Loughborough University student Niall Rose has been producing electronic music under the alias ‘Namzie’ since late 2011. Here at Label Music, we had the opportunity to talk to this up and coming artist.
After playing numerous gigs in London and around Surrey, he hopes to improve his material further here in Loughborough with a view to releasing an EP by the end of the year. Have a read of his interview below to find out more about this budding musician.
Who have been your biggest influences?
“My biggest influence has definitely been Noisia – their attention to detail in their music and the insane sounds they create are very inspiring. A lot of electronic music nowadays sounds very digital and rigid structurally, but Noisia always make their music sound organic and ‘real’.”
What has been your favourite gig of your career so far and why?
“I did a back-to-back set with one of my friends at a big warehouse rave in London a couple of months ago. The best (or the worst, depends on how you look at it!) thing about it was that I didn’t realise I was going to be performing! I had been sitting in the green room as my mate’s guest and I was talking with a few of the acts. My mate came over and asked if he could talk to me for five minutes. I said sure and followed him through one of the corridors. It wasn’t until I saw hundreds of people looking up at me, jumping around and screaming, that I realised my friend had put me straight in at the deep end! It was a crazy night and I won’t ever forget it.”
How did you get into your style of music?
“I used to listen to a lot of terrible Trance and Eurodance tracks in my youth, along with rock bands like Green Day and Taking Back Sunday. It was crazy to think that the dance music I was listening to was all made on a computer, which led me to a lot of other electronic music genres including Drum & Bass and Hardstyle.
What really grabbed me and got me addicted to that type of music was the energy and mad sounds embedded in the tracks. I wanted to start making my own music just like that, so I got Fruity Loops (a music production software) from a family friend and fiddled with it a bit before moving on to Ableton (another music production software). From there, I moved on to Dubstep and, more recently, Moombahton and Glitch Hop.”
What has been the hardest part about starting up as a student artist?
“Definitely getting the balance between studying and music. When you start producing music or DJing, you want to do it all the time for hours and hours on end. It’s great to be enthusiastic, but then you don’t leave time to do coursework etc. and you fall behind. I still haven’t really figured it out myself yet!”
What are the facilities like in Loughborough to advance your music?
“Brilliant! There are a lot of opportunities for upcoming artists to expand their skillset and improve their musical understanding. The DJ Society know their stuff and are very supportive – whether you are a beginner or intermediate, they will be able to help you out. They also have a lot of industry-standard equipment you can practice with. Although I don’t use them myself, the music studios come highly rated by my friends, which say they have everything you need to make professional quality recordings including instruments, amps, mics and mixing desks if required.”
Any advice for other student artists starting up?
“The best thing you can do, especially when you’re starting, is to network with other people who make similar music to you and ‘talk music’. Bounce ideas between yourselves and help each other out with tracks. Get LOADS of people to give you feedback too, especially people who don’t produce music. They can give you unbiased criticism which will help you further your knowledge and make your music much better.
Also, don’t invest loads of money in tons of hardware initially – a pair of good headphones and your computer is all you really need to make electronic music nowadays. Only buy gear once you know your limitations.”
Listen If You Like
Skrillex, Knife Party, Modestep, Dillon Francis, Feed Me
Need To Know
Niall Rose nineteen years old and comes from Woking, Surrey. He is a first year student studying Computer Science here at Loughborough University, living in Harry French hall.
To hear more of Namzie's music, check out his SoundCloud page right here with all his latest tracks and mixes https://soundcloud.com/namzie
