The incredibly talented Rob Hardt, one half of Cool Million, recently sat down with us at Soul Food to talk about the new record Back For More.
As you can imagine, we had plenty of questions!
1. Cool Million is partnership between yourself and Frank Ryle. What do you think each of you brings to the table in terms of production?
We have the same love for soul music from our pool of records we love , we get the inspiration for all our music. Frank and myself function like a unit and we are in the lucky situation that we always agree 100% to everything we do. He is preparing the backtracks for the aritst and I do the final production.
2.What was your aim in making the Back for More album?
1st of all to bring back some artists we always dreamed of to work with and also to bring back the music we love in a fresh sound. Last but not least we wanted to do a album you can listen through from the first track to the last one. A lot of the feedback we’re getting right now says exactly this thing 
3. What comes first when you’re in the studio, the production or the songwriting?
Always the songwriting, because it is the essential part of the song. I´ll do the final production when the last note from the singer is recorded. The artist is the main focus of the song for Frank and myself.
4. Any particular songs that influenced the album’s conception?
Way to many to metion It was the time of music that influenced us. We were young men going out to clubs, and falling in love for the first time. So the 80s soul was the soundtrack to our lives back in the day.
5. You’ve worked with some amazing vocalists on this record. How do you pick who you want to work with?
We don’t have a priority list , but we had some faves like Meli´sa Morgan, and Eugene Wilde we always wanted to work with. We started contacting them and our artist roster got bigger and bigger
6. Anyone not on the album that you’d like to work with next time around?
Too many good people again We would love to work with Kenni Burke, George Benson, Stevie Wonder, Jocelyn Brown and 500 more artists.
7. You recently collaborated with the orginal King of Remixing, Tom Moulton. What do you like about his work, and what did he bring to the Cool Million sound?
Tom is the Godfather of the extended disco version and with his remixes he had a big influence on us. After 2 years knowing him now he became family for Frank and myself. I had the luck to meet him in New York and was impressed by all the stuff he did and he is still doing.
8. You’ve had some hot remixes done so far. What are your views on remixing in general?
Frank and I are pretty open minded to any kind of music and remixing is also a nice tool to bring your music to a different audience. I work also as a remixer and it´s always fun to see things in the track the producer of the original didn´t see. It´s always a challange , and the same thing the other way around too. You never know what the remixer will hear in your music.
9. Any ambitions to tour with this record?
Yes , we just played at the Baltic soul weekender in Germany a p.a. and looking how we set up Cool Million on stage right now. Our ideal situation would be to play with a full live band.
10. What’s next for Cool Million?
Right now we are in the middle of promoting the album and we are looking forward to release the Sweet Baby house mixes soon.
What a gent! Thanks Rob!
