Latmun: 'To find your own sound and style takes time and its essential to have that. '
2016 was phenomenal for you! At the beginning of the year you were planning a holiday with your friends to Ibiza, by September you’d made 8 trips there! How surreal has the whole experience been for you?
That is true! It was as surreal as it sounds, the whole process isn’t something that happened over night though, I had been playing as a resident regularly for around 5 years and producing in every spare minute I had. It wasn’t until the start of 2016 that I really released any music as I wasn’t confident in it, so it was really warming to have it so well received and truly amazing to have my dreams come true.
You recently made a return to your hometown club Stealth in Nottingham, where you held a residency for five years! What did you learn from your residency there and how does it feel when you go back to play there?
Playing at Stealth really shaped me as a DJ, I had to play at a variety of different times in different rooms to varying crowds and it allowed me to fully explore and experiment to find my style. In particular, the art of warming up a room where the only people in the room are the bar staff until it was at full capacity and learning and how to keep a crowd entertained for a long 6+ hour set. The latter was something I feel has really added to my career as it has meant I always try and make my sets more of a journey as apposed to just crowd pleasing ‘bangers’, This is even true with shorter sets as I find it keeps the crowd more engaged and makes the experience more memorable for everyone in the room.
You’ve released an EP called ‘Everybody’s Dancin’ on Green Velvet’s ‘Relief’ label can you tell us a little bit about the EP, how did you get to know him and what it is like working alongside him?
The EP is just two tracks, it’s the first time I have done an EP that short but I felt they are both really different and encompass fully what Latmun is about at the minute. The first track ‘Everybody’s Dancin’ is different to what people may expect from me, its more stripped back and subby focusing on the groove and more subtle details in the track, coupled with an appropriate vocal for the the track name and dancefloor! The second track ‘That’s Good’ is a progression of the sound people may be more used to from me with lots going on in the track to keep you guessing while maintaining high energy throughout.Green Velvet and I first met on a skype call, I probably sounded somewhat of a fangirl while he was asking me to remix his classic track ‘Flash’ last year haha. Since then we have played a number of shows together and are good friends, he is great fun and also really great to work with.
What is the best crowd you’ve ever played too?
There is lots I could mention but a recent one was at the BPM Festival 2017, Detlef and I played B2B at Lee Foss’s Repopulate Mars showcase, the B2B was actually planned quite last minute! Detlef and I are good friends anyway so it was always going to be great fun, but we didn’t expect the chemistry between song choices behind the decks to be so good. The crowd was fully engaged for the whole set and allowed us to play a variety of different kinds of tracks, taking it from chilled daytime grooves up more high energy rollers. It was a really nice time of the day being late afternoon with the sun out so nothing could have made it better to be honest! We are actually going to be doing some more B2B sets in the future so keep an eye out for them.
I saw you recently reach out on Facebook trying to purchase a Red Sound Soundbyte pro online, what is your favourite piece of equipment you own?
(laughs)Ah yes the Soundbyte, for those of you that don’t know what it is, its basically a device that allows you to create loops of what is playing and send them back to the mixer on a spare channel, you can layer them on top to create a different feel to tracks, extend sections, create build ups and many more. My favourite piece of equipment is probably a combination of two:I love using the Pioneer RMX 1000 with the Allen & Heath Xone92 Mixer, the combination is so flexible and it allows you to be as creative as you want using the device via the mixers send and returns, allowing you to really differentiate your set.
When did you decide, you wanted to make DJ’ing your career?
Well like most people I always dreamed of it being a career but the sensible part of my brain would always bring me back to earth and tell me I should be using my degree to apply for a boring corporate job! It was after I made ‘Who’s That’ in summer 2015 when I considered it an actual possibility. I really found my sound and direction with that track which gave me more confidence to give it a proper go.
What advice would you give to any aspiring DJ’s?
It really is possible to make this a career, work hard and don’t rush it. To find your own sound and style takes time and its essential to have that. Do as much networking as possible, your network is how you get your tracks out there to the right people particularly at the start of your career.
What is the best thing about your job?
There are so many but to name one… Being able to meet and share experiences with so many like minded people all around the world is truly amazing.
Edited by: Josh Crowe
