As part of The Vault Festival this Saturday, Oscar Davies talks to electronic phenomenon, Slugabed, about getting weird in the studio.
You can buy your tickets here to Electronic Lockdown.
Note to all King’s students: the Vaults are situated a 2 minute walk from Stamford Street, and can be found next to Leake Street, possibly the coolest graffiti tunnel in existence…
OD: I’ve really enjoyed listening to your album, Time Team, could you tell us about some of its influences?
Slugabed: At the time of writing that album I was listening to everything from Nick Drake to Lil Wayne, so its pretty difficult for me to pin down direct musical influences for the album. I spent a lot of time working on the album and became quite absorbed in it, to the point where everything around me was becoming a part of it. I was reading a lot of sci-fi books at the time as well and sat in my garden a lot. It was a very relaxed time in my life and I didn’t really want to write hugely club-orientated stuff, I just wanted to get weird in the studio. Since writing “Time Team†I have been writing more clubby stuff, but trying to maintain the atmosphere and beauty that I was trying to create before.
OD: Have you ever performed in the Vaults? If not, what do you think it will be like?
Slugabed: I haven’t performed there before, but I’ve looked around and the room we are hosting looks very cool. Its a big dark vault (obviously), and there’s gonna be beer and loud music and its gonna be heaps of fun.
OD: What is your favourite venue in London to perform in and why?
Slugabed: I really like plastic people. I usually like smallish, simple venues with good sound and simple lighting (or darkness). I like it to feel like a proper rave, rather than a “showâ€.
OD: Where would you put yourself on a spectrum from ‘experimental’ to ‘mainstream’?
Slugabed: I never really do anything in regard to genre to be honest. I just write the music that I wanna write when I sit down in my studio. I’m never really trying to push boundaries or make statements with my music, I’m just trying to write music that I like. I guess that’s probably the best way to be, ‘cos if someone focuses too much on trying to be different they might forget to be good also. That said, my music is pretty different from a lot of music. I definitely wouldn’t consider myself mainstream. I’m just doing what I love and hoping enough other people like it too.
Great, thanks Slugabed! We look forward to hearing you this Saturday at the Vaults in Waterloo.
There are events on at the Vault festival until early March, so take a look!
