After debuting their first release, ‘Treez’, on Self Self Records, Richard Seeley & Andreas Georgiades caught up with DMCWORLD to chat about the birth of their new musical journey together…
Richard, Andreas, great to have you here on DMC. How has 2018 treated you so far?
First of all, thank you for having us we truly appreciate it! 2018 so far has been a great year for us both! We seem to be producing effortlessly together and ideas have taken on a whole new level. We finished off 2017 with a night out @ fabric “London”, which gave us that final motivation and inspiration to knuckle down and start producing with the intention of releasing our ideas on our brand-new label Self Self Records. Finishing a production as many producers will know?! Is most times pretty hard but 2018 has been kind to us and we would say that completed tracks have amounted to double figures which is a great achievement for us. The lure of listening and socialising into the small hours without working on the music is a habit we have attempted to minimise. The fact that we now have a sound proof stand-alone studio is in some way sound the perfect environment to write music. Don’t get us wrong it is but then it also doubles up as an indulgence room due to the size and “no sound restriction “so the temptation is always there!
I believe you both spent some time out of production over the last few years. Why did you decide to return to music, and how did the Self Self project come to fruition?
Business and family diverted our focus for a period of time but during this time house music was and is still a massive part of our lives. We’ve always been producing, always been listening, always been clubbing and most importantly always been buying music! We haven’t returned to the music, we’ve just been under the radar but always in the background, working hard. Up to recently we never really produced seriously together and we can’t answer why that is? We started in mid-2017 without even meaning to and here we are with a new name “Self Self”! Believe it or not, we owe a lot to drop box as this has given us a very quick way to exchange and send music. It has given us full access to each other’s productions and allowed us to start adding and changing each other’s idea. I suppose we should say a big thank you to drop box!
How did you both meet and establish your musical partnership
We met approximately 15 years ago through work and we immediately hit it off. Sense of humour and our outlook in life were pretty much identical. For me “Andreas” it didn’t take long to realise that underground house music was for me! Richard was the one who introduced me to this world by simply demonstrating how to mix vinyl. I remember how amazed I was that two tunes could be mixed together and sound like one. I was that amazed I went out the next week and spent a load of cash on all the equipment I needed to get me started. From that moment our musical partnership formed.
Richard, you’ve got quite the impressive catalogue of releases on Rekids, Glue music and Detone. Has your musical style changed over the years? Does the Self Self aim to showcase a new era/ sound?
Kind words are always appreciated so thanks. I think it has to some degree. I tended to naturally head for the leftfield and some-what warped and wonky style. Because there are two of us now, I think any style of sound change will be reflected in the music we release as Self Self. What we aim to showcase is what we believe to be worthy of being played, danced too and ultimately enjoyed! As for a new sound, it will not be our main objective and it is not for us to decide?! We write without a plan so if we like what we produce then we will most probably save it and depending on the mood “release it!”
Do you share similar musical backgrounds, how were you both introduced to the world electronic music?
I think ultimately we share the love of music “good music” and it’s just the fact that house music is something that we both feel has to be a part of our lives. From heavy metal to rap you can appreciate talent whatever the genre but all of it is mostly non-mainstream music. We grew up with varied music always being played in the background so naturally we learned very quickly and feel that life without music is not as fruitful.
Who were your greatest musical inspirations and how have they influenced your production style?
If we are purely talking electronic music then we could go as far back as 1991 Moby “Go”. Also in the rave years Ellis Dee, Carl Cox, Micky Finn etc.. For us this was the sort of music that would subconsciously supersede the sort of music our friends were in to! Fast forward a good few years then we are talking the likes of Deep Dish, particularly the Toronto Album. Trentemoller, Audio Werner, Andre Galluzzi, Ricardo Villalobos, Terry Francis and labels such as Shinichi were all a very early inspiration. All of these and too many to mention have in some way influenced our style of music indirectly/directly…..
Are you guys more for hardware or software? What’s that one piece of tech in the studio you can’t live without?
Since building the studio in 2015 we use Ableton Live as our DAW which is the only software we use. Everything else is recorded live from the hardware synths and drum machines and microphones picking up percussion instruments. The one bit of kit we couldn’t do without would have to be the AdamA8X monitors. They take a bit of getting used too but the depth and sonic ability are almost perfect. That is how the music is delivered to us so it has to be the speakers!
How would you describe your music? Do you feel you’ve adapted your sound to accommodate to the current house scene?
We find it hard to describe our music but what we are striving for is that tough, punchy music with a rolling bassline that has clear percussion and has a general clarity! The aim is to have all the elements clear and complimenting one another but to also find that” hook” that will grab your attention and hopefully keep you interested and tuned in!! We start all our productions with an idea but 99% of the time we end up with something different. Maybe we have adapted our music to suit the current house scene but we could find music from 10 years ago that would still work today. A producer produces music with the hope that he or she won’t be the only ones who like it? Every now and then something is made that the mass like or love but just making the music is fulfilling enough so any more than that is a bonus!
Talk us through your upcoming projects with the label?
As far as projects go we can only think about one which is an album. Remixes and playing out are definite future projects. We have enough music to comfortably release an album within the next 12 month period. Choosing the right music that works well together and represents Self Self is a big decision and changes continuously as we continue to produce music.
Will there be any guests appearing?
We have at least 3 more EP’s ready for release on Self Self Records as of right now. We are working very efficiently so the frequency is to remain consistent. We have some options with other labels but that is work in progress. We definitely have a few guests in mind. We have made some influential friends along the way so we are looking forward to teaming up and possibly throwing a few remixes out there in the near future! Unfortunately, you will have to wait and see who they are?!
Their EP, ‘Treez’ is out now! Grab a copy here
