What is your name and role within the band?
Hi im Sam Interface, also known as SNØW. Im one half of Jus Now. In our live shows i am the DJ.
When we are in the studio our roles definitely cross over but i would say my main role is creative sound design, engineering and arrangement whilst Keshav’s is the man for most of the grooves, melodys and chords.
How did you start?
Jus Now started very naturally during my first trip to Trinidad in 2010. I was then making drum and bass under the name Interface. I was staying at Keshavs house and the morning after my first experience of a Trini Soca fete i woke up very hungover but extremely inspired. I had fell in love with soca music and especially the energy of Power Soca! I wanted to try and incorporate the sound and energy of Power Soca into a bass heavy, drum & bass style track. So i sat down at a computer and started playing around, Keshav then joined me, adding some drums and melodys, including some steel pan played with his hands! This turned into the first ever Jus Now production “1 Time”
Where are you based?
I grew up in the mystical town of Glastonbury, home to the worlds most famous music festival. I have lived most of my adult life in Bristol but i now live in South London.
Please give an example of your music writing process?
I spend a lot of time in the studio and every track is always approached differently, sometimes i will have a concept or an idea in my head or a sample that i want to use, sometimes Keshav will have a groove or melody in his head or recorded in a voice note. From there we can usually work quite quick. I usually take the engineer seat and will record and edit Keshavs musical and rhythmical ideas, then sculpt them until they sound like what i can hear in my head. Sometimes we will swap over if i have a specific idea in my head for a bass melody or groove element or Keshav wants to do a specific edit.
What are you working on right now?
We have just released a collaborative EP with UK Funky king; Roska and also an EP of remixes from our two most recent EP’s on Feel Up records. We are currently working on various productions both for the Jus Now project and also for other artists. We definitely have a few tracks we are very exited about. Hopefully you will get to hear them soon!!
What is your gear setup?
Ive have varying degrees of outboard gear and studio set ups over the years but much of it has has been sold now, often to help pay for trips to Trinidad!!! These days my studio set up is very simple. I have a macbook pro running Logic X, a Focusrite Scarlett Soundcard, Focusrite ISa single preamp and a Neumann TLM 103 mic which i use for recording everything from drums to vocals. I also have a cheap and slightly broken midi Keyboard which i need to replace! I have 3 great pairs of monitors, some Focal Twin 6’s, Neumann KH80 DSP’s & Yamaha MSP5’s. Over the years ive collected lots of cool plug ins, my favourite by far is the Soundtoys range, they sound incredible and i cant recommend them enough. I don’t use virtual instruments too much i mostly use samples within Logics EXS24 and sometimes Native Instruments Kontakt, mostly the Indigisounds library’s, especially the Laventille Riddim Section one which we co-designed.
What do you like to do outside of music and does it affect your music?
Im definitely quite obsessed with Music, its probably a bit unhealthy but if im not in the studio im usually at a party listening or chilling with friends chatting about music or reading about it online! I do also love to cook for friends and generally hang out and socialise but i dont really have any other hobbys really!
How would you describe your music genre?
I dont know, I usually just tell people i make Carnival music! If you walk through the bass heavy streets during Notting Hill Carnival our music is a result of that amazing musical melting pot!
Do you know any music theory?
Ive never really studied it, i definitely know some basic rules of harmony but i don’t even know my scales off by heart. If im working on my own without someone who can play instruments i will sometimes use an app to help me find chords or just work from samples. I bought a music theory book recently but i haven’t got into it. I kinda feel like my ignorance to the “rules” of music if helpful and makes my ideas more original or maybe thats just an excuse not to learn more!
What are your plans for the future?
Just make and release more music and do more touring. I’d like to think we will get round to putting out an album in the not too distant future.
How did you get into music?
Growing up in Glastonbury i went to the festival in the womb, i didnt go again till i was 13 but since then i haven’t missed one. I think a big turning point for me was seeing Roni Size Reprazent headline the Jazz World Stage in 2000 i think, i loved every minute of it and realising they were from Bristol just up the road and they were working with Method Man and Cypress Hill made me believe that anything was possible!!
What are you listening to at the moment?
There is a lot of very sick stuff coming out of UK right now! Im loving the cross polination of UK Rap with Trap, Afrobeats and Caribbean sounds over the past couple years.
J Hus is probably the most exiting artist to come out of that Afro Swing / Bashment (whatever u want to call it!) scene and his latest album is very very good.
Other UK artists im really rating recently are Kojey Radical, Avelino, Che Lingo, Yxng Bane, Don – E & Fredo to name a few. There are so many!
As far as club music my favourite labels at the mo are Swing Ting, Gqom Oh, Nervous Horizon and RKS, there has been some amazing music coming from those labels recently…
Who are your top 5 influences and icons?
Hmmm top 5 influences are prob not people.
Glastonbury Festival has to be the single biggest influence on my life and musical career.
The city of Bristol, the years i spent living and raving in that amazing city will forever be ingrained in my musical make up.
Trinidad & Tobago has also had a massive influence on everything i do musically it really changed everything for me.
Drum & Bass & Jungle particularly from the late 90’s early 2000’s will always be a huge influence
I would say the 5th main influence is Radio. I love to listen to the radio, i have all my life, be it daytime playlists or late night specialist shows i love to listen to music with a bit of dialogue and story in between. If im abroad i always try and check the local Radio, when im driving in London i usually listen to Represent radio in the daytime, then Rinse or BBC in the evening. I quite often download my favourite shows on the BBC and save them for long journeys. Broadcasters like Benji B, Giles Peterson, Mary Anne Hobbs, Toddla T & Jamz Supernova have all probably helped shape my sound over the years.
KESHAV ANSWERS:
What is your name and role within the band?
I’m Keshav Chandradath Singh aka LAZAbeam, 1/2 of Jus Now. I’m a producer and drummer from Trinidad & Tobago.
How did you start?
I’ve been drumming since before I could talk, on account of my Dad beating rhythms on my back to put me to sleep as a baby. I guess it was learned by osmosis. My Father’s a longtime Trinidadian Ambassador and my Mum’s a Documentary filmmaker and artist, so I was always surrounded by the arts. I started making beats at around 12 on an old Compaq Presario and using Wav Maker. When I didn’t make the Senior National Football team of T&T in 2006, I decided to turn to music production full time.
Where are you based?
Between Trinidad, the UK and Miami.
Please give an example of your music writing process?
Sometimes an idea hits you because of a mood. Sometimes ideas provide the mood, but music is all about what the maker and the listener feels. It can start with a melody whistled late at night into voicenote in my phone between the stages of waking and sleeping, or the moment the hands touch the keys on a studio keyboard.
What are you working on right now?
Currenty in London at the beginning of Jus Now’s festival season and touring, as well as back in studio with Sam working on some wildness.
What is your gear setup?
A good combination of software, plugins, live instruments and a sense of empathetic adventurism.
What do you like to do outside of music and does it affect your music?
I love to Cook and it definitely does. I sometimes mix up flavours with sounds and smells with colours so it’s all related to me.
How would you describe your music genre?
Riddim & Bass. It appeals to the Wild in all of us.
Do you know any music theory?
Somewhat, but I am much more of a self taught, caveman type of musician. I like to keep the wonder about discovering melodies and rhythms in any instrument.
What are your plans for the future?
Make more people dance every year till I die.
How did you get into music?
My parents and 2 elder brothers are incredibly musical. I’m the first in the family to make it a profession but I’ve had it around me since inception.
What are you listening to at the moment?
Over the last couple of years I have been listening to alot of Russian Classical like Mussorgsky, Rimsky Korsakov, Tchaikovsky etc. They changed music and how we perceive certain moods in modern times. The new Drake album is dope for it’s production value especially. The new Mastodon album is killer.
Who are your top 5 influences and icons?
Too many to list as my taste is widely variant. But if I had to rattle off 5 right now I’d say Andreas Vollenweider, Tchaikovsky, Dr. Dre, Timbaland & the Dalai Lama.
When are you playing next?
Berlin Carnival June 2nd, Glastonbry June 10th, Strawberries & Creem in Cambridge June 17th, Glastonbury Festival, Boomtown Festival, Nass Festival etc.
When are you playing next?
Monday 5th June – Lethal Bizzle – House of Dench. York, UK
Tuesday 6th June – Strawberries & Cream Launch Party. Dalston, London
Sat 10th June – Lime of Your Life @ Boca Bar, Glastonbury UK
Sat 17th June – Strawberries & Cream Festival – Cambridge
Fri 23rd June – Glastonbury Festival – Shangri La
Fri 7th July – NASS Festival – Somerset
Fri 4th August – Shabba – London
Sat 12th August – Boomtown Festival – Winchester
Sat 23rd September – Tokyo World Festival – Bristol
