Henning

Almost a decade ago, this undercover producer from Arnhem, Netherlands caught the attention of music lovers worldwide when he released a quintessential head bopping offering called 'Trunk Funk Series'. Since then, he hasn't stop making greasy modern funk classics. Having produced for artists such as Great Minds, Snoop Dogg and Dam Funk, Henning definitely has groove in flowing in his veins. Here's a lil chat with the coffee lover.

N-F: Who are some of the artists you're influenced by?

Henning : A couple of years ago someone on Youtube commented: “J Dilla had a baby with Battlecat”. I think that this is most accurate looking at this map I made back in 2003 filled with Dilla & Battlecat productions, not knowing it were theirs at the time.But i’m definitely influenced by many other artists as well.

N-F: You have a very distinctive sound, which is mostly G Funk/ West Coast sound. Did you decide to make that your sound or was it organic?

Henning : When it comes to the G Funk sound it just comes naturally, I think it is because of its melodic nature. Currently I’m also experimenting with House music, so more 4 to the floor beats but with the genuine Henning sound, all with all just having fun trying out new stuff.

N-F: How do you stay focused while recording ?

Henning : I have this really weird habit to pitch up the project once in a while just to make it sound like a whole different song. I always inform others when working together so from time to time people are joking like; “oh everything’s fine, he’s just doing the ‘smurfs’ thing again”. Other than that coffee does the job well.

N-F: How do you decide what goes in an album and what doesn’t?

All songs on an album should glue together. The driving force is a vibe, genres may crossover but it just have to make sense. Dejima had a theme; TrunkFunk series was more of a compilation. I’m working on a new themed release as we speak, but the main focus is to push a work of several singles this year consistently and a whole lot more content on the socials.

N-F: Any particular track of yours that you find very difficult to complete ?

Henning: I think it’s hard to complete any track in a way, to be satisfied with results before you are going too far and overproducing it is the key to learn when to let it go, I’ve been there more than a couple of times. Stuff that never will be released changed in tempo, genre and was re-recorded with live instruments but with every step gotten more diluted. But it wasn’t all for nothing because now I can avoid that approach all together.

N-F: You produced for so many artists, but you also produced for Faber Yayo of DJVt, so who are some of the artists from NL that you'd like to recommend?

Henning: JOHNFROST

I know the guys for a while now and they are very humble and talented musicians. I’ve worked with most of the band but predominantly Eddie Zadrak and Rafael Devánte Sinay did most of the bass and guitar tracks for my newer productions. Eddie Zadrak is a bas player and songwriter and I wil be coproducing his debut. Rafael Devánte Sinay is a guitar player on stage but he’s also a composer and wrote a whole ep for his jazz quartet at the Amsterdam conservatorium among many other things.

N-F: Aside from music, what are you passionate about

Henning: I enjoy (growing) plants, photography, traveling, art & design stuff. Also architecture, nature, history, space and the female body to name a few. These are all inspiring me in some sort of degree.

Henning moves quietly, but signifantly and does not seem tfazed by fame and hype of social media. But if you're lucky, you may find updates on his music on Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Spotify, Facebook and Instagram.