Having recently released the video for his latest single ‘Work Get It’ featuring Wretch 32, Mercston and Ari, Matt Tarr caught up with grime mc and Top Boy actor Scorcher to discuss the new single, his musical sound and what he feels defines grime.
MT: How did ‘Work Get It’ come about?
Scorcher: Do you know what, basically we’re just friends really and we got in the studio and just wanted to have fun doing what we do because so much of music is so serious. Sometimes I notice that people who are fans and supporters seem to like the stuff that we enjoy doing so we just tried to put that into a record format and that’s how the record came about.
MT: You can definitely see that sense of enjoyment in the video and I think it comes across really well. Are the visuals something you had a hand in as well or did you leave that to a separate team?
Scorcher: My circle of friends all came together; my friend Matt Walker was the director, my other friend Chance Wilson was the producer and I kind of co-directed it, although I wouldn’t make that point too strongly though, but yeah I had a hand in the creativity. We all just had that passion to take it over the line together and not do the generic cars or girls in some club; you know the same old things you expect to see.
MT: I know that you’ve done some directing and video work before with Staple House, your video production company, so when I saw the visuals for ‘Work Get It’ I wasn’t surprised how creative they were because as soon as I hear “Scorcher has a new track” I think to myself “I need to see the video”.
Scorcher: Thank you man. I’m just trying to keep that consistency but with this record what I really wanted to do was proper get back to giving people that feeling of “ah I need to see the video” and I hope I achieved that with this record again.
MT: I would say you definitely have and people need to check out the video as well as listening to the track! You’ve got Wretch 32 and Mercston featuring, both of which were members of The Movement with you; was it easy to get them to jump on board or were their schedules quite busy?
Scorcher: It wasn’t that difficult. It’s literally off the back of being around each other doing other stuff cos we’re always doing records together for each others projects and one of us will hit the other up like “Yo, I’ve go this record for blah blah blah” and it was just one of those moments.
MT: Having featured on tracks with Bashy, Wiley and various other artists, it’s good that the people who surround you are willing to return the favour.
Scorcher: Yeah it’s true. I think that comes from when you respect each other as artists. I’m a firm believer in working with people I respect as people outside of music as well so it kind of all comes back full circle.
MT: I spoke with Ghetts just after he released Rebel With A Cause and he said that throughout the process of him releasing it he would phone Wretch and Devlin and take advice from them on their experiences with their mainstream ventures. Did you seek any advice from them?
Scorcher: Not really. Everything for this project was more organic because I hadn’t had a collective release for a while and it was more a case of recording and putting everything together and letting it come together naturally and it was like ‘ok now we’ve got it, now the times right’ and I just kinda went with it.
MT: Was getting Ari on board something that just happened or did you specifically seek him out for the hook?
Scorcher: I stumble across Ari from another record we had together called ‘Blindside’ and it was just an extension of that really and he’s a person that I really respect as an artist.
MT: Since your debut album Concrete Jungle came out back in 2009, you’ve done a lot of work in both the music and acting worlds but in terms of people you’ve worked with through your acting, can we expect to see any future collaborations with people like Kano, Asher D or anyone like that?
Scorcher: Potentially, yeah! Kano and I have done some bits together and I’m always open to working with talented people so I can’t see why not!
MT: I feel like ‘Work Get It’ is marking your return to focussing on music, not that you ever left, but as it’s such a big track it has that feel about it. Would you agree?
Scorcher: D’ya know what I definitely hear where you’re coming from and I think the level of embracement for the record has done that. There’s no media juggernaut, there’s no PR juggernaut, and it’s literally that people have just taken to the record. I find it great that when I put a record together of me just enjoying myself and doing what I like doing that that kind of feeling came, so it’s nice man.
MT: In terms of a follow up to the single, what can we expect from you?
Scorcher: Well I’ll tell you a secret, although it won’t remain a secret long anyway but I’ve already shot my next video for the follow up record which is gonna appear on the EP and that’s due to follow next. One of the things I think people were always searching for from me was consistency so I just wanna give them that. I wanna give people a nice run of music like ‘bang here’s this’ and ‘bang here’s that’ so we can pick up some momentum and really get this movement going.
MT: Have you got a specific genre that you see your EP falling into?
Scorcher: Nah, that was one massive part of the struggle of everything. I couldn’t think of a name for the EP cos it’s quite different, each record varies but there’s something about them that’s the same and then we realised that each record is literally a one of a kind and isn’t based on anything else. This might sound crazy but I started comparing the record to bespoke pieces of clothing and as I’m not really into brands anymore, a lot of the stuff I wear is from up and coming English clothing labels and I realised that the same kind of vibe and energy when I move like that in the way I dress is pretty much the same as the music I’m interested in making, so that was how I came about the concept. There’s not really any set genre so to speak, it’s just me exploring all my different abilities.
MT: I was talking to someone recently about the fact that people have this idea that grime is just 140 bmp and is just mc’s spitting bars over fast tracks. For me personally, grime is more than this stereotypical view of the music; it’s a culture. In the same way that hip hop in America is so varied and has so many tempos and levels, I feel that grime can be the same here and can be our hip hop.
Scorcher: I’ve always looked at it like I’m a grime artist, that’s how I made my name and that’s how I came into this thing, as an mc, so therefore I am grime. No one can decide what a grime record is to me and it doesn’t matter what kind of record I make, to me I’m still an mc. It doesn’t matter If I don’t do bedroom sets at my friends house because is that what validates you as a grime mc or as an artist? No I don’t think so, I think you’re spot on in the sense that it’s a lifestyle and it’s a culture. The thing that separates me rapping on a track and Giggs rapping on a track is that we’re coming from two completely different angles and it’s not that one’s wrong and one’s right, they’re just different. So I’m with you on the fact that it’s not a tempo thing at all. If Calvin Harris puts out a record do people care what tempo it is? I think when people say things like that they’re almost undermining what grime is. They’re probably the same people who would say “that’s not grime” if you went and performed with a live band.
MT: With regards to your live performances can we catch you at any shows over the summer?
Scorcher: Yeah, in August I’ll be in Ibiza and Tenerife but I’m not sure if we’ve got anywhere else booked. Stay locked to the Twitter for the normal up and coming shows as we do shows every weekend and we put the full roster on there so stay locked.
To stay in the loop with everything Scorcher, follow @ScorchersLife on Twitter and support the new single ‘Work Get It’.
You can pre-order the single HERE
Matt Tarr
@MattTarrJourno
Matt Tarr
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