beforeChrist Interview

When did you start making music? 

So there’s this website called Audiotool or something, me and a friend of mine found this website and decided to start making some music – not that it was ‘making music’; there was a huge sample library of loops which you would use. This must have been in the late years of year ten and we were making this generic Brostep stuff, it was shit but at the time we thought it was the best thing which had ever happened to us. Anyway, we managed to get about 4 tracks down for a small EP but both of us were distracted by exams so we never took the EP anywhere – just as well really!

What type of music do you make? 

I produce Hip-Hop and Trap music mainly, I’ve tried working with other genres but it just doesn’t feel right. Recently, I’ve been listening to a lot of Future Trap and I’m going to try to start implementing elements of Future Trap into my up and coming projects.

What music do you listen to? 

I listen to a lot of music, off the top of my head: Trap, Hip-Hop (obviously), House, some Dubstep, RnB, Soul, and Reggae. I used to be big on indie and rock but I grew out of the phase, I can still appreciate and listen to some stuff but it isn’t ‘up there’ for me in terms of favourite genres.

What's your favourite album off all time? 

I don’t think I could name a top album; I’ll give you a top 5 across a few genres.
In no particular order:

A Tribe Called Quest – Beats, Rhymes, and Life

Kendrick Lamar – Good kid, M.A.A.D City

Amy Winehouse – Frank

Red Hot Chilli Peppers – By The Way

Hucci – Novacane EP


What’s an interesting fact about yourself? 

I have a very strict routine when bathing and drying myself; the hair is always washed/dried first, followed by legs, feet, then I’ll work my way up from there. When I’m drying I also give the hair another go after drying the rest of my body.

What inspired your stage name?

Before beforeChrist – no pun intended- I was Chilla, which I loved however I soon realised that every other fucker wanting to be a DJ/Producer had similar ideas. I wanted something different!

SO...
Soon I’m going to changing my name from Benjamin Smith to Benjamin Chamberlen. Why? Because ‘Ben Smith’ is one of the most common names in the world and I hate it. Chamberlen is my Step-Dad’s surname, and I’ve always rated him so I figured I might as well. My initials would be BC, any guesses where this is going? I just thought that beforeChrist had just an arrogant ring to it; it would have to get some peoples’ attention. The whole concept behind the name has been great fun so far and the only problem I’m facing is finding a tag that people will recognise easily.

Who are your main inspirations? 

I’ve got a shit tonne of inspirations, some for Hip-Hop and some for Trap, mainly for Trap. Hip-Hop has been done so many times that it’s hard to take inspiration from songs without ‘copying’ another tune or something so it’s more about feeling the track and putting what you think is going to work. Regarding trap though: TNGHT, mainly Lunice, Hucci, Stooki Sound, Mr Carmack, Butch Clancy, Baauer, LOUDPVCK, and many, many more. Obviously every artist has their ‘trademark sound’ so I find it great to listen to their music and pick out bits of each and then try to fuse them together in one track.

Would you rather have fingers as long as your legs, or legs as long as your fingers? Why? 

Legs as long as fingers, not only do I have quite long fingers but could you imagine trying to produce, DJ, or whatever with fingers as long as legs? Fuck that. I’d probably then get my finger legs amputated and hit the trap scene by storm in my wheelchair. That may be offensive to some people so you can take it out if you want, but you did ask.

What production programme do you use and why? 

At the moment I am using Logic Pro, a month or two ago I upgraded to Logic Pro X but I just couldn’t get along with it. Apple could have done much better things with the upgrade to Logic Pro X; I just found it marginalising and not very user friendly at all. After a few weeks of trying Pro X, I moved back to Logic Pro. Once I’m extremely comfortable on Logic, I’m going to move onto Fruity Loops Studio and see what sort of havoc I can conjure up there.

What is your least favourite song of all time? 

I’ve got a little sister who listens to badly ripped songs off of YouTube and the majority of what she listens to is dead. I couldn’t name you a song, but if you were on my landing on a standard weekday evening, you would understand.
I think would have to say Young, Wild and Free by Snoop and Wiz. I don’t even dislike the song that much but it was been played, and played, and played by a variety of people and now I can’t stand the sound of it.

Is there anything you are currently working on that you would like to talk about? 

I’ve just started this new concept – Sweet Shop Sessions.
I live above a sweet shop (no shit), and I’m going to be releasing a channel on Soundcloud where people can record a mix and send it in to me or ‘Sweet Shop Sessions’. I’ll be able to make new contacts, scout new DJs based in East Sussex – hit me up if you’re interested – and promote myself as an artist. Imagine a Boiler Room sort of thing, but cooler.
But in regard to my music, nothing in particular. I got a new tune I’m working on at the moment, which should be pretty sick so keep an eye out on my Soundcloud.

What can we expect from you in the future? 

With my next few tracks, I’m going to be experimenting and trying new techniques to try and find my own sound and to scope out on what people want to hear from my music and me.

Shout outs?

I Been working with one of my good friends, his stage name SLiNKZ so expect to see some good shit coming from us in the near future.

Jarrod Dean – Don’t Look. Crazy experimental stuff and noise if you’re up for some trippy tracks!
https://soundcloud.com/dontlookofficial

Harry Barrow Music, got a sweet EP coming up in about 3 weeks so hit up that for some fresh, alternative Hip-Hop.
https://soundcloud.com/harrybarrowmusic

Links to your work

Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/djbeforechrist
Twitter – https://twitter.com/bensjamin_
Bandcamp – http://beforechrist.bandcamp.com/

Well Jesus, Thank you for the shout out!, And thank you for answering the questions so well, and adding a lot of detail.
I enjoyed reading your answers, and also enjoy your music.
I'm sure we will see and hear more of you in the future, until then, good luck!

Peace,

Harry.