Interview with Proc Fiskal

Let me tell you, vaping is a bad habit. I can’t tell you how many vapes I have in my hand, under my bed or being flown out from different countries by my lovely enabler friends at any given moment (at the time of writing I would estimate about 10). There’s a reason these things are illegal to sell in the Netherlands now, but I’m a girl of greed, what can I say, and I like my vices. No, I LOVE my vices. Vaping is my work break, my swag whenever I’m on a dancefloor (sorry to nightlife staff everywhere), my pacifier when I’m in bed feeling like a little tiny baby, my fashion accessory… I could go on forever but it would only get more concerning and depressing. Proc Fiskal gets this.

Scottish artist and musician Proc Fiskal has been putting out fantastically enchanted electronic tunes for nearly a decade now. Bubbly, dubby, and beautifully arranged, the artist’s full discography is a treasure trove of tracks fit for just about any occasion – just as long as your sound system of choice allows ;). On his latest release, Exchequer, lush synthy infused strings wobble around gleaming grime-like production, with drops hitting all the right synapses, at all the right times.

Combined with the release of two uncannily beautiful music videos made in collaboration with VFX artist Finn Rabbit Dove, Proc’s music lives on in a hyperglowy HD realm, conjuring images of life oh-so familiar and everyday, that this time around they can be as confronting as they are fascinating to watch.

Quite often when you are looking at a phone you can kind of disassociate, and that kind of feeling, I find to be very interesting.

At this point, it can be hard to separate Proc’s music from these little plastic nicotine machines, as vaping lays strong throughout his visual universe. Videos and album covers detail a vapory fairytale of sorts, where the youngins go on adventures, meet mystical men, and come face to phone with potentially the zeitgeist item of these unstable times: a disposable vape. 

 

A night enchanted by the darling hanging artworks of Alexis Bondoux, Smokeshow perfection on the light design, Klub Krai brought us with a blossoming meadow of sonic experimentation last Friday night.

Bringing Proc across the pond to ISO for the event, the line up was equally fit for the night, completed by local electronic disruptors:  Screenage DJ b2b Helmond Lang, a live entrancing flutey electro-acoustic live set by Pirko vs Jochem Joost, and Umanea and EVER taking over the decks. The grass was greener, the sound was delicious (courtesy of Kikno), and the crowd was equally as cute: dancing and connecting throughout the venue.
Nike Tech fleeces (as seen in Proc’s visual universe), vapes, and even fan-made tribute bags were out to play for the evening.

My first IRL interaction with Proc Fiskal’s music was, very fittingly so, inside a real deal Scottish cricket club in Edinburgh hosted by local label Sheelkit Doss.

As an outsider, I had blindly assumed the Edinburgh scene was just cool like that and named their venues silly things—but no, me and my posse were mistaken, and were met with a very literal cricket club, invited inside by Proc himself scanning tickets. Wood lined surfaces, velvet booths, the lads sipped on beer. I did not fit in, especially not in my Diesel gray skinny jeans, purple sequined Uggs, and a 2010s American Apparel bodysuit—but somehow I actually did, and I think that’s where Proc’s music magic lies: bringing niche little music nerds together with hyped up Scottish youth. With no lyrics, and only dreamy electronic production at stake, Proc’s tracks have a sort of intangible ability to conjure moments of pure ecstatic joy. I would dream of the highlands, Lost Marys, and sticky beer drenched hardwood floors for days after.

After completing a mini (Amsterdam and Warsaw) euro tour last weekend, I met Proc in a very different light, over video call, back in his home base of Edinburgh.

Gabi: So the first thing on my mind is vapes obviously, but I think what really draws me to your work is this depiction of friendship and digital culture. Could you share a bit about the role of these in your work?

Proc Fiskal: I don’t know, I think because it’s just in front of you. For visual stuff I have a bunch of photos of friends at hand so it makes more sense to use, and it feels like quite an interesting thing, it’s not hard. So I can draw for that stuff very easily. Maybe it is a story of laziness, but also because it’s there in front of you all the time. It’s just there all the time. Quite often when you are looking at a phone you can kind of disassociate, and that kind of feeling, I find this to be very interesting.

G: Your work seems to be very localized in Scottish culture, was there a moment when this came together or was it just always intuitive?

PF: Kinda the same answer, I’m Scottish so it just happens to become Scottish. There wasn’t really a moment, but I never wanted to try to pretend that I was from London or anything, nothing wrong with London. I’m not really into national pride or whatever but yea, just have to rep. I don’t really give a fuck about Scotland like that.

G: Can we talk about the COVID masks?

PF: Haha. When we were talking with Finn, who I did the video with. You would still see the relics of COVID, like the masks in the shops, the footprints on the floor, this idea of it being a historical age or time period. It was this idea, its so recent history or whatever, and the masks, they are super cheap. They look cool as well and instantly bring up the thing.  We did a video that everyone thinks it’s a COVID video, but we sort of thought of it as another COVID, like a future COVID, but I’m not sure it really came across.

G: Hahaha, another COVID, lets hope not.

PF: Yeah, COVID was interesting time.

G: For sure. How did it feel to see Proc Fiskal cosplay IRL in Amsterdam?

PF: Part of me was like this is really cool, but another part of me was like “Oh is this bad?” “Is this like class cosplay?”, but it felt more like anime cosplay to me haha. I don’t know, it felt much more like anime cosplay to me, which is quite funny.

G: Yeah, there was even a bag made (by artists Varvara Pekhota & Isaac van den Aker).

PF: Yes, it was fucking great.

G: Does this kind of thing usually happen?

PF: No, I don’t think so. It was kinda like the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

G: Yeah lol. A bit, the crowd starts imitating the artist.

PF: Yeah, I have people from the crowd come on stage and start vaping quite a lot. I’m like the vape guy, but I’m not sure I want to be the vape guy.

G: I’m a proud vaper, but I find the vapes to be so interesting because they are such a contemporary item. They are everywhere, all around us.

PF: Yeah, in Glasgow and Edinburgh and stuff there’s so many vape shops, and everyone is vaping. I am really interested in vaping, like that everyone is so agitated that we have to have nicotine and we have to fidget. That’s what’s interesting about vaping to me, they all have to get in.

G: Yeah. We all have to go to the river and drink the soup. What’s the Scotland music scene like?

PF: There’s great artists like 500 and GG12. There’s a lot of people making good SoundCloud stuff here, but there’s also a lot of good techno. There’s this long lineage of techno and house, and all the kids now are techno DJs. It’s like generational and the torch is being passed.

G: What are you doing on that laptop when you perform? I didn’t see any MIDI controllers, what’s going on there?

PF: I used to try to use a Ableton push sort of thing, but it was fucking lame, I really didn’t enjoy it. So now I just use Ableton, I watched an interview with aya, and just copied that set up on Ableton where I can improvise and move in between tracks. The tunes are sort of done,  so I don’t wanna fuck with them to much, just make it more like live. But  I’m not really much of a performer, in a way I’d rather not be on stage.

G: I mean you were barely on stage, but I think that’s really sick.

PF: I’d like to be under the stage or something ha.

G: Favourite memory of the mini tour you were on this weekend?

PF: In Warsaw, in the green room. It was a red velvet, circular green room, like a pole dancing pole and they had loads of grapes.

G: Wow, regal!

PF: Yeah, they had these massive huge polish grapes. In Amsterdam, I stayed there briefly but I stayed in the promoter’s flat. It was very nice, lots of wood and glass. They got me some stroopwafels as well.

G: Stroopwafells!! Yess!! Did you see the emoji during the night?

PF: The emoji? Was that playing during my set?

 

G: Yeah, there was  this little emoji display on the decks, that was changing throughout the night. Favorite Emoji?
PF: 🇳🇱

G: Lastly but not least, what flavour is your vape?

PF: It’s lychee.

Check out Proc Fiskal’s latest music EP, Exchequer, here.
Keep up to date with Klub Krai’s amazing events here.

Special thanks to Klub Krai, Claire, & Sadu Saks <3

All images courtesy of the artist.