5 Minutes With – Damage Report – (UK)
Roll Up, Roll Up!! Welcome to our first ever track release premiere! And what a beast it is too! Not only that though, we’ve gone all out to secure a ‘5 Minutes With’ feature with one of the busiest producers in DNB and the creator of the premiere, DAMAGE REPORT!
Press play on this beast and read what the man has to say, and once you’ve done that, please click our YouTube and Soundcloud links (and Instagram and Facebook while you’re at it!) and hit subscribe/follow. We aim to be bringing you plenty more world exclusive premieres over the coming months and, IF we can pull it off, some absolutely whopping guest mixes in the near future too. As we ever, we thank you endlessly for your support so far.
Hello and welcome INSIDE! You’re coming back to Grid with an absolute stinker of an EP. This is one of quite a few releases for the label. You must have a pretty good relationship with them?
Yooo. And hello to yourself! Yeah, its seems the releases have been stacking up on Grid over the last few years. It’s a well run label and I like the way they work. There’s no messing about and you know where you stand, which is ideal for me. I don’t have to worry. It’s just a matter of sending in new music and hoping that it gets the nod to be released.
You’ve released a ridiculous amount of music in the 9 years that you’ve been producing. Where does the inspiration come from? Is it an instant thing while you’re ‘in the box’, or do you store ideas up in your head and then just let loose in the studio?
God has it been that long already? Wow. I still feel like a newbie really!!
As for the ideas, it’s really a case of, if I have an idea and I’m in the mood for making music, then I try and get it half written in the studio as soon as I can, because for me I find if I don’t, then I lose it all and end up making something that sounds like a cross between jazz folk b2b with neuro heavy metal!!
I also like to get the main part of the track done as soon as I can. I’m not one for working for weeks and weeks on a tune, as I end up getting bored of it and then it never gets finished, so I like to strike while the iron is hot so’s to speak.
Where did the name Damage Report even come from?
Haha! I was hoping this wasn’t going to come up…don’t worry its nothing weird or anything, but basically I was in the line for a name change as I wanted something different to the DJ name that I used, which was DJ Squeak. I know right, what was I thinking!!!!!!!!!!
So, I was running ideas with a mate of mine, and he was reeling off a few that where ermm, how can I say….different. Then he said ‘Damage Report’ and I just thought, yeah that sounds good, so that was it…not a great story really, but that’s it!
If you had to describe your style of music to my Nan, what would you say? (Believe me; Joan loves a good rinse out!)
Ahh man, iI make most my music based on the old Nan having a listen!!
Well, I try if I can to make every track have character and be different from the last track I made, so I would say my style would be dark, dirty, deep and with a pinch of jump up thrown in for good measure!!
What would be the usual sequence for creating a track from scratch? In what order would you usually start?
hmmm i work normally with the intro first get a good idea flowing then adding the drums and then onto the bass. But i have made tunes around the bass before …as I’ve made a decent bass by mistake and then thought arghh i need to make this into a tune!!
Your track titles would imply that you don’t take life too seriously. You like to keep things comical right?
Yeah, they do. I try to incorporate a bit of word play, or as you have said, be a bit comical. I don’t like boring names like “The Drop” or Big Bass” you know them ones……………
I also have to name a track before I make it, so the name comes first at times. That way I know where to look in the thousands of half-finished tunes sat on my hard drive!!!
So, this new EP for Grid. It’s disgusting, and we are very honoured to have the premiere for the title track ‘Play The Tune’ on our YouTube and Soundcloud channels. Can you tell us a bit about the track? Where did that vocal come from, and what’s it all about?
Ahh man, thanks. That is exactly what I was aiming for! I think it’s one of my best works to date if I’m honest, as I now cringe at some of the stuff I’ve made in the past, and as I rule I don’t really like my own music at all!!!
As for “Play The Tune” and the vocal in it? Now, I’d like to say it was recorded and I did this to it and that to it, but being honest, I found it on one of my old hard drives. I wanted something different, so the boring story is that it’s from a sample pack and all I did was put some EQ on it. Sorry, but it just sounded perfect!
And the rest of the EP? Can you give us a bit of enlightenment on some of the other tracks?
Yeah sure I’ll start with ” Disco Ball “. That one is a dark roller which is probably one of my favourites off the EP to be honest. I like the way the drums sit well with the bass and the sub bass cuts through really nice. I enjoyed making that one.
“Manic Mondays” was a nightmare. The complete opposite of “Disco Ball ” in regards of making it. The idea was good, but not sorting the bass and the drums. I did struggle to get it right and it took me days to get the final mix sounding good enough to let out into the wild!!!
You collaborated with Twisted Individual for one of the tracks on the EP. What was that like?
Well it was horrible. I didn’t like it one bit, but he paid me so I couldn’t say no!
Hahaha! Nah, in all seriousness it was great. He knows so much about music production that I’m learning off him every time we work together. I’m talking about this and that, so yeah it was very very good and it opened my eyes to a lot of new stuff to try in the studio, which has definitely helped me for sure. We did colab before this tune, but he wasn’t happy with that one so we made this one instead!
Is there plenty more to come from Damage Report this year?
I really hope so. I’m always making music, so we will have to see what happens. If I think it’s enough then yeah sure, or if not it will sit on my hard drive with the other 10079 unfinished tunes!!!
Thanks Gavin, all the best with the release!
Thanks man! It’s been a pleasure!!!
HIT THE LINK TO GET YOUR HANDS ON A COPY OF THE ‘PLAY THE TUNE” EP
https://cygnusmusic.link/ykmlovr
