Interview: Sam Russo

 

Soundspace

So who is Sam Russo?

Sam Russo

Sam Russo is me, 29 year old music habitué.

 

---

 

Soundspace

Something Else is about to go out on Construct under your Stratowerx project, what brought you to release under an alter ego?

Sam Russo

The sound is very different to my Sam Russo material. I have always made different music whether its Techno, Dubstep, Dub or Electro. I think its important for producers to flirt with other genres. It helps to create an original sound, taking influence from many styles and artists. Recently I have been playing a wider variety of Techno in my DJ sets and have been known to take it as far as Electro, ‘the proper stuff’.

From this I felt that I had another lease of life and thought it apt to release the Electro and more obscure Techno I have been making as an alter ego, Stratowerx was then born.

 

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/205117430″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”260″ iframe=”true” /]

 

---

 

Soundspace

And can you talk about the inspiration behind the track?

Sam Russo

As with most of my production’s I take inspiration from a whole host of events both past and present. I couldn’t pin-point what exactly led me to create ‘Something Else’ but I could hazard a guess at the style of music I was playing during my late night DJ sets.

Working with Craig Richards definitely unearthed a whole new musical world for me, His taste in music has an extremely wide span. I often stay at his place and we work solidly for a week, this doesn’t always involve making music, there is a lot of listening to other records and conversing about music. I think that learning about producers and genres I have never been exposed to has completely refreshed my ideas as a producer.

 

---

 

Soundspace

Walter Walk, Hugo Barrit and William Welt are also present on the release, is there a favourite among the other three tracks for you?

Sam Russo

That’s a tough question as I play pretty much every track on the EP. I have to say though, Walter Walk and William Welt do shine for me here :)

 

---

 

Soundspace

As Sam Russo you’re doing well, with a player recently on Leftroom and support from platforms such as Rinse FM, what does the future hold for that project?

Sam Russo

I will always make and play music as Sam Russo, I love House and Techno and I’m proud of what I have achieved so far. I have plenty more tracks to release as Sam Russo and have many more underway! I have recently signed to Elastic Artists for all Sam Russo DJ bookings too.

 

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/197630588″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”260″ iframe=”true” /]

 

---

 

Soundspace

And Stratowerx? When can we expect more sounds from that?

Sam Russo

Definitely, The main concept behind Stratowerx was to release solely on my own Caught London Sleeping imprint however since sending out some demos to friends and label mates I thought it would be cool to widen the output to other labels. I have an EP coming on Matt Walsh’s Clouded Vision and no doubt more for Construct in the near future. There will also be a Craig Richards and Stratowerx release dropping in the future, that will be under a new guise but in the Strat style.

 

---

 

Soundspace

So just a couple of more general questions, what was your worst experience as a DJ?

Sam Russo

I tinkered with Traktor Scratch for a short while a few years back. I remember warming things up in fabric room 1 and it was about 1.30am so the room was nice and full. I selected the next track to play and loaded it into Traktor, the software froze. The audio was still playing thankfully and it sorted itself out, my heart sank during the minutes Traktor almost let me down. I have since never used Traktor again.

 

---

 

Soundspace

What’s the coolest thing in your house?

Sam Russo

My Dave Smith Tempest.

 

---

 

Soundspace

Your favourite label you’ve never released music on?

Sam Russo

Underground Resistance.

 

---

 

Soundspace

Anything to add?

Sam Russo

Watch out for Caught London Sleeping, and check out our Rinse FM Shows.

 

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/181515672″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”260″ iframe=”true” /]