PodCast 003 -SHAUN SOOMRO
For this month's podcast we have been graced with Lick My Deck's label owner Shaun Soomro's music. In time to celebrate his addition to Essential Reload Bookings Agency roster we decided to offer you what the man is all about musically. Enjoy it!
Essential Reload’s interview with Shaun Soomro (Lick My Deck)
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Essential Reload’s interview with Shaun Soomro (Lick My Deck)
We recently snapped up Shaun and are excited to have him on EssentialReload’s roster. We believe in supporting and representing artists who truly believe in their music, the importance of its sound, and it’s influence on today’s electronic scene. With Shaun’s loyalty to vinyl and admirable views on releasing music, we are proud to welcome him aboard. EssentialReload present Podcast 003 by Shaun alongside an interview just so you get to know him a little better ….read on…’
1) What have you been up to recently? We recently put the final touches to the new LMD release by Mikael Stavostrand which should be out some time this week, it’s been getting a lot of hype so hopefully should do well. Also just came back from playing at St.Moritz’s Snow Bomb which was great fun, and currently setting up dates for our summer season of party’s. 2) How and where did you record the mix? It was recorded at our studio in London, it was done on two CDj 1000’s and a Allen & Heath, no Ableton cheating hehe The mix mainly consists of material from artists that I really like and respect both past and present just to keep it interesting.
3) Lick My Deck is going from strength to strength and getting a lot of support from big names, tell us why in this digital age did you decide to start up a vinyl based label ? Good question I sometimes ask myself that same thing lol.. Growing up and playing music when DJ’s would only play vinyl and cut Dubplates, I always had this notion that to release music it had to be on a physical format to make it real, I know that might sound strange now but it was almost embedded in me. I think as well to release music now on vinyl it has to be of the highest order, obviously great material, original artwork, good mastering and cut. I have heard so many good releases on vinyl and from big labels I might add that sound terrible due to the fact they haven’t been mastered and cut properly. A real shame for the whole release. I think people really care about quality whatever it may be, as it stands the test of time so to have some thing tangible that you can hold and touch is really a good thing rather than a file on a computer screen, it’s like a human instinct to touch, smell it adds depth to it even if it is a pain in the ass to carry haha..
4) Your artwork is so creative and really original, who designs your sleeves? Dibo our art director takes care of all the visual work on LMD, he is amazing and very talented. We usually start by the idea of the EP, music, track names etc.. and start to build a concept to get the feel of the whole project then myself and Dibo go back and forth until we find the perfect match to the music.
5) What qualities do you think you need in order to succeed in this industry ? Well I think you have to be honest and true to yourself and let your character and personality shine through, don’t copy what everyone else is playing and doing. Take risks if you believe they are worth it. Image is also a very important thing, especially in music. You have to be a showman when you’re playing to the crowd, people pay good money to have a good time and be entertained not to look at somebody hiding behind the decks. Also I think a lot of artists at the moment are releasing too much material either to get exposure or for their next pay check. If you start releasing music every month all you are doing is filtering yourself and your sound and people will get bored, you need to make your release like an event build hype around it get people excited and then drop the bomb. Release the best material on the right labels and you will gain more in the long run.
6) What does the future hold for you and LMD ? Well we have a new project from Lick My Deck called LMD SkunkWorks that is going to focus on a different style of music but still keeping a connection with our current material. Also we are setting up a tour for later in the year taking stops In the US, Europe and hopefully Japan so excited about that but mainly really happy to be playing with all of the LMD crew. Oh and how can I forget excited to be working with you guys !!!
3) Lick My Deck is going from strength to strength and getting a lot of support from big names, tell us why in this digital age did you decide to start up a vinyl based label ? Good question I sometimes ask myself that same thing lol.. Growing up and playing music when DJ’s would only play vinyl and cut Dubplates, I always had this notion that to release music it had to be on a physical format to make it real, I know that might sound strange now but it was almost embedded in me. I think as well to release music now on vinyl it has to be of the highest order, obviously great material, original artwork, good mastering and cut. I have heard so many good releases on vinyl and from big labels I might add that sound terrible due to the fact they haven’t been mastered and cut properly. A real shame for the whole release. I think people really care about quality whatever it may be, as it stands the test of time so to have some thing tangible that you can hold and touch is really a good thing rather than a file on a computer screen, it’s like a human instinct to touch, smell it adds depth to it even if it is a pain in the ass to carry haha..
4) Your artwork is so creative and really original, who designs your sleeves? Dibo our art director takes care of all the visual work on LMD, he is amazing and very talented. We usually start by the idea of the EP, music, track names etc.. and start to build a concept to get the feel of the whole project then myself and Dibo go back and forth until we find the perfect match to the music.
5) What qualities do you think you need in order to succeed in this industry ? Well I think you have to be honest and true to yourself and let your character and personality shine through, don’t copy what everyone else is playing and doing. Take risks if you believe they are worth it. Image is also a very important thing, especially in music. You have to be a showman when you’re playing to the crowd, people pay good money to have a good time and be entertained not to look at somebody hiding behind the decks. Also I think a lot of artists at the moment are releasing too much material either to get exposure or for their next pay check. If you start releasing music every month all you are doing is filtering yourself and your sound and people will get bored, you need to make your release like an event build hype around it get people excited and then drop the bomb. Release the best material on the right labels and you will gain more in the long run.
6) What does the future hold for you and LMD ? Well we have a new project from Lick My Deck called LMD SkunkWorks that is going to focus on a different style of music but still keeping a connection with our current material. Also we are setting up a tour for later in the year taking stops In the US, Europe and hopefully Japan so excited about that but mainly really happy to be playing with all of the LMD crew. Oh and how can I forget excited to be working with you guys !!!
By Isis Salvaterra and Hannah Briley
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