“I graduated from university yesterday,” says David Kennedy when I get him on the line from England. It’s hard to believe that a music producer of his stature has had time to do a degree, let alone complete it. “I was studying French and English,” he explains. “I’ve finished that now and it’s quite nice to get it out of the way. The last couple of years I have had to make a balance between the music and the studies which didn’t always quite work out. It’s nice to have seen that through and now have a lot more free time.”
But it’s not all boring work – the study took Kennedy to France throughout 2009 which was a great break from Leeds and the home scene. “It’s definitely nice timing,” he says when I ask about the discipline he had to have to finish. “There wasn’t much point in doing three years university and then giving it up just in the last year. It has always made sense to see it through and just finish it off. Even though at times I questioned whether I wanted to do it. But I’m really glad that I have completed it. I mean I really enjoyed my studies and it’s quite nice to have something different outside of music to focus on.”
That music is as diverse as it is vast with Kennedy being a major force in pushing the boundaries of Dubstep. He has been producing and DJing under the name Ramadanman since 2006 and, having recently turned 22, he tells me it all started at 13: “It’s a bit of progression from playing the piano to recording stuff on tape but I guess I was around 13 when I first started using computers and doing more traditional electronic music writing.” Clearly he has a restless creative spirit.
His rise in dubstep has come through hard work and self starting. I remember buying tunes directly from Kennedy via Dubstepforum (three out of his first four releases were distributed directly like that). But there has been a definite evolution in his sound since then. “My early stuff is quite different to what I am doing now,” he reflects. “I mean, I still like all the tunes and stuff but I think what I was doing then wasn’t that original. I was just getting into the music as well so I was listening to what I was hearing and I was still finding my place. I’m quite glad I did it and I don’t have any regrets but it is slightly different than what I am doing now.”
I wonder if Kennedy feels that he has attained a certain creative vision in his work now: “I was always making a lot of different types of music when I was a teenager but when I got into Dubstep maybe I focused on that for a couple of year,” he answers. “I think when I started to let some of my other influences come through, have a bit more variety and focus less on making a particular style of music – fusing some of my influences – maybe it made a bit more sense.”
But as for where the creative inspiration comes from, that proves elusive: “I find it quite hard to pin down any inspiration. When I sit down to write a tune it’s not any sort of a case of, ‘Oh I’ve just been on a great holiday and I was inspired by the view’,” he laughs. “It’s just sort of, I find it quite hard to describe really. When I write music I’m not too sure where the inspiration comes from but it just sort of seems to be there.”
He has certainly attained a unique sound – full of percussion and fast, warped, vocal samples.: “I’m not sure. I guess I leave that up to the listener,” confesses a very modest Kennedy. “My friends always say they can hear it when it’s one of my things. You have to be careful not to get put in a box with what you do. It’s a case of maybe always having a sonic signifier but just making sure you’re not making the same tune for years. You have to morph it and switch up what you’re doing.”
That strong sense of movement and the challenge to move forward is embodied by Hessle Audio, the label that Kennedy started with Ben UFO and Pangaea in 2006. “Yeah I think if you look at where we’ve come from, with release number one, it has definitely progressed loads,” he reflects. “We have moved in different ways but there is a definite line that you can trace through the whole thing. It’s quite nice when you can do that.”
Kennedy outlines a very busy year so far: “We’ve had five releases already this year and there is nothing confirmed for the future. We’re just fortunate that we had a load of music that we needed to get out at a similar time. But at the moment we don’t have anything definitely confirmed. So it’s a question of when the music comes to us rather than always trying to release stuff.”
One of the most rewarding aspects of Kennedy’s music career has been recognition from other scenes, DJs and producers. It is often mentioned that Ricardo Villalobos has shown support for dubstep in his sets – back to Skream’s Midnight Request Line in 2005. So news spread like wild fire when he opened a set a Fabric in 2008 with two Ramadanman tracks, both released by Hessle.
Kennedy is pleasantly surprised by the attention: “I’ve always been into house and stuff but I didn’t really know what Villalobos was doing before that. I’ve got a big list of people – it’s like films I need to watch, it’s the same with musicians. You know, people are always talking about certain bands or musicians and a lot of them I have never got around to listening to. So I think Villalobos was one of those – a complete legend but I until people said he was playing my stuff I hadn’t got around to checking out what he does. I have never met him, but I have spoken to him a bit through the medium of a friend because he’s such a busy guy.”
Kennedy continues to talk about his recent single on Loefah’s lable, Swamp 81: “It’s quite funny with that single. I have had quite a few cross-genre people picking it up. There was a random link-up with DJ A-Trak and he really seems to like it which is a completely different scene to what I’m in. And apparently Josh Wink dropped it on the weekend which is quite random but quite nice in a way.”
It is a situation that Kennedy enjoys: “As you DJ you meet interesting people and make connections outside of what might be perceived as your genre. So it’s quite nice when people dip in and check out what’s happening in another scene. It’s healthy to have that cross-genre pollination.”
Kennedy has flirted with that element in his Pearson Sound productions with releases on Aus Music, a label known more for its house output. But there is no great plan at work there or a move into other genres – it was simply a new name for him to try out and get different reactions. “I think some of my first slower stuff was under that name,” he explains. “Or the slower stuff people had heard was under that name. So I guess people thought that it was my house project. And I think people are always looking for an angle on it. But I guess for me it wasn’t that complicated. It’s just nice having a few aliases I think.”
I question whether we can expect more vocal productions in the future: “I have just done a remix for Jamie Woon which is quite up-front in the vocals but other than that I haven’t really done any full vocal stuff for a while really. I don’t know – it’s possible if I met the right vocalist or whatever. But nothing currently planned.”
For now, Kennedy is focusing on touring and letting things unfold naturally. “There are a lot of gigs coming up. I’ve got a few remixes coming out but I don’t have any singles planned in. So hopefully I will get time to write some new music and see what happens.”
“But I don’t have too much planned out. I don’t like to plan too far in advance. I think it’s all about the music really – when you have the tunes you can decide what to do with them. So yeah, not really any plans. I think I’ve had loads of singles out already this year and I don’t really have any music left to release really! I need to write some more. So yeah, hopefully write some more tunes really.”
There are no plans for an album due to the weight of that format. “I think sometimes an album can be a lot of pressure and putting yourself out there a bit. I quite like the double pack thing because it’s in-between,” explains Kennedy. “I think a double pack keeps everyone happy because some people see it as an album but it’s still a very DJ-centred format. Which is the priority really. So I think at the moment, for me and quite a few friends – loads of people are doing double packs at the moment because they allow you to say something more than two tunes on vinyl. It allows you to have a concept without going as fully blown as an album. So that’s maybe what I’ll be working towards again.”
Ramadanman plays at Too Much! with Mark Pritchard, Dizz1, & Consequence on Saturday 7th August @ Mercat Cross
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=110878448960595&ref=ts
His Asia/Australia/New Zealand tour is currently on:
August
05 – Proper, Tribeca NYC, Jakarta, Indonesia
06 – Shape Bar, Perth, Australia
07 – Too Much, Mercat Cross Hotel, Melbourne, Aus
08 – Brisbane
11 – Sammy’s – Dunedin , NZ
12 – Double Happy, Christchurch , NZ
13 – Sandwiches , Wellington , NZ
14 – Cassette Number 9, Aukland, NZ
http://www.myspace.com/ramadanman
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Ramadanman
http://www.myspace.com/pearsonsoundz
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Pearson+Sound
http://www.myspace.com/hessleaudio
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Simon Hampson, Simon Hampson. Simon Hampson said: Check out my interview with @ramadub for Beat Magazine – http://bit.ly/9bQCNi – He's in Melbourne for @toomuchdubstep this Saturday. [...]