Interview: Moony
Moony’s uplifting beats and garage vibes are enough to please the ears of ravers day in, day out. We got to know the producer and DJ and asked about his life and times in the music industry, from grime to garage to…cooking?
Where did it all begin? When did you start learning to make music?
Early teens really, a while after I learned to DJ I decided I wanted to start producing tracks. I got hold of a copy of Fruity Loops 3, installed it on the family PC then after a few months of trial and error got the hang of it.
What was the moment you realised you wanted to produce and DJ?
I couldn't pin point a specific moment, but I remember always having an interest in dance music. I used to buy Mixmag and listen to the free CDs and think these guys (the DJs) have the best job in the world haha. I must have been about 11, 12, they had a set of decks and some records at my youth club so I set them up one night and every night since then I was on them teaching myself how to beat match.
When you’re not producing or DJing who do you listen to?
Good question, to be honest I spend so much time either listening to what I'm working on or music I'd play as a DJ I get behind with popular music in general. I'm a big Stevie Wonder fan, I listen to a lot of soul and neo soul music apart from that whatever rap my friends listen to and whatever R’n’B CDs my girlfriend leaves in the car.
What do you want people to feel when they hear your music?
Anything at all! If I've made a song that's made someone feel any type of emotion then I've done my job as far as I'm concerned.
Was there anything growing up that influenced your musical styles?
Absolutely nothing, you always hear musicians say they grew up around this and that. Well my mum liked Simply Red and my dad liked Phil Collins and neither of them played an instrument as an adult so I have no clue why I'm musically inclined... But I've got a four year old son with a keen interest in my keyboard and decks and a one year old daughter that sings and dances to anything. So they can thank me for their rich musical upbringing when they're older haha.
What is your favourite song of all time and why?
Donnie Hathaway - Song For You. It's obviously very far removed from what make and play myself but for personal reasons it means a lot to me it's a very emotive track and I’ve always said I want it played at my funeral.
You don’t just stick to one genre of music, why is this?
I just get fed up, short attention span I guess... You can put whatever I make under the broader garage umbrella but really if I'm working on say four projects at a time and they’re all similar in style it becomes a chore and I don't like it. So at any time I'll be working on say one 2step track, one 4x4, one grime etc. just makes it more interesting. And I find little traits from each genre will trickle through to other genres I'm working on which I feel makes for more exciting and less generic music.
Tell me something that most people won’t know about you.
I love cooking, I cook most of the meals in my house I honestly think if I weren’t into music I’d be a chef.
Is there a specific genre you prefer?
Obviously I'd have to say garage. When I first got noticed I was making a lot of grime and there's always people that will associate me with it but I started out making garage and on a whole my garage tracks have always been better received. So as much as I'll always follow and like grime you have to play to your strengths, I didn't want to stay stagnating in one genre when I could thrive in the genre I started with in the first place.
Do you go out clubbing/raving, if so where?
Not like I used to no, for the last few years I've been playing out regularly so when I have a weekend off I don't tend to go raving just for the sake of it much anymore. I do love the club environment I feel at home in a club, but honestly unless me or people I know are performing I'm a myth haha.
Explain your most memorable clubbing experience
Probably when I just turned 18 there was a garage/grime night in Brighton called Obsession. These where the first times I saw the artists I looked up to in a proper club, I couldn't pick a specific memory but just that era of my life really made me think "this is a bit of me".
Do you think that there any differences between garage and grime music in terms of the crowds you see?
There never used to be, it's always been traditionally the same crowd but these days I find garage has a more diverse crowd both age and background, whereas grime definitely a younger more student type crowd.
Your involved in making what some might call 'underground' music, which is always increasing in popularity do you think that people are becoming more open minded towards the more underground sounds? Is this a good thing, or do you believe that underground should stay underground?
Well yeah the term underground is subjective I guess it's only underground until it gets a big enough following. From a garage point of view it seems to keep getting reincarnated (UK funky, niche, deep house, jackin’ house) Which all bubble away then become popular mainstream music then it goes back underground for a few years and until it's next incarnation so looking at it over the years it's neither good or bad it just shows that music goes in cycles and will always go in and out of popularity.
What do you think about the current state of the London club scene, are there any other cities that could rival the London scene? What about Brighton?
If I'm totally honest I like playing up north. I think the London raver or just southerners in general can take it all a bit seriously sometimes. Whereas when I go to places like Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester people just want go party and are a bit more open to what they want to listen to. But I don’t know maybe it's just me, before DJing I'd never really been north of Milton Keynes, so it's like in the last few years I'm discovering all these great cities for the first time so I could be a bit biased in that respect. Sadly the Brighton club scene is not what it used to be. I’m proud to have a residency at Audio (soon to be renamed Patterns) which is really the last proper music venue other than Concorde 2. All the other clubs have been sold on and re-opened as mainstream Oceana, Liquid and Envy, stag-and-hen-type venues which is sad.
What’s the best place you’ve ever played and why?
Probably Outlook festival just because it's a great festival to be a part of, playing in the open air in the summer to a massive crowd, ticks a lot of boxes for a DJ.
Is there anything in the pipeline for the future that you’re excited about? EP releases? Anything out now?
Yeah currently wrapping up my latest remix EP, which if you missed previous versions is a collection of unofficial bootleg remixes. That should be ready to go late March/early April. Also working on some original material with some great vocalists and singers as well as some big remixes, so yeah few bits in the pipeline
If you had to pick something musical that inspires you from the past, what would be and why?
There are certain production and arrangement techniques I've picked up from the old school garage producers I mentioned earlier, that I've stuck with till this day. For example bass programming from early Wookie stuff, drum arrangement from El B, vocal manipulation from Todd Edwards, track arrangement from Sticky. These are all things I've picked up and run with almost unconsciously really it's only been the last few years I've been able to see what a direct impact these guys have had on my sound.
What is your opinion on the grime scene at the moment?
There's some great stuff happening in grime, events like Butterz and Boxed. A new generation of producers like Murlo and Dark0 MC’s like Novelist have all helped give the scene a new lease of life and it’s great to see. From my point of view the problem I have and had is that it moved away from being club music with the raver in mind, and became basically a back drop for rappers and MC’s. There's some really innovative and talented producers that have emerged but apart from a handful none of them are catering to the raver, I don’t know maybe I'm showing my age here but whenever I've been to a big grime event in the last few years the highlights have been MC’s spitting over old classic instrumentals. I'm just not hearing those crazy energetic instras anymore, stuff like Davinche, Dok and Dexplicit in their prime is what made me love grime. Really this is why I'm fully into this 4x4 bass garage stuff right now cos the energy of the music and the crowd reaction remind me of that era of grime. I'm playing 130bpm 4x4 bass music and having to give a tune 3/4 reloads in a club coz people are screaming for it going mad. That said I'll always love grime I still make grime, arguably my most successful track from last year was a grime track (Ballin'- released on project all out). But sadly as a DJ I'm just not receiving enough new grime music to string together a cohesive 100% grime set.
