Sam GreenwoodLatmun is one of those names that seems like he’s been around for way longer than he has.
The British producer and DJ emerged from the cracks around 2016 and he has since gone on to carve out his own highly respected place as one of the most prolific DJs and producers since.
His meteoric rise came at a good window as the tech house sound that he was making took a dive in popularity soon after after countless producers began harvesting it for its commercial success and ultimately leaving fans tired of repetitive build ups.
With all that being said, Latmun has stood firm in that period of time, remaining fresh in his tracks and sets alike. He has been playing a world tour of back to backs with close friend and collaborator Detlef to huge success and continues to push an uplifting sound through his ever evolving productions.
We spoke about the tour and how the electronic world has changed around him since he first burst onto the scene a few years back.
You were a huge name when you were just emerging on the scene a few years back. Was it difficult to live up to the hype and how did you deal with having such lofty expectations heaved onto you at such an early stage?
“Well thank you very much! Its an honor to hear that. I had spent a serious amount of time in the studio prior to my touring schedule going mad and really used that time to stock up as many of what I hoped were good demos as possible. That meant that when everything did all go a bit crazy gig wise and I had less studio time available I already had stuff that I was ready to release which took the pressure off of feeling I had to make another ‘hit’ track as soon as possible.
With the DJing side I’ve always had the motivation to be a little different via using Traktor with the CDJs and incorporating various guitar pedals and the RMX1000 into my sets as I hope it creates a slightly different experience when coming to see one of my sets and brings something unique.”
You’ve kept really busy tour and production wise lately, has it been tricky trying to balance the two at such a key point in your career?
“You hit the nail on the head of probably the hardest aspect of the career! You have to grab the studio time literally whenever you can and particularly the inspiration. These days rather than making myself sit in the studio for hours on end trying to create something, I wait till I’m really inspired or motivated, which means the time is more productive and the outcome is better, better utilising the little studio time available!”
What do you think the main steps that a young producer needs to take in order to go from getting booked sporadically to touring as you are at the moment?
“I think consistency and diversity at the start is essential, in both quality and regularity of musical output. There is so much competition in the scene right now with its ever increasing popularity that if you do a great EP which is well received, but then don’t do anything else after you will be forgotten as quickly as you became known. Consistency and diversity in output shows people that you have lots more to give, and in turn they will want to keep close track of you to see what comes next. If you don’t have diversity in the output of your tracks and they all sound the same then people will quickly lose interest as once they have heard a few they have heard them all!”
How did your relationship with Detlef come about?
“I first met Detlef through a competition he put on to win a track on the VIVA MUSIC Season 4 Ibiza compilation actually! We then played a show together where I was a support act in Bournemouth and we got on really well (and had many drinks!). I attended a few more shows with him just to hang out, and then the rest is history. The first B2B show came about at the BPM festival in Mexico last year, we were playing on a line up with limited time, so rather than have two very short sets we did a longer B2B and it just worked, it vibed perfectly and people seemed to really enjoy it, now here we are on a world tour!”
Do you prefer playing back to back or on your own? What’re the postives and negatives of both?
“Usually I prefer playing individually over B2B, but the B2B with Detlef I enjoy equally to playing solo. We know each others musical tastes exactly, and know how to compliment each other’s style of mixing. We have a mixer each when playing and 4 CDJs with at least three tracks and/or a combination of loops in the mix at all times so we really are intertwining our own styles together rather just playing track after each other. When one of us takes the set in a different direction, the other can easily follow smoothly and create a really interesting journey, this is what makes our B2B so enjoyable.
A positive about the B2B is that you have more time between songs to choose the next thing your going to play so you can really spend some time curating a journey that’s special.
For usual B2Bs outside of me and Detlef I’d say the negative is that sometimes someone can take it in a direction that you don’t want to go and that’s when B2Bs don’t really click as you are almost having an unspoken fight against each other for which direction to go.”
On top of that, you’re playing extended sets with Detlef, what’s your goal from them sets, do you think shorter sets have had a negative impact on the clubbing experience in recent years?
“Shorter and longer sets both have their place in my opinion, if the club soundsystem, monitors and general vibe are all great then a long set is always better, it means you can play more of a variety of music and not just ‘bangers’. You can have peaks and reductions in the energy, go between melodic and stripped back etc which all add to keeping the crowd engaged for a longer period of time.
If the club sound system isn’t great then a shorter set is better as you cant hear the details and subtleties of each track, meaning they all sound more similar and you cant therefore create as much of an interesting journey. The same goes for the booth monitors, you would be amazed how often the consideration of having really good booth monitors is neglected, this makes it harder to get into it and much less enjoyable therefore not as good of a journey bring created. In those situation having a shorter set creates some extra interest for the crowd by bringing someone different with a new stage presence etc so I think they can work better.”
Outside of electronic music, what’re you listening to most right now?
“I really enjoy old hip hop, ‘Souls Of Mischief – 93 Till Infinity’ will forever be one of my favourite pieces of music.”
Your style is really unique and stands out a lot where a lot of DJs can dress a bit blandly. Is that something you put much thought into or has it always been that way for you?
“Well thanks a lot! I’d say that statement isn’t always correct during the winter though as there are some of these days where plain black just feels appropriate. But during the summer I do always try and be colourful, because I like dressing that way, but it also has a positive knock on effect where say I’ve been playing on a festival a stage for example, and then go wander around the festival after it makes me really easy to spot I end up connecting with lots of fans which I love doing!”
Tech house has somewhat gone through a bit of a lull in recent years after some newer artists dived into a more EDM format, is it tricky to move on from a dip in popularity of your sound, how do you keep it fresh?
“I think it’s not being afraid to make something different, and just always creating something a bit weird in comparison to what is popular! When you’re in the studio it’s very tempting to repeat sounds and techniques that you know work, for ease of getting something down. It’s also easy to fall into the trap of thinking what you’re making is not fitting to what’s popular right now, and not flowing with any ideas or sounds that are strange during the production process.
All of the tracks I’ve been most creatively satisfied with have been the ones where I’ve been sat in the studio thinking this sounds weird, I’m not sure anyone will like this. But then if you let your ideas keep running and take it till the end, the final project will be different to anything else out there and really differentiate you as an artist and give you an identity.”