Grum

Mike: Hey, thanks for taking some time out to talk to me.
Grum: No worries, glad to do it.

Mike: We were at the show with the Twelves on Saturday (May 1) and I gotta say, we were blown away. It was really an amazing show.
Grum: Oh thanks, I really enjoyed it as well.

Mike: We also heard that you just sold out the entire North American tour with the Twelves. That must feel like a pretty big accomplishment.
Grum: Yea, it’s a little weird actually, I didn’t really expect this type of reaction. When you go on tour you expect some gigs to be good, most of them are OK, but so far all of them on this tour have been pretty amazing.

Mike: When you’re touring with other great DJs like the Twelves do you guys get a chance to collaborate at all? Or is it all too hectic while you’re on the road?
Grum: No, it’s not really like that. There’s just not enough time to do that sort of stuff. Whenever we get a free minute we either want to just take a walk around town for a bit or just stay in the hotel and chill out.

Mike: So while you were here, did you get a chance to check out the city at all? Or were you on a plane to the next show right away?
Grum: I would have liked to, but we arrived in the evening so all we really got a chance to do before the show was have some dinner and go to sleep (laughs.)

Mike: So I read that when you were younger growing up in Edinburgh, you and your friends were more into metal than dance music. How did you transition from that stuff when you were younger to more of the electronic stuff you’re doing now?
Grum: (Laughs) Well that was when we were in highschool. We would go to this pretty terrible metal club, but that was more because they didn’t I.D us than for the music (laughs). It was quite easy to change from that because that’s never really what I was in to anyway.

Mike: There’s a very clear 80’s and disco influence in your music, is that more of the type of stuff you grew up listening to?
Grum: I wouldn’t say I grew up listening to it that much. When I was younger my parents used to listen to a lot of soft-rock stuff, like Fleetwood Mac and things like that and I think that’s been a big influence. But in terms of the disco stuff I really only ended up getting into that 2 or 3 years ago.

Mike: So it’s more of a recent phase for you?
Grum: Yea I think so. I really liked the Ed Banger sound when it first came out and the really heavy electro and I wanted to do something like that, but a bit different. I liked that producers had taken a step back and started making more ‘musical’ music.

Mike: So considering that now everyone who has their own copy of Ableton can make their own music and put it up on a blog, do you think that it takes away from the musicianship of electronic music? Or do you see it more as driving the genre to new places?
Grum: Well, I don’t want to be too elitist about it. I don’t think it’s a bad thing that lots of people can make music, but it definitely makes it harder to find stuff that you like. A lot of stuff that gets released now on the blogs and things like that never would have been released 10 years ago. There’s definitely more music out there which is great, but for all the good music that gets released there’s plenty of bad stuff too.

Mike: Do you think you would be where you are today, selling out an entire North American tour, without the help of blogs in getting your music out there?
Grum: No, not at all.

Mike: So it was a good medium to share your music with people?
Grum: Yea, well I mean if it weren’t for the blogs I probably wouldn’t be doing this now.

Mike: So can you remember the first time your tracks started getting love on Hype Machine?
Grum: (Laughs) Um, yea it was pretty strange. When I started out, it was totally for fun, I really didn’t care what anyone thought about the music. The photo that everyone uses for me on their blog was just a picture my friends took in our old flat back in university with a sheet as the backdrop. It was kind of a big joke to us.

Mike: So your outlook was more about just doing what you liked, regardless of weather or not anyone else liked it?
Grum: Yea, exactly

Mike: So when did you first start producing your own music? Is it something you’ve only been doing for a few years or for a long time?
Grum: I got into music production and making music on the computer was I was like 14, 15, so that’s like 9 or 10 years ago. It’s something I’ve always been interested in. I actually went to university to study music technology so I’ve always been making music, it’s just a hobby for me. I love the production of it.

Mike: So how has your production changed and progressed from then to now?
Grum: Well I started out making pretty terrible trance music (laughs) and I made a decision when my stuff started to get more popular that I wanted to make club music, but I wanted to make it my own. I didn’t want to make something that would necessarily fit into any genre.

Mike: So what’s your setup for production like now?
Grum: Just my laptop and Logic. Really it’s all done on the laptop because I can travel with it and have everything right there with me.

Mike: So how did you come up with your moniker?
Grum: Well it started out as a bit of a nickname. My real name is Graeme, so I guess it’s just easier to say (laughs) and I just kind of ran with it.

Mike: Going from just a kid doing what you liked with your friends to selling out shows and touring all over the world is pretty big transition. Was their ever a moment where you took a step back and thought ‘wow, how did I get here?”
Grum: Yea, I think this last tour has actually made me feel like that. It’s crazy, I never expected this coming from such humble beginnings.

Mike: If you could choose one artist touring today that you haven’t had the chance to perform with, who would you choose?
Grum: Um, I’d probably have to say Aeroplane, I’ve been getting into their music a lot lately.

Mike: Whenever we interview someone we always ask what three albums or artists you’re listening to right now?
Grum: Well one of my favorite albums for the last few months has been the new Neon Indian album, Psychic Chasms. It’s nice to listen to and not too clubby. Another band I’ve been getting into is called Fenechsoler from the UK. Their album isn’t out yet but I’m expecting it to get pretty big. I discovered another band a few days ago called Hurts and they’re doing more of a retro sound. The singer is great too, he sounds like he’s from Duran Duran (laughs), very new-wave stuff.

Mike: I’ve found it found it funny how recently music has kind of been moving backwards in time and the disco sound is coming back into style. Did you ever expect music to go back in this direction?
Grum: With music there’s always an action and a reaction, so the pendulum kind of swings back and forth. It starts out one way and then will swing in another direction when people have had enough of the first thing. I thought it was possible, but I hadn’t really thought about it too much to be honest. Everything goes in cycles I guess.

Mike: Well I know you’re a busy man, so I’ll let you go, but thanks for talking with me and good luck with the rest of your tour.
Grum: Absolutely, thanks a lot.

Posted by Beitcher