All artists from Anjunabeats (Above & Beyond) record label are simply amazing, and if you are a regular follower of Group Therapy radio show then you must be knowing as Above & Beyond likes to call their label as Anjuna kitchen and their artists as Chefs :). So, this weekend India was in a treat as one of the finest chefs from that famous Anjuna kitchen was on a multi-city tour. Graeme Shepherd a.k.a GRUM, the master of Trance and the progressive house was on a 4 city tour including Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, and Hyderabad.

Yesterday night he performed at blueFrog Bangalore and that was a good time to have a chat with him in person and before his set “Shreyas” and “Milano” played amazing opening sets to warm up all of us.He played an iconic set for more than 2 hours comprising of Trance, Techno and Progressive House with hits like “I’ve Got The Power”, “Salva Mea”, “Under Your Skin”, “On Off”, “Drifitng Away”, “NaNa”, “Saltwater”, “Something About You” are just to name a few. Set was quite decent and very different from what we witnessed during ABGT 200. He ended his set at 12:30 but after people roaring ONE MORE, he started playing again and the same happened when he ended again 🙂 So before beginning, we would like to tell, he is quite humble and calm but his music does all the job.

1) EDMLI  – How do you prepare your set, as we have witnessed during ABGT 150, 200 and also during your India tour last year with Above & Beyond, you start your set with very mild tunes and then slowly building it up, so how do you decide which tunes will best fit your set?

Grum – It depends on what I am playing for and what venue I am playing for, let’s say ABGT so I plan my set quite tightly, as its such a big audience so everything must be in point and on time. And if I am playing lets say 2-3 hour set then i don’t plan it so much as there is so much of room to maneuver so you can go and play some different stuff which you like the most, so I play usually deeper stuff, in that case, I generally just choose the tracks which I really like.I slowly build up and then boom, I enjoy that so I think this is a good way to go and it’s like a journey.

 

 

 

2) EDMLI – What’s the story behind Graeme Shepherd becoming Grum?

Grum – (Laughs) Well, if you take Graeme, it’s not far away from Grum, it’s kind of like a nickname my friends used to call me, so there you have it.

 

 

3) EDMLI – Usually Trance and progressives have very weird and strange track titles, so according to you which is the weirdest title you have ever chosen for your tracks and why?

Grum – (Thinks…) Ahhhh, probably BUILDER, from my first EP at Anjuna, I don’t know I just called it up because it kept building (both laughs 🙂 ), this one was pretty simple and straight forward,  it was just building up the melody and everything, so ended up with Builder.

 

 

4) EDMLI – Any good or bad memory or experience while making any track or remix?

Grum – (Thinks…) hmmm, I think the best track comes together is the quickest like “U”, the demo of it was done under 2 hours, so I think that’s the best experience.

 

5) EDMLI – Your album “Human Touch”, its release is getting pushed year after year, why is it so and can you tell us more about it?

Grum – Ahhh, i started producing music for it long back around 3 years or 4 years ago and in between I produced lots of singles, and the way people release albums these days has changed, so instead of albums more are interested in EPs and it doesn’t benefit me much this time to release the album at the moment so doing just singles and there is a lot of new stuff coming up so I am on it.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvwegS1azJIL7zz3vp6laI2v6GXpo6333

 

6) EDMLI – We really like all of your productions and remixes but “FIRST CONTACT” & “FIREBIRD” remix of Gareth Emery is something very close to our hearts, just like Tony says “Mmmmmm” :), so any possibility of doing something like those in nearby future?

Grum – Yeah definitely, there is a lot coming, I don’t know what particularly is good about in between them but I just keep in mind my things of making music, so yeah you can expect that. Hope you like what is coming.(Laughs…)

EDMLI –Yeah, we like every production and remix of yours and we regularly follow you 🙂

Grum – Thanks man.

 

7) EDMLI – Your recent collaboration with another one of the finest Anjuna Chef “Ilan Bluestone” “SOS”, so any plans on making a duo project like we have “New World Punx” for Ferry Corsten & Markus Schulz?

Grum – Maybe, Maybe, I am not sure, as we were in the hotel in Boston and getting bored so we just started working on this track and his sounds are too much different so I am not sure whether we can do much more like that but you know it was definitely fun to do something different like that.

EDMLI – So, it was Andrew Bayer & Ilan Bluestone b2b at ABGT200, so in the same sense, can we have b2b with you and Ilan?

Grum – I am not sure as he plays a bit heavy more than me, but somebody like “Fehrplay”, definitely yeah.

EDMLI – Yeahhh, “Fehrplay – Pyara” is quite amazing and impressive with a good melody.

Grum – Yeah, he is nice.

8) EDMLI – What do you like about India & why?

Grum – Ahhh, the food mainly (both laughs..)

EDMLI – Apart from food? as almost every international artist praises Indian food.

Grum – (Laughs) I was in Bombay, Mumbai a day ago or so, I saw Indian people like they understand life so it’s like they just go with life.

EDMLI – So it doesn’t have the same in London?

Grum – (Laughs) People in the UK they are like at some point of time sad or crazy but here its like Life, just live it and go with it, beautiful people, do you agree?

EDMLI – (Both laughs) Yeahh, India has crazy people too 🙂

 

9) EDMLI – We are left with 2 questions more, first we will have a sort of rapid-fire, and the only rule to this is, you need not think, just respond whatever comes first to your mind.

Grum – (Laughs) Ok sure..

EDMLI – Armin / Tiesto / Paul van Dyk / Above & Beyond

Grum – Above & Beyond

EDMLI – Armada or Anjunabeats

Grum – Anjunabeats

EDMLI – Ultra or Tomorrowland

Grum – Neither (Laughs..)

EDMLI – Trance or Progressive House

Grum – Progressives.

EDMLI – Heartbeats or Human Touch

Grum – Human Touch

10) EDMLI – Any message for Indian, Grum and EDM Lovers India fans?

Grum – Yeaahh, I mean I really like the fact that people here really understand the music and so passionate about it, I just appreciate coming here again and again and playing, they really love the music.

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