Interview With Chuckie!

Having been an essential part of the electro house scene for quite some time now, Chuckie aka Clyde Sergio Narain has made quite the name for himself in the world of dance music. With performances at some of the biggest festivals in the world, Chuckie returned to India for the second time, touring the country with Sunburn Festival for their ‘On The Road To Goa‘ city festivals across Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. We caught up with him for an interview, discussing his music, his Indian influences and much more. Read on!

 

TBB: Welcome to our lovely little city, I’m assuming it’s your first time to our city – but have you come to India before?

 

Chuckie: Thank you for having me! No, this is actually my second time to India, the first time was a small club tour and this time I’m part of the Sunburn City Festival tour, so it’s really good!

TBB: What are the things you expect to do in India?

 

Chuckie: I know that the​ people in India they have a lot of energy you know. You see that at a festival, people just party party party and I expect this exactly!

 

 

 

TBB: The Indian people wouldn’t be aware that you actually hail from Suriname, what can you tell us about the country?

Chuckie: Suriname is like a big melting pot of different cultures which is amazing you know. I’m really happy to be born there, makes me understand all kinds of different cultures which also made me grow up eating​ all kinds of different food including Indian food.

 

 

TBB: Let’s talk about your music now – who all have been influential in your style of production and ​in your sound?

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Chuckie: I​t’s really hard to say. Hip-hop music in general definitely influenced me. For me personally as far as DJing and not producing in concerned, guys like Kenny Dope, Armand van Helden were really important in my career and later like now, I get inspired by everybody because they are just so good. In terms of producing guys like Pete Rock and DJ Premier.

 

TBB: Has Suriname brought any sort of influence? How?

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Chuckie: Yes definitely. Growing up in the Caribbean was very important for me. The rhythm’s you know incorporate a lot sounds from different cultures.

 

 

TBB:  You know how India and every other country went wild over ‘let the bass kick’. What can you tell us about the production involved in that tune?

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Chuckie: I have no clue how it was in India, because when it came out and blew up I was never here and was in America. That was a record that was very important in my career, from that record on I went international. What happened is that they wanted to me to play at Sensation White in Amsterdam and they had a compilation CD, and they asked me to make a song for the CD, and I’m like “OK, this CD is very international cause everyone all over the world will buy it and I want to make something special”. I want to make a sound that is like really Dutch and also sounds international.​

 

TBB: Let’s talk about Dirty Dutch – it has been releasing straight up bangers since the longest time how would you describe the sound? which direction are you heading with the label?

 

Chuckie: ​I have a lot of classics on the label, also a lot of artists they were on my label and released records on my label are touring the world now. It’s just street music – inspired by the streets.

I’m working on my new sub-label called Dirty Dutch Digital and I’m dishing out like 52 records a year and in this trip I found  three Indian artists who I’m interested in putting out on my label.

 

 

TBB: Let’s talk about Bollywood- have you watched and do you have any favourite movies? What would you like to say about the Bollywood sounds?​

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​Chuckie: I used to watch when I was young but really don’t remember any of it. You know what I realised the new generation doesn’t appreciate the Bollywood sound, it’s the reason like India has become really important in the movie industry. And some of these guys who have like a billion views on YouTube started from nothing and you can only respect that.

 

 

 

TBB: What can you tell us about the mash-up that you did of the Arijit Singh song?

 

Chuckie: I’m so glad that I made it and it turned out so great.​ I wanted to play and find music from the country you know so I found his song and I didn’t understand anything at all! But I felt the emotion. At the end of it all music is all about emotion for me and that is more important than anything.

 

 

 

TBB: Are you a fan of Indian Food? ​Have you tried some biryani yet?

 

Chuckie: ​No listen I actually grew up with Indian food. My dad is half Indian, half black. My last name is Indian *points to a tattoo on his forearm which says Narain*​ I like all of the Indian food, anything with curry powder in it! But no I haven’t got a chance to eat biryani yet. I actually haven’t eaten any food till now, just came directly from the hotel.