With 17 years of experience in producing electronic music, he has gone through some genres like Drum & Bass, Jungle and then he broke into the electronic music scene. He is known for generating a magical vibe with the crowd in his live shows, adapting the set to the different scenarios in which he deals with during performances. His technique and knowledge of music gives his productions a style that can be defined as a fusion of organic elements, like the ones that nature offers us, and old school analogue sounds. This exciting mix that sounds emerges is influenced by more than a decade loving the “rave” and “underground” cultures.
We got to have a chat with Nachap and ask him a few questions about his life in the music world.
Tell us about your earliest musical memory?
First of all, thank you very much for having me.
Well, it’s not easy to remember a particular memory since I‘ve been listening to a lot of music of different styles during all my life, but I could name the first powerful memory I have, and that’s when I first heard Shy FX & UK Apachi ‘Original Nuttah’… years later I bought the vinyl record and it would become a fixture in my Drum’n bass sets.
At what point in your life did you have that moment where you said to yourself “This is it. This is the type of music I want to create?”
I have always tried to produce music that I could later play on in my sets and that has defined the type of music that I’ve been producing until today. There is not a moment in which you say: This is it! I think that over the years you are maturing technically and this leads you to have the clearest ideas and to define the type of music you want to create.
Please list some of the most influential albums on your creative outlook and output:
1997 – The Prodigy – The Fat Of The Land
2016 – Affkt – Son Of A Thousand Sounds
2019 – Maceo Plex – Mutant Series
What key pieces of gear/software are you using to define your sound?
I use Ableton Live, several UAD plug-ins, Omnisphere, Diva, a Roland tr-09 and a Moog Minitaur among others. But I think what could define my sound is more related to the workflow than to the equipment that I use to produce. I like to experiment with sounds, I used to play with the send outputs to modulate all the tracks and I try to humanize my music by quantifying as little as possible.
What inspires you outside of music? What do you turn to when the creative well runs a little low?
Over the years I have learned that taking breaks is very important since monotony is one of the worst enemies of creativity. It helps me a lot to listen to other styles of music, watch videos on YouTube from artists that I like or just go for a walk and get some air.
What is your opinion on the ever-spreading sub-genre vine? Are there too many? Do you think there’ s perhaps a sub-genre that doesn’t get the attention it deserves?
Personally I don’t care too much. I don’t notice those things. I think music is not like mathematics and does not have to be typecast in a genre or subgenre. If a track is good I doubt that anyone cares what genre it is, right?
Studio work and music creation or performing and interacting with a live audience, what do you prefer?
I love both… but if I have to opt for one I choose live performances. I have to say that I was a DJ and over the years I gradually got into the fantastic world of production.
As a musician, it becomes apparent that there is a huge difference between the art and the business. Is there anything about the music scene that you would personally change?
As we have been saying from ‘Vondreib’, (the record label that I own with my partner L.O.W.E.R) is that social networks are an indispensable tool for brands like ours to have visibility, even if you do a good job of content you can reach a very positive and a real social impact for the brand. But it is undeniable that there is a big problem, social networks are a garbage can where everything goes, and what happens is that the good work of many people (because there is) is overshadowed by stupid content and low-level brands of the sector.
Any new or upcoming artists on your radar? Who shouldn’t the world sleep on?
Vondreib does a great job in this research. We are a record label that loves music above all and we put a lot of energy into the young talents that make up our team so I invite you to keep an eye on the next releases because they are so strong!
What can we expect from you in the near future? Any upcoming projects or gigs in the pipeline that you would like to tell us about?
At the end of 2019, I embarked on a new parallel path to Nachap, under the name of ‘no_ip’, my new A.K.A with which I will get my first reference in Clash Lion, the label lead by Shall Ocin, Daniel Watts and TERR … Truly that’s a project that excites me a lot!
On the other hand, as Nachap I have three releases from here until May 2020 and several scheduled performances so we will not stop!
Famous last words?
Work, work and keep working…
