#neonized

Earlier this month Neonized Records put up a mix from Slick Shoota, one of the newest members of the Teklife family. Slick Shoota hails from Oslo, Norway, and has been putting out some impressive trax recently.

New interview and mix for Neonized. Read the whole article here:

http://neonized.net/blog/general/a-160-stars-05-slick-shoota-interview-mix/

“Few weeks ago we woke up with the news that the Teklife crew, flagship of the global footwork movement, was welcoming a new member to its family. Although they already had some members based on European territory, like the Serbian duo Mystik Stylez (Feloneezy & Jackie Dagger), Berlin-based DJ Paypal or the designer and graphic artist Ashes57 in London, most of their original members are based in Chicago, where the movement was originated more than 15 years ago. For those alien to the scene, the appointment of the Norweigan and Oslo resident Marius G. Mevold aka Slick Shoota as new member of Teklife might come as a surprise. Nothing further away from reality; since his debut single “Pussyclot Funk Them” for B.Yrslf at the beginning of 2011, Slick’s career has been nothing but meteoric, being signed up by Diplo’s label Mad Decent soon afterwards. Four years later, we can claim that Slick Shoota is one of the most prolific, respected and beloved deejays and producers in the footwork and juke circuit. It is an absolute privilege to share a moment with Marius so he can give us some impresions about his artistic career so far, his recent appointment as Teklife member and the current footwork scene.”

-First of all, thank you in the name of Neonized Magazine for attending us and spend some of your precious time for this interview.

My pleasure!

-Congratulations on your appointment as new member of the Teklife crew ¿How does it feel to be oficially part of the most important and global footwork collective worldwide? ¿Do you somehow see this as a reward for your hard work and dedication during the past few years?

I’m definitely excited! They been supportive since my earliest tracks so to be officially part of the crew is amazing. DJ Spinn, DJ Rashad and Teklife was, and still is a massive inspiration to me and my sound. I also think the crew recognize the way I’ve been going forward and that I’ve formed my own signature. I’ve connected with many of the members over the years so it feels like natural progression. The future feels bright

-Under the alias Slick Shoota it was not long before a label like Mad Decent was interested on your sound and signed you; your first track at that time was “Pussyclot Funk Dem” in 2011 for B.YRLSLF followed by a series of remixes and edits before your debut EP “8 Beauty” on Loose Squares the year after.

Yeah, things went really quickly around that time. I was uploading lots of new stuff, and back then Soundcloud was an amazing community of up and coming producers. Around the same time Mad Decent was setting up Jeffree’s and they sent me a message asking if I wanted to do an EP for them, which off course I did in early 2012. My latest release for them was F Dat in late 2013. By that time the whole Jeffree’s thing had blown up massively. I never thought my sounds would reach such a massive label and audience to be honest.

-At that time your tracks had a lot of influences from bass music, juke, 90’s jungle and even trap. ¿How do you have evolved over the years to the current Slick Shoota?¿Are you in constant search of new sounds or do you find yourself comfortable with your current style?¿Do you think the fact that you are now part of Teklife will give you access to experiment with new sounds?

I’m always searching for new inspiration and I always want to improve as a producer and experiment with other types of sounds. I want people to be surprised. You’re still gonna hear those influences, just in a much more broader sense. I think people will hear that my sound is evolving.

-Talking about Teklife, ¿What influence the crew as a whole and DJ Rashad in particular have had over your music career?¿What other producers or DJs have also influenced you in a special way during the past few years?

The first footwork tracks I heard was by DJ Rashad so if it wasn’t for his beats I wouldn’t be here. He was always really supportive of my music and giving me shoutouts in interviews. That was the best acknowledgement I could ever wish for. He’ll always be an inspiration to me and his legacy is so strong, Teklife will always work hard in his honour.

As for other inspirations there’s so many, Teklife and Hyperdub crew obviously..also really into everything TCF, Distal, Hitmakerchinx, Rudeboyz, Rizzla, Drippin, Kid Antoine, Her Records crew… I forget loads probably

-One of the distinct features in your career under our point of view are the vast amount of remixes and edits that you have produced over the years, from Falty DL to Bambonou through Jessie Ware, Hudson Mohawke, DJ Vadim or Roni Size to name a few, the list is endless! Maybe the most special one was the incredible remix you did for the LV track “Imminent” that was played (and still is) all over the world. ¿Are there any reasons behind this? ¿Any special one for you that you feel particularly proud of?

The Imminent remix is a fun one. Mainly because I didn’t really spend much time on it and somehow it just ended up sounding really good, it’s one of my favourite tracks to play out. The Cbat edit is kinda funny too. I’ve grown tired of it but it got a ridiculous amount of support. I got a text a couple of years ago saying that Skrillex was playing it, like wow. I know Netsky been playing it in his sets too which I really didn’t see coming. It seems to cross a crazy musical landscape, i swear it got played in a dubstep mix on BBC the other day too, it doesn’t die! Many of my remixes is a spur of the moment kinda thing, just to have something fresh. Some of them I can look back on and kind of regret, while others I can listen back to and be quite happy, like the Falty DL or Bambounou remix, they sound decent still. My bootleg of Joy O and Boddikas Mercy also seems to go down well too when i play it….

-From 2013 and along your friends Drippin’ and Skawr you run Ball ‘Em Up, a local collective that not only release edits and original tracks but also throw up parties in Oslo where people like Chrissy Murderbot, Visionist, Dubble Dutch or Sinjin Hawke have already played. ¿was there an empty space on the Oslo club culture that you wanted to fill at that time or the idea came up naturally? ¿What are your current and future plans with the collective?

There’s definitely room to fill. There’s some good dj’s and concepts have come to shine over the last couple of years though so I’m happy to see things are growing. With Ball Em Up we’ve had many amazing producers and dj’s over and I’m proud to have shown them off here in Norway. in 2016 we’re focusing more on Ball Em Up as a musical outlet and label. We’re releasing out first EP early in 2016, so we’re really excited about that! Don’t have more details yet but definitely keep an eye out for that.

-Recently, and as part of Noisey’s 48h mixtape challenge, we could enjoy the way you work, colaborating with people from the local scene like Samsaya, Boska or Drippin’ in order to prepare a six-track mixtape that is available on soundcloud. ¿How was the experience and which part of the creative process in comparison with your normal production process was more dificult for you?

Pretty different, haha. Being on camera and narrating while collaborating with 4 people and producing 7 tracks in such a short timespan is ridiculous. It was definitely a big challenge, but a great experience to push myself and breaking some of my boundaries. Walking around sampling claps and city soundscapes was kinda corny to be honest, but at least I got to show some of the city. I’m happy with how it all came together and the crew was really cool, we had a lot of fun. Luckily they had a good editor too, I’m glad I didn’t get to see the raw material and all of my fails, haha.

-Along with “8 Bit Beauty” EP mentioned before, you have edited a number of EPs like “Percussion Skank” for Jeffree’s label (Mad Decent, 2012), “Draw” for Hyperboloid (2012) o the most recent “Keep Bussin’” for Apothecary Compositions (2014), along with some other released on your own like “War Dub” (2015). ¿What are your future plans as producer and what we can expect from Slick Shoota in 2016?

I’m planning on releasing more music in 2016 than I’ve done this year. I’m working on two EP’s at the moment, one which will be focused on 160 footwork and juke and another one that will be completely different, spanning widely into my other influences.

-Thank you very much for the interview, we hope to see you back in Spain soon!