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.