I first met Hollis P. Monroe at Salon Daomé in Montreal. Saw this cool dude with dreads and one of my friends whispered in my ear that this guy was a big time house music producer from Philly who had moved to Montreal a few years back. I was intrigued by him. He had some kind of aura. I was taking pictures that night and took one of him (below). Of course, when I “googled” his name and realized he was the one who had produced “I’m Lonely”, one of house music’s classics, I instantly understood why I felt the way I did earlier. These are my 7 questions for Hollis P. Monroe:
Photography: Don Pepino
Don Pepino: You’re originally from Philly, home of the cheese steak for some, home of Josh Wink and Ovum Records for others. Can you explain what triggered the move from Philly to Montreal, 5 years ago?
Hollis P Monroe: I had already fallen in love with Montreal within minutes of my first visit with Techno O.G. – Bob Brown. It was about 12 years ago, we came up for NYE to see Jeff Mills, John Acquaviva and Ritchie Hawtin. My fascination with the city was reinforced with every subsequent visit with Deep C and the rest of the Tigerhook Corporation. Stereo, Jai Bar, JingXi and Sona! I remember being at Sona with Josh Wink who had played the night before at a big NYE party. The next night at Sona, it was Tiga and Jesper Dahlback playing and they were KILLING IT! I had never seen Josh dance in my life and he was dancing so hard that night his afro fell from the sweat! Black people being able to get cabs with no problems! Beautiful women everywhere! I even held a 3-turntable mix the one time I played at Stereo which was big for me because I had never practiced it and never attempted it before or after. It was just magic! I experienced nothing but good times here and always knew this is where I wanted to be. It just took about 7 years to actually happen.
Can you tell me what got you into the music business back in da day?
At first, I wanted to be a rapper and hip hop producer. However, once I got to college, I started hearing much more house (which I used to hate, I must admit).I began going to raves and got hooked on techno/rave tunes. Some fellow raver/outcast/frindge buddies and I started a group called Tech Nein and we basically started making breakbeat, gabba and happy hardcore.
Photography: Jonathan Oler
Then, I met a guy named Shok one night after he opened up for Moby. He had an indie label and I kinda learned by watching him. He was quite instrumental in how my label Renaissance Infinity came about and he did two remixes on the 1st release. It was run by myself, a friend from college and my girlfriend at the time. We managed to get a clue of what we were doing by the 3rd release, The Stupid Def EP and the I’m Lonely “white label” came after that. Those two releases are what put me, but not so much the label, on the map. We were unfortunate enough to put out 2 releases simultaneously just as a UPS strike kicked off and that amongst other things brought the label to a halt. Stickman Records scooped me up from there.
You’ve had the privilege to produce one of the greatest house music Classic there is out there (I’m lonely). Can you give us an insight on how that song came about ?
Stop, you’re making me blush! Honestly, it came to me very quickly. About 3 hours, start to finish. My girlfriend at the time was a DJ (I wasn’t) and she happened to be away on a tour with her House of Musique crew made up of all female DJs. I was listening to some of her records and inspiration just struck. I basically made the groove and then decided that it needed one last element. I grabbed the Terrence Trent Darby vocal and it just fit perfectly. We lived in a big house with 7 other people and I was there alone. I couldn’t believe what I had just done but I had no one to share it with. I called my other label partner and told him “Kyle, you have to get over here right now!”
We all knew it was a good song but I think only my girlfriend saw the actual potential. We broke up a bit after that and she decided to leave the label but one of the last things she said was “You should keep pushing that song. It’s not done yet.” She was definitely right because throughout the years, it seems to get rediscovered over and over again.
As you were saying, the vocals on that track were from Terrence Trent Darby. Have you ever met him or do you know if he’s “aware” of the impact this track had on the House community ?
I’ve never met TTD but I did have the chance one of the times he played in Philly. After his show he was signing autographs but I kinda chickened out. I guess I was a bit concerned that he might diss me for some reason and it would then taint how i felt about his music. I’m not sure how aware he is about the impact. I mean, you’re talking about a guy who’s sold tens of millions of albums. I know his fans are aware but there’s a bit of a weird disconnect beyond that. A lot of people don’t even know that it’s his voice. So many people think that’s me singing as opposed to being the producer of the track.
I want to ask you about monikers. You’re known by a few names right ? Can you explain the ones you’ve been using ?
There’s really only 2 or 3 worth mentioning at this point. I use Hollis P Monroe (my real name) for House, DJ Decent for the Breakbeat-related stuff and Universal Agents was collaborative project with G-Pal from Greece. The most most well-known song from that project was West Of Athens which came out on Ovum. I’ve heard it referred to as early Deep Tech. I’ll be debuting a new name International Hollister, shortly. It will be my version of a more mainstream, clubby sound. At least that’s the plan so far.
You’re still producing fine music as we speak. Is there anything coming up that we should keep an eye open for ?
Yes, I’m always working on something but I’m one of the slowest producers on the planet. A lot of times, my tracks could be a year or two old by the time they actually see the light of day. I’m hardly ever completely satisfied with my stuff so it’s difficult to actually get to a place where I consider a song finished. That’s the reason I only average about 3 releases per year.
That being said, I believe my next release will be a song called Flashback featuring Jenn Mierau for our “label” Semisquare Music . There will be a remix by Leon Louder and an International Hollister Mix. It will be accompanied by an interesting video that was shot on 8mm film by my friends, Isabelle Phaneuf-Cyr and Hemanth Kasinath. Flashback will be sort of a pre-cursor to a project centered around various vocalists from Montreal called Five Hundred and Fourteen Voices. Other than that, maybe a remix or two. Plus, there’s a little talk about a mini-documentary…
Photography: Sherifa Boujallabia
Last question Hollis. What do you miss the most about Philly ?
My family and friends, of course, but also just the general vibe and soul. There’s a lot of talent, love and pride there. Philly is and will always be home. No matter where I am or what I’m doing, I’ll always be representing Philly.
I recall the days of working with Hollis and crew vividly. I pushed them hard to hone not only their sound but also their humor. I have a dat tape filled with our prank phone calls
I will upload the remixes and production with the young Hollis when and if he sends me the tracks
Photography: Don Pepino
Photography: Jonathan Oler
Don Pepino
Marinelli
Clifford Brown
ostrich13percent
Pierre de Lux
Such a could dude. Your the best Hollis !
A very good insight on Hollis P. Monroe, congrats !
Surely glad you came to Montreal and be bless by your presence and support.
I recall the days of working with Hollis and crew vividly. I pushed them hard to hone not only their sound but also their humor. I have a dat tape filled with our prank phone calls
I will upload the remixes and production with the young Hollis when and if he sends me the tracks
Hollis is amazing and I am happy his music lives!