Teminite Talks Uprising and Musical Roots [Exclusive Interview

Teminite Talks Uprising and Musical Roots

11/30/2018

Sam Norris, better known as Teminite, has been releasing music since 2013 with a unique blend of bass music and real instrumentation. After a series of singles and remixes, he released his first album in June of 2016. Earlier this year, he announced to be working on his second album featuring collaborations with Evilwave, Said, Chime, PsoGnar, Georgia Denham and Jonah Hitchens. We partnered with EDM Reviewer last week to bring a full review of Teminite's sophomore album, "Uprising." Our exclusive interview with Teminite begins below!

If I'm not mistaken, you're currently studying Jazz at the Leeds College of Music. Tell us what it's been like to be a music student while progressing in your own solo career.
That's correct! I'm having a fantastic time studying there, but I'd be kidding myself if I said that studying a full-time course whilst pursuing a career in electronic music was not challenging for me. Currently, I'm in my second year and I've really had to push myself to put a lot of extra time and energy into my saxophone practice to try and get to where I want to be as a musician. It's hard to keep up with producing along with my busy class schedule, but I'm making it work so far. I like being busy, so it suits me!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Teminite (@teminitemusic) on Aug 31, 2018 at 11:01am PDT

You've just released the full second part of the Uprising album. Can you walk us through some of the tracks on the album?
Out of all my musical creations, "State of Mind" is the track I view as being the most true to myself and what I want to create. I wrote the song when I was recovering from a low point in my life and the amount of joy I received whilst making it is truly indescribable. It is also my favourite track on the album because I personally performed a lot of the parts with real instruments. The vocals in the track are actually my own just processed with a vocoder.

The second track I'd like to talk about is "Standing Tall" with Jonah Hitchens. This one was a great deal of fun to make because not only is Jonah a fantastic vocalist, but he plays guitar and bass as well. Those talents of his helped a great deal with the composition of the tune. "Standing Tall" was written just before "State Of Mind" and was focused on the idea of motivation. I wanted to write a song that I could play when I felt down or unmotivated; a song that would cheer me up and get me back on the right path again.

Lastly, I'll mention "A New Dawn," which was written a little later on in my life than the previous two. This was at a time when I had overcome the low point completely and was feeling particularly excited about making music again, so I decided to call it "A New Dawn" to signify a new chapter of my life.

EDM isn't necessarily known for its melodic complexity but your tracks perfectly blend the familiarity of dance music with the melodic flare that elevates your music to the next level. What can you tell us about your composition and recording process?

I love the concept of creating heavy, headbanging drops which can make a crowd go crazy when played live, but at the same time, I try to never forget to make it a piece of music as well. Composing music has always been my greatest passion in life. I just love combining epic melodies and chords with filthy drops to create the most energy possible in my songs. I also like to thicken the texture of my tracks a lot to make them sound as harmonically rich as possible. To achieve this, I layer a lot of sounds on top of each other and add small details here and there to fill in any empty space that I feel could benefit from filling up.

View this post on Instagram

Hereâ€™s a video of me recording the synth solo at the end of my remix for @officialbtsm & @lektrique ! Out now on @kannibalenrecords ! Link to song in my bio â–¡â–¡

A post shared by Teminite (@teminitemusic) on Oct 18, 2018 at 9:22am PDT

In addition to incorporating your incredible piano and sax performances into the album, you also experimented with a few other interesting instruments in the album. What have been some of the lengths you've gone to in order to get a certain sound or melody for your music?
Every member of my family is a musician so that's very helpful when I need a melody I've written to be played on an instrument I don't play. An example of this is in the track "Uprising" where my Mum plays violin, my brother plays guitar, my other brother plays trombone, and my sister sung a vocal line. Also, my friend Peter Moorhead played all the guitar parts in "A New Dawn," which helped make the song sound a lot more complete. Finally, I'll mention that another friend of mine, Chris Tilke, played and recorded live drums for "Standing Tall" and "State Of Mind."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Teminite (@teminitemusic) on Jun 26, 2018 at 10:47am PDT

Where do you plan on taking Teminite after you graduate from university? What do you hope to accomplish with your music and career?
After I graduate, I hope to be at a stage in my career where I can finally go on a tour! Playing in America has always been a huge dream of mine. I plan to work hard at my performance skills so I can play all my tracks live on stage and create the best live experience possible for the audience. So hopefully you'll be seeing me around your cities in the future!

A massive thanks to Teminite for taking the time to answer our questions! Be sure to follow him on social media for all the latest content and updates!