What is your name and role within the band?
My name is Andy Hill and I’m the founder and producer of Death of Hi Fi.
How did you start?
I’ve been in loads of bands over the years and started DoHF as a strange little experimental project which morphed into something completely different over time. I’ve been involved in the music industry over the years and found frustrations at the hands of others so I really wanted the freedom to express and create without being told what or when or how.
Where are you based?
I’m based just outside Oxford, in a small town called Witney but don’t hold that against me.
Please give an example of your music writing process?
I tend to have a crazy idea in the strangest of places and have to record the idea into my phone or whatever is handy, desperately hoping to capture the initial feeling as best as possible. I then normally sketch the idea out in rough in my simple home studio before sending it out to Dan and Lucy to flesh out. We then polish up what we have before taking it into Shaken Oak Studios to work with the amazing Arthur Young. He’s so much more than an engineer and is so involved in the whole process that he often feels like the 4th member.
What are you working on right now?
We’ve just finished the 2nd album which has been 5 years in the making so its both exciting and relieving to have completed it. It’s been incredibly difficult as it’s such a personal album that tells a story so I had to take my time to make sure it was as close to my vision for it as it could be.
What is your gear setup?
I keep it fairly simple in my home studio, Midi Controller Keyboard, Novation Synth, Logic and Cubase and a metric ton of VST’s. Arthur has the most amazing outboard gear in his studio so I love going there just to marvel and admire them, they look incredible and sound so sweet.
What do you like to do outside of music and does it affect your music?
I like to read books (mostly apocalyptic fiction) and watch a lot of films. I’m a very visual person so every track I write is with imagery in mind and I think this is a direct result of binge watching so many movies from an early age.
How would you describe your music genre?
It’s difficult to pin down as I deliberately never wanted to be put in a pigeonhole. It’s definitely Electronic with hints of Hip Hop but we just like exploring all of our influences and throwing them all in the pot. I used to call it kitchen sink for a while but I prefer the term Genre-Hop now.
Do you know any music theory?
I know some musical theory and greatly admire those who understand it better than me. I tend to create quite instinctively so often break loads of musical rules due to ignorance more than anything else. I’m quite dorky at heart and the theory side appeals to me which is why I can talk for ages about music tech. Ultimately it boils down to the fact I like pressing buttons that flash.
What are your plans for the future?
I’ve been writing music for TV on and off for a while and whilst it was initially a happy accident I think it’s something I’d like to continue. My dream is to write for films eventually as there’s nothing quite like seeing your music synched to images on a big screen.
How did you get into music?
I used to mess about with my parents record collection as a child, they were old mono records that I discovered I could separate the left and right audio channels creating my own remixes. This led to me to making pause tapes, I’d press record on the tape deck, hold pause down until the part of the record I wanted come on, recorded it before pressing pause again and rewinding to the start of that part. I’d repeat this until I had loops of the records, basically imitating a sampler unknowingly. I started out as a rapper originally but found no one was able to make beats for me so I then taught myself using a loads of records fed into a cheap sampler, recorded onto a four track tape recorder.
What are you listening to at the moment?
I’m a big fan of chilled out electronica such as Tycho, Bonobo and Boards of Canada so I’ve been listening to a lot of that recently. I like music that stirs emotions and creates places and spaces.
Who are your top 5 influences and icons?
There’s so many that it’s difficult to narrow it down but I’d say Flying Lotus, Giorgio Moroder, Delia Derbyshire, Nick Douwma and DJ Shadow.
When are you playing next?
We’ve just played Common People festival and have a few more coming up including Riverside festival which we absolutely love playing. There’s some overseas gigs looming towards the back end of the year/early 2018 but they aren’t fully confirmed yet so I don’t want to jinx them.
Please feel free to include any extra info.
Our 2nd album; Follow is due for release in early August and will be available from iTunes, etc as well as from www.deathofhifi.co.uk
