Image via Complex Original
Skream's been releasing music for the last 10 years, and has been in the limelight for the last eight, but most people know that he's a) one of the pioneers of the sound that we now know as dubstep and b) he is now doing his thing outside of dubstep. He has a great personality, and has accomplished a lot in his time within the scene, literally growing up before our eyes. DAD decided to look into his career and unearth info that you may not be aware of, from things that terrify him to which holiday he seems to be particularly productive around. Here are 10 things you didn't know about Skream.
Skream got into DJing and production at a young age
Skream says he was 11-years-old when he first started DJing, and moved onto production around the age of 13. He started messing around with programs on the Playstation before moving to Fruity Loops (with a few cracked plug-ins).
Skream wasn't into jungle as a teenager
With his older brother Hijak rolling with Inta Natty (alongside legends like Grooverider, Fabio, and Bailey), Skream had heard jungle tracks at a young age. He even admitted that he felt that jungle was "a racket," but as he got older he started to become more influenced by the raw, stripped down nature of jungle music, even making his own amen jungle tracks at 150BPM.
Hatcha was the first DJ to play Skream's tunes
Skream hung out and worked at Croydon's Big Apple Records, which could be seen as the mecca of dubstep music (and a place where he would get to know artists like Benga and Artwork). Skream and Benga specifically were trying to create tunes that they thought DJ Hatcha would play, and with Hatcha being at Big Apple all the time, it was easy to get him their dubplates, which Hatcha would eventually spin in his sets.
The first dubstep played on television was music from Skream
While hearing dubstep in commercials is pretty common on both sides of the Atlantic these days, it was an episode of the UK drama Skins that featured music from Skream as being the first time dubstep was played on "the telly." You can't see the clip in the YouTube stream below, but the episode featured a pretty disturbing scene at a house party that Skream's tunes fit into perfectly.
"Midnight Request Line" started out as a grime tune
It wasn't until after he started getting deeper into it that the first dubstep crossover track actually became a dubstep track.
The cover for "Skream!" was taken at a club
In talking about the cover of his debut album Skream! with The End, Skream had the following to say: "I didn’t realise this until I was talking to someone the other day, no one realises it’s actually taken in a club, there’s over 1000 people there in that room… Ha ha, it looks like I’m sweating my bollocks off in the kitchen of some party! Everyone thinks I’m out of it though, that’s the thing! Everyone thinks I’m pilled up! And I wasn’t, I literally just come off the decks, and I had to get these pictures taken. It was just the guy who took the photo; he was trying to get motion… It was a full-on rave, and we were trying to take the photo without loads of pissed up people getting in the way. It was like 4 in the morning and we were trying to take a picture without people jumping in. I was really happy with the artwork. It looks good on the shelves too, looks like I’m staring at you!"
Skream is terrified of blood
In relaying the story about the birth of his son Jesse, Skream mentioned that he's terrified of blood ("Hence why my teeth are so bad"). He did power through and watched his son being born, though.
Skream has a thing for Christmas
Oddly enough, the Christmas season of 2004 was when Skream says he started working on "Midnight Request Line." In 2012, Skream released a special mix as a Christmas gift. Guess which day his tune "Xmas Day Swagger," and it's "ugly brother," "Scrooge's Revenge?" He even released the Freeizm album on Christmas Day 2010. Gifts for us, but what is it about Christmas Day that gets Skream into such a creative mode?
Skream would like to work with The Weeknd
Skream told the Village Voice that he had spoke with The Weeknd about working together, but right now, their schedules have been too hectic to lock something in. Imagine what that would sound like...
