Soundcrash

Rob Waller of Soundcrash Interview

-Soundcrash are responsible for some of the best underground music events in the UK. They work closely with respected labels, from Ninja Tune and Warp Records to incredible artists like DJ Krush and Mos Def in order to create constant and heavily needed live entertainment in London and other cities.

-Can you tell us about Soundcrash and the role you play within the company?

R: I started up Soundcrash to promote different nights around London in 2003, at first only to do one or two events per year. Originally, it was supposed to be a mash-up of electronic and hip-hop and we did the events at 333 on Bank Holidays and absolutely tore it up with a couple of all-nighters like our Ninja Tune vs. Warp night and Rephlex Records nights.

In the past two years, we felt the time was right to really push things forward and try and take some of these artists and putting them up against bigger artists and try to drive the new scene forward. This is where I feel Soundcrash’s place is in the UK & Europe now.

-Conceptually, what sort of sound would you say that Soundcrash are known for?

R: That’s a difficult one! There’s two ends of the brackets that we encompass; hip-hop is very important, we love jazz, there’s a healthy helping of dubstep and traditional reggae as well as anything that is beats-orientated and electronic that is new and exciting.

- How did you choose the artists on your roster? Did you approach them or did they approach you?

R: For the past few years, it has been me approaching artists, trying to define what we are and trying to keep certain key players involved whilst trying to promote smaller artists with them. But increasingly more so, in the past year, people have been approaching us which is always flattering. But we are quite strict as we won’t just let anybody get on our roster.

-If you quickly scan your events, you can see a lot of Ninja Tune artists and Warp artists, what’s your relationship with these two labels?

R: I have a long relationship with both labels. I still see them as some of the most interesting labels to try and bridge audio and visuals.

They have both had ups and downs but they seem to be able to constantly re-invent themselves and are both doing some really interesting stuff this year. I really want to try and push some of their smaller projects forward more like Daedalus, who is getting more acceptance and respect from the London populous now.

-Tell us about the spectrum of artists you organize events with; from some of the biggest to the smaller guys.

R: We work with artists like DJ Krush and Roots Manuva, to more jazzy sounding guys like The Cinematic Orchestra. We also work with the likes of Memory 9, Flying Lotus & Edit. There seems to be a lot of good stuff coming out of America right now, it’s about time they pulled their weight!

It’s such a large country with so much potential so it’s nice to hear some avant-garde beats. I’m also getting into Jackson and his Computer Band from Warp as they are making some really interesting tracks at the moment. There’s actually too many artists to mention, check the website to see what we have done in the past.

-It looks like Soundcrash are helping to manage Memory 9 at the moment; is this something you see yourself doing more in the future?

R: It’s not really something that I envisage Soundcrash doing more but there’s definitely an exception for guys like Memory 9. He’s just so good and so interesting and I really think that his sound is almost 22nd century and so I want to make sure that he is propelled to where he deserves to be.

- What about UK hip-hop? Do you think it’s currently getting the representation it deserves or are we going to see it remain underground?

R: I think UK hip-hop is popular in Europe and this has spread to artists doing tours in Australia and even parts of Asia, like Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore. The scene has definitely re-invented itself recently into sub-genres like Grime, with artists like Dizzee rascal or Kano coming up but I don’t think it will be shipped to America. There seems to be a strong wall around American hip-hop and not many European hip-hop artists have been able to make it out there in the past.

- What have been some of the highlight events from this and last year?

R: Cinematic Orchestra playing at the Royal Albert Hall, Bonobo’s gig at Koko’s was spellbinding, Method Man & Redman put on a hell of a hip-hop show while they were here and of course it was great to have the sensai, DJ Krush over here too! Smaller gigs that have been great have included Clark, as well as Fink, which was very special. Actually, I could go on for hours because every event we organize is amazing as we only put on shows that we really love and believe in.

- Obviously the internet plays a major role in promotion of events nowadays, but how did people do it in the 90’s and early 2000’s?

R: There was a lot more flyering at gigs and illegal posters on the street as well as trying to get airplay or advertising on illegal and legal radio stations too.

I also think that there was a lot more dissemination of information through word of mouth and people also bought into scenes more and had less choice than they do now.

-What’s the future for Soundcrash? Any events you want to tell us about?

R: We're working with some bigger venues in 2009 and hope to do an extended and larger version of our regular monthly event at Cargo. We are doing a stage at The Big Chill Festival this year which should be great. DJ Kentaro & DJ Krush have offered Soundcrash the opportunity to bring some British artists out to Tokyo next year which will be really exciting. In terms of future events, we will have DJ Krush in August, Birdy Nam Nam this month, a new Memory 9 album launch in autumn and much much more.

Soundcrash Music : www.soundcrashmusic.com

Written by Selph