Rogue Fx is North East England native Andrew Wood. He was a member of the house music group Bass Value and the synth pop group Please in the late 1980s, and their records were released on Reachin Records, Three Beat Records, and PWL in the early to mid-1990s.
Since Bass Value disbanded later in the 1990s, Andrew took a break from music production. However, the bug eventually returned in 2022, and We Belong was born. It was released on streaming services as Rogue FX and was inspired by synth pop and 80s synthwave.
On July 29, a second song, Retrobution, featuring electro beats and bass from the middle of the 1980s and early 1980s synth pop, was released. Check out the song and the exclusive interview below:
1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how you got started?
ROGUE FX: I come from a small city in the North East of the UK called Durham City which is one of if not the smallest cities in the UK but is a great city. I started making music in the late 80s as part of a synth-pop band called Please with a friend from school. We had some record label interest including CBS records at the time but didn’t quite manage to get a deal and as the electronic dance music of the early 90s took off we changed direction to dance music and had several records released as Bass Value under 3 Beat and PWL records. That kind of fizzled out towards the end of the decade and although I still loved listening to music, I didn’t make any new music until the summer of 2022 when Rogue FX was born!
2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
ROGUE FX: No training at all I don’t read music and have no training in sound design- I just work by feel with a lot of help from technology old and new. Saying that I am trying to improve my skills all the time in terms of music creation, production, mixing and mastering.
3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘ROGUE FX’?
ROGUE FX: My strongest musical influence is generally the decade of 80s music which was the music that I heard when I was growing up and for me is a golden era for music with so many diverse musical styles and although the era had really high production values, there was not so much an of an onus on sounding a certain way as there can be today, be that vocally or in the production style. But honestly, I like most music from metal to pop and my absolute musical hero is David Bowie – a total genius and legend. As for the name Rogue FX, it comes from the first synthesizer that I purchased – which was a Moog Rogue and I just liked FX as in musical effects – so nothing too complicated.
4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
ROGUE FX: The Rogue FX sound is based in 80’s synth-pop/ synth rock and electro music – so think New Order, Human League, New York electro, and John Hughes movie soundtracks, though I do prefer to mix it up a bit with some 90s beats and current sounds. Hopefully, the music gives listeners some nostalgic vibes whilst bringing something new – its not an attempt to just carbon copy the 80s. I’ve heard the description retro-future quite a bit about my sound and I think that sums it up quite well.
ROGUE FX:
I probably wouldn’t class my sound as Rogue FX as EDM, although it is electronic and has a danceable beat but not really EDM – it is parts synth wave, synth pop, and dance beats and that danceability comes from my background in house music in the 90s which continues to influence me today, in fact, I am thinking of a side project ( Rogue House) for a more house / EDM orientated style so watch this space on that. Emulation is a massive part of the electronic music culture though, following sounds and trends and for me that is positive, but its better to add your own stamp to it too.
6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative and entertainment?
ROGUE FX:
I think there is importance for both, some artists excel at the political and social narrative and there is as much a place for that today as there has been in previous decades. For Rogue FX the tracks are meant to have an energy and entertain more than make statements, however I am going to have to contradict myself slightly now as my track Retrobution is actually around financial equality – those who have not or have less striving for more, and I also have a song in development that is based on a similar theme around financial greed. Perhaps living in the north of the UK, whereas much of the business and personal wealth is based in the south of the country, has influenced me there but hopefully I have translated that into songs in an entertaining and energetic way !
7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfilment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?
ROGUE FX:
Obviously Just starting back out in the industry I would like to grow in terms of listeners, streams and followers, my aim is to keep on releasing tracks regularly and hopefully grow naturally through that. It’s certainly different to when I originally started in music where you released a physical vinyl single and could see that in stores and see sales feedback from labels and sometimes chart placings! Its always nice to hear your track played on radio and receive positive reviews either from blogs/ magazines or from listeners via social media luckily my first tracks have both achieved some radio play and really positive reviews which is really encouraging.
8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?
ROGUE FX:
As most of my tracks are song based with vocals usually the vocal idea comes first with a melody and a few lines that I will develop into more of a full song and then start creating a beat (I aways start with a beat again that’s from my former life as a dance music artist) baseline and some pads and synth lines on top and go from there , recording all the music and vocals then trying to bring it all together in a mix. Its not always the same though, for We Belong I created the full track before I had even considered the lyrics – in that case the words and melody came later and in came to me really quickly – I had the melody and lyrics in 30 minutes. As for collaboration, so far this time around its been all me but im open to offers for sure – I would collaborate with other artists / vocalists or producers as that can allow a new perspective which is positive for the creative process.
9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
ROGUE FX: In life its usual things like deaths of family members that everyone has to go through and is part of life. In music nothing too significant although our debut EP that we recorded for Reaching Records in 1991 wasn’t released as we signed to the label , recorded the tracks and then the label folded so they near saw the light of day. They were great tracks so that was quite hard to take. However I am going to revisit some of those tracks musically in a future EP for Rogue FX. The great thing about 2022 is you can release your music globally on the streaming platforms without any reliance on a record label which is a huge plus and was just impossible back in the day.
10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
ROGUE FX: Releasing my debut single in 1992 , which then got top 10 in the UK dance chart – I still remember rushing to the record store on the day of release to see it on the shelves and buy it. A great moment. This time around again releasing my first track as Rogue FX – coming from old school ways or demo/ white label / record contract to have work out how to do this DIY with distributer/ publisher etc was an achievement in itself, and again when the track hits the platforms – its a proud moment. But actually my most proud moment in music is at age 16 or 17 I entered a Please track into a competition that was judged by George Harrison ( I.e. the Beatle) – although I didn’t win I received a had written note back praising the song / lyrics – he wasn’t so complimentary about my bedroom production mind you :) Shame I lost the note in a house move!
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