Oscar Mic creates music that works in all settings and transcends genres. His openness to a wide range of sound is what has both made him a widely loved favourite, but also someone who operates in his own parallel musical world. We had a chance to talk to him, so enjoy your reading and check out his latest releases.
Can you tell us a little about your experience? Where are you from / how did you get into music? Was it all internet based?
I grew up in the suburbs of London in a place called Teddington. Very beautiful. Very safe. I was an outcast goth. I got used to being judged and stared at from a young age. My mother told me I had to choose a musical instrument when I was about 6. I had no choice in the matter. The drums were not an option sadly. I chose the trumpet, I think, because it only has 3 keys and I’m inherently lazy. It was a great foundation for music and playing in wind bands and small orchestras gave me an understanding of how a sound is built up from different parts.
Who have been your main inspirations (both musical and in «life»)? And how have they affected your sound?
My biggest influences for the sound of music are probably The Sonics, The Kinks, Little Richard, B52’s, The Cure, Wu Tang Clan and LCD Soundsystem. I love rawness mixed with hookyness. This music is loud and unpolished but catchy. Punk itself is a pop format. Big choruses with a growling sound!
How would you define your sound?
Mutant pop! A mix of post punk, garage rock and rap with hooks, percussion and beatbox. A lot of the sound comes from vocal loops so there’s a breathing, human feel throughout. The restrictions of live looping force you to be minimalistic and I love that challenge.
What can you tell us about your research with the last trubes that still live in the old fashioned way, disconnected from the modern world?
I’m sorry, I don’t understand this question and what it is in reference to.
How has your sound evolved so far?
It all started with the song Loop Hop. It’s all vocal loops and it’s a simple rap song. I started adding guitar and bass to this hip hop sound. I bought an agogo and a woodblock and started adding percussion. I’ve added some more percussion instruments (like triangle and marimba) as I’ve gone along. More recently I have been going in more of a post punk direction with faster beats and bassline lead songs. I think I’m doing something quite unique now: Post punk beatbox rap! But I have plenty more songs in the pipeline that go in other directions.
What can you tell us about your last job? What inspired you? What do you want to convey?
Well for me its all about music so a job is just a job. My profession is TV Quality Control – technical checks on tv programmes. I’ve been paid to watch TV for many years and I have been inspired a million times by things I’ve seen. Sometimes it’s from the art of TV but often I’m inspired by how limited and simplistic television is. I didn’t have a TV for over 10 years and did not miss the rubbish that they try to feed us. This mediocrity angers me. I want to scream at people to find something better. And I want to give them something better.
What can you tell us about each song that makes up the TV LIFE? What is hiding behind?
TV Life, on the surface, is about TV. TV lies, TV hype. It came out of a year of lockdown. Everyone watched a lot of films and TV shows. What is just under the surface is a questioning of what this whole damn existence is about! If we only have one life, how utterly unfathomable is it that, in 300,000 years of humans on the planet, our one time, our one life is right now. You get a lot of time to think during lockdown!
And your work of art? What scale are you working on? What is the concept behind the job?
Do you mean the videos? I make them with my girlfriend Dovile Meilute. This one was also directed by a great photographer I know called Tom Moore. I don’t want to explain it. It’s quite abstract and symbolistic with themes of danger, threat and identity. The scale is very DIY. We’ve made 2 videos during lockdown and were severely restricted. The previous video, Get Yours is all about lockdown and isolation and we made a magician’s stage out of our living room.
How are you living the current situation because of COVID? Has your work affected you a lot? Do you think there is hope? I feel like the underground scene will continue to persist.
I had a great opportunity to write a lot of songs. I work from home as well so I’m always around my equipment or a guitar. I feel I’ve grown as a songwriter in the last year. Hope? There’s not much of that around. It’s hard not to be overwhelmed by how much we are being controlled. We know very little and we have to do what we are told. The hope is that we’ll come out of the other side and there will be a great burst of creativity, appreciation for our freedoms and lots of great parties!
What projects are you working on right now?
I’m deciding what the next single will be. I have a few songs I’m really excited about. I am involved in a collaborative project with Marseille based musician Fructose Father. We’ll be workin on our second single soon. It’s kind of art pop noise…
