Interview with LEON SWITCH
Leon Switch, one of the most prominent and influential producers of the underground bass music with an impressive career. A man with multiple talents in different domains. A hard-worker with a massive number of releases. I shall confess that I am truly and really fond of his work ,totally captivated by the mesmerizing vibes of his sounds, and it was obvious to me to know more about his forthcoming projects, his passions, and his view on the music industry.
Dubstrapn'bass: Hello Leon Switch, thank you for taking some time to chat with me for Dubstrapn'bass. You are such a remarkable artist with more than one string on your bow. A real music lover alongside other passions that we are going to talk about later. You have already a long, a brilliant and an impressive career and you are considered as one of the most leading and prominent producers if not the most influential one of the underground bass music. How and when did the love story with music start? What is your musical path?
Leon Switch: Wow! Thank you! My musical path started very early on in my life. My Grandfather was a session drummer and was really known back in the late 70's , early 80's. Nearly all of my fathers' friends were musical in one way or another, and I remember sitting with my father and following the drum scores to Phill Collins for hours on end! I had this love for music and was fascinated by it. I started playing guitar seriously when I was about 12, but had tinkered with the piano and keyboards/other instruments throughout all my childhood. I have been very lucky in the sense that I didn't have to try hard to be musical; it happened naturally.
Dubstrapn'bass: What are your musical influences?
Leon Switch: I've had a lot of influences during the course of my career... I wouldn't say any particular style; I'm in love with music that makes you feel 'cool', or makes you 'think'. A couple of the artists I was really into when I first found producing were Photek, (his Modus Operandi album) where it was really gone in, thought about and original! Dom and Roland was another guy who had this music that made you think, and made feel cool while I listened (and dissected). His industry album was just special to me... Goldie was another; his Timeless album had something about it. I couldn't leave these albums alone...Every drum edit, every little sound that made the overall atmosphere what it was... These are just three of the big influences; there would be a whole list! Lol. I don't listen to much nowadays as I don't get the same kind of feeling I used to get with a lot of today's music. I am in a lucky position in that I just do and write what I love.
Dubstrapn'bass: I found out that films have a great impact on your sound, and definitely your tracks perfectly fit in the movie industry. Can you tell us more about the influence cinema has on you and obviously on your music?
Leon Switch: I've always had a thing about scifi movies...Films like Alien, Predator, Blade Runner, Star Wars all had these amazing soundtracks that gave the films the atmosphere that they have. If you were to take the music out of anyone of these films, they would lose their atmosphere completely; this is something that has always fascinated me. I never try to create cinematic style sounds or atmospheres, but I think because of these types of films and my love for them, it is natural to me to do so without thinking about it. I just use and create sounds I like.
Dubstrapn'bass: What were you playing before producing?
Leon Switch: I was a seriously technical guitar player before I started producing. Almost nerdish in my approach. I was all about technique and knowing as much as physically possible about the instrument, which has completely carried across to my studio life. I think it was a really good foundation to have before I started producing because I had prior knowledge about writing music and recording cheaply in a band. You can teach someone the experience you get from hands on doing it yourself. Making really stupid and sometimes embarrassingly big mistakes was such a good learning curve!
Dubstrapn'bass: You have such a unique signature that is 100% recognizable. Your sounds are mesmerizing vibes! How would you define it and what do you do to develop it?
Leon Switch: Ah thank you :) I feel that I've always had the same attitude towards writing and creating and that goes back to the days before we all went inside the machine with our studios. I always loved the idea, and felt it was important to make your own sounds. Like an artist has his palette with his colors before he starts to paint, I've always had my own libraries with sounds I've either selected because they said something to me or created, which is only going to sound like me. I'm not a follower I'm afraid. I write what I like and want to hear. I feel it's been both an advantage and a disadvantage to me. There has been times when I wished I had just listened to other people and wrote something that would 'fit' in so I look back and am proud of nearly all of my releases.
Dubstrapn'bass: Tell us a bit about your inspirations.
Leon switch: My father is a fantastic artist. I spent all of my childhood looking at skies or sunsets or the shape of trees lol ... I find nature truly inspiring. I'm very lucky in that I have a seaview from my studio. I also find some films to be inspiring. But my main inspiration comes from the world outside my window.
Dubstrapn'bass: You have an impressive number of releases on different imprints such as MetalHead, Frequency, Freak, Monitor, Chestplate to name a few, and you are also the owner of Defcom Records and Osiris UK. What is the mission of the two labels? What is the direction you are using for each of them?
Leon Switch: Unfortunately, Defcom Records closed a few years ago and I let the other half of Kryptic Minds take Osiris with him when we split. I think I will start a label of my own at some point soon as I always loved the freedom of not having to answer to anyone and just being free to put out what you believe in.
Dubstrapn'bass: There are many labels that also greatly play their cards in Dnb, Dubstep. Is there any 'competition' between imprints or on the contrary, are they supporting each other and even working together with the same goal, in the name of music?
Leon Switch: I think times have changed a lot along with the rise of digital. Years ago, you would have to pay for all your releases yourself and it was a big risk. There was always a lot of rivalry between labels, but it was pretty much always friendly, and everyone was in the same boat, just trying to keep things flowing and keep the scenes alive. I don't think there was ever a time when I needed some advice and couldn't get it from another label. I don't know if it's the same now... I know that dubstep was a completely different scene to Dnb. Everyone was a lot more friendly and together as a family, much like how Dnb started , but it was also newer when I joined :)
Dubstrapn'bass: After several years of drum and bass, you decided to turn to dubstep. What made you fall in love with that genre?
Leon Switch: I was releasing Dnb for about 12 years and always loved the music. But it really changed in that time; as I said earlier, I loved the gone-in music of Photek and Dom and Roland and it (for me) had changed to where it was becoming a competition of who could make the baddest basselines... A game I was kind of playing for a long time without even realizing it. I remember that most of the studio time was getting spent making basselines rather than enjoying the process of making the music. This was a shame to me as I'm naturally musical, and there was more to it before.
I started to play with producing at different tempos which I had done for years with the guitar, and found that 140BPM was a tempo that I liked. A drummer friend has said to me to try it as drums at this tempo can be really stomping. So initially, I started to make Dnb at 140 before I even heard of Dubstep...Then I heard a couple of tunes by distance and that then changed things... I had a direction to head in.
Dubstrapn'bass: You are using different aliases as we know, but when did you decide to take on the Kryptic Minds name and for what purpose?
Leon Switch: I had always written the Leon Switch and Kryptic Minds tunes apart from a couple, but when we slowed the tempo down , we figured it would be good to create a brand rather than the individual artists as we were before. We thought it might help with bookings and figured the name sounded like two people anyway. It was initially a difficult decision for me as I felt I was going to lose the Leon Switch profile I'd spent my whole career working on... But sometimes you have to let go and move forward, which is what I did.
Dubstrapn'bass: What is a typical day of production with Leon Switch?
Leon Switch: My typical day starts with chilling first thing as I am pretty much completely useless first thing in the morning; then I walk my other half to work and then home to the studio along the seafront. I then make coffee and turn on the studio. I don't have set routines with regards to writing; it all depends on how I'm feeling or what I've got to do. I then work through until the evening when I go and meet my other half from work, and then when we get home, I sometimes go back into the studio or I might take the evening off... All depends on where I'm at with everything.
Dubstrapn'bass: Is there any particular creative process and what is your favorite plugin?
Leon Switch: I don't generally have a favorite plugin. I have specific plugins for different jobs; I have a favorite for pads, but then I resample everything so nothing really ends up sounding how it did initially. I enjoy spending time making new sounds, and there are several processes I go through with that, but as a rule, there are no rules and I go with what I'm feeling at the time.
13. What are the projects you are working on and what can we expect for the future?
Leon Switch : I have a lot of projects on all the time! I have a few albums I'm working on with other people, one of which is very near completion and I'm super excited about. It's a project called Rotor and it's me and a cool guy called Eraldo Bernocchi from Italy. The music is really emotive and has a dark edge to it. I can't wait to see finished copies of it. I have a few releases lined up for 2017, but at the moment, they are locked off and you'll have to keep an eye on my pages to see when and where they are happening.
Dubstrapn'bass: We mentioned before that you have other passions in life and Skateboarding is definitely part of them. How did this passion came to you?
Leon Switch: If I'm honest, I don't know where it came from or why I got into it... It was a long time ago (27 years) when I first started skateboarding, but I know I got the bug for it and I feel the same about it now as what I did then... It's definitely an escape from reality, I love the freeness you get with it, the fact that it's not about being the best or the worst; it's about you and expressing yourself however you want.
Dubstrapn'bass: What are the similarities that you find in music and Skateboarding?
Leon Switch: I find that both music and skateboarding are quite an escape from reality. I'm able to completely immerse myself in them and I find that they are both really positive for my mind. I love the adrenaline whith skateboarding and trying something new, but I also love just cruising with my headphones on. I also think that the majority of the skateboarders I have met are creative in their own ways.
Dubstrapn'bass: You also produce music for AG racing game. How have you been approached for that project? Can you tell us more about it?
Leon Switch: Yeah, I recently wrote the soundtrack for an upcoming racing game called 'Formula Fusion' by R8 games. I was approached initially to write the start menu music as they had heard my music on soundcloud and thought my atmospheres would fit really well. We then discussed , me writing the soundtrack so that the game had music specific to the levels, and liked the idea of bespoke music throughout the whole game. They gave me a narrative to work from with examples of the style of music they had in mind and I then went from there. I was so worried at first as I had never done anything like this before, but then figured that they were confident enough with me to do it, so I just needed to do what I do and not think too much about it.
Dubstrapn'bass: With all these projects, the releases of albums, EPs, your 'Deep, Dark, Dubstep' sample pack for loop masters, having had your track 'Six degrees' featured by Hollywood motion picture film 'Elysium', what is the next step?
Leon Switch: I'm not sure. I'd really like to write for film/games some more. I'm getting old and like the idea of producing other artists and not having to go out and DJ so much. I want to be in the studio more and just write music. So we will see :)
Dubstrapn'bass: Any gigs for 2017? Any forthcoming tour dates?
Leon Switch: I got a few shows coming up, and a tour about September, so we will see.
Dubstrapn'bass: Any chance to see you in Canada? More precisely in Montreal?
Leon Switch: I'm not sure; I played in Canada a couple of years ago and I fell in love with the people and the place! We will see...
Dubstrapn'bass: What is your biggest dream and the biggest challenge for you?
Leon Switch: My biggest dream is to be writing full time for film. I feel it's a direction that is calling me. The biggest challenge is to stay positive about everything when you read articles about your favorite music being dead, or reading a bad review about a tune you've written and really like. It can be a cruel business at times... And I'm an artist with an artistic temperament, so I have my times when there seems to be a battle going on inside my head!
Dubstrapn'bass: What do you think of the music scene nowadays?
Leon Switch: I think the music scene has changed so much over the last few years! It used to be that only a few people had the money to buy studio gear, so there was a lot less producers. You'd only spend the money if you were really serious about doing it, but now everyone can be for pretty much free. I think it's a brilliant time for music in general. It's so much more accessible now. I think the scene is really positive and although it all has its peaks and troughs; It always did...
Dubstrapn'bass: Define Music.
Leon Switch: Wow...possibly the hardest question... Music to me is personal. It's all about an experience.
Make sure to follow Leon Switch on:
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/leonswitch
twitter: https://twitter.com/leonswitch
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