In a few short years Foamo, aka Ky Gibbon, has gone from unknown local DJ with high hopes and a job pushing trolleys at Sainsburys to a globetrotting DJ and incredibly in-demand producer. Once mis-branded with the ill fated ‘Fidget House’ moniker, Kye now leads the charge of UK producers using a whole range of UK underground influences to make music unlike anything else in the dance music world. I caught up with Kye recently to discuss his new album, song leakage and his musical influences.
All photos by Dan Graham
Hi Kye, how’s it going? Where in the world are you now?
At home!.. been in France this weekend. Monday is always my day for staying at home doing fuck all.
Bet you need it! Going back a bit, when I met you in Newcastle you were telling me about when MSTRKRFT had picked up ‘Moving It over here’ and were playing it out and put it in their essential mix. Was it crazy to have that kind of support so early on?
Yeah, it was my first house production i’d ever made, so I was really surprised when all these big DJs were playing it. getting played on essential mixes and radio shows was definitely one of the main things that kicked things off for me.
Was that when you started getting noticed? And was ‘Chew The Fat’ running at that time?
Yeah definitely, I didn’t get involved with chew the fat till a little bit later. I played at one of their nights when they used to be at ‘The End’ in London, and went on from there, joined their agency, and later got more involved in their nights and the residency.
As a DJ and producer coming up over the last two years or so, who were/are your influences?
Well I spent most my teenage years growing up listening to drum n bass, grime, garage and dustep, and I only got into house/electro type stuff about 3 years ago. So I try to make house that has influences from the other genres I’m into, especially the UK underground music. Its cool to go abroad and try represent the UK in some kind. Yeah, in fact, more than ever now, producers and DJs are merging the genres more and more, and its great. Its really cool.
So obviously all that lead up to pretty much where you are now, which is if you don’t mind me saying, one of the most sought after producers in the UK right now. Can you tell us more about your latest releases? Have you got an EP coming out? Or just singles?
Cheers! Yeah, just been doing lots of remixes recently that will be coming out soon. I’ve got a few singles lined up too, next release will be these two tracks called ‘Centavo & Jookie’, which have been getting some cool club & radio play! That will be coming out on Fat’s relaunched label next month.
Sounds good. Can you tell us more on the recent controversy about ‘Jookie’ being leaked off your Mediafire page and making it onto a mixtape when it isn’t released yet?
Didnt know about that?
I heard you got mad cos that track had been leaked?
Ah, it wasn’t that track that got leaked, it was a remix I’d done, a couple of blogs posted the full version, which i thought was weird, as I hadn’t sent the tracks to many people. I wasn’t mad pissed off or anything, its just one of those things. You just need to be careful about unreleased stuff getting into the wrong hands. Most well known music blogs do a great job of promoting artists and new music, so thats all cool. But there are some idiots that post stuff knowing that it shouldn’t be leaked.
Ok, cool, so whats in store for Foamo in 2010? Was it cool getting to remix Crookers ‘Royal T’?
Yeah was cool to remix Crookers, especially as they were another of the DJs that supported my stuff since the start, and I love the original of that Royal T track too. I’m really looking forward to travelling more in 2010, Ibiza in summer will be exciting, and Australia again later in the year I think. Production wise, I’m just trying to do as much as I can, I love doing remixes, but I’m trying to get as much original stuff done as I can too, I’m thinking about starting an album later in the year too.
Check out Kye’s awesome recent mix for the Fat Club: Foamo Fat Club Mix 001
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