.

.

Interview with
TIGS + GOLDFINGER

(22nd April, 2021)

Interviewer – Dave Bruce

.

Goldfinger

.

‘I’m Not Hearing That’ is produced by Tigs, who is a UK DJ/Producer that now lives in Australia – he’s been making a name for himself on the DJ and radio circuit over the last year (as he’s been unable to deliver live gigs of course), gaining some hefty support with the usual suspects such as Rinse FM, Radio 1, Kiss FM, releasing with Slime Recordings and also scoring a number of chart hits over on Beatport. Meanwhile Goldfinger has evolved as a king of bass music since touring the world with Virus Syndicate, collaborating on numerous Top 10 Beatport singles spanning the genres of drum & bass, dubstep and grime. 

.

.

How did you all find each other and decide to share your musical talents?
Tigs – ‘Power of the internet! I sent him the beat to see if he wanted to be on it. His group Virus Syndicate were a big influence ever since my mate got us into the sidewinder packs, so getting to work on a tune together was a great experience ‘
Goldfinger – ‘Tigs reached out to me on Twitter I think. He said he was working on some music, specifically with me in mind and wondered if I’d be up for working together. I’m always down with working with new people especially someone who has taken the time to consider creating something with me in mind.  Tigs sent over his ideas and straight away I was seriously impressed.  It was exactly the kind of energy that I was hoping for. I think at that point it was a case of making sure that I didn’t let Tigs down.  He had this vision of me being on one of his tracks and came with some music that I thought was a perfect fit so I really didn’t want it to be anything less than what he hoped for.’

How would you describe your sound? Why do you think people resonate with your music?
Tigs – ‘I’m heavy into the early / mid 2000 UK sounds as that’s what I was growing up with …it’s just taken me til 2021 to be able to make it! Basement Jaxx, Roll Deep, The Streets, EL – B  – Simplicity with a vibe.’
Goldfinger – ‘I think my sound fuses the full evolution of Grime, Dubstep, Drill, Trap and Hip Hop. I think in the UK especially there has been a connection to each of the genres mentioned and as artists there have been champions of each. Obviously you’ve got the purists out there but in general I don’t think the listener gives a shit about all that though and would rather hear something/someone that isn’t bound by things like “this is how you have to flow for Drill or this is how you have to spit bars on Grime”.  “That’s a dubstep sound so you can’t spit bars on the drop”. I think there’s a lot more people who won’t just listen to D&B or only listen to Grime or Drill and have to do that for 25 tracks in a row. Enjoying music shouldn’t be like supporting a football team. You can enjoy it all and should be able to hear influences from all the sounds you like.
I think there’s been so much musical development over the years with so many people having their own take on a sound and pushing things forward. I appreciate everything that has got Lyricism to where it is today so guess I just hope that people who hear my music hear that I try to take a bit from all the things I grew up on. Lyrically though I think it’s important to respect the art form and give the listener as much as you can every time you go to the mic.’

Which artist’s music and/or performance, past or present, inspires you today? 
Tigs – ‘For me production wise ,right now I’d say : TenBillion Dreams, Kayne Stamp, Lewi B, Silencer, De-Tu, Redlight/Clipz’
Goldfinger – ‘I think there are loads of artists I really rate but I try not to let other artists’ music influence me too much so I don’t really go too deep on listening to other rappers/MC’s. 
I think achievements are the things that inspire me more and I look at the rappers/Mc’s from my city like Bugzy Malone, Aitch, Tonn Piper, Trigga, Lady Ice, Tonn Piper, DRS, Strategy and Children of Zeus. These guys are all achieving great success and it’s great to see. I think when you look at Bugzy Malone for example his success has been phenomenal. The guy is in movies has his own clothing line he has achieved massive things in life and all from having an ability to write and spit bars.  Outside of Manchester I really like Dave, D Double E, Kano, Ghetts, Big Narstie, Lil Simz, Capo Lee, Digga D, Central Cee, Chip, Lady Leshur, Fredo, and so many more. Performance wise though I have to look at Stormzy as being really inspirational. Seeing him on stage at Glastonbury and putting on a brilliant show was like seeing the culmination of something that has been in the making for nearly 20 years. ‘

.

.

Your new single has just been released! Describe its origin and evolution. 
Tigs – ‘I’m Not Hearing That’ is a grime tune taking elements of the new and old style sounds with Goldfinger approaching each verse differently with some classic lyrics!’
Goldfinger – ‘I got the beat From Tigs I wrote the bars that I felt would work and recorded them before sending back the parts to him. I also had a bit of an edit with the track structure too. Tigs sent me back his first mix of the track but we felt it still needed something. I played the track to my friend Keyz Kartel- He is in fact the DJ who originally set up Virus Syndicate from his bedroom at his mums house. He’s on production things nowadays but we’ve always had a similar taste in music. We knew the beat was fire so we went over the vocals together and got everything to a point we were really happy with how they sat together. Tigs then got his engineering team on board for final mastering who I’m told don’t take no shit and will tell you straight if your bars are shit- No pressure there then. Fortunately they didn’t think it was shit and the track saw the light of day!’

Is there an EP or Album on the drawing board?
Tigs – ‘We got a few more singles we are working on together yeah – switching releases between Goldfinger’s {Caseload Records} and mines label {Raw Tactics]’
Goldfinger – At the moment I’m just trying to keep the music coming. I have my own label Caseload Records that allows me to put out my own music and work with other artists who want a platform to showcase their music. I’m probably sitting on enough material to put out an EP or Album but I’m an independent artist so having regular releases allows me to keep working and learning what resonates as I go. Me and Tigs have already got another three tracks that we are working on together.
The plan is to work together in projects for both our labels so the next thing with me and Tigs will be on Caseload Records but obviously if the demand is there for a bigger project we will make it happen.

Any tours or events coming up soon? What are you looking forward to, and what can the fans expect?
Tigs – ‘I haven’t even been out of the house that much the last year so definitely want to change that – Music wise I got 4/5 more projects coming out this year, so just setting it up for when we do it again!’
Goldfinger – ‘The last year has been a crazy one for me as it probably has for everyone else too. I started 2020 out in Dubai. I went over just after Christmas 2019 and did new year out there. 
I met up with my friends Mark and James from Solardo who were over there touring at the time and got to see how much they had developed. They were doing Elrow on NYE (Midnight set) and then flying straight out to Berlin to do NYE there. I wasn’t really doing much tour or gig wise and came back with the plan to just focus on releasing music regularly. I was still developing and building a sound as an independent solo artist. I decided I wanted at least one release every two months in 2020. To be fair that went quite well, I think I got 8 releases out in 2020  but obviously lockdown had a bit of an impact on plans. For me I just used it as an opportunity to carry on focusing on releasing music.   The start of 2020 it was all via Caseload but then as the year progressed I started getting more approaches from other labels. Obviously no shows though as everything was on lockdown. At the time of writing this though “I’m Not Hearing That” has been out 3 days and I’ve already had offers for shows as venues start to plan to re open in the UK. Here in the UK it seems to have had an up and down in terms of the spread of COVID -19 so I think it’s important for safety to be managed properly though. I got COVID-19 back in January and it aint no joke ting, I was fucked with it so much as people wanna get back out there you don’t wanna be the one that caught it and gave your parents or grandparents that shit. I’m really looking forward to being able to connect with an audience though, I think that’s the real indicator of how well you are doing and what direction to go with your music.’

.

Tigs

.

If you could perform with any music artist, Alive or Dead, who would you choose? And why? 
Tigs – ‘I don’t know man I always wanted to be in the Beastie Boys’
Goldfinger – ‘I dunno ya know, I’m not really a fan boy I think just working with someone who compliments my style would be amazing.  It would be great to perform with some of the Manchester artists I mentioned though. Maybe a singer cos I can’tsing for shit But I think if I had to say from an absolute fan perspective I think Jay Z would have to be my first choice. For me he is one of the greats. He speaks from a place I can genuinely relate to and he has been able to go from the young hustler to the father figure/role model and still maintain authenticity and relevance. 
Busta Rhymes has to be one of the most technically gifted rappers to do it. I feel like Busta understands flows better than anyone else. I’d love to do a double time grime thing with him.
Kendrick Lamar is amazing, Drake is next level talented plus all the girls love him. Eminem is sick and I’d feel safe that nobody would ever want to battle us. I like Roddy Rich, and I like Da Baby- My son loves “Rockstar” He has no idea what they’re saying he just hears “Lamborghini and a cop car” He’s only 6 so I aint explaining what they really saying and he’s on the clean version but still I think I’d get some major Dad points for that Maybe I’d form a super group and hope they’d let me put a verse on it ‘

Do you have any long-term aspirations as a music artist? 
Tigs – ‘Yeah to continually grow as an Artist / Label, – I enjoy collaborating people and making tunes so i’m always looking to work with people’
Goldfinger – ‘I think my long term goals are to enjoy it for as long as possible I’ve spent a lot of time “chasing the next level”  and forgetting to enjoy the moment.’

What is the best thing about performing to a live audience? What’s been the career highlight so far?
Tigs – ‘Playing your new tunes through a proper system is always a buzz, I’m working towards an album at the moment so to be able to do that’s already a highlight!’
Goldfinger – ‘I’ve performed at some really big events already with Virus Syndicate, Pretty much all the major festivals across Europe and then getting out to America too. I’ve been on stage just after De La Soul and Kanye West out at Sonar festival, We did the Snoop Dogg LA Dubstep mixtape tour. Miami Music Conference which I guess should be real highlights.
I remember we did Roskilde in Denmark and watched Ozzy Osbourne get his tour bus that was bigger than my street stuck in the mud there cos he wanted it at the back of the stage at all times.
I haven’t been to Australia yet though and I’d love to go there link up with Tigs and put on a show. He is always showing off about the weather. He sent me a video the other day of it going off in some club so I’d really like to get out there and see some of that. 
Performing to a live audience is amazing. Seeing someone who is totally connected to your performance is a crazy feeling.  As a vocalist I don’t care what anyone says. You don’t just do it to entertain yourself, you sit down and write your bars with the hope that someone else actually likes them too. So to be on stage and see someone else reciting your words with you is amazing.  There have been a few occasions where the crowd has been so loud I didn’t even have to say a word they literally did the whole thing. That shit makes the hair on my neck stand up.
To be totally honest though my career highlight to this day was a tiny show in Preston in England. The venue was shit it was literally a function room above some pub that held 200 people. 
We’d just come back from a show in London that was supposed to be a big show but it was dead!! Throw in a few technical issues too and it definitely was one to forget! 
The journey back to Manchester was a mixture of a post mortem and silence (lol) lets just say confidence was low. 
We had this show the next day in Preston and didn’t really do much research into the venue so when we turned up we were pissed off to see it was people’s dads and uncles and aunts all having a pint in this pub about 20 people. 
The crazy thing was upstairs it was rammed to capacity the full 200 and people being turned away and every last person in that function room knew every last word to every song we did. I know it doesn’t even come close to some of the big venues we did since but I guess timing is everything.’

.

.

Finally, a few questions for some quick answers –
FAVOURITE:

Album
Tigs – ‘Cypress Hill – Temple Of Boom’
Goldfinger – ‘All Time?? I’d have to say Snoop Dogg Doggy Style’

Artist 
Tigs – “Kano”
Goldfinger – ‘Jay Z’

Movie
Tigs – ‘ Taxi Driver’
Goldfinger – ‘Friday’

Place to visit 
Tigs – ‘Brighton’
Goldfinger – ‘Barcelona’

Venue to play
Tigs – ‘Concorde 2’
Goldfinger – ‘Razzmatazz – In Barcelona’

Food
Tigs – ‘Indian’
Goldfinger – ‘My Mum’s Red pea soup (She’s from Jamaica)’

Drink
Tigs – ‘Coffee’
Goldfinger – ‘Vimto ‘

Person in History
Tigs – ‘De Niro’
Goldfinger – ‘Ip Man ‘

Tattoo –
Goldfinger – ‘I’ve got a few and will probably get a few more – something to do with my family’

.

Goldfinger

.

Check out GOLDFINGER below
INSTAGRAM – SPOTIFY – TWITTER
FACEBOOK – SOUNDCLOUD

.

Check out TIGS below
INSTAGRAM – SPOTIFY – TWITTER
FACEBOOK – BANDCAMP – YOUTUBE

.

Goldfinger

.

AMNPLIFY – DB