How do you think it might have been different if you had come from a larger city? Erm, maybe my music would be different; I guess sometimes you can be a product of your environment. I mean, if I’d have grown up in East London on a council estate or something – I know it’s very stereotypical, but maybe I would be making grime music. I don’t know, I’m just in to what I’m in to; I grew up listening to Hip Hop in the ‘90s and my step- dad was always force feeding me loads of East Coast rap music from America. Also he was really into Dub music as well and my Mum was really into Jungle, old Soul music and Reggae, so the whole bass-driven music thing definitely had a massive impact on my musical tastes.
I
I guess you can take influences from your parents regardless of where you are in the country… Yeah, although I don’t really see it as me coming from Ipswich, and that’s the reason why I make my music like I do. I think it’s an accumulation of things, you know. It’s not just Ipswich that made me make music the way I did, it’s also going to University as well and meeting loads of different types of people and getting exposed to lots of different types of music at that time. Getting in to Alternative music and old Rock music, listening to Joy Division and Animal Collective in my first year just broadened my horizons.
Uni seems to have been a big turning point for you… Yeah, if anything, that kinda defined what I do now, I guess. Tere was a whole lead up, up until that point with the whole dancehall Hip Hop stuff I used to listen to, but things got really experimental when I started listening to stuff at uni. It was a massive turning point for me and if anyone ever asked me if I thought it was worth them going to university, I’d say yes, not just in an education sense, but what a good university can bring to you, you can’t put a price on.
I’m interested in your studies as a graphic designer; it’s flowed through the rest of what you do and whereas most artists learn the idea of a brand later in their career, you’ll have understood from the beginning – do you see DELS as a brand though?
Not really; I don’t see it really as a brand, but more of a platform –
not just for me, but for some of my friends who are up and coming designers and photographers. I always thought it was a project where me and my friends could all
chip in and help each other out and get our ideas out there basically. When we were at university together and were working on projects, we always dreamed of doing album covers together and music videos. Because I work with two of my best mates, Christopher Barrett and Luke Taylor of US - a design studio in East London that they set up themselves - me having a record deal was a good time for us to come together again like we did at uni and showcase our ideas. I guess that in the musical sense, like when I write, it’s a very singular clear vision that I want to present, but as a visual, it’s a very collaborative process. Primarily it’s about what I think and want to make, but I like having some of my friends contribute to my ideas; it’s just what I do, it just doesn’t become too self-involved then.
I’ve watched all your videos and loved them and you can see you as a creative force all the way through them. How will you ever hand it over to someone else, or would you even want someone else to take that from you? No, no, that’s one piece of advice I did get from Joe Goddard, that whether it be a music video or an album cover, the core concept for the visuals should definitely come from the artist, just because when people listen to the music, they always see a different picture. If I’m writing it, or producing it, it should come from you directly. Coming from a design background, I wouldn’t really feel comfortable handing it over to someone else and letting them add their own ideas to it, because essentially it’s come from me.
I remember interviewing Felix from Hot Chip actually, and he said the only video they never felt quite comfortable about was one they let someone else come up with, so it
GETTING IN TO ALTERNATIVE MUSIC AND OLD ROCK MUSIC, LISTENING TO JOY DIVISION AND ANIMAL COLLECTIVE IN MY FIRST YEAR JUST BROADENED MY HORIZONS.
outlineonline.co.uk / September 2011 / 13
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