GREAT SKIES - 'AMBIENT 2STEP'

Some might say Post Dubstep, he prefers to describe his own sound as AMBIENT 2STEP. He should know the true meaning behind his own sound and that's what we attempt to find out! GREAT SKIES - 'Ambient 2Step' The Interview. 

The music producer GREAT SKIES was born in Kent. Studying at University and now living in East London. He is responsible for the music production behind the track Drowning - CONTEXT. Let's find out more as Great Skies talks to The Patch UP about his thoughts on the sound of Dubstep dying out in 2012, his Mascot for his Facebook fan page and his musical quest to collaborate with his favourite band Smoosh.?!


First of all, What music are you listening to right now?

In all honesty I haven’t found much new music recently that I’ve really enjoyed. I didn’t really enjoy Lana Del Rey’s album. Burial’s new Kindred EP was pretty good! Oh and also, a friend of mine recently showed me Clams Casino who is really good.

You said you didn't like Lana Del Rey's album, is that correct?

I actually didn't enjoy Lana Del Rey's album haha. A lot of people really like it but its just not for me.

Describe your musical style?

As much as I hate the term, I’m gonna have to say Post Dubstep. Every blog I read seems to have me down as a different genre to the last so I think I must just be quite hard to place. Either way, I like to think of my music as Ambient 2Step.

When you usually write a song, what do you go for?

Mostly, my songs are Autobiographical. Each song is about an experience I’ve had or something I’ve felt. For example, 'Point Me In The Right Direction' was about me being really low and trying to push forward. The vocal samples I use, for the most part anchor the song. Also, with each song I attempt something new or experiment with something.

You're now 21, How long have you been producing music?

I’ve been producing for 2 and a half years, ever since I came to university. I started with no headphones, just laptop speakers and Garageband on a MacBook Pro. Slowly I’ve moved up to better stuff. I now use Logic Pro and actually have some pretty good headphones that I got for Christmas. They’re Sennheiser HD 600’s.

Describe your setup?

I’m extremely stupid when it comes to the technical aspect of music production. I know how to use everything, its just I don’t know the technical language of how to use it and different frequencies of bass tones and all that stuff. I have a few techy friends who frequently try to talk to me about that kind of stuff and it just goes straight over my head!

Do you play any Musical Intruments?

I play a few instruments. I’ve only really studied Drums properly and done the grades. I play a bit of guitar but I’ve taught myself really and I play a bit of piano.

Who have you previously collaborated with? Any successful one's

Collaborations have always been kind of tricky. I’ve planned a lot of collaborations but they never seem to get finished due to lack of contact or just differences in the way we make a song. The only collaboration that I’d say was successful was ‘Drowning’ which I produced for Context. Other than that I’ve done a few remixes here and there recently.

Who are your Favourite artists at present?

I hate myself for this but I’ve grown a strange obsession with Die Antwoord. They’re strangely interesting to me. I guess they would be my guilty pleasure. Apart from that my favourite artists at the moment would probably be Radiohead, Smoosh, Bjork and Sbtrkt.

Do you have any Predictions on 2012 – the rest of the year being a big year for who? Or what?

I think Dubstep is dying out a bit now. I’ve seen a lot of Dubstep producers slowly changing over genres and distancing themselves from it. The genre to make at the moment is House music by the looks of things so I’d expect to see that come into the mainstream a little bit more.

Future collabs on the cards? Who would you most likely want to collaborate with and why?

I have no idea. I haven’t got anything planned really. I might be doing a song with Yanaku and The Camouflage Children soon who I’ve been chatting with recently. But apart from that I’ve got no plans. I’ve been trying to get in contact with Smoosh for a while, who are embarrassingly one of my favourite bands. They would be my dream collaboration for sure, but I doubt they’d want to collaborate with me, haha.

Talk about your Influences / biggest musical inspiration?

I guess I’ve just wanted to hear more ambient dance music for a while and there was such a shortage of it. I listened to a lot of Post Rock and Radiohead in my teens which kind of shaped the music I make today. Also, Burial has really opened a lot of doors for people like me.

Finally, Do you have any pets?

I have one dog. Sometimes I put photos up of him on my Facebook fanpage. I like to think of him as a mascot of sorts haha. CHARLIE !!

The Patch UP would like to thank GREAT SKIES for his time and wish him many successes in his musical quest. Please see the links below to his music, the video to his collaboration with Context and don't forget to pass by his facebook fan page and say hi to CHARLIE!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/GreatSkiesMusic
Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/greatskies
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GreatSkies

 Interview and edit by hugh b trey - patchup 2012