Foamo Interview

Foamo Interview

08 April, 2010
by: Lowri

Foamo is the alias of Kye Gibbon - a young producer from High Wycombe who's infectious and heavy electro productions have taken him straight to the top. We caught up with him to talk rave, Music2000 and that fidget tag....

So, congratulations on your Chew The Fat! residency. I came along to the Z Shed night at Cable back in February – it was excellent. You and Alex Metric absolutely smashed it.

I love the instantly gratifying, upfront quality of your tunes. It’s forward looking and fresh but seems to take influences from classic rave as well. Any comments?

Thanks. That was a good night that one...

Yeah, I did spend most my teen years religiously listening to jungle and drum n bass, so maybe the 'rave' vibe from some tracks comes from that.

Chew The Fat have been really branching out with their bookings in the last year or so. They were originally known as a breaks label. The last lot of line-ups have been really bassline and electro heavy. What do you think of the direction they are taking?

Yeah, I love the varied lineups at Chew The Fat, booking people from Fake Blood and Alex Metric, to people like Roska, Untold, etc. The nights have been getting more and more into new UK underground music too.  It's definitely the most exciting night in London, in my non-biased opinion ;)

How did your residency come about? Did they just call you up and ask you? Or has it been cooking for a while...

Yeah, I had played a few of the nights a couple of years ago when it was a monthly night at The End, and from there I got more and more involved with them. Then the residency kinda just happened, which led to the residency at Space in Ibiza too... good times!

You’ve got a hefty rosta of gigs on your myspace this summer.... What other promoters in London are doing stuff which interests you?

Yeah really looking forward to this summer. I can’t wait to get involved. I’m playing at Londinium in May. Its a really exciting project between some of the best promoters in town, Urban Nerds, Vagabondz, Deadly Rhythm, CTF, Dirty Canvas, hyp!hyp!hyp! Its gunna be a big warehouse party, lineup is huge too.

You’ve had such a heady rise – becoming very well known very early on in your career. What’s next? What are your musical goals?

Yeah, I'm just really enjoying what I'm doing now.  I'm loving spending my time experimenting with the production, I still feel I'm learning a lot about, even though I've been doing it since I was about 14. After the summers over, I really want to get to work on an album that would be very nice thing to do.

You’re often dubbed ‘ fidget’ – would you describe your music that way?

People seem to have really varied ideas of what subgenres like 'fidget' means.

When I think 'fidgit', I think of the stuff that people like Jesse Rose, Switch, Trevor Loveys were making in 2006/07. I wouldn’t put any of my stuff in the same category really, but that stuff was definitely a big influence to me when I was getting into producing house music. I don't think about subgenres and stuff though when I'm producing or Djing though, I just like to make or play what I’m feeling at the time.

Do you have any tips for young producers?

I always get asked questions about what equipment and software I use. My advice would be, don’t worry about all that. There's no right or wrong way of making music, no technique is better than any other. Just have fun and experiment. Also, have patience, I’ve been producing for years and years, and still feel I’ve only scratched the surface.

What’s your failsafe dancefloor smasher?

One of the tunes that seem to work when all else fails is the Switch remix of Devine Gosa by Radioclit. Still sounds as fresh now as it did 3 or 4 years ago.

You were (rightly) labelled as ‘one to watch’ by IDJ and NME last year. Who is your One To Watch DJ of 2010?

There’s lots of great young producers and Djs around at the moment. Mele' is doing some great stuff at the moment. Also, there are a lot of great producers in France at the moment, Myd, Riotkid, French Fries, Sam Tiba, I played with them a couple months back, and they’re great DJs too!

What was your first hallowed dance music experience? That moment when you thought – “I’m born to do this?”

Ha, I remember the first 'rave' tape I listened to. I was 13, and my mate gave me a tape of Mickey Finn at One Nation with Five-o and Moose. I quickly bought decks after that. Also, at the same time I started making beats on a game called 'Music 2000' for the PlayStation. Which is surprisingly similar to how I make beats now.

Click here for all London electro.
Click here for all London DJ music.
Click here for things to do in London.

Lowri