Inspired by Quincy Jones, a lover of Dubstep and already strapped with some future hits under his belt, A.O.B is one to watch out for in 2012.
You may have heard the London producers remix of SoundGirl’s ‘Why’ amongst others. As he releases ‘Far Away’ featuring GT Solo and Ivvanna Harvey in the run up to the release of his debut EP, he sits down with Flavour’s Maz for a chat.
So, who are you?
My names Antony, aka Antony on the Beat. I’m from south east London and I’m a music producer.
Cool. When did you start doing that?
I started to produce when I was 15 at boarding school… When I was 16 I taught myself how to play the piano. About a year ago it started to become a full time thing and I got involved in a lot of projects… I’m just tryna progress from that.
Did you study music?
Yeah, I did sound engineering at LCC. Things got mad hectic from there so I started to pursue music more seriously from that point.
Would you say education is key in doing music?
You don’t need a degree to be honest, but it is good because you need time to work on your skills and your craft. Even a college course is good, because you will always need to know the basics. But as long as you have a raw talent, you know what you’re doing and you have a passion for what you are doing, everything should fall into place.
What producers inspired you?
Quincy Jones, because he is just an all-time legend! Pharrell also played a big part in why I’m doing music. I’m also really feeling Labrinth. He’s a genius; he can create all types of genres. Then there’s Timberland… music in general just inspires me.
Dream artist to work with?
If it could be anyone, living or no longer with us; it would always be Michael Jackson. But if I could collaborate with someone right now… it would be someone who I can vibe with. Tinie Tempah or Wretch 32. I could choose a lot of people from the UK right now ‘cause were doing big things at the moment.
Yes, we are. How would you describe your sound?
Honestly, it’s very experimental. I like sounds that are melodic; like if I was to make a Dubstep beat, I would add some nice chords for some balance, but it would still have the hard edgy bass. Hard hitting drums are important to me as well. I do love bass. And nice chord arrangements…
UK or US beats?
I grew up listening to American beats and that’s where my sound initially came from. But over the past couple years we’ve had artists like Tinie Tempah and Pro Green coming to the forefront of UK music so I’m starting to prefer it more. Maybe because I’m from where they are from, they just inspire me more than the American artists. Their sound is good but it’s getting old and tedious – it’s good to hear something new. The European sound is more defined whereas American music is a bit more simplistic.
Big statements there. Have you got a signature sound?
Yeah, some people say that I do. As I’ve started to grow and persist in my music, my sound has become familiar. Although I produce genres from Hip Hop, Pop, Dubstep, RnB… you can still hear my drum patterns and the chord arrangements; I would like to think you can distinguish my sound.
You’re now signed. How did you get to that stage?
In the music industry, you have to network like crazy. These days if you have 30% talent and 70% networking skills you still have a good chance of making it. I dunno if that’s a good thing, but… Put yourself out there and go to the events like Flavour Live, [I nod my head approvingly] Urban Development and I Luv Live, any music and media events are good. You just have to work and soon it will come.
What’s life like under management?
Good! I’ve been working on a few projects. I did one with Selah and Doneao called ‘My House’ and ‘Nobody Wants To Be Alone’ with Incisive and Meleka; that got played on 1xtra, which was a good look. More recently I worked with Soundgirl on ‘Don’t Know Why’ and Rhian Benson’s ‘Be’ and GT Solo’s ‘Far Away’… Loads of stuff! I’m working on my debut EP, which will be a collective of me and people in the music industry. It kinda has a shock value; I hope it showcases my versatility from RnB to Dubstep and so on. It’s just a collective of my work which will hopefully show how I truly feel and what I want to bring to the forefront of UK music. So yeah, it’s gonna be interesting. I’m working on a lot of other artist’s projects as well.
What else can we expect from you?
I’ve done a few remixes that will be out soon. Hope to hear me on the radio and catch me on YouTube and that. I’m not allowed to say much but expect to see me about soon.
Chat to Antony On The:
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