FSQ – Funk, Style, Quality – has always been a mission as much as a name. Frontman, DJ, archivist, and cosmic groove evangelist Chuck Da Fonk (a.k.a. Chuck Fishman) has spent the last decade steering the collective’s sound, bridging P-Funk lineage with modern dance culture, and shaping the creative direction of Soul Clap Records. With the new Prins Thomas remixes of FSQ, Moniquea & XL Middleton’s ‘Feeling Wide,’ Chuck reflects on the band’s history, their upcoming album ‘Nightlife Geography,’ and why funk is still the most futuristic music around.

WWD: ‘Feeling Wide’ has become a sleeper favorite since its late 2025 release. What made this track special for FSQ? 

This is a deeply personal song for me – I wrote the music and the lyrics – yet I don’t sing my own songs. So having Moniquea come in and take my lyrics and music and be able to time out the words rhythmically and be so expressive with her vocals really amazed me – that’s very special. It’s like she’s living my feelings and personal situation. Such a connection between a songwriter and a vocalist is hard to achieve. 

‘Feeling Wide’ has a lot of complexity in terms of its meaning but simply, it’s a song that speaks to the feelings of being overwhelmed after you’ve taken yourself out of the loop for a bit — through partying hard, being out in the world, whatever it is that takes you out — that makes you feel “wide” when instead you want to feel razor sharp, thin, narrow, and on the line.

It’s also special in terms of how ‘Feeling Wide’ cooked in the pot. Songs take a long time for me to develop and perfect: with ‘Feeling Wide’ it was 15 years of work. I first wrote parts of the song in 2010, and I even recorded a version of it called ‘Try So Hard’ in Barbados in 2011 with a full Caribbean band, but I wasn’t satisfied with how it sounded so that version never got released. We even shot a Barbados behind-the-scenes “making of” for that session.

I would always come back to the keyboard to play the song – the chords, melody, and words were baked in my mind. In more recent years I got FSQ members Tate Masimore, One Era (Matt Coogan), and G Koop to record a workable version of it. Once I was at EMPIRE Studios in San Francisco in 2024, I was able to add MoFunk’s XL Middleton and Moniquea into the mix and that perfected the song; I also had more life experience by then, so I expanded the lyrics.

WWD: Prins Thomas stepping in for the remixes feels like a cosmic alignment. How did that connection happen? 

Prins Thomas is an absolute favourite of mine. Once mixing engineer Joe Caserta had turned in the final mixes of ‘Feeling Wide,’ I could hear that Prins would take the song to the next level. There are specific songs that call for specific remix producers based on the sound of the original, and I try my best to hire them if they feel our work. For instance, once I had a song I knew was perfect for Ray Mang to remix – ‘Reprise Tonight’ – and he absolutely nailed it because the song fit with his style of music.

I had Charles Levine (of Soul Clap) reach out to Prins on our behalf because Charles really believed in the song. In the end, Prins’ resulting Diskomiks versions of ‘Feeling Wide’ far exceeded my expectations. I heard DJ Bill Brewster on NTS say ‘Feeling Wide’ is Prins Thomas’ best remix in years and I was really touched by that. I love Prins Thomas’ latest album Thomas Moen Hermansen and the remixes he recently produced for Ora The Molecule and Alain Vice & Strip Tease, so it’s hard for me to say, “what Prins did here is his best work” — I’m not sure that would be fair — but I continue to find new things in the ‘Feeling Wide’ Diskomiks versions upon each listen. It’s super impressive and I get obsessed listening to them.

WWD: FSQ has deep roots – from George Clinton to Soul Clap to New York’s underground. How does that lineage shape your sound today? 

I tell people there are six groups that specifically and continually influence the FSQ sound.

The first three: James Brown & The J.B.’s, George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic (aka P-Funk), Sly & The Family Stone. These are the groups I obsess over, and you’ll hear elements of them all in our productions. Funny enough, with James Brown, George Clinton, and Sly Stone and their bands – the members of those groups all overlap – the J.B.’s wound up in P-Funk, and Sly wound up in P-Funk too by the late ’70s. Whether we are making a house track at 125 bpm or producing a low-slung Balearic chill track at 95 bpm, all the hours spent listening to these three iconic funk groups means there’s funk in the track.

Then Yello and Duran Duran. Yello had such a modern sound before electronic music really blew up, and their sound-production ethos regarding expansive and quality sound is something I always strive for and put into our songs. Go listen to the original version of the Yello song “Desire” – it’s a great example of that sonic quality and immaculate presentation. Duran Duran brings elaborate lyrics over disco-funk-leaning new wave. I listen very carefully to Simon Le Bon’s lyrical wit and how tight the band is – the original lineup (most of which remains today) is a masterclass in sophisticated funk. “The Reflex” and “A View to a Kill” are probably my top two favourite songs of all time, but I could name a dozen more Duran Duran songs in my top 20.

The sixth group that influences us is ourselves — FSQ — because each player’s sound is integrated into the pastiche of instrumental styles that FSQ presents. The individual members — G Koop, Tate Masimore, Morgan Wiley, and One Era — I think very carefully about how each of their unique sounds can stack up to make a sound that is uniquely FSQ. I write specifically for their talents, or they interpret the writing with their own style.

There are a ton of other artists that stay on my mind when it comes time to produce — Sly & Robbie / Compass Point All Stars, Art of Noise / ABC / Trevor Horn, Blancmange, Thomas Dolby, anything François K touched, Shriekback, Northern Soul giants like Holland-Dozier-Holland, Norman Whitfield, or people I’ve had the pleasure of working with who have a specific sound: Tom Moulton and Billy Bass Nelson of Funkadelic (who recently passed away).

WWD: You’re known for DJ sets that feel like time traveling through dance culture. What guides your selections? 

There is so much new music to listen to! I’m constantly curating — creating an FSQ DJ chart once a month for Beatport and Traxsource — and hosting a weekly two-hour radio show for The Face Radio. I’m fortunate that I get sent a lot of new music promo and that helps me stay fresh with things that are modern but that fit with the deep cuts in my bag. I was buying records in 1983, so the ones I listened to and banged on as a kid stay with me, and those nudge up against all the new music I pull, giving you this time-traveling feeling.

Timing and pacing, setting a vibe — these are also important elements in guiding selections. In San Francisco, I DJ at Phonobar, a small club, once a quarter, from open to close — from 8pm through their dinner service, which ends at 10:30pm, and then the club becomes a full dancefloor. So I can play slow, groovy Balearic stuff at the start during dinner and move on up to 130 bpm nu-disco bangers. But not everything has to be mixed, and I’m not afraid to bring it back down to change the vibe and clear the dancefloor for those who want a slow jam.

Geography plays a part in selections for a DJ night — for instance, I just played Mimi Disco in Mexico City. For that set I brought out a lot of Spanish-language disco and cumbia fused with house, peppered among the original FSQ productions that I always spin. I want some sounds in a set that connect with the regional music of the country I’m playing in. Hey, if I am in Barbados, I’m spinning some local soca right up with the funk.

WWD: FSQ’s debut album ‘Reprise Tonight’ was praised by Bandcamp, François K, Louie Vega… What’s next? 

We are getting close to wrapping up the next FSQ album ‘Nightlife Geography,’ which ‘Feeling Wide’ is on — it should be ready for release by the end of the summer on Soul Clap Records. The next single from it, coming in July, will be with vocalist/producer/instrumentalist Eugene Tambourine and Funkadelic founder Billy Bass Nelson — it’s titled ‘On The Map,’ and it’s an ode to my adventures in Ibiza in 2017 with my partner in FSQ, Sa’d The Hourchild Ali (he passed away in 2018). It’s a downbeat, groovy Balearic ballad to be played at sunset.

WWD: FSQ has remixed everyone from Macy Gray to Kraak & Smaak. What keeps you inspired? 

I always have songs in my head that I want to write and record — the ideas keep me inspired to keep producing music. Remixing is always a quicker route to finishing a production because you’re just musically reworking an existing song. And I’m inspired to remix other artists because they are already legendary and it’s a way to connect and collaborate with them, and to also get on other record labels that inspire you. For instance, we just had the opportunity to remix DJ Pippi and Willie Graff’s ‘Dance First, Think Later’ for one of our favourite Balearic labels, Music for Dreams.

WWD: What do you hope listeners feel when they hear the Prins Thomas versions of ‘Feeling Wide?’

 
There’s a point in the extended mix where Prins Thomas hits a dramatic musical change — at about three minutes in — and it feels like a total release. It makes my whole body energized; it’s a catharsis driven by musicality. I hope people hear that, and there are several more emotional moments across this almost 10-minute-long remix.

WWD: Last one — what does “Funk, Style, Quality” mean to you? 

Even when I feel like I get it all right, there’s something important for FSQ — the funk, the style, and the quality. In the case of producing the original version of “Feeling Wide,” I still needed the quality after recording the song.

In 2025, I was having a really hard time mixing the dozens of audio stems for “Feeling Wide” — it’s a very musically dense track. I hired a few mixing engineers who just couldn’t capture the sound I wanted. I remembered I struggled mixing our 2020 album Reprise Tonight, which is also musically dense. At that time, a producer and mix engineer named Joe Caserta had solved my issues with that album.

So I returned to Caserta for ‘Feeling Wide,’ and we agreed that our mixing reference/influence for the mixdown would be the legend Alex Sadkin. If you don’t know about Alex Sadkin, get into his work — especially what he did in the early to mid-1980s — he is the ultimate definition of “quality” sound. Caserta nailed the mixing and mastering of ‘Feeling Wide,’ and as a result the song’s sonics connect with me in a way I would have never imagined. Then Prins Thomas made it shine in a completely different way.

I can always start with producing funky music projected onto different music styles — which is the “Funk” and “Style” in FSQ — but that “Quality” sometimes is the hardest thing to achieve.

WWD: So true! Thanks for the chat 🙂 

‘Feeling Wide’ is available here