Touching Bass: Mr. Mitch

Right at the helm of everything great about instrumental grime is Mr. Mitch. The founder of Boxed, a club night that brings together some of the genre's best 140BPM beatsmiths, he's also now preparing his

Suave

EP

for those that care to listen

.

With Bestival just around the corner he made us a cross genre-flowing mix and then talked about jellyfish, being suave and R Kelly's underrated producing skills.

YNTHT: You dressing up for Bestival?

Mr Mitch: Yeah, I’ve got my pirate costume. It’s a nautical theme.

One of my friends is going as a jellyfish.

I was thinking to go as a slave from a slaveship.

That wouldn’t have gone down too well.

It wouldn’t have gone down at all.

But, the Suave EP is imminent. How long have you been working on it for?

Been working on most of those tracks since about September. It’s actually been in the making for about two years now. I put up a couple of the tracks on Soundcloud a little while back and people seemed to like it so I took it down and made a proper release of it.

Do you consider yourself as a suave kinda guy?

Not me, nah. I kinda feel like the music is suave though.

So you’ve got six tunes on there. Was it one of those ones where it was really hard to wittle them down?

Yeah, and I also wanted to get a good cross section of stuff that I think is me. There are a lot of different styles on there and varying tempos and I wanted to show what I’ve been doing recently. I’ve gone back to a lot of stuff that I was listening to as a kid and stuff that my parents were playing. There’s a lot of the old R&B and 90s hip-hop influence in there and it’s been coming through a lot in my production. R Kelly, Teddy Riley. Obviously there’s still the electronic side; the grime side.

You mentioned R Kelly, but how far did you get with the Trapped In The Closet series/drama/saga?

When it came out I was in school and I watched a few of them. I didn't get to the end, it all got a bit too much. He’s such an underrated producer as well.

You can’t knock R Kelly because he produced Aaliyah’s first album. Even if he wees on girls. Anyway, you’ve started Boxed, the instrumental grime night that’s been turning heads. What do you think about the role of MCs nowadays then?

At the moment, I just feel like we need a lot more creativity and people working on their craft. I don’t know how many MCs wanna grow with the sound and stick with it rather than searching for a quick buck. I feel like it’s something that’s misunderstood in a lot of music because good MCs are needed.

I agree. I miss the whole energy. Do you reckon it’ll ever come back?

I feel that grime is one of those genres that is constantly changing. So it may come back but come back in a totally different way. The MCs could come back with a differenty style. It won’t ever be like the old days, but that’s the best thing to keep it alive. You have to keep things moving.

Definitely. Back to the EP though. You’ve released it on vinyl but are you a vinyl enthusiast?

I just feel like giving it a physical product gives it a lot more value and people take it a bit more seriously if you’ve invested in it. People will think that it’s worth it. It’s got a full colour sleeve and everything so I’ve proper gone for it. My manager, who runs Run Music, are the label that’s putting it out and so he obviously feels it’s worth it too.

Am I right in saying it’s Run Music’s first release?

Yeah man.

Sick. Do you ever get to play vinyl out?

It’s difficult. I appreciate the vinyl form for what it is but I started on CDJs. I’m comfortable on CDJs and that’s what I like to use.

What have you gone for with the mix then?

It’s not what you’d hear at Boxed with the instrumental grime. This is me anywhere else and the kind of stuff I just love to listen to. It ranges from 130 to 160BPM in the mix.

Are we talking jungle/drum and bass here?

When I say 160BPM, I mean hip-hop vibes but just double time.

Sweet. Thanks Mr Mitch!

Preorder Mr. Mitch's Suave EP from iTunes (digital) and Red Eye Records (vinyl).