News Entrepreneurs

Adam Crisp, producer extraordinaire, tells us about his new project.

This isn’t strictly the first time we’ve featured Entrepreneurs, aka Adam Crisp, on DIY. Putting his previous dalliance with Elle Milano aside, he released a most excellent EP last year (yes, you can quote us on that) called ‘Uv Been Robbed (Joking, But Not)’, and more recently we premiered his video for ‘Death Tactics’ - a proto-acoustic take on his out-this-week single ‘Fuck Tactics’.

To celebrate his awesomeness - and the single, of course - we tracked Adam down for a chat about what he’s up to (‘making music’), how he does what he does (‘smacking a pony or whatever’), and what he’s planning on doing next (‘bigger work’).

Hello Adam, how are you? Can you tell us a bit about what you do?
Hi there. I’m doing okay today. Didn’t enjoy yesterday at all, but things are getting better. Thanks for asking. Making music is what I do. I go by the name of Entrepreneurs. Yes it’s plural, and yes it’s just me. I do everything out of a bedroom in a dead end town. I record my own songs, sometimes help other people, sometimes I remix things (although I’ve sort of given that up actually). Primarily I’m concerned with just churning out interesting music. That’s all really.

We know this isn’t your first musical endeavour, with Elle Milano doing fairly well a few years ago, but have there been any other past projects we should know about?
Ummm… well I had a bit of musical project death match a year-or-so ago. Where I was doing Entrepreneurs, FOE, The Premarital Sect (a filthy punk band) and The Super-Ego (hip-hop instrumentals). I was into all of them, but didn’t have time, so I just waited it out to see what took off. You know, throw enough shit at a wall and something will stick etc… The latter two didn’t make it. I don’t think the world was ready for The Premarital Sect, ha… and the The Super-Ego vibe kinda got absorbed into Entrepreneurs. There’s stuff online for all of this if you look hard enough though. Oh and Elle Milano sucked.

You self-record and self-produce a lot of your work. Are you self-taught?
Yeah I am. Check me out. I’ve always done everything myself. It’s not really through choice though. I’ve just never found anyone that is either into what I’m doing or bringing something decent to the table. I wouldn’t recommend working like this to anyone. It’s a very isolated existence. But seems to be the only way for me to get stuff done.

Your new music sounds quite complex. Can you tell us about some of your favourite recording techniques?
Sure. I like taking simple acoustic sources, smacking a pony or whatever, and electronically mangle that into something I can play musically. I re-amp a lot of stuff in the bathroom. Re-record stuff to a dictaphone and mess the tape up… Things like that. I wouldn’t want to give away all my tricks though would I? Although I will give a shout out to Ableton Live. Such a good program. Sell your guitars kids and buy that.

The Guardian recently described your music as ‘angry’. Is that accurate, do you think?
Yeah probably. Not really obviously though. I don’t think. But I’m sure if you listen to enough of it you’ll get the gist of my inner turmoil and other nice stuff like that. I think most of the best art comes from pissed-off people. Makes sense doesn’t it? - The artist gets something off their chest, the listener relates to it, and thinks ‘lovely, i’m not alone…’, everyone’s a winner.

Your new single ‘Bubblegunk’ / ‘Fuck Tactics’ features both Ghostpoet and Foe. Are these one-off collaborations or the first of many?
Well I woudn’t rule out more collaborations in the future, but I’m not planning any at the minute. Fuck Tactics is a pretty odd song, and doesn’t really sound much like anything else i’m working on. So it made sense to make it a bit of special case and feature some other people. You know, reaching out to untouched fan bases that wouldn’t usually like my music and all that shit. Luring them in now then hitting them with undiluted me the next time round. But yeah, I like the bizareness of Fuck Tactics - the mix of vocals just heightens the weirdness. It’s been a bit much for some people to swallow. But that’s a good thing.

And finally: Are you gearing up to an album release, or is all that still a little way off yet?
Yes and no. I’ve got a lot of ideas for a bigger work. But I’m unsigned, and as much as I hate to say, I need some investment so I can dedicate the time I need for my magnum opus. I wouldn’t want to just string a bunch of songs together. I think that kind of album is completely exhausted. The music industry is still working off a model created by the limitations of physical formats ie tape, CD etc. There are no boundaries anymore in digital-super-land, so I’d like to think I’ll be a bit more creative. I’m not sure what yet but I can guarantee it won’t be possible to release it on a Special Edition Deluxe Collectible 12’ Vinyl. Fuck that. Live in the now.

Entrepreneurs’ new single ‘Fuck Tactics’ is out now. He has a single launch show at London’s Macbeth on Friday 8th April, visit themacbethuk.co.uk for more information.

Read More

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Your subscription has been successful.

Stay Updated!

Get the best of DIY to your inbox each week.

Latest Issue

May 2024

With Rachel Chinouriri, A.G. Cook, Yannis Philippakis, Wasia Project and more!

Read Now Buy Now Subscribe to DIY