Ant LaRock: A 5 Mag Mix #33

Up and coming producers with a solid foundation of music and history, a hard work ethic and tenacity are gold to the future of dance music. You may have a lot of young people making beats, but all 3 ingredients are truly necessary for the complete package. Enter Anthony Colucci aka Ant LaRock, who joined the roster of Todd Terry’s InHouse Records label in 2014 and in this year has amassed releases on Nervous, Fogbound and recently on Kenny Dope’s Dope Wax.

Ant LaRock: The 5 Mag Mix

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Ant LaRock: The 5 Mag Interview

So Ant I understand you’re originally from Connecticut (or Boston?) and that you played in quite a few bands. Being that you’re so young I imagine dance and electronic music in general was already pretty prevalent growing up?

Music was everything to me growing up. I’m actually a bit older than everyone assumes so I caught the rave culture in the mid- to late-’90s, but it definitely had its first and then second wave at that point. I remember the House scene poking its head into the pop market in the early ’90s with Crystal Waters, CeCe Peniston and even hearing Todd’s “Everything But The Girl” remix on the radio. Looking back now and growing close with these “Old School” guys, I see there has always been a scene and culture deeply rooted in this music that has been there since Day 1. It kinda just depends how the rest of the world is looking at it at the time. Growing up though, especially with the internet being so young, I had to really hunt for records and tapes of the electronic artists I wanted to hear. It definitely wasn’t as popular as it is today.

Who were some of the artists that you looked up to, from all genres not just House music?

When I first started to produce music, I was super into Hip-Hop. I was obsessed with De La Soul, especially the stuff with Prince Paul. DJ Shadow was also a huge influence early on. I played bass for years and years so I loved funk/fusion like Herbie Hancock, Jamiroquai, Tower of Power and Prince. I mean, I am a listener from all angles so this list is very long. With that said, I’d give a kidney to work with Erykah Badu.

Tell us the story of how you met up with Todd Terry and what was that experience like?

I had been out of music for around five years when I started making House again. I was just kind of content to be making tracks. I’d send them to friends and my sister and maybe put them on SoundCloud. I sent a track called “All I Need” to my sister and she loved it and asked if she could send it to her friend Marybeth who worked in music. Marybeth called me the next day and asked if she could show some people and next thing I knew she called back and said Todd “the God” wanted to release it. Marybeth has been my manager since that day and Todd and I were even housemates in Ibiza this summer. They are my friends and family now, it’s a great feeling. I was a little nervous the first time I spoke to Todd on the phone. I ended the call saying, “Okie dokie.” Yup…probably the nerdiest thing I’ve ever done.

You’ve produced quite a lot of music in the short time that you’ve been putting them out. What is it that propelled you to do so and what words of wisdom have you received from the likes of Todd and others?

I’m a studio nerd. Put me anywhere in the world and I want to be in a dark room making records. I love it. When I was able to transition into music as a full time career, I was like, “Game on” and just took every opportunity and try to kill it. Most days I wake up, record for seventeen hours and then go to sleep. Having great support on the management end made me realize that all I had to do was keep producing.

Todd has gone to bat for me from Day 1 and has always been amazing support. He and Kenny Dope, Junior Sanchez, Roland Clark, Alexander Technique and Michael Moog have all taken me into their clique and supported me a ton over the past year. There really wasn’t a period of time where they would sit down and school me on how to do things. They all looked at me like a peer and liked how I did things. One thing that they all have told me individually was to just do me and make the music that I like. I guess it’s working because they are all putting out my records.

Give us the story on this mix you have for us!

My latest track, “The Crutch,” on Todd’s InHouse Records, is pretty full on. Old school meets new, meets acid, meets warehouse vibes. I feel like when I hit play on the track, you can feel the space that I had pictured in my head. So I looked for tunes that had that same tangible vibe. There are some unreleased LaRock tunes with Roland Clark as well as some freshies from some of my favorite artists like Demuir and Adesse Versions.

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Ant LaRock has EPs out on Junior Sanchez’s Brobot Records, forthcoming on Alexander Technique’s Drop Ready, and ended the month with a feature on Armand Van Helden’s album on Spinnin.

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@AntLaRock