If you can follow DLR at Detonate and lay down a set made purely of 100% your own material, and smash the dance to pieces, you know you’re going places.
This was the case for Nottingham’s Joely on freedom weekend. And the places he’s heading are the only places he wants to go. Explaining how he feels music is the only thing he’s here on this planet to do, he’s been meddling with beats since school. Over the past few years he’s released on the likes of Audio Addict, Liondub Street Series, DNB Allstars (where he released his massive anthem Backhand with Madrush MC), Jungle Cakes and Pick N Mix.
You can expect a hell of a lot more in the future as he flipped the last 18 months of lockdowns into a creative free-for-all amassing a ridiculous sum of 203 completed tunes. Ranging from 140 bits and grime to all shades and styles of D&B, he may have broken through with the brazen, hard-nosed sound of Backhand, but his range is only just becoming apparent… As proved by his All My Life EP on Lickwood & Gunshot. His most comprehensive EP to date, across eight track it showcases Joely’s broadest palette and it’s been followed this week with his debut EP on Audio Addict – Insomnia.
With a forthcoming tour of New Zealand incoming and a collaboration with Haribo en route, we checked in with Joely and asked him to take us to his favourite places…
It was your birthday the other weekend, wasn’t it?
Yeah it was. I was 24.
24 on Freedom Weekend. Sickness. How did you celebrate?
I played Detonate straight after DLR, it was one of the best events I played in my life. I played 100% my own productions, it was crazy. I loved it. Before that I was headlining in Lincoln for Drippyboiii which was unbelievably sick, too. My mum came to that one.
No way! She a regular?
No this is the first time she’s seen me play. I told her she couldn’t for a while because it felt a bit weird but she’s moved to Lincoln so I got her guestlist and she came along. She was wearing a hoodie with my logo on, it was quite cute to be honest.
Brought up by ravers!
Oh properly man. I was played stuff like Faithless and Moby from a very early age and I think that was very influential for me.
Did you go to festivals as a kid, too?
Nah, my dad wasn’t as into it. Mum was the musical one, she’s always playing music and loves UKF. Dad was into other music.
What skills did you inherit from your dad?
He’s a perfectionist in everything. He was a chef for years, almost at Michelin level. So I definitely get that from him. I won’t stop with a track until I’m perfectly happy with it and always ask for second opinions off engineers and producer mates. Dad’s very similar in that OCD kind of way.
You’ve inherited a winning combo of skills. How long have you been on this for?
Well I was doing in school but people called me weird. I had a free version of Fruity Loops on this one computer in IT so I would always insist on sitting there so I could make beats! Then the teachers caught me so I found ways to use a proxy server to download the software on a computer in each room, even in the maths lessons, so I could sit there and make beats. I’ve always done it but taken it seriously for the last three or so years. And now things are happening that I could only ever dream of.
Yeah man. The first paid release was on Pick N Mix, wasn’t it?
Yeah it was! It was called Think. Bassman was meant to vocal it, but that fell through, so I sent it to TJ and it went on their Allstars VA. I still play it now.
You’ve been stacking up the labels ever since. Invicta. Liondub’s Street Series. That’s a bit of goal for a lot of rising artists…
Literally! I remember seeing guys like Bou and Macky Gee in that series I always wanted to see my face on that dollar bill! I hit up Eric Liondub and he’s such a nice guy. Now we’re in the same crew – Dungeonkru, a Canada based collective with DJ Slick, Willy Gyalis, Liondub and Visuals from Manchester. That’s mindblowing for me to be part of.
Longstanding crew!
Yeah very. It was lovely when he asked for me to join and rep for them in the UK. I talk to most the crew daily and we all make music together and do loads of collabs.
How does that work between you all?
It’s a bit crazy but we shuffle the stems between each other and add our own flavour to it all. It’s really interesting creative process.
Yeah I bet. I wanted to touch on your last EP, All My Life on Lickwood & Gunshot… It’s almost an album size release!
Yeah I should have called it that. I wanted this release to show how diverse my sound is. I’m known best for Backhand, which was quite an aggressive tune, so I wanted to show I’m not just about those hard bassline sounds. I’m really happy with that release. It did really well and got to number two of all genres on Juno Download.
You’ve done some deep bits before. I Wonder with Seen was a wicked one…
Seen is my best mate, I live with him. It’s a song that means a lot to him and is very personal. We spent a long session on it and I’m very proud of that. I didn’t promote it much because of stuff happening at the start of the year.
Yeah it was hard during that last lockdown. Did you manage to make the most of it?
I did actually. This is going to sound crazy but I made and finished 203 tracks.
WTF?
Seriously. That’s literally all I’ve been doing. I saw this as an opportunity to graft my arse off, I think I’ve been awake more than I’ve slept in the last two years. I’m well happy with them.
Wow. You’re off to New Zealand soon, right?
Yeah, when the borders change a bit, but a tour is all organised over there and I can’t wait to get out there and meet people I’ve made friends with online. Especially Burnzy, he’s a legend and was really early to support me. Now we chat every day. He’s a very good mate of mine, but we’ve never met in real life.
Big up Burnzy. Back to UK; you’re a product of Nottingham aren’t you? A very vibey city…
Yeah man, I love it here. We got some of the UK’s best clubs. Rock City is world renowned, Stealth and so many places. It’s a very musical city and we all inspire each other in a way.
Yeah you’ve done stuff with Vandull
Yeah me and Vandull usually do 140 and bassline and grime bits, but we’ve got some drum & bass coming in the future.
What else is coming in the future?
I got a release on Audio Addict out this week, which I’m happy about. It’s another musical and diverse one.
DJ Hybrid is the man!
I love him. One of the most humble guys as well. Some people let things get to their head but he’s one of those guys who will always talk to you on a level and get back to you. I got so much time for DJ Hybrid.
You got a Haribo collab coming, too?
Yeah he’s putting vocals on it as we speak. It’s kind of a dark liquid thing. I can’t wait to finish that and put it out there.
Add it to the 203! You’ve just put vocals on a tune yourself, haven’t you?
Yeah I did. I saw we had a good mic in the house so I thought ‘Fuck it, I’ll put my own voice on this.’ I played it for the first time last weekend. People went mental. It was jokes because that’s me on vocals.
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If you got a mic you might as well use it…
You can do what you want if you got a mic. You can put effects on it and change it so no one will even recognise it. You got a voice, use it!
Amen. So we know about the Audio Addict release, anything else coming up?
I got loads of bookings coming up over the summer, I’m resident at Drippyboiii so you can always catch me there. I’v’e got so much music coming out. All the stuff I’ve made on lockdown. I’m doing a remix of Real Problem by Bunnerz on DNB Allstars, a remix of Backhand coming out and loads more. Other than that, I just want to say that music is literally my life and passion and I will be doing it for eternity. I believe that’s why I was placed on this earth. Also huge shout to my girlfriend Ayame who is always inspiring, motivating and pushing me to make the best music I can and be the best person I can be.
Follow Joely: Instagram / Soundcloud
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