Over the past few years rather like all the other sub-genre’s that have been supported with it, Grime has been on a tempestuous journey this past decade that has witnessed its birth, its decline, but significantly its re-emergence. Thanks in large part to the growing influence of institutions like Rinse & NTS the scene has become an increasingly influential part of within the UK Bass sound thanks in no large part to the imprint that’s revived it all, Butterz.
Headed by label honchos Elijah & Skilliam, the london label has been nothing short of integral to grime, garage and bassline with an already classic back-catalogue of releases from the likes of Terror Danjah, Swindle, Flava D & Champion to name a few. Yet the Butterz brand could not have progressed to such a height without the input & forward-thinking of Royal-T, whose comprehensive love for grime & garage has seen his status propel him to leadership level within the movement.
Exemplifying the Butterz ethos perfectly, the Southampton producer caters for the club raver, specialising in rugged 2-steppy basslines that work off a grime or garage beat palette with such execution that station boss Geeneus rewarded the prodigy with a coveted ‘Rinse Presents’ release, an accolade that proves how far he has come in such a short space of time.
Having solidified his place as a key cog in the Butterz wheel, the crew will be hosting Room 2 Fabric this Friday (February 7th) as part of their continued residency at the celebrated East London nightspot. In anticipation we caught up with the grime prodigy to talk all things Butterz, Rinse, inspirations and what’s to come for 2014.
- What’s good Mark? Cheers for taking the time out to talk to us today. First off we have to ask how does it feel to be one of the leading artists representing the grime scene on Rinse FM now?
Easy! Yeah man it’s been cool and I feel blessed to be able to lead the sound my own way through the station.
- Looking back at your earliest days experimenting with music production, did you ever imagine within 5 years you’d be a regular on radio & signing deals with iconic stations like Rinse?
Nah, making beats was purely just something I used to do to pass time when I wasn’t at college for fun. It was never one of them situations where I thought ‘one day i’m gonna be a Grime producer’ or anything like that but I was so obsessed with Grime and it’s culture I just wanted to be a part of it somehow. I’ve only been Dj’ing for around 3 years so things have moved very fast and from being young, hearing crackled radio sets of my favourite MCs on Rinse to standing next to them at Rinse is quite weird to digest. Things move so quickly these days it’s actually quite difficult to take stuff in, in general because I know that next week something else will happen or change that I have to adapt to.
- The last few years have been nothing short of massive for you having released a full-length LP & more recently the excellent ‘I Know You Want Me’ EP, would you say your sound has evolved since the release of ‘1UP’ in 2009?
Yeah, it definitely has evolved. 1UP was made on Argos speakers in my bedroom before I knew anything about EQ’ing and mixing down tunes etc. So it’s taken a major turn I think. Although people do say they can tell a Royal-T track from anyone else’s so I know that there’s certain formulas and habits I still bring with me into new tunes. Everyday I’m learning new things and taking inspiration from all sorts of music. My approach hasn’t changed and I still want to channel elements of music I enjoy to people and that will never stop.
- Growing up in the wake of the Grime-boom during the early noughties who would you say were your main influences that inspired you to start producing?
Grime wise, definitely JME, Skepta, Wiley, Danny Weed, Jon E Cash and just in general listening to radio was what inspired me. At the time I had no access to tracklists or even being able to go to records stores in London so I wouldn’t have known who made what. But that was the beauty of it, it was all about the music. I used to listen to a lot of Garage with my brother, he showed me about 138 Trek and tunes like that and that got me into being interested in stuff that wasn’t Pop and I ended up listening to Oxide and Neutrino’s album Execute religiously for a while which is definitely one of them albums that changed my perspective on music. Also I’d have to say The Streets had a big helping in inspiring me. I was just very attracted to real, relateable unconventional music. I was like 14 so why would I give a shit about listening to songs about heartbreak, love, champagne and cars when really i was coming from a working class area around cigarettes, grey skies and football. From an early age I just knew there was something out there for me musically that I could relate and escape to so that was the attraction to Grime and what it’s been about.
- It’s clear that you’re an integral part of the Butterz set-up these days, how did that originally come about?
Elijah and Skilliam used to DJ on their uni radio station, I had a few beats lying around, not that they were for any particular purpose,so I thought ‘Why not send them stuff?’. I sent Elijah a few beats when i spoke to him on GrimeForum and on their next show they played my tune. It was just a feeling that i wanted to continue so as their DJ’ing career started to rise, I was more obsessed with perfecting my craft. They did a guest mix on Rinse and they played my tune on their and that was the first time I’d ever had something played on Rinse too. They eventually got a show on there and I did a guest mix on there which was my first time on radio. It was all these cool situations that just fell in to place.
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| The Butterz crew outside Fabric for one of their residencies |
- Butterz has been absolutely essential in breathing life notably into Grime & Bassline over the past few years, who off the label should we be watching out for this year?
Flava D without question. She’s an absolute machine when it comes to making music. She churns out so many tunes in a week it’s unbelievable and each of these tunes will be top quality and so different from each other. Her output is astonishing and it looks like she isn’t stopping any time soon so I think people aren’t gonna have no choice but to follow.
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| Royal-T working alongside Flava D on a recent collaboration |
- The first time we saw you live was down at Corsica Studios back in 2012 alongside Zed Bias which was nothing short of epic, is there a stand out memory or moment from all the sets you’ve played thus far?
Ah that feels like a long time ago now! I have a lot of memories and stand out moments from my gigs, some stuff I probably can’t say publicly though. Music wise I would have to say being at Cable with the Butterz family and those nights and seeing the hundreds of people come rave with us was a feeling I ain’t forgetting any time soon. Referring to earlier from sending crappy mp3s to E&S to then selling out London clubs alongside them was a proud moment for me. Also I remember visiting Prague for the first time for a gig and seeing this sea of people screaming my name and reciting lyrics back to me that wasn’t even their first language. I never went abroad when i was younger so it was crazy.
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| Butterz @ Cable |
- With Cable having (tragically) closed down the Butterz residencies are now taking place at the mighty Fabric with the next show on February 7th, what’s it like playing alongside the Butterz fam at such a legendary venue?
Yeah like I said before it’s always a proud moment being alongside the guys when it comes to those things. I always leave those nights feeling inspired and even though it’s cool to reflect on how far we’ve come it just pushes me to see how far we can really take this.
- & finally the all important question, what’s in store for Royal-T over the coming months?
I’ve got two remixes upcoming to be released in the next few months, one for Clean Bandit’s single ‘Rather Be’ and one for Route 94’s ‘My Love’ and also my collaboration EP with Flava D called ‘On My Mind’ which is coming out on Butterz, I’m really excited about that one. I’m working on a few other bits with other producers but i’m gonna let the music do the talking, i’m sure you’ll hear a lot of it at my shows.
You can catch Royal-T alongside the Butterz crew as they host Room 2 at Fabric, this coming Friday February 7th. Remaining tickets are available from the official website.
@MikeyCorrighan
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