
An interview with Ollie Drummond
Share This Article
Londoner Ollie Drummond is a DJ and producer who has been making waves both in his hometown and beyond. Drummond’s style seamlessly fuses his love of golden age tech house with contemporary, avant-garde sounds, resulting in deep, intoxicating beats. Drummond, who regularly performs at big-name parties such as World Unknown and Wiggle, as well as his own event, Marbles, is also a resident DJ at FUMP. Known for his unique and elegant sound, his productions have found a home on respected underground labels such as Wiggle, Limousine Dream and Alien Recordings.
We have had the pleasure of interviewing him and this has been the result.
Can you tell us a little about your experience? Where are you from / how did you get into music?
I grew up in South London with my parents taking me to gigs from a very young age but on more of a rock / indie tip.I always thought dance music was a bit clean cut and clublandy.
I was born in the 90s.where the previous generation had gateway bands like Primal Scream and the Stone Roses, there were a few bands that came about later on, using electronic stuff and overdubs in a way that caught my imagination. I remember that first Kasabian album being a rock album, but with a proper grimey atmosphere, where tunes would have fully unnecessary instrumental bits and they’d start adding on layers of spooky synths and FX, and that kind of turned my head to electronic music production.
I’ve always been doing something in music. DJing and putting on events since I was 17 and for the past 10 years with a few of my best friends have been running the Marbles parties.
How is your sound evolving? What artists and genres do you enjoy mixing right now?
I’m constantly digging old Swag and Bushwacka productions. Bushwacka with the deep heady psychedelic numbers and Swag for the ultimate body grooves. Even when I’m out and hear something that sounds completely unfamiliar it turns out to be one of those two. D’julz is another buy on sight artist, the journey he’s always on point and what he’s doing with his sound at the moment is right in tune with what I’m into.
How do you feel that your music influences or impacts your listeners?
My friend Josh said to me the other day ‘all your music is so cursed’. I like making stuff that’s a bit weird. But even when I think I’ve made a nice chilled deep house track, I’ll show it to people and they’ll say that’s pretty dark and intense.
So to answer your question, I really don’t know!
What projects are you working on right now? What can you tell us about your last job?
I have 3 partially complete vinyl EPs for some of my favourite labels, so I’m trying to get the rest of the tracks together to finish that.
It’s hard to feel creatively free trying to make a specific kind of track, and pretty impossible to second guess what labels will like anyway. So I’m just getting in the studio most days and making whatever music comes out til I get the right ones.
Where are you based and what have you been doing recently?
I’m still based in South East London. I’ve recently been getting into doing more local DIY parties with Marbles. We’re gathering together all the pieces we need to be more self-sufficient and less reliant on clubs. So soundsystem, lights, projection. The more we do, the more people we meet along the way with new spaces and ideas, so it’s expanding nicely. We’ve been doing outdoor parties with Cheeky Soundsystem, a few unusual underground spaces for night parties, potentially a sauna party on the horizon.
Has your sound changed much in recent years?
It’s constantly changing as I have to keep experimenting to keep me interested. This year I’ve been working in a hardware based studio and have naturally started making more acidic sounding tracks. We’re about to bring some mics and real percussion into that setup so that will introduce a new dimension too.
Do you feel safe now to play more experimental sounds?
Absolutely. The idea of styles and genres is pretty loose these days and people on the dancefloor are very open minded. It’s always the best feeling when you play something a bit outside the comfort zone and it lands right. It is all in the delivery though, you have to be sensitive to the vibe at the party and not force your weird tunes on them. There are a few records I’ve been carrying around for years waiting for that right moment.
We all know that the digital revolution has affected sales, but has it affected creativity?
There’s still nothing like digging out a mystery white label from the bargain bin and having your secret weapon. But with the digital age, services like Bandcamp mean people don’t need a label or distributor to financially back their music to get it out there. I can get get music from someone on the other side of the world, with no following at all, it opens all sorts of possibilities.
On the production side I think having millions of pristine sounding loops at your fingertips can be a blessing but also a curse. Nothing I can make myself is going to sound as crisp as ‘tech house loops vol 6.’ But trying it, and getting it wrong, you open the door to happy accidents and that’s always the most interesting stuff.
Can you tell us what your present and future projects are?
Right now I’m deep in the solo productions. But I have a few collaborations with friends who produce and sing that I’m looking forward to getting back to. I’ve been working with El Prevost on a hardware based live show which is a whole new workflow for me. I have a track just about to drop with my good friends Let’s Discult, and a full EP for Machine Elves coming hopefully this year too, which I’m very excited so keep your ears peeled for that!
Artist:
Ollie Drummond:
Label: