget.
James: The Europe tour as a whole – it was our 2nd or 3rd tour and we probably shouldn’t have done that. We were out there by ourselves, but it was fun – we were playing our own music and it was an unforgettable experience.
Their debut LP, 55. drops early next year with an army’s worth of collaborators!
