"The Confidence of Ignorance": Catching Up With Damu

Sam Schorb’s productions as Damu seemed to come out of nowhere all of a sudden last year. In the space of 12 months he had two EPs, Mermaid on Local Action and Ridin on Keysound, and a full length album Unity out in the public sphere showcasing his uniquely colourful take on club music. It’s a testament to the density of his melodic stylings that in going back to his music now, nearly a year after (which is like a decade’s worth of time in internet hype terms) you still find lashings of character to replay and latch onto. Typically that’s where you’ll find labels like Keysound investing in long player projects but with Damu’s it seems to take on a new life everytime you hear it, with the intrinsically linked selection of songs merging to fit your mood and surroundings. Since then Schorb’s been a little quiet, choosing to focus more on remix work and giving birth to his co-run label, Fulcrum Records, on which he’s released records by Paleman and Thefft so far. His endeavours all seem to be linked by an attitude that’s intended to move bodies in on a dancefloor and on he’s making no bones about that fact going on the strength of this mix he made for us ahead of his appearance in Room Three a week on Friday for Hit&Run. We shot the Sheffield based (for the time being) producer a few questions to catch up and find out what else he’s been up to outside of producing a slew of more techier productions that he showcases in this promo mix… Download: Damu – FABRICLIVE Promo Mix Sam… What’s good? How’s things? Yeah, I’m good thanks. Getting ready to move my studio from Sheffield back to Manchester so trying to tie up as many loose ends as possible before the weekend. How’s the Fulcrum enterprise going? You’ve put out some great club records already… What made you want to start your own label? To be fair, it's not just 'my label', my friend Adam from Manchester and I started it together and Jack (Thefft) does plenty to help out with running things as well. It's all running pretty smoothly so far; more work than I expected, but more fun too. Originally we just had our heart set on starting a label eventually because it was something we both wanted to do, not so long after we heard the Thefft and Paleman records we knew it was the right time to go through with it. All the records we've released so far are by people we know and they're all making music that excites me more than anything else coming out at the moment so we're just trying to trust our ears and hopefully a few other people will do the same... What are you doing music wise at the moment? The first track on the mix you made for us ‘Nothing To Hide’ is a bit special. Is it coming out soon? What have you got coming up? I've been holed up in the studio too many hours a day in Sheffield working on a few different projects. I've been doing some techno, some grime, some hip hop type stuff. I spend the majority of my time at the moment working on music so it can feel a bit stifling just working on one style with one set way of working. I don't have much organised release-wise but I’m releasing that tune myself along with another. I think that'll be out pretty soon, I designed the artwork this morning and I’m just about to send off the masters... How did feel about the reception your album on Keysound got? Did it spur you on to try new and different things? I think I was really lucky to get picked up by Keysound when I did... I think I signed up to do the Keysound album before I’d even released a tune anywhere and I ended up seeing it getting reviewed in the papers and stuff so, needless to say, I was pretty overawed by the whole thing. I just had a good thing going with the sound I was into around then and that helped me get an album done at a stage when I didn't really know too much about the technical side of production, it was more of a musical thing... People seemed to like it so I guess it shows there's a lot to be said for the confidence of ignorance. If I tried to make an album again now I think it'd take me 10 times longer. I found myself in a position where playing out a lot and thought of myself as a producer but I couldn't really make stuff bang so I’ve spent the last year on really getting my production to a level I’m happy with and trying to my own thing going stylistically. I've preferred techno for dancing to for a long while, but I ended up listening to it more as a source of inspiration, that said, it's all pretty phasic for me. As soon as I spend a week doing a heavy tune I need to spend the next week on a soft one to balance out... The mix leans quite heavily on techno, what are your feelings on the embracing it’s undergone from the 5 panel cap crowd? I mean, evidently music cycles are exactly that, cyclical, and techno rhythms seem to be at the forefront at the minute but what pushed you to take things a little more 4x4? Ha, I had to google what a 5 panel cap was there... Every time a style of music becomes the new most-popular thing, there's a big crowd of people who get off on it, then there's another big crowd of people who get off on making sure everyone knows they're not into it. Its music at the end of the day, I think the only thing that really matters is that it's moving bodies. I think more people who were into dubstep nights started going out with their mates who were into house and techno cause the atmosphere, for me, is a bit more lively. Maybe it's a sign of the 'post-dubstep' scene maturing a bit and now there are more people who are wanting to go out dancing past the morning… Techno's better for that. I didn't really make a decision to take things 4x4, when I started making techier stuff to push my production forward that just seemed logical. Obviously there aren't any rules to this kinda thing though, none of the stuff I’m finishing at the moment is really 4x4 and you have to wonder how long it's gonna be a trend on the average UK dancefloor, I’ve always thought of UK beats as being a bit more bendy.... Damu – FABRICLIVE Promo Mix Tracklist: Damu - Nothing To Hide South London Ordnance - Pattern Damu - Transom Bounce South London Ordnance - Slow Dance Thefft - Jungle Out There Bobby Champs & A1 Bassline - Phobia Damu - Holed Up In The Hovel Bobby Champs - Steve Martin Thefft - Right Here Paleman - Chapel Compa - Against The Clock Paleman - Halfout VIP Boxwork - Pressureface Ziro - Alphas Artifact - Burst Happa - Boss Macker - CCCP Brunks - Untold Rommek - Jack To The Sound Of The Underground Catch Damu starring in the Hit&Run takeover of Room Three on 2nd November.