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Butterz get ready to celebrate their 3rd Birthday...We had a chat with Elijah & Skilliam
Monday 11th February 2013 | Osh
If you know about that bright yellow and black logo, then you will know about the grime duo that head up the Butterz label. Celebrating their 3rd birthday at Cable on 23rd February these guys represent the hottest music in grime, the pair keep themselves busy with their weekly show on Rinse FM, parties and of course the label. This year look forward to new music, collaborations and more parties.
The Butterz label originally started off as a blogspot, how did this then turn into a label- was this a conscious decision or just natural progression?
At the time when we were doing the blog a lot of the original bloggers stopped writing about Grime for various reasons so there was a gap to do something fresh with the platform, and it was the same with the label. We had a lot of upcoming talent around us and were lucky enough to be mentored by Terror Danjah who has run labels in the past before so getting it off the ground was easier than it would have been by ourselves. It was a good time to start, 2010 was a good crossroads between Dubstep, Funky and Grime all putting out really strong stuff.
How did you two first meet?
At University properly although we crossed paths in London a couple of times before we started. We hung out for ages well before we started getting knee deep in the music.
On 23rd Feb you are going to be celebrating a very special date, as it will be Butterz 3rd Birthday at Cable, you must be feeling hyped for this one?
Yeah definitely the whole crew are hyped for it, and a lot of people that have supported what we have done over the years are going to be with us, so will be like a big family party. The vibes are always sick, at last years birthday JME performed in the crowd. Not many places you could do that.
You recently played at Boiler Room with the legendary DJ EZ, they have put on parties with everyone so this must have been a big one for you?
We played at an early Boiler Room in 2010 before it got really big, so it was good to come back and do a special set for them. Swindle jumped on at the end of our set and sung with his talkbox. Never seen anything like it on a set like that before.
As well as the label and show on Rinse, you guys also hold your own parties. Can you remember the very first one you hosted?
We used to do parties on Wednesday nights at East Village in Shoreditch. Kode 9 appeared at the first one was rammed out. I miss midweek parties in London, there are nowhere near enough.
Tell us the story behind “Woo Glut” because that was a big tune for you?
We signed S-X's 'Woooo Riddim' and then Ramadanman aka Pearson Sound got in touch and asked us if he wanted to put out his bootleg called 'WooooGlut' on a white label, it was limited to 1000 copies and we sold out in a week. Got a lot of love for the Hessle Audio crew, they used to have a show before us on Rinse so we crossed paths a lot.
Grime transcends into a lot of genres now, but how would you describe the Butterz sound?
The Butterz sound is the result of listening to pirate radio my whole life, nights out in London and us lot bringing new approaches to the very loose set of ideas that 'Grime' is.
I love your branding and the bright yellow is a def signature for you now. Do you have input behind the creative branding?
I studied Marketing, and have been involved in all the creative decisions, but David Kelly our designer has done everything from the start. He started working with us at only 15, and has grown up with us and he has a really bright future ahead of him. He was doing flyers for nights he wasn't even old enough to get into. When we started the idea was to be nearly anti artwork, because so much art from the Grime scene at the time was over done and terrible. We thought two colours, really simple designs and built from there and it’s just become an easy way to recognise our stuff. Three years on to have comments about it being good is weird because we try and make it as basic as possible. This will change though as I think we have proved our point with it.
Is there anything new that we should be looking out for from the label and yourself?
We have just signed a young producer called Flava D and her single is out on March 11th. It's a modern Garage banger. EZ has been playing it too and that means a lot. Feels certified! We are working on another collaboration with Mishka a streetwear brand from New York which i'm pretty excited about too, the last one went really well.
You have a show on Rinse FM, you joined back in 2009 when it was a pirate station. How was the transition been from pirate to legal and how important has the station been for you and your music?
Rinse being legitimate just makes everything we all do official in the eyes of the industry and the law. People respect the platform a lot more and now they have brought in a lot of new ears are getting into radio all over the world.
If you were invisible for the day what trouble would you get up to?
I'd be removing all the unreleased tracks from my favourite producers hard drives and putting them onto mine.
What is the most exciting thing you are looking forward to this year?
All the parties at Cable, and just introducing new artists gradually throughout the year. Feels like we are starting afresh in a good way! New names and new music!
Thanks for your time, we look forward to the birthday celebrations!
For more information check out:
www.elijahandskilliam.tumblr.com
www.butterzisthelabel.tumblr.com
We are giving you the opportunity to bag yourself 2x pairs of tickets to their birthday shindig. Just tell us one artist that will be playing on the night, send your answers to competitions@guestlist.net
You can also buy your tickets @ www.cable-london.com
Words by Tab Taylor @tiptoptab
