Madism & Felix Samuel – Interview

We recently caught up with rising stars Madism & Felix Samuel. These are two names that you will certainly be hearing a lot of in 2020.

‘Hi welcome to Melodic Nation Felix Samuel & Madism, where are you from and how did you come up with your artist names?

Felix – ‘I guess I’ll start, I’m originally from South East England, from an area called Hertfordshire but am currently studying up at the University of Edinburgh, so that’s where I’m based for now. As for the name; when I first met Frank (Madism) I was under the alias ‘Beowulf’, Frank convinced me this was extremely overused, so I simply chose to use my first name Felix, and my middle name Samuel. (No relation to Zac Samuel, that seems to be a recurring question ahah)

Frank – I’m from the Netherlands, on the east border to Germany in an area called Overijssel. I stole the artist name from my childhood friend back when I was 12, what can I say I’m original through and through.

We loved your recent track ‘Like Home’ the sixth track between you guys, what made you decide to work together?

Frank – ‘A mixture of things really, I find Felix incredibly easy to work with, we are both extremely comfortable with being honest with one another. If I dislike his work, I can tell him and he won’t get defensive or argumentative, that’s rare to find. I’m also extremely limited for time, my music production revolves a lot around remixes, I’m very fortunate to be in a position where I get frequently requested by major labels to work on stuff, so if I want to release originals regularly I need to have people who vibe with me and that way we can work efficiently. Felix embodies that for me.’

Felix – ‘Yeah just exactly what Frank pointed out, we just seem to have a chemistry that allows us to be really honest with one another. I’ve started a lot of tracks, and Frank seems to know exactly which ones are going to work and which won’t, it’s a great position to be in.’

How did you come up with the track ‘Like Home’?

Felix – ‘It was by using our classic system; I’ll find a chord progression I really like and lay down a very simple instrumental. In this instance, I had a vocal melody in my head just from the chords I made and didn’t need to add other elements. I bounced the idea to Frank and from there the rest is history. Not trying to big Frank up too much, but when he hears something rough, he has great foresight and vision for what he wants, so I trust him with my basic ideas.’

Frank – ‘Felix sent me his work in progress and I was immediately hooked. I’ve worked with Felix enough to know exactly when he’s sent me something that I want. From there the process is quick, with our back and forth we can get a song done in 5 days. I don’t like spending too long on tracks, my ethic is fast workflow leads to better creativity, the worst feeling as a producer is to be stuck on a project for months and months.’

Are you planning on releasing any remixes for ‘Like Home’?

Frank – ‘For this one no. The song just didn’t really cater for other versions and we have quite a few remixes coming out for our penultimate release ‘Tried to Love’. Let me just throw the names Tom Ferry and Sam Halabi out there and say nothing more. Oh and they’re coming out January 2020, in a pack of five, so stay tuned.’

Felix – ‘Yeah we have five remixes coming out for ‘Tried to Love’, I was fanboying when I found out Tom Ferry was doing a remix, I love his tunes and have been listening to him for a few years now so it’s crazy to think I’ve come this far to have him working on remix duties for me. Shoutout Tom Ferry.’

Your tracks are very much in the chilled tropical house style; do you plan on releasing other genres of music?

Felix – ‘With Frank? Maybe. But what we have I believe works and you don’t fix what ain’t broke. We seem to just mesh when we make this style. I want to keep that momentum going in the future and be renowned in the genre. I think therefore I can say that Madism & Felix Samuel might try a few experimental tracks, but we will 80% of the time stick to our roots of tropical chill house with deep house influences.’

Frank – ‘I couldn’t put it better myself. I think Felix and I make a unique blend of tropical and deep that really works and we don’t want to change too much.’

‘What can we expect from each of you in 2020?’

Frank – ‘2019 saw me go from 30k monthly to 1.5 million monthly listeners, so I’m incredibly excited. Expect a big remix in January for the artist James Arthur for his track ‘quite miss home’. Of course, more tracks with my boy Felix – we have one signed already to onesevenmusic, release date still pending. I should also be performing in my first show in summer. I can’t say much about that either, but I have a feeling this will be a crazy year for both of us!’

Felix – ‘For me this year revolves around working on originals with Frank and diversifying a bit, especially within the DnB scene. I was given the opportunity to have an in-studio session with DJ Zinc this November and I’ve been in contact with multiple DnB producers about potential tracks. Again, I can’t say too much but for any UK DnB fans, hopefully, you’ll be hearing me in the scene within the coming months. Also catch me and Frank at ADE 2020, by then we’ll have released plenty more tracks and we can’t wait to meet with our friends in the industry!’

Thanks for this interview and we look forward to seeing what happens in 2020.