by Shanon Habeeb
Uploaded on April 15th, 2023
6 minute read
It’s a Saturday morning and right after recording a demo, C.REM kindly took some time out of his weekend to chat to us at 255.
SH: Hi C.REM! Thanks for taking some time out this weekend to talk to us, I wanted to start off by asking first and foremost, what got you inspired to get into music and artists?
C.REM: I’d say I grew up with a sole interest in hip hop around the time I started rapping. It was all a bit of a laugh with my mates round the block. One of my mates, Manik MC, pulled me to the side and suggested that I should start writing things instead of just freestyling. But to be honest, I take inspiration from so much.
I went through so many phases as an only child before I found my ‘niche’ as a person. My music taste is so eclectic it depends on my mood. If I’m in a rush to get to work, I might put on some rock, other times it’s early 2000’s grime. Artists right now who inspire me would be Nix Northwest or Hak Baker. These are just some examples of who I now have on heavy rotation. I’ve weirdly started listening to 1920’s post-war music, I listen to whatever takes my fancy. It’s a big old melting pot.
SH: You mention in your bio that ‘music is for the soul and an organic process’, talk me through your thoughts and reasoning behind this?
C.REM: By that I mean, I’ll have days where I really want to sit down and write something because as a creator’s mind, the work is never done. Sometimes I come up with f*ck all and I get frustrated and then some days I hear a beat or feel a certain way and next thing you know I’ve written a whole tune out in half an hour and it turns out to be some of the best work I’ve ever made.
I feel like, when there is that element, that’s not a logical, rational, tactical mind that’s trying to plan out a song with a hook, a bridge, a verse. It’s something else that took you there. That’s what I mean that music is for the soul where you just tap into an energy or force that you can’t really switch off. It’s like the 1920’s music I was listening to, that was when I stayed out in the countryside away from London, that type of music was helping me hit my zen. Music has been integral to people changing minds or expressing themselves through hard times. It’s a universal language with healing capabilities. That’s what I feel addresses the whole ‘soul’ angle.
SH: So this question is for one of your tracks. One of your first singles ‘Dopamine’, I’m curious to know what was the inspiration behind the track?
C.REM: That one was a lost love. I was a teenager and it went a bit pear-shaped on my end. It was a conversation I couldn’t have with ‘said person’ and myself at the time. To draw back to the second question you asked about the soul. I didn’t intend to write that tune and for it to be what it was. It came from a place of hurt, I wrote that in 2 hours. I recorded it in the studios. It became part of the ROOT73 collective, that was one of the first releases when we were still on Soundcloud before we even had distribution. It was a little heartbreak inspired one.
SH: I wanted to speak to you about your song writing process. Does it come naturally to you or do you tend to get writer’s block? How do you combat it?
C.REM: There’s a huge mixture of things that can affect an artist and how they perform. As of late, I’ve had the worst writer’s block this year. I haven't been able to do anything. But I think other things impact you like financial stability, time management and personal relationships that are going on in your life. If there are distracting factors or things that meddle with your personal well-being, it does affect what you can and can’t put out. If you’re not feeling inspired, what can you do? This year I learned that my quality of life decreases massively when I’m giving myself up to these things. So now I see it as ‘if it works, it works if it doesn’t, it is what it is.’ I’ve also had the opportunity to get a studio in Hackney Wick, having that and the change of environment helps me to recalibrate. If you do the same thing all the time, you can’t write about anything different. So it’s about mixing up a little bit, switching up your routine, and you start to see life, you start to inspire yourself in a way.
SH: I notice a recurring theme in your music that links back to mental health and a lot of personal experiences. Do you feel the industry touches on this theme as much or is there a gap in the market?
C.REM: I definitely think there’s a gap. There’s a lot of people doing it but in my opinion they’re not getting the recognition they deserve. I know a lot of people that do write about it, but they don’t set out the goal to get money or get a new Moncler. At the moment unfortunately, what’s selling is what’s selling. If I wanted fame and wanted to do music for a living, I probably would head down a similar route. But the way music is for me is a labour of love. Anything else that comes from it is a bonus. I think there definitely is space for conscious music and more live music made by a band in a room. I think a lot nowadays is computer and beat machine based, which is cool as that’s how it all started. But there was room for a lot more errors and those errors could make some beautiful mistakes.
I think topics like mental health and emotions, music that isn’t necessarily consumerist based are out there, but I just don’t think they’re really where the crowd is. Being innovative isn’t really at the forefront anymore. I think it boils down to what people are after these days, people’s attention spans are short, Tik Tok has got the music scenes two minute songs. There’s room for it but the climate right now with fashion and trend isn’t necessarily that.
SH: If there was an artist that you would like to collaborate with, who would it be and why?
C.REM: I didn’t come prepared for this question! Off the top of my head, I’d say someone like Hak Baker, he’s a great artist, talented individual with his own little niche. The past he has, he shares with many people but his approach to how he explains that with his guitar that he learned how to play and his honest lyrics and humble stance of things. It’s a refreshing approach to social issues that surround people like me who grew up with less, When certain things were a necessity as opposed to choice. More influences from your environment and in London it’s a fruitful topic. His music is refreshing with the instrumentals, it’s made in a way which is natural and organic which I’m drawn to when it comes to my musical aspirations.
SH: On a final note, what is next for C.REM?
C.REM: I’d say what’s next for C.REM is some singles I’ve got locked away that I’m excited about. A few collaborations that I’m working on that I’m going to tie up. I’m going to use this time for consistent single releases and once I feel like I’ve built enough traction and found my core audience that relate to the things that I write, then I’ll work on an existing project that I already have. But you know how things go, people change, minds change. Mine included, so I will pick up where I left on a project that I’ve had on a back burner for a while, that I feel people were not ready for yet. So hopefully this year will be a bunch of single releases and I’ve got some exciting things on the way that I’m waiting for that I’ll be looking forward to. I’ve got another release called Versions in April. I’m trying not to spread myself too thin and just focus on the music and see where it goes.
Keep your eyes peeled for C.REM’s track Versions to be released in April 2023