Eating Filipino Sisig with 700 FEEL Out The Back of a Streetwear Shop

The team behind 108WAREHOUSE, a staple in community and clothing in Sydney, have laid out a table in the middle of their Marrickville shop for me to conduct an interview. 

It’s after hours, maybe about 7pm, and they’ve left the keys in the hands of Jonny Hawkins and Juan Villamor, the muses of the aforementioned interview, friends of the shop and members of the up-and-coming electronic outfit, 700 FEEL.

Seconds ago we’d been down on the high street collecting Filipino food from a place called Lazza. And while walking up the steep flight of stairs into the store above, we make small talk, carrying Kare-Kare (a meat stew in peanut sauce) and Sisig (minced pork, chopped onion and chicken liver) in a large plastic bag.

Both are incredibly laid back – slow talkers, genuine, unperturbed – as I push them for details on their lives. For a small time, both called Western Sydney home but neither are Australian born: Jonny is from the UK and Juan is from the US. Both now live together, just around the corner, having met in high school. They’ve been making music ever since.

Like most who commit their lives to music, their knowledge of artists and history is incredibly vast, making mine seem abysmal in comparison. DJ Screw’s “Chopped and Screw” technique is the first reference I understand – an artist who has been instrumental in their approach to making diverse soundscapes that forgo the usual commercial (and sometimes repetitions) ability of other producers. 

Instead, their music released as 700 FEEL uses countless samples, from countless genres, to create interesting and unique textures, taking it back to OG DJ days when all you’d have is a few vinyls, a tabletop, and a willingness to push the boundaries of sound. 

As I sit across from them – me on one side, Jonny and Juan on the other – I interrogate them on life, music, Sydney, Filipino food and at one point, looking to make music in the shadows of anonymity.

VICE: So, when did you move over from the UK?

Jonny: I think it was 2006. I think I was six or seven-years-old.

Oh true, so you were still super young?

Jonny: Yeah, I’m pretty much an Aussie but my parents are super English.

And when did you come over from North Carolina?

Juan: When I was 17. That’s probably like a decade ago.

So, how did you guys meet?

Jonny: We all went to the same school.

Juan: The same high school.

Jonny: And I was best mates with his little brother.

Juan: Who we live with now actually.

Jonny: I was making beats at the same time as you were making beats.

Juan: And then I started taking Jonny to our house and we had the same musical influences, the same taste in music.

And what’s that?

Jonny: It’s so random

Juan: Yeah it gets pretty random. It’s so hard to answer that question.

Give me the weirdest.

Jonny: hmm the weirdest, what’s the weirdest? To me the weirdest shit is some of the American rap we listen to. This is why my life has taken such a turn. Like Roddy Ricch.

Juan: We listen to a lot of trap and a lot of Griselda. It’s a group out of New York and they do really throwback…I love that we’re eating on the lids by the way. We don’t have plates? I’ll see.

Jonny: Damn that’s a good question, what’s the weirdest?

Trap is surprising. Just cause you’ve never listened to much of it?

Jonny: Well, growing up in the UK you listen to UK music and American music is kind of corny. I feel like…

Juan: There are no plates.

Jonny: …but growing up, I only listen to UK music from my dad and shit. And then hanging out with this guy [points to Juan] I started getting into Texas, Chopped and screwed, Memphis rap…

So you guys would know DJ Screw?

Juan: Yeah, yeah, we’re massive fans of DJ Screw. He actually influences our live set. We take the chopped and screwed thing he does and try to translate it to an electronic context.

Jonny: Yeah, do it in a modern way.

I actually only just started listening to DJ Screw about 2 months ago. I didn’t know he existed. I feel like he was extremely underrated.

Juan: Yeah, for sure. But it’s crazy how much he’s influenced so many things in popular culture now. There’s a really sick podcast on him and his whole life and his influence on the world. I’ll send it to you.

So then when did you guys actually start making music? As soon as you first met?

Juan: I remember a moment where I was like “Let’s do this”, but I don’t remember exactly when it was. Actually it was when we made the first song we ever made which was called, do you remember what it was called?

Jonny: Nah. Oh wait, it was the house one.

Juan: We released an album like 4 months ago. It was the first project we ever made and we couldn’t release it properly because of heaps of illegal samples on it so we kinda just did an internet mixtape, we had a website where the only way you can listen to it is on there. You can still go and listen. 

Yeah, I was looking at Spotify and there were about six tracks?

Juan: Yeah, I feel like we haven’t really released that much as far as proper releases.

Jonny: I feel like that album was really big for us, but just for us. And then we started coming up after that. So no one really knows about that album, which is sick. But we just started releasing shit in the last two to three years on Spotify.

I feel like I’ve been seeing 700 FEEL on a lot of music publications recently, though. So it’s interesting to hear that you say that you’ve only just started? Is it something you take seriously or is it more of a hobby?

Juan: Nah, we definitely take it seriously. COVID was really tough. Right when we put out our first singles, COVID happened, and then we couldn’t really play live. We were holed up in an apartment and just made music.

Jonny: Which is now just about to start coming out.

Ah, so I’ve caught you before you get really big?

Juan: (laughs) I mean… yeah.

This so good by the way. I’m gonna take a photo.

Juan: Yeah, I’m not super hungry right now? [To Jonny] Do you like it?

Jonny: Yeah I fuck with it. It almost tastes as good as your parents’ food that they bring back.

Where do they bring the food back from?

Juan: Because I’m Filipino. My parents make a lot of stuff. My parents live out near St. Mary’s so there’s a heap of Filipino restaurants out there. Like Blacktown, that area.

And then, what food do you bring to the table [Jonny]?

Juan: (laughs) He always has Minstrels, which I like. 

Jonny: They kind of look like mentos. I don’t know how to describe it.

Like chocolate?

Jonny: Yeah, every time my parents go to the UK, they always bring home this massive bag of random sweets. And I never know what to do with it. I just leave it in the house and eventually they disappear. UK chocolate in general tastes better.

Juan: Without fail there’s Minstrels. 

Unpopular opinion, Cadbury’s shit.

Juan: I don’t know about that.

So I’ve got a music question. I feel like the impression that I get from your music is that you both love a lot of jazz. And I’m wondering how much of your music is improvised in the same way? Do you just kind of sit down and fuck around similiar to a Jazz mindset? 

Jonny: We used to sit down and just see what happens. I think now we have a bit more of a process but there’s still a lot of fucking around. 

Juan: I feel like a lot of the best ideas we come up with happen by accident. I agree with you saying we have a process of making sounds and making ideas but… I’m trying to think of an example…

Jonny: Also, the live set – we want to go further with it – but at this point, it’s a DJ set, but we improvise on top of it.

Juan: We’re messing with the samples and making them acapella to create ambient textures, you know?

I don’t know if your name 700 FEEL is based off of this – But when you feel something and you want to convey an emotion, is that how you approach music?

Juan: I think that’s what I was trying to say, most of our best ideas come from accidents. I feel like we’re pretty open when we make music and most of the time we don’t really know what we’re aiming for. But then, when that thing happens, it hits us and it feels right. We just got with it. Maybe we are chasing a feeling.

Jonny: And we’re not stuck on specific genres. People do that, and they do it so well, but when you’re in a genre and in a scene there’s a format to what the music sounds like and how you make it, whereas us…

Juan: We’re not really in a genre or part of a scene. We’re kind of part of the electronic scene in Sydney but not really, because we don’t really play the raves or the clubs. 

Are you thinking, in the future, that clubs and raves will never be something you play at?

Jonny: I feel like we’re keen, but the scene doesn’t really suit us right now and if it does it’s when international acts are coming through. 

Juan: We’re definitely open to it.

Jonny: I don’t think we’re like: we want to play galleries only. Wherever people book us we’ll play.

Juan: When we were in Vietnam we approached collectives and asked to play.

What were you doing over there?

Juan: We went for a holiday and thought it would be cool to play some shows and it was a good way to meet people. I had no idea that there was even a scene of people doing that in Vietnam. It was pretty cool. It’s pretty small but there’s a lot of heart in it. People are hustling to do things.

Is that the same as in Australia or Sydney?

Juan: I would say that. I feel like it’s hard to do cool shit, so I respect everyone in Sydney throwing events and supporting people.

Why do you think it’s hard?

Jonny: I’m just coming from an electronic perspective but no one really goes to clubs anymore. It got killed by lockdown and it’s all switched to different shit now. Which is cool.

Juan: Before, it was still pretty hard because of lockout laws.

You guys are from Western Sydney. But I want to know how you feel about how the media has made being from the West a story in itself – because there’s so much hype around it now.

Jonny: I feel like it goes both ways. A lot of Sydney press like to really push that shit.

Juan: They definitely push that shit on us. But we are really proud to have grown up there. 

Jonny: But we’ve never really repped it like that. I think, out there, repping it means a lot more than just growing up there.

Juan: I know what you mean, though, there are a lot of people doing that but it does come from the press that wanna push that onto people. It’s a selling point. A bit weird.

Jonny: Sometimes I think it downplays people who are actually repping Western Sydney like that. There’s another side of it though, where Western Sydney has come up in the last couple of years. Like with Hotter Out West. When I was 18 or whatever, the thought of having an event like that out west – it just never would have happened.

How come?

Juan: It’s hard to explain.

Jonny: I think it’s culturally, event spaces, maybe the opportunities weren’t there?

Juan: Maybe people weren’t as keen to come together as a community.

Jonny: I haven’t really experienced the events out there fully yet since I left. I really want to see it though.

Juan: Even the Parramatta lanes are looking really sick lately. It’s a festival.

When did you guys move into the city?

Juan: Maybe four or five years ago. We’ve lived together the whole time (laughs).

Do you just wake up, make music?

Juan: We used to but now we have completely different schedules. Because we have day jobs. I  work Monday to Thursday and he works Thursday to Sunday.

True, so when do you make music?

Juan: Whenever we can.

And then how do you make it? What’s the technical approach? What equipment do you use?

Jonny: For the most part it’s just Ableton. 

Juan: Making it or performing it?

Both.

Jonny: If you want to get technical, we use a Roland sp555.

[Later I’ll message Juan to write down a list of the actual equipment: OTO machines Bouwm for distortion textures, Korg Kaoss Pad and a Portablism SC1000, “We’ve got a few other units that change here and there depending on the set.”]

Juan: As far as making the music, it’s hard to list down exactly what we do, because it’s different for every track. Sometimes we sample our friends. And use plugins to, I guess, manipulate those sounds. And then sometimes..

Jonny: …we do alot of sound design. We’re both not very tech savvy.

Juan: We’re self taught. I think that’s why we play Electronic and not Jazz or Soul. We’re very average at a lot of instruments but our strong point is our taste and the bigger song picture or when we write song ideas.

Jonny: We both started writing rap beats first, and we do come at it through samples, and a hip hop perspective. We won’t sample a hip hop person… but it’s in the technique.

Juan: That’s another thing, we pull techniques from people that we admire, but we do it in our own way. We use a lot of dub effects, reverbs, delays. And we’re super influenced by dub music. Chopped and screwed as well: taking samples and scratching.

With vinyl as well?

Juan: Yeah, we’ve done that. We actually put out a single where we did that. “4 ya kiss” and “4 ya bliss”.  We sampled, scratched and we were playing around with slowing down the genres that we love. “4 ya kiss” was our take on a slowed down garage track. 

Jonny: So it’s a chopped and screwed ambient track.

Juan: I feel like that’s a good answer as far as the music. We take techniques from all these different people that we admire and we repurpose it to our own sound. 

Who else do you admire?

Jonny: There’s a big mixture. Like Kelman Duran.

Juan: He’s a big one for us. He’s actually playing soon. He makes reggaeton punk music, but experimental ambient reggaeton music. It’s so interesting. The way he performs live is he’ll have  his laptop right next to a DJ mixer and just be playing with Ableton and be clicking on his keyboard while he’s mixing tracks. It’s so strange.

I find it so interesting that we’re in a time when artists can just make this completely genreless music because you’re pulling from 10 different influences at once.

Juan: It’s such an internet thing, hey?

Someone the other day said they don’t think any more genres will ever exist.

Jonny: I feel like in the UK that shit’s always gonna be…Like the UK is so genre heavy it becomes your personality. You’re a drum and bass guy, or you’re a garage guy. There are some people who do a mix but I feel like culturally it comes from subcultures, like mods and rockers. The UK likes to group up.

Juan: Do you think the UK are more purists?

Jonny: Purists? Yeah. It’s weird. 

Juan: Because I don’t see that in America. I feel like it’s getting to the point where everyone’s doing everything. 

I always think, maybe it’s because everything in the UK is so close together so they’re taking influences directly from someone else. Maybe America’s so large that the music influences connect over a further distance. So it gets mixed and mashed. That probably doesn’t hold up or make any sense.

Juan: But then Sydney is pretty small and I feel like it’s not like that.

Australia is a story of its own. It’s either distance from the rest of the world or people are just doing what they think is gonna stick.

Juan: Yeah, there’s a lot of that. 

Are there any artists in Australia that you think are doing really good things at the moment?

Juan: We’re really into GODTET. They’re an experimental jazz band. They mix a lot of Afro-cuban sounds. Shady Nasty, we’re really into it.

Jonny: I really love Shady Nasty. Amazing live and they’re getting more and more experimental. 

I’m surprised that they aren’t bigger than they are. But it’s probably that thing of “commercial Australia” not being ready for that kind of thing yet.

Juan: I feel like they’re not really, like, making hits. They’re just a really great band.

Maybe it’ll be a DJ Screw-type legacy. When people look back in 20- 30 years. People will be like, “They created something, that started something.” 

Juan: For sure. If anything they have influenced people and us as well.

Is there a big goal for your music? Is fame something you want, or to create a legacy or is there something else?

Jonny: (laughs) For us I think making music just really makes us happy.

Juan: We would do it regardless if anyone listened to it.

Jonny: But if we could do that and I wouldn’t have to scrub floors and chop onions all day, that would be fucking sick. 

Juan: If we could live comfortably and just make music..

Jonny: See the world…

Juan: And people want to hear us then yeah.

Jonny: I think the fame side would be a scary part.

Juan: Yeah we’re both pretty low key people, I don’t know if you can tell.

Wear a mask. Do the MF Doom thing.

Jonny: We tried to do no face. It’s just such a roadblock though.

Did you actually wear masks?

Juan: No, no we were just making an effort not to show our faces in press photos. We’re not trying to force it to the point where we wear masks, it’s been done.

Maybe Daft Punk then? Full bodysuits.

Juan: (laughs) No one can be Daft Punk, they’re Daft Punk.

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