Greenmoney Interview

Greenmoney are starting to hit their stride in music. The project of yoyo promoter Leo Greenslade and former Bug in the Attic Alex Phountzi, the duo have been making waves with their bruk sound across London and beyond. We caught up with the duo at their gig for Vlack Butter recordsa at the Z shed to discuss everything running amok in their world right now.

So Greenmoney how have your days been? What did you get up to?
Alex Phountzi – Busy running around London doing various things….passed by Hardhouse Banton's and listened to some of his new bits and other various music related activities.
Leo Greenslade – We did Rinse FM for Seb Chew's show with Major Notes recently and have had a few wicked gigs in the diary. Looking forward to spinning alongside Lil Silva and Black Butter Records crew

With both of you being so well established in your previous outfits – Alex with production partnership Bugz in the Attic + Leo making up one half of West London's infamous yOyO events – did you find this helped or in fact made it harder to establish something new and fresh together with Greenmoney?
AP – No not at all. I had taken a little break from making music when we started this project and was chomping at the bit to do some new stuff, so it all kind of fell into place. In fact it was almost easier to put on a different production hat and start working under a new name.
LG – I hadn't been in the studio before so it was exciting to get together with Alex and get Greenmoney moving. Being a DJ first and foremost has definitely helped understand what we are trying to achieve together with the project

What's been your favourite project to work on together?
AP – It's always fun to get in the studio with vocalists, highlights include MZ Bratt, Roses Gabor, Lady Chann and Serocee. Recently we've been in with Terri Walker and Tawiah as well, and all have been super professional and great to work with.
Remix wise Mz Bratts Selecta track (which was produced by Redlight) fell into place really quickly, sometimes a vocal needs some serious work to make it fit, but on this occasion it just sat on the beat nicely…
LG – I have to say it's always exciting to get in the studio and we have done a lot of music in a relatively short space of time with the debut EP, remixes, the single with Roses and so forth. The Greenmoney Dubs sessions have been a recent highlight for me as what we are doing is just raw Greenmoney vibes…

Tell us a bit about your label 'Greenmoney Recordings' and the type of talent your pushing through…
AP – We set it up so that we had a platform to release our own music and have since linked with people like Hardhouse Banton, Mista Men and Major Notes. So far it has been about music we want to play out in our DJ sets, essentially we want to release music by artists who we rate but also those who have developed their own sound.

You've very proud of your West London routes – if you could be from any other city in the world, where would it be – based on its value for music?
AP – New York in the late seventies/early eighties or Old San Juan in Puerto Rico, went there with Bugz back in the day and everyone, from young people to old, are all keyed into a certain rhythm which is pretty infectious.
LG – NYC without question… disco, house & new jersey garage, hip hop; all massive influences

Who’s really doing it for you in the London Music scene at the moment? production, playing out, label or event wise?
AP – You've got to hand it to Rinse FM for representing all the different types of underground music on their station and also for their longevity. Also big respect to Nightslugs for getting together their crew and putting themselves on the map. Always been a fan of Benji B's radio show so it's good to see his Deviation night going strong as well. Really there is too much to mention, London is a hotbed!

LG – Major Notes / Banton / T Williams / Sunday Roast / DJ Eastwood / Scrufizzer / Lil Silva

greenmoneyrecordings.com/