Bodytonic Interview
He is… a young London based producer whose debut album "Time to Rearrange" has been knotting up the knickers of those in the know this year. A fresh new talent whose collaborations and re-interpretation of all that is jazzy and soulful make for inspiring listening.
His music is…audacious, deep, jazzy, a 21st century fusion of fresh beats, exciting vocals and old skool soul.
What's been going on for Aaron Jerome this year?
I've been out and about around London and Europe promoting my first album. Have the full band going from 6 to 11 performers depending on the setting. I recently did a session at Maida Vale for 1xtra & radio 1. And generally writing lots more music, working with vocalist Sabira Jade who's in the band. Been making a lot of dubstep at the moment and also remixing a few artists like Little Dragon, Stephanie Mckay, Portico Quartet to name a few.
If you were writing your own review what would you say about yourself?
Someone who's not afraid to try different styles of music. And an artist that is for 'those who know', but I'm hoping that changes soon. Enough baked beans!
Tell us a bit about your first ever gig!
I remember it being long ago when at school when I played drums in a blues band. The guitarist came on andstarted strumming. Only then realising he'd forgotten to bring a cable to plug in to the amp. So resorted to telling bad jokes instead.
If you could get any three musicians/producers in the studio with you, who would they be and why?
Roy Hargrove – I love the brass sound he created on Dangellos Voodoo and other projects. Would love to make a track with that sound.
Roots manuva – anyone who can rap like on the Cinematic Orch track - all things to all men.
John Powell – soundtracks composer - wrote the strings on the Bourne trilogy films. I love that sound!
What piece of new fangled technology has really made a difference to your job in the last few years?
Well getting geeky. Automapping keyboards. Essentially I use lots of virtual instruments on my computer but all the controls are mapped automatically to controls on my keyboard. Makes things much simpler to control. I've never really got into old analog synths (mostly because of budget) but also equally like having a studio on my laptop.
What can we look forward to from Aaron Jerome at the Electric Picnic?!
The band has been growing steadily over the year. Just done a BBC Maida session so we're on a high at the moment. A mixture of atmospheric pads and dancefloor beats. We are out to prove we deserve more exposure! Gonna have two amazing vocalists - Yungun and Sabira Jade fronting. Hoping to throw in some more familiar tracks I've remixed into the live set as well.
What (if anything) have you heard about the good old Irish crowd?
I'm pretty excited about this gig. When asking other musicians around about the festival they all replied it was the best gig of the summer. Plus I've been getting a lot of messages on Myspace from people looking forward to it. So expect nothing more than sunshine, smiles and free beer ;)
Not many people know that I… grew up on a farm. Spent a lot of years going up and down fields sitting on tractors, and combine harvesters. Far flung from living in south london.
Aaron's joke of the day is… what do astronauts listen to…? nep –tunes !
Aaron's word of the day is…Obama
Aaron's idea of a good night out is… Thai food, watching a film for inspiration to write new music.