Gemmy - 'BK2 The Future' (clip)

Gemmy is feeling positive at the moment. With an upcoming release on Punch Drunk and an ever increasing list of DJ bookings, he has every reason to do so. He was kind enough to pop round for the evening, during which time a tape recorder was randomly turned on and off. Here’s some of what was caught on the tape…

How did you first discover Dubstep?

I came into Dubstep from the Grime angle. I’d say more garage actually, producers like Oris Jay and Zinc. It all started with 2-step really, then I moved into more minimal sounds, but always keeping a vibe. I think I got drawn into Dubstep by just going to the nights really. I remember hearing the sound and thinking, ‘yeah, this is much better produced’. Grime was never really that well produced, people were just cutting and pasting little things in and always using the same sounds. You’d hear tunes that were made up of three instruments and you’d be thinking, ‘it’s got vibes but it hasn’t really had enough work put into it’.

Do you think the Grime influence comes across in your music?

Yeah, I’m Grime influenced, that’s something that I can’t hold back. Roots are something that you keep, I can’t let go of them. I still use the grimy sounds, so my tunes may sound grimier to some people than most other Dubstep. It’s all experimental though really, that’s how I look at it.

Your music is sonically quite similar to Joker’s. Is this a coincidence or do you feel that you have influenced each others music?

I’ve been working with Joker for ages, which a lot of people don’t know. I knew Joker before he was even properly making tunes, since around 2003. Back then he was making his tunes on Fruity Loops and I was using Reason. I showed him Reason and all the different things that you could do with it. Being an experimental guy he tried it out and started making rhythms on that. From that stage onwards we were just making our own sound and bouncing ideas off of each other.

We always try to do something different though, so that we don’t always sound the same. It helps to keep us on the ball, so that we’re not just sticking to the same formula all the time. We like using melodies a lot as well, rather than just little hits and loads of bass lines. We always try and mellow it out a little.

What else inspires your music?

A lot of music from the 80’s sticks out to us. The synth sounds especially, even down to the bass sounds and the kicks and snares; 808s and stuff like that. Sonic has been a big influence as well, the same with loads of SEGA games. Those producers had to work within a system, so obviously they were limited to the amount of sounds that they could use. Just based on those instruments they made some of the sickest tunes. If they were made using the kind of synths that we use nowadays then they would be big tunes. We remixed a couple, undercover, just random ones that we’ve dropped at raves and stuff. I’ve got some from Sonic 2, so there’s a few out there still. Those producers are big producers, they influenced us loads. We used to just sit down and listen to the tunes on sound test.

Synthesised leads and hooks play a major part in your tracks. How did you learn to manipulate synths so well?

It’s more about us just playing around with sounds really. We used to just mess around with sounds all day. Sometimes we’ll be about making music, and other times we’ll just be about making sounds. Our intention is always to make a tune, but often we just get the first sound, and then mess around with that all day. After a while you start to understand what kind of sounds you like to hear and how to make those sounds. We’ll say, ‘let’s have more glide on it’, because we like more glidey sounds, or another time more detuned, or more chorus or whatever. We just know how to make those sounds basically.

Two of your tracks, ‘BK2 The Future’ and ‘Bass Transmitter’, are being released next month on Punch Drunk. How did this come about?

Joker was playing at FWD>> with Pinch. Pinch, Joker and Peverelist were in the car on the way down and Joker was going through some new tunes. ‘Bass Transmitter’ came on and Peverelist liked the tune, but he thought that Joker had made it. It turned out to be me that had made it though! He just really liked it I think. I’m pretty sure he was going to release it anyway, it was just lucky that I agreed to it!

Also at that time, ‘BK2 The Future’ was at a high point. That track was how loads of people first heard of me, so I think it just came about from that really. Originally I think his intention was to put out ‘Bass Transmitter’ as the A-side. I think he prefers that one, but for whatever reason it didn’t turn out that way.

The weird thing is that I’ve been buying vinyl from Pev for ages (at Rooted Records). I don’t know if he remembers this, but I went into the shop ages ago and asked him a very random question; I asked him how to get a tune out there. How do I actually get my tunes from my room and onto a record that’s standing there on the shelf? I think he was a bit dazzled by the question, he didn’t really know what to say. For all he knew my tunes could have been shit. He said, ‘you’ve basically just got to find a record label that’s willing to do it. Then you’ll get a release and they will put it out there for you.’ He was the fist guy I asked about how to get a tune out there, and then weirdly enough, four or five years down the line, he’s the first person to release one of my tunes. It’s bonkers!

‘BK2 The Future’ and ‘Bass Transmitter’ will be out on Punch Drunk in September.

Forsaken - 'Running Back' (exclusive track)

Forsaken is an artist who has never been afraid to try something different. Having established himself with releases on Punch Drunk and Immerse, as well as gaining radio play from the likes of Giles Peterson, he has recently set up his own label. We caught up with him for a chat about music, and he was also kind enough to write an exclusive track for us. You can listen to the track, ‘Running Back’, in the player above.

Anyway…

How did you first get into music?

I used to play NES games; I was a massive fan of Nintendo and Atari. I had an Atari 2600 back in the day. I just loved the music in computer games; it meant everything to me when I was playing those games. It’s funny actually, there’s this band in Bristol called Chain Chomp and the Shy Guys, who dress up as Mario and play live computer game theme tunes. The first time I saw them I went with all these girls, I was sort of ‘in between’ girlfriends at the time. So there are all these really hot girls there, and I’m in tears on the dance floor, rocking out to the theme from Super Mario Brothers 2, it was deep!

I take it you were ‘between’ girlfriends for a while after that?

Yeah, I don’t think they were too impressed by my weeping at computer game theme tunes!

Most of your productions tend to steer away from populist dance floor trends. Is this a conscious decision that you have made?

Not really. I like telling stories; in fact I got an A in public speaking for my English A level! I like telling stories, I like reading stories and I like telling stories with music. When you hear a soundtrack and it just kills it for you, it can really make the film or the game that you are playing. That’s what I want to do, just write stuff that makes people think of story lines.

Headhunter came up to me one day and said, “Your stuff is great, but you should make a dance floor track; just kill it”. I thought, yeah, you know what I should. I tried, and I made some of the shittest music that I have ever made! I just can’t write dance floor riddims.

Would you describe your music as Dubstep?

I would, but I think there are a lot of people who wouldn’t.

What does Dubstep mean to you?

For me, there’s a sonic essence to it. Loads of bass, drums that carry you, stuff that embraces you, you know? I don’t know if the bpm is that important to be honest. I’ve heard slower stuff that I would still class as Dubstep; the same with the faster stuff and the more breaky stuff. For me Dubstep is more of a vibe than a specific ‘this is this’, ‘that is that’ sort of thing.

How important is the technical side of production to you? Do you focus more on musicality or technicality?

I appreciate that they have to coexist at the same time, but I never concentrate on the technical side in my productions. RZA from Wu Tang Clan is one of my favourite producers of all time. He puts together these beats, and they are fucking amazing; proper deep beats, really banging. He captures the errors in the sounds, the things that went wrong, but he gets them into the tunes and it makes them sound good. I kind of like that rough handled approach. There’s a kind of dirty graininess that I really appreciate. It makes you feel like your listening to something from his heart, rather than his MPC. Saying that, I do spend a lot of time tweaking shit. I tend to get stuck in that trap of making a beat and then tweaking it for the next two months.

How has living in Bristol influenced the music that you make?

I grew up idolising the Full Cycle lot; Roni Size, Krust, Die and Suv, and that was what originally got me into Jungle and Drum & Bass. It was like, wow, they live just up the road from me! I think that affected me a lot.

How about nowadays? Would you say that being around other Bristolian producers influences your sound?

I don’t think we are drawing on similar influences sound wise. The thing that influences me about all the people I’ve met who make Dubstep in Bristol, or Drum & Bass, House, Techno or whatever, is just the passion for music. That’s how it influences me. I’ll meet these people and chat to them, make a beat or something and then go straight back to my studio and be like yeah, I really want to make another beat.

Which of your tracks are you most proud of?

In terms of success, I’m most proud of Boat Noodles [Punch Drunk], that’s done the best sales wise. Personally though, the tracks that are the most ‘me’ are the Soul Motive tracks, ‘Into The Sunset’ and ‘Last Saloon Swagger’. Both those tunes are a little bit tongue in cheek… they’ve just got all the little bits that I find interesting.

Do you feel that you are making the kind of music that you want to be making, or do you feel as if you are still on a journey to get there?

I work with Joker quite a lot and he’s a technician when it comes to synthesis. He is absolutely superb; his melody is in his bones. When I work with him I get a little bit jealous. He can just sit down with his sequencer and make a fat synth line, whereas my synthesis isn’t so great. It’s always been a bit of a struggle for me to take the sounds that I hear in my head and make them in a synthesiser, but I’m definitely getting closer. I prefer working with organic, real instruments though, creating rhythms and that sort of thing.

You have just started a label with Neil Kymatik and Adam Bodynod; tell us more about that…

The label is called Soul Motive. We just want to put out music that, like I was saying earlier, tells a story. When you listen to music you can tell when someone’s written a part of themselves or an experience into a tune. We just want to put out music that captures a moment, whether that moment is in a club or whilst trying to cross the Savannah on horseback. That’s Soul Motive; music that just gets you.

Soul Motive 002 (Forsaken - 'Last Saloon Swagger' / 'Into The Sunset') is out now. Check out Blackdown's Blog for the story behind the artwork.

We've just set ourselves up a facebook page. It's feeling mighty lonely over there at the moment, so please add us and help us to spread the word! The link is in the image above.

There's also a chance of future discounts for our facebook fans, so it could well be worth your while to add us!

To help give you more of an idea of what we are all about, here are a couple of videos of events that we have been involved with in the past.

These videos show two of the headliners of our Dubstep night, Highroad, playing special intimate gigs before hand in Rooted Records. These were really great sessions, even though the ceiling did start raining rocks due to the bass!

Shackleton:

Bass Clef: (check out youtube for the other two parts): 

After a lot of planning, stress and hard work, Highrise Clothing has finally gone live!

This blog will soon be filled with news, interviews, features and reviews, so be sure to bookmark it and check back soon...

In the meantime, massive thanks go out to Sibbo, Anna, Paul, Rob, Ade, Sam, Andy, Lucas, Frank and Luca for all the help that they have provided.

Here's a few snaps of the Vinyl design being printed to get the ball rolling...