Some 'Fun Facts' with Smol

Smol's new release on VALE is a heavy beat tune with a psychedelic-like intro with the reversed noises and atmosphere leading into a huge distorted bass line with forest-like flutes following it underneath. We spoke with Smol regarding the single and what inspired him to make it.

Who would you say are your main influences within music at the moment ? what were you listening to when you wrote Fun Facts?

My main influences right now are Chrizpy Chriz and my room mate, Ting. We write different flavors of bass music but have similar goals and a strong drive to make this music thing successful so it's nice bouncing ideas off of him constantly. The labels I release and network with are also of great influence. Aufect, Rapture Studios and VALE are releasing gnarly forward thinking music from rad people and I'm grateful for their support.

When I wrote Fun Facts I was really intrigued by the music of Shield. I really enjoy the videos on his Instagram feed. They're short, digestible and comical bits about producing that I found easy to apply to my own work flow. He was constantly spitting out easy techniques so I tried some and wrote Fun Facts.

How do you do to get inspired to write music ? have you any rituals you do prior to writing a beat?

No. I basically walk in the door from work, sit at my studio with my work clothes on and start writing. Because I work full time that's 5 of 7 days a week. but on my two days off I generally sleep later, cook a great breakfast, drink lots of coffee then get into the studio and start networking or writing music, responding to messages. It's a big mess of everything all at the same time to be honest.

What DAW are you currently using? Give us a piece of hardware/software which you're really digging at the moment.

I write my tunes in Ableton and been messing around with FabFilter's saturator lately. I mainly use the contents of Ableton so highly recommend it as a DAW.

What's 2019 looking like for you ? Any plans you wish to announce?