SUFF DADDY INTERVIEW

Suff Daddy is a German producer who discovered his love for beat making after a friend gave him a copy of Acid to install onto his new laptop one day. He’d just graduated high school and was needing to kerb his boredom. Acid was a good alternative to computer games. Fast forward to present day, where he’s just released a Bricks and Mortar EP with beloved Perth export, Ta-ku; in conjunction with the clothing store Highs and Lows releasing the ‘Bricks and Mortar’ Asics shoe last year; a solid back to back collaboration between the two was born. Bricks and Mortar is a jazzy, progressive, chilled out package and as Suff describes, ‘my sound is very happy, never melancholic’. ‘Suff’ in German means to drink, writes his label, Melting Pot Music, “The sound is drunken boom-bap madness”. Having been taught to loop 20 seconds of the best parts of songs by his father when he was a young boy, it could be said the logic to create tunes was already in the blood. In the interview with Grindin’, Suff explains he never paid too much attention to the physical act of making music; but it was his big brother whose passion for rap and hip hop rubbed off to Suff, who lapped it all up. In an age of over-accessibility to record ‘studios’ and an overwhelming influx of ‘producers’ and ‘rappers’, good music lovers should be so lucky that Suff was given Acid and had a big brother who loved N.W.A, Eric B and Rakim and 2 Live Crew.

You and Ta-ku have recently put out “Bricks & Mortar” how did you two connect?
To be honest, we just connected over the internet. I heard a bunch of his productions and I guess he heard some of mine. I can’t really remember how it all started, but one day I had an email in my inbox and he was asking if I would like to do an split EP with him. Of course I immediately said yes. A few months back we met at a New Era party in Melbourne, but by that time the project was already finished.

How has the response been to “Bricks & Mortar” so far?
The response has been good so far. Some people were surprised by our cooperation, but so far everybody that I talked to liked the record.

What was the inspiration behind making an EP together? Where does the name “Bricks & Mortar” come from?
Taku and Matt from HAL wanted to put out an EP for the release of a new Asics shoe, which was named Bricks & Mortar as well and comes in two versions. So Taku wanted to use that concept for the EP as well. So on one side bricks, on the other mortar. Since i’m not a shoe nerd all I cared about was to do an EP with Taku, because he’s a good dude.

Where are you from?
I was born in Düsseldorf, Germany. Ten years ago I moved to Berlin and apart from my time in Sydney I stayed here since then.

Describe the music scene where you live
There’s a vivid music scene in Berlin, not matter what genre you’re into. The biggest scene may be the electronic scene, but the Hip Hop scene is strong as well and in some cases the genres just melt together. You can go out on almost every day of the week, there are concerts and club nights throughout the whole week, of course depending on what you are looking for, but you never have to wait for the weekend. Me and two friends started this an event called “BeatGeeks” every second Tuesday of the month, and after two years we regularly have a line of sometimes a hundred people waiting to get in. For instrumental music on a Tuesday night. I love that.

What was happening in your world the day you decided to start making beats or producing music?
Not much. When I started doing music I was a bored kid who didn’t know what to do with himself. I had just finished school and was sitting in my room at my parents place, thinking about what to do with my life. A question that I cannot answer properly to this day. I just had my first computer and didn’t really know what to do with it except play games. Then a friend of mine came through and showed me a programme called “Acid“, that he was producing Techno with. So I installed it and used it ever since this day.

What music did you grow up listening to? When did you get into Hip Hop?
My father always listened to music by the Stones to Ray Charles, Deodato and some others. The funny thing was he always looped his favourites part on a cassette and played those 20 seconds parts for hours. As kids me and my brother didn’t get it, but he showed us how to loop shit up. They were some great mixtapes that my father did back in the day.

But I guess my older brother had the biggest impact on me. He started collecting records in the late 80’s and was listening to Rap all the time. As the younger brother I always looked up to him and wanted to be like him, so I always listened to the same music. So when I was young I was listening to bands like 2 Live Crew, N.W.A., Public Enemy, Eric B and Rakim, Ice T and a lot of others from that time.

Describe your style of beat or the Suff Daddy sound
I like heavy drums and melodic basslines. I also like to improvise to the beat on my synthesizer. Basically my sound is very happy, never melancholic.

At what point in your career did you realize you could produce music full time?
Of course that was the dream all the time, but I wasn’t able to make a living from music until 2010, when I started to play gigs regularly all over Germany. So I still don’t produce full time, DJing pays the rent, but somehow for me its all one.

Describe your ultimate collaboration
If you would have asked me this question five years ago, I’m pretty sure i would have said Tha Alkaholiks, but nowadays I’m just happy to do my own thing. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of people that I would like to work with, for example Dom Kennedy, but for me there’s nothing like being in the studio by myself.

When can we expect to see Suff Daddy back in Australasia?
I would love to come back for a few shows in 2014, but thats not sure yet. Maybe Grindin’ can help me with that?

What’s your definition of Grindin’?
Keep on keeping on

Interview by Aleyna Martinez