Chime Shares About Loving His Fans, New Music, Music Education & A Sick Exclusive Mix

Posted by on October 31, 2016

Chime is a unique dude in the melodic bass niche. Each release he drops flat out suprises and satisfies you easily – mixing pop elements, great arrangement and themes – with ground stomping dubstep. Firepower Records, NCS Records, Kinphonic, and several more labels have noticed as well, picking up his music and releasing to the masses. In particular, Firepower records is debuting Chime’s first EP – not a bad move for an up-and-comer.

The solo producer took the time out to provide an exclusive mix to FNT as well as an in-depth interview, check out both below.

Is it easy for you to spend time with your fans on social media?

Chime: Absolutely! It’s become such a regular part of my day now to consult fans about things and keep them up to date with what I’m doing musically. I think it’s really important to do alongside actually making the music. I also recently started up the “Chimed In” Facebook group for the super Chime fans out there so I can give them more exclusive details and goodies.

What do you think gives your music it’s unique spirit that drives labels and fans to Chime?

Chime: My musical background consists of many years of my life not caring about music at all. However during that time, I was experiencing a ton of video game soundtracks unknowingly. It’s this that has influenced my entire idea of what music is and how chord structures and melodies should work. Because of this, listening to music reminds me of virtual worlds and images rather than other similar pieces of music. I think that ultimately leads to a unique sound for “Chime” as I’m not trying to mimic what’s currently popular as much as other producers might.

I think the merging of melodic and heavy also helps make my music unique and I made the “From Fairies To Fire” EP to reference this. I’m not afraid to put something cutesy in a heavy dubstep track. I’m not making music to be cool and impress people, I’m trying to make the music that I want to hear that no one else is quite making. The fact that other people enjoy it for what it is is awesome and I’m very thankful for that.

Where did your instrument education begin?

Chime: I’ve dabbled in a couple of instruments but I’ve never gotten to a point where I’d say I officially “play” any of them. I played recorder and ocarina in primary school which followed onto alto sax in high school. I actually hated alto sax for some reason, I think it was because I had scheduled lessons for it. I’ve always preferred picking skills up for myself and so I much preferred messing around with keyboard and drums and learning things on my own.

What bass artists do you idolize?

Chime: Xilent is definitely a huge influence for me. He’s followed a similar path to me as well, coming from Drum & Bass through to melodic dubstep and more recently some harder stuff. When I heard “Choose Me II” it opened my mind to a completely new way of making dubstep with supersaws which ultimately pushed me to try out the genre.

Eptic is incredibly unique in his sound and is constantly improving in the way he can command a dance floor with his music. I want to follow a similar principle with my own music. MUST DIE! & Virtual Riot definitely contributed to my love for mashing together melodic and heavy sections in tracks. Their influence from video games are also close to home for me so naturally I think we come from the same place creatively.

Fox Stevenson has given me a huge push in developing my own music. He’s basically in the same position as me but just many steps ahead, he’s even from my hometown. His approach to simple but effective melodic song writing makes his music very memorable and it’s something I’m working on infusing into what I make. Honourable mentions would have to go to my good friends and collaborators Adam Tell and LoneMoon. They are my absolute favourite people to work with and both have a fantastically unique sound.

What releases and shows do you having coming up?

Chime: I have a lot of free music coming soon! But also more releases with Most Addictive Records, Kinphonic, Firepower Records, Daily Earfood and my own label Rushdown. I’ll be sure to keep sending things to NoCopyrightSounds for release too. I’ve got a show coming up in December with 193 Records in Paris and maybe some early next year too. France definitely seems like the place for shows for me right now while I figure out the work visa situation. Can’t wait to get over to the states for shows too!

Where did your symbol come from?

Chime: It stems from the name “Chime” and its reference to a wind chime. I like associating my music with the air/wind element because, after all, sound itself is just the movement of air particles. When I was developing ideas for the alias I knew I really wanted a logo that contained a simplistic symbol that could be recognised on its own without the name actually being fully spelled out. I’m really glad I managed to achieve that with this design.

How did it feel to get signed to NCS?

Chime: Very cool! I constantly forget how much of a big deal they are on YouTube. They have a massive community and I’m thankful that I can introduce my music to it. I’m a big fan of their business model and the encouragement of sharing the music as a tool for video creation, such a great idea!

Whats your favorite part about playing live shows?

Chime: Hearing my music through a huge sound system and seeing it’s effect on people. Here in the UK, most people hate the kind of music I make and so I end up feeling very disconnected from the dance music community. At shows it’s so great to feel like I actually fit in and have the chance to meet the awesome people who enjoy what I make.

What do you want to look back and say you did overall in 2016?

Chime: I want to say I made the next step towards making music my full time career. Ultimately that’s the main thing for me. I think becoming associated with Firepower Records, UKF, NoCopyrightSounds and embarking on my own record label are some of the major milestones of this year. I only hope I can take it much further in 2017.

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