Chauncey wanted to discuss two songs that do a similar thing, and in my evilness I only allowed one. After we recorded, he revealed that the other song is La Isla Bonita by Madonna. He said that both have a luxury, indulgent, lapping-it-up paradise vibe, and both create that with funky mysterious dark chords. And Chauncey said that Fantasy paints dying as an ultimate sublime thrill.
Konstantin Samoilov: I am with Chauncey Hicks in Hermosa Beach, California. Chauncey loves “Fantasy” by Earth, Wind & Fire. Chauncey, welcome.
Chauncey Hicks: Thank you very much, Konstantin. Good to see you as always.
Konstantin Samoilov: What do you feel when you listen to Fantasy?
Chauncey Hicks: What do I feel when I listen to Fantasy? It’s sort of uncanny bittersweetness.
Konstantin Samoilov: Why uncanny?
Chauncey Hicks: Because it seems — I'll get right into it. The song seems to allude to dying and going to either — doesn't really matter — just dying, pretty much. Fantasy seems like an otherworldly something. So as such it's something I couldn't possibly imagine, but I think the song very succinctly represents these kind of conflicting emotions that would come with moving on to another thing.
Konstantin Samoilov: And why do you love that? Like, why was that the song that you would choose for this and what you would wanna talk about?
Chauncey Hicks: Well, when you asked me what songs do I enjoy, we started talking about it, I just picked what came to mind immediately, like I do with many things. And, don't get me wrong, there's probably a lot of other songs that I like more than Fantasy, there's probably a lot of other songs I've listened to many more times.
But if you ask me like, why I enjoy Funk Soul Brother by Fatboy Slim — I'm not saying I like that song more than Fantasy — but if you ask me why I like that song, I have a very stupid… it's cool, you know, it's cool. I have a very simple answer. I couldn't really explain why I enjoy it. It's just kinda like a silly, fun thing that's active and upbeat.
But Fantasy is more like something that if it's playing somewhere, I'm more likely to be transfixed on it, as opposed to it just being something that's existing in the background, like Fatboy Slim would.
Konstantin Samoilov: So would you say Fantasy is harder to talk about than other songs that you could have picked for this, or easier?
Chauncey Hicks: It's a little bit of both. It's harder to pinpoint what's great about it, I think, but it's easier to prattle on about directionlessly.
Konstantin Samoilov: Does it highlight a part of you that you really enjoy about yourself? That you like Fantasy: do you take it as part of you?
Chauncey Hicks: Only if I was trying to show off. If I wanted to impress somebody with my musical knowhow, I would play it and then very annoyingly give very minute commentary and assessments and talk about, “oh, heard that…”, you know. And I could imagine someone being like, “wow, that's crazy”, and in their minds being like, “please shut up”.
But I wouldn't say it necessarily represents anything more than my interests or things that I'd be thinking about whether or not that song existed. I wouldn't say there's any quality that I can identify with it other than it's relevant to my interests.
Konstantin Samoilov: So if someone says, “Chauncey is the human embodiment of the song Fantasy” — is that super reductive, or would you be honored?
Chauncey Hicks: I'd be honored, but also concerned a little bit I think. It'd be a fantastic honor, but no, going back on my previous answer, if it represents a part of me, I don't think it necessarily represents any of my favorite parts of me.
I think there's other songs that I would hope people would be like, yeah, that's that guy, Fucking—I dunno why I keep thinking about Fatboy Slim. I don't like that song that much, but that's like more my energy. I feel like that weird nineties break beat like stupidness.
Konstantin Samoilov: Would you be more honored if someone said, “Chauncey's the human embodiment of Funk Soul Brother”? Yes.
Chauncey Hicks: Yes. Because I think it's much more of a pointless song, and I think maybe there's a bit more truth to that. It's not saying anything, it's just like a pure embodiment. Might as well make the episode about Fatboy Slim.
That song is more of an embodiment of a very simple and pure emotion; where I feel like Fantasy is attempting something bigger. I'm not sure if it even is a perfect representation of what it's trying to do. But I think there's a lot you could discuss, a lot of individual components that you could break down and be like, that’s cool and that enhances this.
Konstantin Samoilov: So let's go back to the listening part, when you're listening to a fantasy, You feel neutral, you put on the song, let's say in your headphones and without a lot of other distractions, let's say you're walking. How are you beginning to feel, from neutral to you're now listening to Fantasy?
Chauncey Hicks: It's got a really unique intro. It's got these very brittle sounding keys that play sort of dissonant chords. So immediately that grabs my attention. So immediately if I have the headphones on, for a second I'm gonna be like, oh shit. And then once the song gets going it's funky, but it's understated. It's a song that can put the hook on you.
So if it was a more brash song, maybe it'd come up on shuffle or something and I'd be like, ah, Christ, I can't listen to this right now. I'm not in the mood. But Fantasy, because it has a sort of mysterious opening, regardless of what mood I'm in, so let's say neutral, whatever it is I can get sucked into it.
Konstantin Samoilov: What material do you feel like when you listen to Fantasy, or what object? Maybe you haven't felt like this, but now that I say it, if it makes sense, what would it be? And if it doesn't make sense, we skip.
Chauncey Hicks: It kinda does make sense. There are some other songs that I tend to visualize when I listen to… with Fantasy, every time I listen to it, I see that album art and it's got like some pyramid looking, Egyptian grandiose thing.
To answer your question: maybe I haven't felt this in the past, but I described it now, in 2001: A Space Odyssey, during the Jupiter and beyond-the-infinite sequence, the flashy LSD looking sequence, it’s 20 minutes, it's all like boomer, trippy, nostalgia, whatever — there's these seven floating diamonds that show up, not explained. It's this kind of beautiful but weird thing floating in space.
I would say that, if I had to pick an object; something like that anyway, something beyond comprehension, but still quite beautiful, let's go with that.
Konstantin Samoilov: If an alien race comes to Earth and they're neutral towards us, as far as we can tell, and we play Fantasy for them. Do you think it would be more advantageous for us to just play it for them, or to play it and explain why we're playing this for them?
Chauncey Hicks: Oh, just play it. Absolutely. Just hit play and glare at them and see how they react and then decide how to treat them after that.
Konstantin Samoilov: The leader of a country and their closest advisors meet, like a top secret meeting. Fantasy is playing in the background the entire time. What nation's leader and advisors are most influenced by this and which are the least influenced?
Chauncey Hicks: I would say like 2002 Iraq would be most influenced. Least influenced, the Chinese.
Konstantin Samoilov: Current Chinese?
Chauncey Hicks: Any era Chinese, for their two millennia, five millennia-plus history.
Konstantin Samoilov: Are they just ignoring it? They're able to just not care that it’s playing?
Chauncey Hicks: Well, they've got walls to build. They've got important things to do. They can't get bogged down by Maurice White. If I could change my answer, I think most influenced would be… let's just move on to the next. I think it’s the best move — I’m gonna say some crazy things otherwise.
Konstantin Samoilov: Be as wild as possible here: how would you stage this song live?
Chauncey Hicks: Nothing crazy really. The music speaks for itself. It'd be a nice big ensemble. I wouldn't want any stage effects or any keyboard synth patches to cover up the rich instrumentation.
I have to say, what really sold this song for me — I was aware of it when I was a kid, but I was lucky enough to see Earth, Wind & Fire at the Hollywood Bowl 10 years ago or something. Great set. They played all the hits. Shining Star. Oh, it was awesome. Hearts of Fire. Oh, that's so cool. And one of their last songs was Fantasy. I was familiar with the song, but I wasn't particularly wowed by it.
But then as they played it, once they got to the chorus, which is really the outro to the song — the chorus doesn't really appear in the song, it's like a snippet of it — and they play the intro part again, and then the rest of the song is just chorus until it ends. And it's like a long structured chorus and it's just insistent and it gets bigger and bigger.
And I remember the last time they ran through it, the bassist was like jumping up and down. The intensity of that moment was very impressive to me. So as far as staging it live, I don't think you really need to dress it up at all. If you just have a strong ensemble performing the hell out of it, you’ll be able to tear the roof down, pretty much.
Konstantin Samoilov: What's the most opposite music to Fantasy that you also love?
Chauncey Hicks: Like, Slayer, probably. Metallica or Slayer fulfills completely opposite enjoyment.
Konstantin Samoilov: Final question: if Fantasy was a cross street in Los Angeles, which cross street would it be?
Chauncey Hicks: Exposition, and… Jefferson and Exposition cross. It's a weird curved “L”. I would say there, very transitory, almost liminal, that intersection.
Konstantin Samoilov: Chauncey Hicks, thank you very much.
Chauncey Hicks: Fucking love Los Angeles. All right, thank you very much. Konstantin. It’s been a lot of fun.
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