Watch Dominic Fike talk making music in jail with Kevin Abstract | NME
Dominic Fike has released a new video interview titled IN-FOCUS, directed by Brockhampton founding member Kevin Abstract.
The conversational video sees Fike casually sitting by a pool, answering questions about his upcoming debut album and experiences with anxiety. Watch the interview below:
Abstract threw questions at him about whether cameras make him anxious (“I guess I’m just, I’m always anxious… except when I get on stage, it disappears right when I’m there”) and how long he spent writing the album (“two years, three years.. two-and-a-half”).
Later, the pair discussed Fike’s brief stint in jail, the result of violating house arrest after being charged with battery of a police officer. Abstract asked whether he was able to listen to music in jail, which prompted a story about discovering an unlikely instrument in the cells.
“The sink would play sounds. The sink had a tone, it had a note to it,” Fike explained. “I called my producer one day and I banged on my sink and asked him what note it was.
“I banged on the sink and sang the note all the way back to the phone, and I called him and asked him what note it was and he said it was a C major and from there I was able to play the note and sing up the c major scale and then I was able to write music that way.”
According to Fike, his run-in with the law didn’t inspire or influence the record in any way, however, he “absolutely” thinks his success is related to his time spent behind bars.
Earlier this month, Fike made an important post calling for the defunding of police forces, in light of recent Black Lives Matter protests.
“My life has felt cursed since I was a little kid. I’ve watched police, the supposed good guys, beat my mom and take her away. I’ve had my brothers taken away. Aunts. Uncles. Shit, my dad just got 20. It’s like they had a problem with my family. I’ve since realized the real curse is the system we live in is designed for us to lose, again and again,” Fike wrote.
He went on to further explain his own experience with police, demanding justice for “the innocent black lives being taken from us”, and announce he has delayed the release of the first song from his forthcoming album.
“It doesn’t feel right to release music today but it does feel right to continue this conversation.”
