The Man Behind Fade To Mind: A Q&A with P.Morris

By Jesse Miller-Gordon

I met P.Morris on one of his early trips to New York when he was performing under the name 'Morri$'. We sat and talked rap and production in a mutual friend's dirty bedroom office in Chinatown, figuring out our common ground. The next time I saw him he had booked the act I was tour managing for a club date on Thanksgiving. When we got into town he showed us where we'd be sleeping (Decent beds! Couches!), and we sat down for Thanksgiving dinner he had cooked us –like I said, he's a really nice guy. Fast forward a couple years, and he's now living in LA, releasing music on his own label, as well as the well-loved imprint Fade To Mind. He's still the same kid from Kansas in some ways, but the effect of the move has undeniably changed his sound.

Only a few weeks ago, we caught up again in New York. His set at the Jewish Museum with Mykki Blanco had just been cut short, but he didn't seem bothered: "The fire alarms all went off, but after the fiasco they stuffed us full of sushi, so I was satisfied." About to take his turn at new Williamsburg club Verboten, I reminded him of the first time he played the area, at a DIY venue. The DJ before him was bombing, driving people out, and he walked up, turned him off, dropped his intro, and just went for it. That wasn't going to happen on this night, at the formal club, but he smiled, went on, and proceeded to play only what he wanted. "It's different now" he shrugged. The next day we sat down for a second to talk about his changing life, and his new EP Beloved.

You managed to get national (international?) attention while still living in Kansas. How did you flag people down?

I think it was a combination of right place and right time. Kansas, being right in the middle of the country, is an essential place to pass through on tours and stuff. My town, Lawrence is one of the only places in the state where young people actually hang out and promote art. So I was able to meet a bunch of people out here going to shows and stuff. But at the same time I was also working on music with my friends and putting it on the Internet.

How has the transition to Los Angeles been? How did the move affect your sound? This new EP is pretty ethereal, but you're a party DJ when you play live.

The move definitely opened things up a little for me, in terms of just widening my palette and taste. Admittedly I was really closed off when I was living in Kansas, sort of just doing me, working quietly. In LA though, I'm really surrounded by music.

Musically, I've kind of been working with some of the same concepts but Beloved really represents me having a level of comfort staying within the text I've sort of written in the last year or so. No guidelines or rules per-say, but rather giving myself a loosely set number of elements and focusing on refining them in a way.

As I (just) mentioned, you're a great party DJ, but you're also not afraid to clear a dance floor cause you feel like playing what you feel like playing. As one of the nicer people I know, where does that aggressive side to your performance come from?

I think on some level, I really like the idea of challenging the listener in a certain regard. There are a lot of artists and DJs you can go check out live and be sure what you're getting and the selection is predictable. I don't think I'm one of those artists. I don't like being predictable; I don't like the idea of having to spin what people want to hear all the time. Also - my definition of "dance music" is very broad. If you come to see a P. Morris DJ set expect to hear me play what I think you should be listening to.