Comes the hour, comes the man — and this should be the hour of Lester Fitzpatrick. I like the music of almost everyone I interview for 5 Mag, but I’m an unapologetic fanatic about what Lester does. It’s Black Techno, it’s Chicago House, it’s the thing that the old school just called “tracks.” They punch hard, but it’s techno with some jack in the back. They’re raw and there’s a bite to them. And there’s a lot of them.

Lester Fitzpatrick is in some ways the quintessential Chicago producer: he keeps his head down and he’s just bangin’, just grinding out tracks, albums, EPs at a phenomenal rate. Lester told me he makes a track nearly every day, five or six a week. Those tracks are the source for DJs around the world who know what’s what and tap into this incredible output for their sets. Most of it appears on his own label, Mindburn, or UKR, the label he co-owns with Roman Zawodny (and which 5 Mag profiled in the past.)

Stuck in the ’90s was his latest album on UKR when we sat down to talk (though it’s been superseded by a gang of EPs released since April). That was our point of departure for this piece — the making of the album — but it ranged into much more than that. It’s about how he made tracks when he was 17 and how me makes them now and why he doesn’t want there to be much difference between them. It’s about how he works, balancing a day job & family while moonlighting as one of Chicago’s greatest and most prolific underground artists. And it’s about why the work is worth doing, no matter who is listening.

This was originally published in #ReInvention: 5 Mag Issue #199 with Dance System, Lester Fitzpatrick, Roots Underground and more. Support 5 Mag by becoming a member for as little as $1 per issue.

So what were you thinking when you called this album Stuck in the ’90s? It’s the kind of thing that you could say as an insult — that some guy is stuck in the ’90s…

Nah, man, the meaning behind the title is that they were really good times in the ’90s. Now to me I do hear a lot of tracks and a lot of music that are ripped off from the ’90s. But this is more like my tribute to the 1990s — Dance Mania, Relief and all the other labels from Chicago.

Lester Fitzpatrick always has a new album coming out. Do you write all the tracks for a specific album together, or just do the work and figure out how they fit together later?

I just went through a lot of tracks that I had already made and me and Roman [Zawodny of UKR] picked out which ones we were going to use first. That’s how I work. I just come up with ideas and thoughts and then the thought becomes an actual thing. I got a lot of different concepts and Stuck in the ’90s gathered together some of the sounds on tracks I made. Other concepts I have are the “Geto Weird Traxxx” — I think I’m on Volume Six with that one. For “We Gucci” I think I’m on Volume Five or something.

Paul Johnson told us once in a piece that he didn’t sit down to make a track until he had a clear idea in his mind. He didn’t noodle around in the studio. Is it the same for you?

Well I was around when we first started and I can tell you that we had no idea what was going on. We’d go down in the basement and be like, “Hey, I like that groove” or “I like that bassline” and throw some drums into it. We all used to meet over at Rob[ert Armani]’s house in his basement. He had semi-modular equipment over there. But that was before Paul had his own equipment.

Every day I make something. I don’t think I’d feel right if I didn’t make something every day.

But for me? Nah. I work for a living. Let’s see, I just got a new schedule but with my old work schedule I had to be there at six in the afternoon until one in the morning. So when I got off work, I wouldn’t be sleepy. I’d just come right in the house and make a track every day. By the end of the week, I may have like five new tracks. Next week, I may have five or six more.

Every day I make something. I don’t think I’d feel right if I didn’t make something every day. I’ll make something and then listen to it no more than six times because it gets old to me real quick. And I’m like, okay, I’ll get back to work and try to make something better than that one. And, you know, I basically still got the same attitude as I had when I was like 17. When I was 17 or 18 that’s all we did — we just made tracks all day. We’re older now so you have to do your family, you have to go to work or whatever. But you know, I still make time to do it. And that’s how I get it done.

It’s interesting because there’s tons of people who start but never finish anything. Like they make a beat but they never finish the track. And it sounds like you don’t have that problem at all.

Yeah, I know people like that. Oh no, my process is different than that. Everybody has a different process. I know people that have tons of equipment and haven’t put nothing out in years and really never put nothing out anyway. They got the know-how, but I don’t know if they want it to be “perfect.” I think some people like that, to me, maybe they’re insecure about the music. Maybe they’re scared to put it out and see what the world is gonna say. I mean, not everybody is gonna like everything I do. And I don’t care… Well I do care, but it’s not going to stop me if ten people don’t like my stuff or a hundred people don’t. I’m not going to stop. If one, two, ten people like it, I’m cool with it. But I gotta like it myself.

I’m just have fun with it. I’m not thinking about money, charts and stuff like that. I’m just having fun. Like I say, I take you back to when I was 17. I was just happy I could have just made a beat with a kick and a tom and a hi hat and I was happy with that. I’m just me man.

I’m just have fun with it. I’m not thinking about money, charts and stuff like that. I’m just having fun. Like I say, I take you back to when I was 17. I was just happy I could have just made a beat with a kick and a tom and a hi hat and I was happy with that. I’m just me man.

So everybody, especially on this record, will talk about Lester Fitzpatrick and an “analog sound.” What does your studio look like right now? What are you using? Are you using an actual 909, 303, etc.?

Yeah, I got the Roland TR-8S, I have a Korg Monologue, I have an Access Virus B, and I have a 303 and I use Ableton. That’s it. Simplified. I would like more but I have a job, I have kids, I’m a grandfather and for some reason — I ain’t trippin on it but I don’t get to fly around like a lot of people and make money off this music so I can have a gang of this or a gang of that. So I just utilize what I have.

And again that goes back to in the beginning. In the beginning, me, Paul or whoever — we didn’t have a lot of equipment. We had a drum machine and sequencer and some type of keyboard and a 303. You know? So I just keep it simple still.

So what do you use on this one? And you mentioned “tributes” earlier, what tributes are we hearing on Stuck in the ’90s?

I used the regular stuff we talked about. I didn’t do anything different than I usually do, other than the vibe that I tried to present.

There’s one track… I can’t remember the name… That’s another thing about making a lot of tracks — you forget the names! The hardest part is coming up with names all the time! But anyway I do like the tributes to people that I look up to or whatever. One track on Stuck in the ’90s was like a little tribute to Rush. Oh yeah, and there’s most definitely a tribute to Dance Mania — the two tracks called “Let’s Go.”

So let’s talk about UKR. I know you have your own label, plus the tracks you release on UKR…

UKR is mine too. I’m co-owner with Roman. Mindburn is my label as well.

Oh I didn’t know that. I guess I just fucked up your relationship now, huh?

[laughs] No, you’re not gonna mess with that.

Yeah, so tell me about when the both of you started the label. It’s an outlet for so much of what you do.

I think it was around 2008 or so I hooked up with Roman. At that point I had a lot of tracks that I was sitting on, but I wasn’t really messing with nobody. I think I was probably on my way out the door.

And he hit me up, I gave him the tracks and it came out on I think some other label he was partnered with. He separated from them and then he told me about UKR. I said that it was a cool name — Urban Kickz Recordings. In the beginning I think it was just me on UKR putting out stuff. It built up, there a few other Chicago people on the label, and some people that he knew. I’m co-owner of UKR and that’s why I try to push it so hard.

Chicago is funny. It’s cliquish. They want to bring somebody in from overseas and some other city or something like that before they look at their own backyard. I don’t know if they’re gonna miss me when I’m gone or whatever.

You know, I don’t know everything and the game has changed a lot, but my understanding is when you mess with the big labels, that helps your name but you don’t know how everybody gets treated. For me, I guess I didn’t see anything. I didn’t see any money. If I’m owed $5 or $10 I probably won’t be seeing it from nobody else. With my music on UKR or Mindburn, I know I’m gonna see my $5 or $10 or my $100,000 or whatever. You know [in the industry] we all just give everything away for free now. You know, you give people your music for free, you almost DJ for free…

Speaking of DJing, how often do you play out?

I rarely play. I can understand that I’m not overseas, so I’m not getting booked overseas or whatever. But Chicago is funny. It’s cliquish. I don’t go out that much or socialize with a lot of people. Back in the day you really didn’t have to do that. You put the record out, they knew who you were and BAM, you’d get booked. But now so much of it’s down to the promoters. They want to bring somebody in from overseas and some other city or something like that before they look at their own backyard. I don’t know if they’re gonna miss me when I’m gone or whatever.

They’re all gonna pretend they were there for every show you ever did.

Yeah but I don’t do any shows in Chicago so they can’t…

Oh, right. Then they’ll say they were your best friend. And they’re gonna tell stories about it.

Hopefully you could be there, and you can tell them “You’re a damn liar! You’re a liar, you’re a liar, and you’re definitely a liar!” [laughs] Nah man, Chicago — I love my city but nobody’s really messed with me in Chicago. I think the only person who would mess with me was Josh Moseley, who reached out to me. There’s been some talk with Mark Angel. But other than that, Chicago’s not messing with me.

But you know what, for the most part, Chicago is not even a techno city. It’s house. That’s how it is. So I’m not gonna trip on it.

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