FRONT & CENTER
The Knocks Think Dance Music Has a Song Problem.
The Knocks came up by pulling other people’s songs apart. Before the albums, tours and collaborations, Ben “B-Roc” Ruttner and James “JPatt” Patterson built their name through remixes, learning how far a track could be pushed before the thing that made it work disappeared. Nearly two decades later, that experience has left them with a pretty clear opinion about dance music.
– WORDS BY CJ
“At the end of the day, it’s always about the song,” they say. “A great bassline or perfectly produced drums won’t save a song that doesn’t have the bones to exist without the production bells and whistles.”
It sounds obvious until they start talking about what is currently landing in their inbox. The Knocks have been digging through more DJ promos recently, looking for tracks for their sets, and what they are hearing has not exactly filled them with optimism.
“There are far too many dance songs being released these days where it’s painfully obvious the artist has no clue how to make a proper song,” they say. “Dance music really needs to take a good hard look in the mirror and ask themselves if they really think that another tech house remix of a classic ’90s song is not completely embarrassing.”
Coming from The Knocks, that criticism carries some weight. They built a large part of their early reputation by remixing other artists, so the issue is not reinterpretation itself. It is whether there was much of a song there to begin with.
That idea now sits at the center of how they judge their own music too. “We have said this before, but our barometer for releasing music is now: ‘Would I listen to this on my own in the car?’”
It is a deliberately simple test in an industry that keeps finding more complicated ways to tell artists what they should be making. “One of the tricky parts about being an artist in the music industry is that you are constantly being told what to make and what to release,” they say. “Everyone has an opinion, and in recent years, that opinion is heavily rooted in data and charts.
PHOTO BY MAXECITO SALCEDO
That might work for some artists, but we find that to be boring and quite frankly, exhausting.”
Their recent album with Dragonette, Revelation, makes a lot more sense through that lens. The relationship goes back to the early years of both acts, but “Slow Song,” released in 2022, was when the chemistry became obvious.
“We just saw eye to eye on everything,” they say. “We were both at a similar stage in our careers. We had found success early on and now it was about finding ways to stay creatively inspired.”
Dragonette’s Martina Sorbara also pushed them somewhere new. “She inspired us every step of the way and really allowed us to explore a side of songwriting and production we didn’t know we had in us.”
When they started working together again, nobody seemed to be planning a full album. “Love Me Alive” came first, then more songs followed.
THE KNOCKS WITH DRAGONETTE’S MARTINA SORBARA – PHOTO BY GINA MANNING
“Everything clicked and came so easily when we worked together,” they say. “The songs just kept coming naturally.” That is probably the important part. Revelation did not happen because somebody decided a collaborative album made strategic sense. The material kept showing up, and the songs justified the record.
It also explains why The Knocks have never been particularly interested in staying inside one genre. Electronic music can reward consistency: find a sound people recognize and keep giving them more of it. The Knocks have spent most of their career resisting that.
“We have been criticized throughout our career for not sticking to one genre and changing, which confuses people,” they say. “How many artists have stuck to the same sound until their fans grew tired of them and moved on? The last thing we wanted was to be the guys who created the same song over and over again while grasping on to a moment in time.”
New York became a useful model for that. The Knocks started in an East Village apartment and later built a studio on Chrystie Street, while the city around them kept changing.
PHOTO BY MARKUS REICHERT
“We still love NY and are continually inspired by the way the city changes and evolves,” they say. “That’s been the one constant for us, too. It still has its history and connection to the past, but it’s always growing and changing… sometimes for the better, sometimes not so much.” They have no interest in turning their own past into something they have to preserve. “We aren’t going to be the guys who cling to the golden years. As long as we are inspired, we’ll continue to make music we love. If we aren’t, we won’t put anything out.”
Keeping that connection alive has become harder over time. Ruttner and Patterson no longer spend every day working in the same room. They live in different places, have separate studios and communicate more through text and email, but playing live has started to replace some of that old studio closeness.
“We find ourselves bonding more when we do live shows and feed off that energy,” they say. “Recently, these experiences and the people we meet and perform for have been our creative spark.”
Both members have also started exploring ideas outside the band. Ruttner has Holiday87, while Patterson has his own project, and their tastes have moved in different directions over time.
“We both listen to so many different genres and in recent years, we have launched solo projects that sound much different from the typical Knocks sound.”
That has taken some pressure off The Knocks. Not every idea has to become a Knocks song, and not every song has to immediately point toward another album. After Revelation, they have been deliberately taking their time, with a Holiday87 album coming and Patterson developing another project in a very different direction.
PHOTO BY KYLE REBLIN
After big records, major collaborations and Grammy recognition, they still have things they want to do. There are artists they want to work with, festivals they want to play and countries they still want to visit. But the larger goal now seems simpler: make something they would actually choose to listen to, then trust the song enough to let everything else follow.
PHOTO BY DUSTY KESSLER
“The industry is changing and we aren’t sure anyone knows what’s next,” The Knocks say. “For us, we think that’s a good thing.”
That uncertainty suits a band that has spent its career resisting the idea that there should be one correct version of The Knocks. The remixes, the pop collaborations, Revelation and the solo projects all point in different directions, but the standard underneath them has stayed remarkably consistent. The song has to work before anything else gets added to it, and no amount of data, production or familiarity can substitute for that.
It also explains why they still sound curious this far into their career. The Knocks are not trying to recreate the East Village years or chase whatever dance music happens to be rewarding right now. They are still looking for the next idea that feels good enough to follow, whether that ends up becoming another Knocks record, something completely separate or simply a song they would want to hear in the car.
