The underground scene of bass music has been alive and well as of late, pumping out some of the most promising talents who are anticipated to push each and every boundary the genre has built up until now. Among those promising young producers is MurDa, the Southampton native with a sole mission to take the future of bass music into his own hands. With recent collaborations released on NSD: Black Label and Disciple Round Table absolutely crushing the dancefloor, MurDa promises that he’s just getting warmed up.
To test the temperature and see what else he’s got in store for us in 2018, we caught up with MurDa to chat about how he got his start in bass music, how he’s managing the success of the past year and to see if the rumors about his upcoming move to the US are true. No matter whether you’re a die-hard MurDa fan from day one or just getting to know the future of bass music, check the exclusive Q&A below and consider yourself warned.
First and foremost, tell us a little bit about you.
My name is Tommy and I’m born and bred in Southampton, UK. I have a lot of family here, but I live with my mother and sister. I started making music towards the end of school and continued to do so in college. I went through my first year in college and decided to leave and grind hard independently during the second year.
How did you get first into production?
A year prior to getting my first copy of FL Studio, I had been listening to a lot of Excision, Datsik, and other artists of that level, but there was one artist who stood out to me the most and that was xKore. I grew to have an obsession with his tracks and I’d always blast his music out at school break times. He was a huge inspiration for me, and I really wanted to make an impact on someone’s life with music, like xKore did for me. After a year of obsessing over his music, I eventually took the time to research how he made it, and that was the start of my journey!
Was there a pivotal moment you knew this was the career you wanted to pursue?
As a youngster, I went through millions of phases and hobbies, but out of all the phases I went through, none of them managed to stay as long as making music did. So when I realized I was on the right path to making this a full time career, there was nothing stopping me!. Traveling around the world and having the opportunity to present your material out to fans is awesome to think about!
At times, it’s hard for artists to find their unique sound. How have you come to find yours?
Great question. I wouldn’t say I have a unique sound quite yet. My sounds are pretty versatile at this point, but I’d say I have a unique style of production and it’s usually easy to spot. I started a side alias as a joke called TOOG and people would pretty much comment “sounds like a MurDa mix-down” or something along those lines. At the moment, my sounds are evolving constantly and eventually I will probably settle with one that I truly like to use!
Where do you tend to pull you inspiration from for your music?
This one is a hard one as I get inspiration from a handful of different artists, but my go-to’s are people like Soltan, Space Laces, Phiso, Samplifire and Oolacile. I’m constantly inspired from the sound design they can pull off and the insanely good mix-downs they have! I also tend to look outside of dubstep for inspiration, like Hans Zimmer and Lorn, as they influence me with the atmospheric and dramatic aspects of their music and of course, their feelzy melodies!
We heard a rumor you’re considering a move to the States. How do you find the scene to be different here than in the UK?
Moving to the States has been the dream ever since I started. I realized the scene is so much bigger over there and it would help me grow as an artist. I plan to move there once I am ready financially and once I’m more familiar with the area I want to live in. The dubstep scene in the UK hasn’t been popping like the US, but I feel it’s on the rise this coming year.
Do you have any exciting plans in the works you can talk a little bit about?
I have quite a lot of exciting stuff planned but you’ll have to keep a look out for those. I have some huge collabs planned, Funtcase to name one. A few remixes are in the works, too, and of course I will be in the States soon to make my mark! Also, once I have the right camera equipment, I plan to start doing VLOGs in the future!
Any last minute shouts you want to give before we wrap things up?
Shout out to my family for believing in me! They were skeptical at first but they are starting to realize this can be a legitimate career for me now. All of the producer fam too, without them I wouldn’t know half as much as I do today and they are all amazing and humble people. Last but not least, my manager, Danny DeFusco. He has been my manager for few months now and is making my hobby into a career!