If there’s a lesson to be learned from multi-instrumentalist Alfie Templeman, it is to drop your heroes’ names in every interview. This is how Templeman got connected to the legendary Nile Rodgers, who is the collaborator on Templeman’s latest single, “Just a Dance.”
The song dropped this week, just ahead of Templeman’s second studio album, Radiosoul. A frothy morsel of happy disco goodness, “Just a Dance” is led by Templeman’s signature soulful high tones and Rodgers’ identifiable joyful guitars while being held up by Templeman’s strong bass work.
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“Just a Dance” was pulled from Templeman’s vaults. It still retains the core of its original character, which is evident when he plays me the voice memo on which he recorded it some five years ago. When Rodgers invited Templeman to Sony’s 5020 studio in Miami, he gave “Just a Dance” the Chic treatment.
To hear Templeman talk about working with Rodgers, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, particularly the studio’s culinary offerings which matched up with Templeman’s pescatarian dietary restrictions. So much so that he asked Rodgers if he followed the same regimen, to which Rodgers replied, “What kind of religion is that?”
“Hit Me Back on DM”
Alfie Templeman: I was in the campaign for my first album. I was releasing a song called “Broken,” which has a lot of Nile Rodgers-y guitar licks and guitar parts, quite a wall of sound of guitars. I went on Radio 1 to promote the song and spoke to a DJ called Clara Amfo. She dropped Nile’s name and said, “You kind of rip him off a bit, don’t you?” I was like, “Yep!” I went on about Nile for about five or 10 minutes. She said to me, “You’ll probably do something with him in the next year or so.” I was like, “Hahaha, yeah, right.” I went home and he tweeted at me and said, come down to Abbey Road right now. I got there, and I was so nervous, I was shaking. I’d never been in Abbey Road. Just to step through that studio was enough of a shock to the system. I went into Studio Three, and there he was ordering Nando’s. He was recording with someone else at the time and I was just in the way, basically. But during the lunch break, he was playing all of my stuff, and being really nice. I was like, “This is never going to happen again. At least I met the guy and got to tell him how much of an influence he is to me and how much I love all of the stuff he’s put out as an artist, but also as a great producer.” And I thought that was it.
“Welcome to Miami”
About a year later, my manager was hitting up Nile’s manager. Nile got back and said, “Don’t worry, I never forgot about you. I really wanted to make a song with you.” I got to go out to Miami around February last year. I brought “Just a Dance,” but it wasn’t called that at the time. It was a riff I’d written about five years ago. I didn’t bring any other songs. I was completely set on it and I was so confident about it. I knew he’d really like it. We recorded another two or three songs during those sessions. He came to me with ideas. But at the time, I really wanted to give something to him. We talked about a lot of different music during the sessions, but once Nile touches a song, it’s his. He gives the biggest f*ck of all time as well. His sessions are 12 hours. I respect that so much.
Un-Chic-ing It
Nile Chic-ed “Just a Dance” up. I had to slightly un-Chic it, to be honest. The only melody we did for the song while we were together was the “just a dance” part. I went home, and for the next couple months, I tread carefully with it. If I wasn’t going to do anything with Nile again on the song, I wanted to make sure that I was careful about the way I approached it, and that he still liked it and it was within his “rules and regulations.” But I wanted to step aside from the Chic element, because what we had was a very Chic song. It had all of the Nile parts that add up, like eight different layers of guitars. When you listen to them solo, it would sound really strange, but when it all comes together, you’ve got this amazing wall of guitars. Everything sounded great, but now it was about: How can I make this slightly different, and how can I add my own zing to it, while also keeping it evidently a Nile Rodgers track?
I thought the first melody that came to me and stuck would be the one. I ran with the verse idea that I had and wanted it to be a statement about “it’s just a dance.” Life can be very complicated, but, at the end of the day, it’s just a dance. We’re all trying to figure our way around the little bits of fat and just get to the good stuff and just have a good time. I wanted it for a second to be, “Oh, I don’t know what’s going on. I’m a bit unsure. I’m struggling a little bit. But wait, it’s just a dance.” I did that with the verse vocals and built them up that way.
Then it was about layering up the other sonic elements. I’m really into making sure there’s lots of hidden little bits in a studio song. I wanted to add some weird harmonic undertones. When the song comes in, it’s got those really weird backing vocals and oohs and aahs and stuff. I was going through a massive Beach Boys phase at the time. I like how it sounded childish, but incredible at the same time.
I layered it up and it became quite a weird song because it has different elements of sounds, but it was still a very Chic-y song. I sent it to Nile, and he had a few tweaks. He said I should octave some of the guitar parts and try more harmonies, layer them up even more and it will make the song explode. And he was right. He’s such a good producer. He chose all of his notes carefully and they really made a difference. The bass solo at the end sounds like a guitar. I did it next to him. We were just jamming around.
The David Bowie “Dance” Connection
The word “dance” in the song comes from David Bowie. At first Nile was talking about “David” and I was thinking, “Is he talking about David Bowie?” And he was, which is great. He was telling me about Let’s Dance. David came to Nile with these songs, but they were quite outdated and didn’t feel right. Nile reworked a lot of them. David had always done things very experimentally and very crazily. Nile was trying to make an album with him where it felt very universal. He was all about taking the fun side of David and converting it into a good, catchy album. The whole idea of “Let’s Dance” for Nile was about how to make it cheeky and naughty, but also really fun and addictive.
When we did “Just a Dance,” it was about making the chorus pop the same way as “Let’s Dance,” making it staccato and choppy and fun and hooking you in. That’s where the Bowie influence came in for him. Also, Nile was saying David was open to experiment and play around with anything. I love David Bowie. One of my favorite albums ever is Low. I was obviously completely down to follow in his footsteps, even though I could never compare myself to him. But it was really fun to hear Nile talk about, “What would David do?”
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