Interviews

ONE TO WATCH/INTERVIEW: Tiago

We interviewed our One To Watch from the UK, Tiago. I have had the distinct pleasure in introducing a young up and coming producer by the name of “Tiago”. This kid is talented – fact.  Tiago is a 20 year old producer of Portuguese descent hailing from Crawley. Tiago spends most of his time dotted …

Tiago

We interviewed our One To Watch from the UK, Tiago.

I have had the distinct pleasure in introducing a young up and coming producer by the name of “Tiago”. This kid is talented – fact.  Tiago is a 20 year old producer of Portuguese descent hailing from Crawley.

Tiago spends most of his time dotted between London and LA and is about to make his mark on the US especially as he is now published by Liberal Arts under Universal Music. He has been racking up the YouTube views (before they all went private) where he was showcasing his talents entering various production contests online and generally perfecting his craft before being found by London Boy Entertainment’s Sef Naqui (So Solid Crew/The Realist/Roc Nation) and continues to work hard alongside the other artists on his management roster that include K.Koke, Insane Pro, Abel Miller, Maxsta, Show n Prove and Music Kidz.

We at Sampleface have had an opportunity work alongside this young man who is destined for great things and in time that we have met him he has gone from strength to strength. From flipping samples (and we like samples!) on Samson (Black The Ripper) “One Life” track and his original composition on Cashtastic and Ari’s track “Darkness” he continues to further his craft and has a few more major label productions in the loop (from posting pics of him with J.Cole) to working on material for Rihanna.

We caught up with Tiago and this is what he had to say…

Do you have any musicians in your family? If yes who are they?

I do not although I found out a couple weeks ago my great grandad used to play banjo in a band in Portugal many years ago

In your early childhood was music what you always wanted to do?

I used to want to design roller coasters also wanted to be a footballer, and a few of my family are firemen, wanted to do that to… But music was always a part of my life, like playing bossa nova rhythms on my plate with my knife and fork and singing the dragon ball z theme song over it.

Why did you choose music production rather than singing or rapping?

I can’t rap, I can’t sing, I can only , make beats

When was the first time you decided to make a song? 

My best friend started rapping back when grime suddenly blew up and everyone started spitting and he started rapping over this little chord progression I come up with and it sounded dope, so he taught me how to produce it on Cubase.

What / Who inspired you to make music? 

I used to take these day long drives to Portugal with my family, and I had Michael Jacksons greatest hits in my portable CD player on repeat for literally 20 hours. So yeah, he did.

What artists did you like listening to as a kid?

Pink Floyd, Michael Jackson, Rolling Stones, Hendrix and a lot of pop radio, some Portuguese artists too.

What kind of music did your parents listen to?

80’s, Tony Carreira, Coldplay, slow ballads

When did you know you wanted to do it as a career? 

Once I left school and was faced with the decision of what to do next I started pursuing it as more than a hobby

Where did you study?

I studied in a town called Crawley in West Sussex and went onto studying audio engineering at SAE in hackney, London

How did the deal come about?

I bumped into David Massey in New York, we talked for a good hour and three weeks later I signed to his publishing company under universal.

What does the future hold?

I am looking to move to Los Angeles in the next few months where my publisher is and where a lot of sessions are being setup for me to go in and work on some artists etc. Got some cool projects that .should be out soon

What have been key benchmarks in your career so far?

Meeting and working with some of the producers I looked up to like Alex Da Kid and No Id .

Do you have any strange rituals before making a track?

Not really anything strange but I like to go through my deep dark library of samples and get some inspiration off world samples.

What is music to you?

The language we all speak and understand…

How do you interpret music? for example some see music in colours, other see it as numbers and others its a feeling or expression. 

Sometimes visualise sounds, sometimes visualise a scenario and of course, it’s always a feeling or form of expression.

Do you start each track in the same way or does your process change?

I normally start with drums when I’m writing a new song or with the flow

Who have you  worked with so far?

Gary go, Robopop, Rock city, James Fauntleroy, Borgore, to name a few

Who do you want to collab with?

Florence and the Machine, Paul Epworth, Jeff Basker, Bruno Mars.

Do you get on with everyone you work with?

Pretty much, everyone bumps heads every now and again but it has to happen as we’re all subjective and want our personal ideas to be used.

Who do you feel has taught you the most about the music game?

You are only as good as your last song, and the heat cools quickly. So it keeps you on your toes, always rediscovering new tricks.

Do you have any key things you want to achieve?

Driving In the car with my mum and have 3 of my songs play back to back on the radio

Now your in the music game.. is it different to what you expected?

Very it’s a very small business, everyone knows everyone, very tight circles too. Hard to get I , but once your In there’s a huge gateway to opportunity.

Keep it locked on updates on what is going on with Tiago over this coming year and in the meanwhile follow him on twitter here.

#ItsAllLove

Hi, it's Luke, the editor of Sampleface! Why not subscribe to my Patreon and support the blog?

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