Seasons & Nostalgia: Seb Wildblood Talks

Seb Wildblood is one of the team behind the label Church which is deeply rooted in the south London house scene. Hailing from up north he has slowly but surely become and integral part of the capital’s music landscape. After a string of excellent releases, and an upcoming US tour, it felt like an ideal time to have a chin wag with this upwardly mobile young gentleman.

So you're a very busy man at the moment. You've had an LP drop last year, your Submarine EP, a tape release and also a remix for Submotion Orchestra featuring Andrew Ashong. Life is good yes?

The last year or so has been really productive for me, all that on top of the labels pretty hectic schedule. I work mainly from home and have a good structure to my day, I’ll generally wake up, spend the morning catching up with Church stuff, then start to make something fresh in the afternoon, most the time it goes nowhere but maybe once a week I’ll maybe have something.

How did you approach your second album differently to the first?

I’m not sure I’d call ‘U’ an album, I’d just been working on 8 or so tracks during the autumn period, they all shared a consistent feeling for me so it made sense to house the majority of them together.

Tell me about the tape; this is a new format for you. Why did you go down this road?

The lead times with vinyl these days are un-paralleled, generally there’s a lot of waiting involved in running the label, something could be signed maybe a year or so before it see’s the light of day, this was just a fun, stress free thing for me to do. 

What was your first introduction into the world of dance music?

I used to go and visit my older brother in Manchester, I’d use his ID and my friend would use his flatmates, I still remember that time really vividly, we were both really wide eyed and discovering it together, that said friend now runs ‘So Flute’ up in Manchester.

How did you make the transition towards getting involved in tinkering with making music/djing?

Just bedroom DJ’ing really, I was going out a lot and wanted to get involved in some capacity, I didn’t really have any expectations but before I knew it we were playing out via the early Church parties. Production came a year or so later, I’d just finished University and got my job programming at Corsica, this left me with just about enough money to pay the bills and enough free time to learn my craft, I’m still learning…

How did your early progression go in the production department? It seems some people hit the ground running while some people need a bit more time to find their sound. How was it for you?

Relatively well, I got way too excited when I finished my first track, sent it to a well known platform and somehow they accepted it, I’ve since had it taken down as it was truly awful. So basically, I could make tracks really quickly, however it took me a couple of years to start to make the sounds I want to be making.

I'm always keen to pick apart people's sound as I think it tells a lot about their musical background. What do you think makes up the main elements to your music? For me it seems that there is always a strong emotive side to what you do. 

One thing I’ve always enjoyed about music is feeling, before any functionality I’m looking to create a mood, some nostalgia, whilst keeping it relevant to what I generally enjoy playing and hearing out. I use a lot of texture, there's also a lot of imperfections, I think all these things help me towards a unique sound.

Where are you looking at the moment in terms of inspiration? Both from within music and possibly beyond?

The seasons really affect my writing; people with really good taste also surround me, I just enjoy sharing music, be it my own or other peoples. 

Finally what's next in the world of Wildblood?

I'm just about to head to North America for a few dates, stopping by Vancouver, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, New York & Montreal. Aside from that there’s a string of Church releases to look forward to across the sub labels, including one from me.

Follow Seb Wildblood on Facebook HERE.