Podcast #28, Slug

About You – Biography
“Liam began his musical career around the age of 8 with live sets on his mum’s pots and pans, then moved on to formal classical training in piano, saxophone, voice, musical history and theory. In the 1990s, Liam began gigging in his home town as a drummer with a local rock and punk bands – until he moved to London, and discovered psytrance. Things would never be the same ….

Settling in Cape Town in the late 90s where the outdoor party scene was blooming, DJing soon followed. But, inspired by international producers coming to blast Cape Town dancefloors such as Etnica, Dino Psaras, Joti Sidhu, Koxbox, the Flying Rhino crew and others, he was inspired (more like blown away!) and had to begin producing for himself. So Liam disappeared into the studio, and the Slug project was born …

This unique sound began to catch the attention of psy lovers – first at home in the Cape Town scene – and then worldwide. Since the release of his debut album in 2004, Liam has played from Cape Town to Canada, Tokyo to Tel Aviv – gigging on literally every continent both live and as a DJ. In the process he has generated a dedicated following, and released over 80 tracks across various albums and projects.

Teaming up with respected producer Shift both to produce and release music, he is now also a co-owner of the Nexus Media record label, which has released the some of the cream of South African and international psytrance producers over the last few years, as well as being home to their acclaimed “”Pitch Hikers”" collaboration project.

2009 sees the next installment of the Slug story being prepared for release, as well as the public launch of “”20ft Stereo”", Liam’s new project showcasing his interests in techno, progressive and house.”

Can you describe your personal sound in a bit more detail?
I have liked a lot of the variety I have heard in psytrance over the years, and this has given my personal sound a somewhat schizophrenic edge.  On the one hand I like it hard, in the style of guys like 3DVision, Shift, Lost&Found etc. On the other hand I love melodic influences and more groovy morning sounds too. So I try to combine all these in each track, and the result is as you hear it

What/who have been Influences in your life?
Performing music is a huge influence. Both performing and watching others perform has probably been the biggest factor in pushing me to do what I do. Listening to music coming in at a close second. Massive musical influences on me have been Bob Marley and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, as well as blues (e.g. John Lee Hooker).

Who are some of your favorite producers?
“I’m hestitant to mention any “”all time favourites”" .. since it’s always in flux, but a current snapshot would be:
psytrance: Shift, Phatmatix, Lost&Found, Xatrik
other: Justice, Stimming, Dirty South, Trentemoller, Riktam&Bansi, Deadmau5, Sebastian Leger”

Who are some of your favorite DJ’s
“My friends, of course!

Aleph & Artifakt (Timecode)
Bruce (a Cape Town standard!)
Shift (Nexus Media)
Jester (Peak Rec)

Bascially ppl who put some thought and passion into what they do and are prepared to be adventurous, or perhaps even stubborn, in the face of trends.”

Best memories as a DJ?
Playing those sets that seem to just “”work”" effortlessly
When one of the best tracks in the set is one you wrote
Being on the dancefloor and hearing another DJ rip it up with a track you wrote
Playing to 10 000 + ppl
Having people in the audience (who dont even speak very good english) write and sign very sincere thank you note on a napkin and passing it forward to the DJ box.

What equipment do you use?
PC with Cubase and VSTs for studio production
Macbook for travelling work and live sets
Nord Lead 3 performance synth for studio work and live sets
CDJ100s for home mixing
TascamUS122 sound card / audio interface
Roland DS7 sutdio monitors

What can listeners/dance floors expect from a typical set of yours?
In the live sets, it’ll be the latest output from my studio and collaboration projects (see question 2 above!).
In the DJ sets, some of my own mixed with new tracks from producers I’m lucky enough to get new unreleased tracks from: Phatmatix, Lost&Found, Shift, Abomination etc. This tends to push the DJ set in a harder direction than the live set.

Take us through this mix
This is the 1 hour set I played @ the Groovy Troopers / Organik party @ The Assembly, Cape Town, 11 July 2009

1) Slug – The Mullet
This track is a new one I’ve just sold to BMSS Records, a new German label. It’s called the Mullet cos it’s all business up front, but a total party in the back! The jazzy piano chord refrain is me testing a new piano VST I got …

2) Slug vs Painkiller – Roll Feature
This is a collaboration with Painkiller, a good friend and a great producer. It was on his album from 2008, and it’s been a regular in my sets since we wrote it.

3) Slug – Vibrate the Body
New, unreleased, coming on my next album. Latest SLUG flavours reflected here.

4) Slug vs Xatrik – Check Positive
Xatrik is the first guy I began to produce with. So writing this was a bit of “”back to my roots”" in late 2008. Released on Aussie label Digital Psionics.

5) Zion Linguist – Plugged In (Slug remix)
Remix I did of the title track from the last Zion Linguist album. It works every time!

6) Slug – Random
A very personal, Sluggy piece, from my last album. Gets me going. Makes the floor bounce.

7) Slug – Hardwired
Also from the last album, this one is me trying to say no to melody, just keeping the harder grooves turning over and over.

8 ) Slug vs Shift (Pitch Hikers) – Look to Windward
I always try and include one Pitch Hikers track (Pitch Hikers being my project with Shift). This is one we did around end 2008, probably coming out on our next album. There’s something special about a good collaboration, taking your own stuff to a new level it wouldnt have reached on its own. This one is solid tech in the begnning and just mental in the end.

9) Slug vs Lost & Found – Synthetic
Probably my most sucessfull track of the last while (feedback wise). This is something Gerhard and I wrote in 2007, but it was only just released on BOA Group / Nutek Recs (Israel). It’s very epic, so I like to end with it.”

If you want to add anything which you didnt get a chance to above, drop it in here
“If you’re interested in what I do, keep up to date or send me a message at www.facebook.com/absoluteslug or via twitter – www.twitter.com/liamgibbs

I also offer private 1on1 tuition in dance music production, anyone interested can get me at the above or liam@nexus-media.co.za

thanks

Downloaded 221 times

Host: Soundcloud.com
Bitrate: 192KBPS MP3
Size: 78MB