Artist: Grimm

Hometown: Heartlake, Ontario

Current Location:  Oakville, Ontario    

Other Alias: Jeff Rhodes

Labels: Westbay | Spearhead | Good Looking | Jazzsticks | Rubik | Santorin | Future Thinkin | Translation | 4th Dimension | Influenza | IM:LTD | Influenza Digi | Make:Shift | Digi-Lab | Syncopathic | Two-Tone Audio

Affiliations: N/A

Releases:
Moodswings 2 EP (Redeyes ft. Grimm - Out Of My Head) (Spearhead)
Keza & Grimm - In Dreams (Rubik)
Peyo & Grimm - The One For Me (Santorin)
Grimm & Stanza - By My Side (Influenza)
Grimm - Etched in Stone (Influenza LTD.)
Grimm - Puttin It Down / Soulful Music (Influenza)
Grimm - Poetry (digi-lab) (The End EP)
Paulsg ft. Grimm - Lonely (Jazzsticks)
Grimm - gettin deep (Make:shift)
Grimm - Muse / Possessed (TwoTone Audio)

Social Networks:
www.facebook.com/pages/GRiMM/114873990137
www.myspace.com/grimmful
www.myspace.com/jeffrhodesmusic

Q&A

What brought you to making drum & bass?
Love of early hip-hop and r&b (90s) brought me to fall in love with breaks and beats. I fell into the b-boy thing during high school, and around the same time introduced to DnB and other electronic music. From that I started MCing, promoting, DJing (rarely in clubs), then naturally production. Eight years later and I can't stop!

Describe your music, does it fit within conventional genres?
Yes and no, I try to cover the full spectrum of DnB, from rufige, to liquid, to darkside minimal. I've done some tracks and vocals that I'd consider commercially acceptable DnB, but I've also made stuff that would definitely not be looked at as "normal". I try to keep myself involved with projects completely outside of DnB as well, so the genre thing doesn't matter much.
 
What keeps your ideas fresh in the studio? What music outside of DnB do you follow?
I listen to everything, and it usually just changes with my mood that day. from DnB to Joy Division, to some heavy-ass post-hardcore chugging shit. I've found that dabbling in other genres once in a while and stepping back from DnB helps keep my ideas coming. There is nothing worse than getting bored with the music you love.

What kind of rig are you running?
Pro Tools 8
Reason 4
Recycle 2.0
Edriol Controller
KRK monitors
AT 2020 (mic)
SM58 (mic)
MBOX 2 Factory
various plugins, too many to mention
 
How much time do you spend in the studio?
Not enough!

What is your approach to DJing & live performances?
I haven't started gigging again yet, and I gave up the mic for school and to focus on production. Hopefully early in the new year I'll be taking some bookings.

First 'big' break in Canada? Elsewhere?
MCing at large raves in Toronto was my first break into the scene. Production wise, DJ Prime started playing my tunes on 'The Prophecy' FM Radio show, and then did some work with the DCS905 crew as well. I've also spent a lot of time networking with producers online via AIM and MySpace to send out beats, and of course handing CDs to headliners whilst there were in Toronto. It took awhile, but I'm diligent and the releases started coming.

Side projects we should look out for?
I have an small side project with a former classmate, doing some electro / electronica / pop stuff. There is some cool work with Atlantic Connection happening as well. I've done a couple vocals for a local Toronto guy, kind of electro-rock, which is different for me. I'm also learning to play guitar. Oh and there might be a Grimm EP hitting vinyl in the new year.

Give us a top 5...
Top 5 numbers:
1. 69
2. 666
3. 187
4. 911
5. 411

How do you feel about Canada's drum & bass scene currently?
I feel that the Canadian scene is great, Toronto is healthy; there's a wide variety of not just DnB but electronic music as a whole. Specifically on the DnB side, there are some great promotion companies doing it right. A scene will always have 'politics', that's just how the music business is. Besides that, I see a constant flow of talent coming through the Greater Toronto Area... So, no complaints from me.

 

Related Links:

• CCDNB Podcast Preview
• CanaDNBa 2010
• Stride Recordings Label Launch
• Give Em Props: DJ SW@T
• Toronto Drum And Bass Awards

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