Phasmid talks to us about the scene in Leeds, Taipan Trax, BabyStep Magazine, 128kbps and more.
Once known as Britain’s clubbing capital, Leeds has become a champion of electronic music in the north. In the 90s, Morley, a small town that lies southwest of Leeds city centre, saw hordes of ravers flock to see acts such as Carl Cox and Mike Paradinas (μ-Ziq) at the legendary Orbit Club. Further in the city centre, the Chapeltown suburb created a prominent dub and reggae scene due to its thriving Caribbean communities. As a result, events such as the legendary SubDub came to be.
This multicultural mix of people and sound resulted in the creation of a diverse music scene that attracted people from all over the world. Many influential artists have come from Leeds since then such as Paul Woolford, Utah Saints, and Submotion Orchestra to name a few. Leeds continues to be a home for a thriving electronic music scene. Establishments such as Tribe Records, MINT Warehouse, Wire, and The Old Red Bus Station have become hubs for artists and aficionados to mingle and express themselves.
Leeds-based artist Phasmid has also come up through the city’s fertile scene. As someone who played instruments and produced since he was young, music is in Phasmid’s blood. But, it wasn’t until he moved to Leeds for university that he started to flesh out his DJ career. It was in the city that he met Josh Crowe and started BabyStep Magazine. It was also here where he met Xander, Longeez, Papa Nugs, and Oldboy to form 128kbps. Whilst participating in projects with BabyStep and 128kbps, Phasmid’s solo ventures are also picking up steam. He has released records on his imprint Taipan Trax, ME1 Records, Over and Out, Gimme a Break Records, and has recently featured on Berlin’s HÖR. Additionally, he has played venues such as London’s Pickle Factory, Liverpool’s Meraki, Barcelona’s Razzmatazz, and Newcastle’s The World Headquarters.
Phasmid’s fast-paced, energetic, dubby, and break-infused sound could be viewed as a reflection of Leeds’ musical heritage in some way, whether intentional or not. Regardless, the fluidity of the city’s musical soundscape seems to be leaving its mark on him as he rises through the ranks of the UK underground scene.
How did you get into music originally?
I’ve always played instruments since I was quite young. And then when I got into my teens, I did a year of music tech in sixth form. I think it was Cubase that I was using at the time. I learned the basics of production on there, just doing all sorts of genres.
I’ve always been into jungle, drum and bass, trance, and acid house classics, that kind of stuff. And then when I was at uni, I found the time to get a pirated version of Logic off some website and started making instrumentals.
It was more like beats rather than tracks back then. But I slowly ended up making the stuff that I was listening to rather than the simpler beats as I was learning.
After that I just made a whole range of stuff like liquid drum and bass, deep house, and all sorts of other stuff that eventually got refined down until it became my sound. Then I came up with an alias for it.
I saw you on TikTok saying that Phasmid was the scientific name for a stick insect. Where did that come from?
I don’t know why I remember this, but when I was little, I remember having a weird phase of wanting to get a stick insect as a pet, so from there, I just remembered this word. I hadn’t thought about it for 20 years or something.
When things were getting a bit more serious, I was panicking, trying to think of the name. I remember racking my brains for something until it popped into my head. I liked the sound of it. I thought it sounded like a cool word. I like that no one really know what it means.
What instruments did you play?
I actually played violin for 12 years and then I’ve been playing guitar for about 11 years or something. I’ve also played little bits of piano, a little bit of bass and drums as well in the past.
That stuff gave me a bit of a musical basis which helped with producing once I got my hands on the software.
Are you using any of that stuff in your productions now or is it strictly electronic?
For my Phasmid stuff it’s all electronic, but in the past I have. I started out when I was 14 using Garage Band, and I used to record my electric guitar amp into the microphone of my iPad.
It was horrendous quality, but I used to make rock tunes on my iPad. I guess the piano bits come into practice a bit more because I work with a MIDI keyboard. Most of the time I’m making chords and things like that, so that helps. But I haven’t put any instruments into the stuff I release now – yet!
Let’s talk about Taipan Trax. What made you start the label? What’s the mission?
So that started out when I was working at Parcel Force loading boxes off lorries over lockdown. I can’t remember if it was a company or a box, but I used to always see this image of either a snake, or maybe the word Taipan -I can’t remember which one.
I just remember seeing it, and at that time, I was thinking about starting a label. I like producing music, but when you have a label it’s like a whole other kind of venture really. Finding other people’s music and curating it to a certain sound. I felt like I’d really enjoy the challenge of that. That’s how it started. It was something I was keen to try for myself. I wanted to create a label that was purely based on the sound.
I wanted it to be for up-and-comers who haven’t really released anything before rather than trying to get big names for a first release because you know that it will sell. I wanted to make sure it was all about the music from the start.
I’ve always been into darker, bassy kinds of sounds, breaks, and electro, so I sort of went with that. I wanted to put out quite aggressive, dark tracks that are maybe a bit weird or a bit unsettling, that sort of thing. That was the idea I had initially sound-wise.
How does BabyStep and 128kbps fall into things?
BabyStep actually came first. It’s an online magazine that me and my best mate Josh run, and we’ve done that since 2017, I think.
We both went to uni in Leeds, that’s where we met. He came to me one day and he was telling me about this magazine he had just started. It’s all about highlighting what’s going on in Leeds. It wasn’t just all electronic music. It was going to be bands, artists, photographers, pretty much anything creative really.
We started interviewing artists and covering different events in the city, that sort of thing. So that’s where BabyStep came from, and we’re still doing that now. We do all sorts of stuff such as events and video content nowadays.
It’s sort of unrelated really, but I was doing my personal music productions alongside this, and I wanted to find an alias for that. That’s when I came up with Phasmid. About a year after I started doing the Phasmid stuff, I had started the label. And then a few months after that we were in Leeds. Myself, Oldboy, Papa Nugs, who were three of the original four in 128, all met up at an event. Xander was the only one not in Leeds at the time for that event. It was just after lockdown and I think it was the first event back after covid so was a mad day.
We had come up with the idea of having a collective where we can release more light-hearted tracks through just messaging each other and forming a group chat chat, but this was the first time most of us we are all in the same place.
Obviously, we all have our serious ventures. But 128 is something we can be a bit more lighthearted with and do edits and things like that. We met Longeez in the smoking area, and we kind of signed him as the fifth member there on the night out and took a ceremonial picture holding up a makeshift singing shirt.
Now there’s five of us doing it. We are all still doing our own things, but we do EP releases every now and again, and we get booked in various combinations for events and what not.
How are things looking in Leeds? As a city that’s always had a strong underground scene, is there anything happening there that you want to shout about?
It’s like you said, the nightlife scene is really strong here. Obviously, a lot of people move out of Leeds and head to London, Manchester, but there’s been a new wave of people coming up in Leeds. People like EN:YO, Ruff Time, Gimme a Break, Late Night Essentials, Nazakat, Airspace, Tryptic, Chorus – list goes on.
We also have a load of class venues, Old Red, Wharf Chambers, Sheaf Street, Freedom Mills etc. There’s tons of stuff and plenty of venues all in quite a concentrated area, so it’s a close-knit scene where everyone kind of knows what everyone else is up to. It’s a really good scene up here.
What else have you got planned for 2023?
So, in terms of the label I’ve got the first vinyl release on Taipan coming out in the summer. It’s a four track VA which I won’t say too much about yet, but that’s going to be coming out in July I believe. And then I’ve also got a two track 12-inch release due out after that as well, so there’s plenty of exciting stuff coming from the label.
As for myself I’ve got a few bookings and releases coming up. There’s going to be video content on the way soon on BabyStep as well as some interviews that we are quite excited to get out. Just keep an eye on our Instagram to keep up-to-date with all that.
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