WEBVTT - Ep 28: Toddla T 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:30.880 Loud and Quiet presents Midnight Chats. 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:24.760 Through making our podcast every fortnight for the past fourteen 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:27.360 months or so. One of my favorite things about doing 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:32.560 it has been the countless artists, albums, films, directors, places 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:36.280 that it's turned me onto when we record these. Almost 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:39.480 every time someone will mention something that afterwards I'll always 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:42.199 go and check out. But I'd say my guest on 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:46.360 this latest episode, toddler Ta takes that to another level. 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:50.760 He's a music obsessive, as most of the people we 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:54.240 have on here are, but the sheer breadth and depth 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.600 of his knowledge is mind boggling. Plus the way he 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:02.600 talks about it is really infectious. If toddler t isn't 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:05.720 a name you know all too well, his story started 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:08.960 back in Yorkshire. He wasn't even a teenager before he 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:12.680 learned to DJ and mix, and by his late teens, 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:15.760 still living at home in Sheffield working in a shoe shop. 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:19.639 He got signed and moved down to London and today 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.880 he's put out two solo records. His debut Skanky Skanky 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:25.440 in two thousand and nine, and then watched Me Dance 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:27.600 a couple of years later. He's also made a new 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:31.199 one after a sort of gap of six or so years. 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:32.920 This will be his third one and it's called Foreign 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:35.080 Light and it comes out in July, and you might 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:38.440 have heard the lead single, Beast, which features Steph London. 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:44.080 But Toddler t definitely isn't just an album artist, though 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:47.360 he lists a few in the podcasts you're about to hear, 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:50.160 but he's been a producer and a collaborator with the 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:55.080 likes of Roots Maneuver, Jmee, Wilie Jammer and Rasheeen Murphy 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:58.240 over the years, loads of others as well. And outside 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:01.440 of that, he's a broadcaster, hosting his own regular shows 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:04.080 on Radio one and one Extra. He's also a DJ, 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:07.600 which is pretty much taken into every corner of the 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:09.480 world over the last decade or so. 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:11.960 Now. I always roll. 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:15.040 My eyes when I hear the word eclectic used in 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:19.760 relation to music taste or knowledge, but Toddler Tea truly 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:24.080 does have an eclectic taste. You'll discover that in this podcast, 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:27.280 literally from the very beginnings of his love of US 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:33.359 rap through to British hip hop, reggae, dubstep, electronica, everything 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:38.480 in between. And outside of that, he's also encyclopedic on grime, 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:41.440 having championed it from the very very early days, and 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:44.520 he talks about that and where he thinks that's all 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:48.600 heading next after Obviously, Grime's had a couple of years 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:51.040 very much in the kind of spotlight in the mainstream, 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:54.880 and he also has had first hand experience of visiting 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:57.280 and recording in Jamaica, which means he really does know 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:00.000 what he's talking about when it comes to Dan siland 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:02.520 reggae music. And I thought that was really fascinating when 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:05.600 he talks about that for this Midnight Chats. He invited 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:08.280 me to his studio in West London a couple of 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:10.600 weeks ago to record the conversation you're about to hear. 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:13.520 The place is about one hundred meters from where he 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:16.760 throws his annual sound system and his annual party at 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:19.640 notting Hill Carnival each August, and I must admit I 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:22.080 left thinking that I can't really be anywhere else this 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:23.880 Bank holiday weekend in August. 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:25.280 He really did sell it to me. 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:28.520 And just finally, if you do like what you hear, 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:31.760 do subscribe to our podcast Midnight Chats. It means you'll 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:34.200 automatically get a new episode when we put them up 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:38.360 each fortnight at midnight on a Thursday and rate us, 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:39.480 review us all. 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:40.560 That kind of helpful stuff. 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:43.880 But for now I will leave you with this. It's 0:03:43.920 --> 0:04:07.440 Toddler Tea on episode twenty eight of Midnight Chats. So 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:11.600 Lea Tea, thanks for joining us on Midnight Chats. Normally 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:14.520 we record this podcast in our little office in East London, 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:17.160 but we kind of made a trip out today and 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:19.599 just tell us a bit about where we are and 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:20.960 what we can go and see around us. 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:23.800 Right now in my studio in West London, I've been 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:27.400 in this building for seven years now. I think it 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:29.719 feels like twenty minutes, but that's what life's like at 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:32.440 the minute. I used to share with them, the producer 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:34.720 called red Light, and he used to have this room 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:37.200 that was setting right now. And when we exit this room, 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:39.360 there's a teeny little room to the right that's about 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:42.520 the size of an average toilet. And I remember when 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:45.320 we first moved in here, I was so proud to 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:49.520 have a studio with a security door, proper lights and 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:52.320 air conditioning because my first studio in Sheffield, where I 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:56.080 grew up and learned my craft, was a space in 0:04:56.160 --> 0:05:00.600 a warehouse called Kenilworth Works, and it was thirty a month, 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:04.000 and he's yeah, And it was so cold on a 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:07.159 cold day that you could see your own breath because 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:10.239 it was just a room with cracks in the wall. 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:12.880 And above us was a rehearsal studio, and when they played, 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:14.960 you couldn't really make music because it was so loud. 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:17.640 And I remember coming to this particular unit and working 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:19.720 next door with the producer called Sagety, and. 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:21.920 Being like, Oh my god, imagine if one day I 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:23.000 could have a studio like this. 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:26.200 So when I managed to actually be able to fortunately 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:28.839 be able to afford a space like this, even the 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:31.840 little room next door felt like such a luxury. So 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:34.600 I worked in that little room for sort of three years. 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:36.760 Then Hugh Redlight moved out and I took the whole 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:41.919 space on it's recording studio, stroke Boys room. All the 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:43.560 stuff that my partner hasn't let me have in the 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:46.320 house ends up here. Hence, while there's an inflatable parrot 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:49.880 to my right, there are trainers that I really like 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:52.039 that are just taking up room in the house. On 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:54.599 the wall, there's some memorabilia. There's a lot of stuff 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:55.560 from Carnival. 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:57.760 Was going to say, I guess see some Worcester source 0:05:57.760 --> 0:05:58.920 over it or something like that. 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:00.440 Whennish relish. 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:02.760 There's a company in Scheffer called Henderson's and if you're 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:05.320 from Sheffield or around it pretty much every time you 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:07.600 go to a pub that is on the table with 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:11.640 the other condiments. It's a very home pride. We actually 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:13.640 did a collab with them, so we did tudder t 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:15.279 Henderson's relish a few years ago. 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:16.919 So for me that's a big moment. 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:20.560 That's like, you know, I don't know, a vodka fan 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:24.800 doing like a collab with you know, a Gray Goose, 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:28.400 you know, Like for me, that was a deep moment anyway. 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:31.039 So yeah, it's just you know, obviously this music equipment, 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:34.080 but obviously just a stash a lot of stuff here. 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:35.960 There's a room there. I have my stage at night. 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:38.320 Ill Carnival is about one hundred meters away, so a 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:40.479 lot of the stuff makes it back here for stash 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.440 and we bring it out carnival time. So yeah, it's great. 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:45.159 It's my own space. I make music here, but I 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:46.800 can work from here. I can dump the thick and 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:49.479 have a laugh here. Had a session this weekend where 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:51.679 we had a sort of mini party at the same time. 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:53.520 It's a joy Man. I love it in here. 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:56.800 It's I thought about moving a few times, but it's 0:06:56.839 --> 0:07:00.640 just too convenient and too good. I'd just been doing 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:02.080 it for the sake. So yeah. 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:05.440 Right behind your head is a poster for Skanky Skanky, 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:07.839 which is your debut album, and it says twenty fifth 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:11.480 of May two thousand and nine. That is pretty much 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:14.440 bang on eight years ago. So what do you remember 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:15.040 from that time? 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:18.120 Shoes that's mid Well, these posters here, there's one right 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:21.760 on the wall. As you mentioned, these were the promo 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:26.640 posters that were slapped all around Sheffield and this record here, 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:30.400 Skanky Kenky, my debut record, as you said, was a 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:33.320 compilation and works of everything I've been doing I guess 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:36.440 three four years prior to it, and it was very 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:39.760 much a Sheffield thing. I was born and raised there. 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:41.840 I made the majority of the record in there with 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:45.440 another producer called Ross Autumn, who was an amazing producer 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:48.520 from Sheffield. He's very, very punk spirited, so he was 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:50.480 perfect in the time of my life to help me 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:53.920 with that record because the sound of it was very raw, young, 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:59.000 bit stupid, and I worked in his studio and that 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:01.360 time in my life is kind of mad because I 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:04.680 went from working in a shop selling trainers and clothes 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:08.520 for four pounds an hour to slowly getting phone calls 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:10.440 in the back of the stock room asking me to 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:12.600 come to London and play, and I spit to do 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:15.800 remixes and all this stuff, and overnight it felt like 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:19.760 it all had happened. And it was actually quite overwhelming 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:22.880 because even though I'd been making music for so long 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:25.080 before that, I'd been DJing for since I was ten, 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:28.480 so music was my life for most of my life. 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:30.680 By the time it all got serious, it was just 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:33.360 a bit mental. I was like, oh my gosh, Like 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:36.520 I felt like I kind of had to be a 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:38.600 man all of a sudden. I was living at home 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:40.920 with mums. All of a sudden people were talking about 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:42.840 a lot of money and you know, big meetings and 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:45.560 all this stuff. So it was a mad, mad time 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:48.120 because it was so much joy with the music and 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:51.240 so much so much paying off of what I've been 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:52.920 trying to achieve. But at the same time, it felt 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:55.240 like I just had to step up straight away. 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:56.400 It was kind of weird. It was like I went 0:08:56.440 --> 0:09:00.400 to university for three years in like twenty minutes. So yeah, 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:03.480 it was a joy and that just set the foundation. 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:06.319 As to where I am now, luckily, so very very 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:08.520 important moment and record for me in my life. 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:11.320 That one you just mentioned then that you started dging 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:13.120 when you were ten years old, So when did you 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:16.040 What was the circumstance where you stood behind a pair 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:19.040 of decks for the first time and ten years old. 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:21.880 I know it even seems weird to say now, but 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:25.520 it's funny because my older sister was always well into 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:28.520 music anyway, and obviously growing up on older brother or sister, 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:31.040 you know, you look up too, so I think I 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:33.240 always had that subconsciously in my mind that music was 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:37.720 obviously something really cool or really aspirational. But I was 0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:40.040 just obsessed with hip hop when I got to about nine. 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:44.079 Because when you're growing up, particularly them times, they're slightly 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:46.480 different now, I guess with smartphones and stuff, you buy 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:48.960 one or you get given one CD potentially a year, 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:51.280 so it being like a now thirty eight or something 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:54.720 batter that, and you know all the hit songs. And 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:58.959 that was obviously my younger life. I got into random 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:00.920 stuff like meat Loave. When I was about seven, me 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:02.840 and my dad went to see him at Sheffield Arena, 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:06.000 and you know, just stuff like that you just stumble 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:08.160 across and you'd have that one tape and you batter it. 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:09.720 But then when I got old enough to kind of 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:12.960 find my own stuff, I just got obsessed with rap. 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:14.760 And it was Westwood on Radio one. 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:17.160 It was your MTV raps that you used to show 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:21.000 for six hours at night twice a week on MTV 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:25.120 and local pirate station called SCR, and I just sort 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:28.160 of dived right in. My cousin showed me Biggie's first album. 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:32.400 I just got obsessed. I thought it was everything was brilliant. 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:36.160 Lyrics, beats, artwork, the fact that they swore it was 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:39.280 all perfect. As I was watching MTV raps so much, 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:41.319 there was always a DJ, I was like, I can 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:41.760 be him. 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:43.760 I can't be that rapper. It don't make sense. I'm 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:47.000 from Sheffield and I'm small and pale and skinny, but 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:47.840 I can beat the DJ. 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:52.480 So I just got into that idea and started buying. Well, actually, 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:56.079 my dad, bless him, brought me Malcolm McLaren pre Buffalo 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:58.280 Girls Can Run You Sorry from a second hand shot, 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:01.920 and that was my first record, I think Vinyl anyway, 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:04.199 and then I just started going to town and collecting 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:08.640 pocket money and buying records and eventually got two belt 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:13.200 drive turntables that were Hi Fi ones, not pitched ones, 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:16.480 and a mixer from Richard Sounds. 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:20.199 And that was probably around ten to eleven. 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:24.240 The needles kept breaking and stuff, and the mixer was terrible, 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:28.000 but it just made me, you know, get the idea 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:30.400 of putting records together and buying vinyl when I could 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:33.120 afford it. So my record collection started, and by the 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:36.000 time I got to fourteen fifteen and i'd. 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:39.920 Proper saved, saved. 0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:42.439 I've managed to get proper turntables as such and could 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:45.200 djn mix and start sketching and stuff. And that's the 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:47.120 similar sort of time when I was invited to start 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:47.960 playing out as well. 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:50.120 So smart for. 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:52.640 So many people when they're going up and kind of 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:55.600 discovering music for the first time, it doesn't often come 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:58.600 via the kind of like immediate family that it's like 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:03.000 I remember, it's still kind of like an ongoing joke 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:04.960 in my family now where if I if I go 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:07.400 home and I put something on, my folks be like, 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:10.000 what is this nonsense? Is this nice? Whereas it sounds 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:11.679 like the opposite of for you know, like that early 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:15.079 encouragement was like the absolutely springboard to basically doing what 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:15.640 you're doing now. 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:15.840 Right. 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:20.280 Definitely, they're like, they probably didn't like it, you know, 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:26.280 be hearing yeah, hearing Biggie being shouted down the stairs 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:29.160 like some pretty brutal skits on that album as well, 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:33.040 you know, but they tolerated it, and there's there's no 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:36.640 doubt about it. It's like they their support or even 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:38.240 their kind of I don't even know if it was 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:40.160 like conscious, but the fact that they allowed that to 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:44.000 happen allowed me to be here. Definitely, I'm so blessed 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:46.960 in that sense. And my dad's I'm my mom to 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:51.079 be fair well into music, different stuff, so I think 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:54.120 they probably got got that passion. They understood it more 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:56.280 than someone that didn't like music or didn't really go 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:57.280 to gigs or whatever. 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:00.680 So yeah, it's true. It's it's definitely true in that sense. 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:03.240 My sister I didn't really get the music she was 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:06.480 into until later in my life. She loved house music 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:09.080 in the nineties and early nineties, and I just didn't 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:12.480 get that for years. But it was still always on 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:14.400 and you could hear the kick drums and rare air 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:17.120 through the ceiling, so it was always about you know, 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:20.680 my house was quite musically driven, even if people didn't 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:25.280 play instruments or DJ. So yeah, but my parents one 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:28.120 hundred percent. The support is definitely helped me be here. 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:31.160 But it's like crucial really, yeah, blessed. 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:33.240 And talk to me a bit about the kind of 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:36.920 journey from leaving Sheffield. So when things kind of like 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:39.480 started to get going for you, like you're saying, you 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:43.959 were getting the the opportunities to come like play bigger 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:46.760 DJ gigs and like, you know, people were kind of 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:49.120 interested in having big meetings, where did the transition to 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:52.719 coming down to London happen and what was what was 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:55.000 that like, you know, growing up in Sheffield being surrounded 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:58.280 by what is like an amazing music city, but then 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:01.439 London's the whole bigger level, isn't it. So what was 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:02.880 that like when you first arrived? 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:04.800 Boy? 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:07.600 I used to come to London anyway before, just as 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:11.720 by records. I remember coming down with a school friend 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:18.160 on buying final from everywhere from the HMV to Tower 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:21.320 to mister Bongos and so, so it wasn't like the 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:23.360 first time before that I'd come down with my mom 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:25.880 to like the science music and stuff. Who were coming 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:30.400 down as older and meeting music people and going to raves. 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:33.960 It was just like it was just amazing because sheffields 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:37.520 like you say, has got an incredible music, music scene 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:41.400 history and a hub, but it's still quite small on 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:43.680 the grand scheme of things, Whereas when I come to London, 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:47.480 there so many people doing what I did. I the 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:50.360 fashion element of London I loved. Other people were wearing 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:53.160 stuff that I really liked and admired, and it was 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:54.960 all different types of people. So it was like as 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:57.800 a young man, it was super exciting. And I used 0:14:57.840 --> 0:15:00.240 to come down and there's a guy called Rathaun Dell 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:03.480 who worked for ninety sixty five at the time, and 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:06.160 he sent I sent him a demo you see, and 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:08.560 he puts some all my early records out and again 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:10.920 it's integral to where I'm sat here today. And I 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:12.960 used to go and meet him and stay on his 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:18.680 sofa in Forest Hill for probably three years, and he 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:19.560 was very much. 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:20.960 At the epicenter of what was going on. 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:25.240 And he had an office in Soho with James Endercut 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:27.480 and so at the time that's where all the labels were. 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:30.160 So I'd get off the train and I'd get the 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:32.120 tube and probably get lost to try and find him 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:34.760 and go soho, and there's all these clothing trainer shops. 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:36.840 Everyone was wearing all the new stuff. And then I'd 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:38.360 go meet him and we end up in the pub 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:41.520 with some like music producer or something, and it was 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:43.520 just like it. It kind of weirdly felt like I 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:47.480 was home with like a massive group of like people 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:49.960 that were so similar to me in terms of the 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:52.880 passion for the music and the artumn. And yeah, by 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:55.240 the time I actually moved here, I was going home 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:58.160 to get a pair of socks, like I That's one 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:00.160 of the reasons I actually settled here, because it was 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:04.280 getting ridiculous how little I was at home. It wasn't 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:06.320 like a big conscious decision like I'm going to move 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:08.320 to London and make it in the music bese. It 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:10.880 was like, if I don't move he or not, I'm 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:13.840 going to probably waste so much money on train free 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:16.640 and it's just inconvenient for everyone. So it was like 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:18.920 a slow process to actually being based here. 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:23.160 Once you got into this, into your studio. You mentioned 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:26.320 at the top that you've been in here for like 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:27.560 six seven years now. 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:29.200 Yeah, I think even maybe longer. 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:31.760 But yeah, Yeah, What have been some of your favorite days, 0:16:31.840 --> 0:16:37.880 favorite nights, favorite kind of sessions in this room in particular, There's. 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:40.680 Been so many, so many good times. I mean, I'm biased. 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:42.720 I love this space, but people always say it's got 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:46.880 a spirit to it and people always delivering here, which 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:49.920 is bizarre because in studios sometimes people just can't catch 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:53.000 a vibe whatever. I don't think I've ever had a 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:56.320 bum session in this room, which is bizarre because everyone 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:58.840 has an off day, but obviously I'll be sat here 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:02.600 some days and it's not happening, but with artists and collaborations, don't. 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:05.240 I literally haven't had a dead session in here, which 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:07.840 is kind of bizarre. I think people like the fact 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.680 it don't feel like a studio. It is a studio look, 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:12.960 but it's more like just a bit of a messy 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:16.080 room with some speakers and loads of stuff in it, 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:17.480 and I think that helps to the vibe. 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:19.000 But there's been loads, man. 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:26.000 I mean, I've done sessions in here with Jamie Skepta, 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:32.359 Miss Dynamite, Jamaican artists like prote Jay sons of dub 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:36.840 Coco's artists from Sheffield, Me and him developed his whole 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:39.639 sounding here. I've had a lot of after parties in 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:43.080 here one this weekend. That's why it sounds a bit fragrant. 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:48.640 I mean, boy, and the room next door is the 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:51.080 old room is now the Vocal Boost that's where everyone 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:55.000 voice is now, and again before that a similar thing. 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:00.440 There's been so many, mane, It's like it's because I 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:03.040 used to work, start work about two or three and 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:05.440 go till midnight, and now I start at nine in 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:07.440 morning and finish at seven because I've got two kids, 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:12.680 and I encourage artists to come down really early, which 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:13.960 you see some sleepy eyes, right. 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:15.240 Yeah, which they don't. 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:18.800 I'm not all of them, but you know, it's particularly 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:20.600 young and I want to have been here at nine 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:24.359 at morning. I didn't when I was twenty two. So yeah, 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:29.439 I've done here like from early, and people always deliver, 0:18:29.640 --> 0:18:32.040 and it's been a joy. And there's too there's too 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:35.760 many moments. Really, there's nothing like bonkers that's ever happened. 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:38.920 No one's ever set anything on fire or fell. 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:39.640 Asleep mid take. 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:45.160 But it's just been a very consistent and joyful musical 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:49.120 moments in this room that just seemed to flow supernatural. 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:51.800 And I think it's something of this it's a weird 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:53.560 spirit in this room, and people kind of say it 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:55.480 as well. I actually lend this room out to friends 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:58.320 sometimes as well, and they always say the same something 0:18:58.359 --> 0:19:01.040 about your studio, man, studios. 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:01.840 I'll tell you. 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:05.959 Actually recently, I actually did some additional production on this 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:10.320 record called Crank It, which is by George Kowally and Kiddeko. 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:13.479 It's a massive kind of pop dance record. 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:17.280 It was big in the club for Ages, and Ministry 0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:19.320 of Sound came to me to help make it into 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:21.920 more of a radio record. So we took the beat 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:25.560 and we vocal Naddie Rose and sweet Ire in here, 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:28.240 and then they went and we arranged it and mixed 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:30.280 it and it went and then. 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:31.399 I thought cool. 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:33.399 And then it went to radio and it started to 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:35.320 do really well, and it were funny because I kept 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:37.480 getting a taxi home and hearing it on the way 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:39.520 home and in. 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:42.160 Like Capital Lextra or Kiss. 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:43.960 Like really mainstream stations. And it's funny because when you 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:46.199 come out the room here onto the high street of 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:49.000 the road, sorry, it's empty, it's dead, And when you 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:51.040 get in the cabin hear that record. It's just weird 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:53.439 because I just don't think you'd expect it to come 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:55.919 out of this room or this building. So that's the 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:58.240 latest thing that's been quite funny to sort of see 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:01.600 when I'm getting like a taxi home for hearing a 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:03.960