Jasmine Ash

He’s no newcomer to the scene having been in the hip hop/grime world for years with acts like Wizzy Wow and Chipmunk previously under his label and engineering for the likes of Wiley and Scorcher he’s far from a stranger but it’s only been over the past year or so that 25 year old Random Impulse has began carving out his own genre made up of pure fire lyrics over an electric guitar base. Now having been out in Hollywood mixing it up with the music industry he tells Nardene Scott he’s back to stamp his new sound on the UK scene.
Hey how are you doing? So have you been doing you been in the studio today?
Yeah I’m good. I’ve been in the studio every day man for the last four years. Every single day, seven days a week!
Hard worker! So you’ve just released The Refixes Vol. 1 how do you feel about that?
It’s been amazing. I didn’t really expect it to be this much this fast. I released Volume 1 which was refixes 1-14 but I’m going to do it for like fifty two weeks. I release a refix every week on youtube but every time I hit 50,000 views I’ll put just however many are up to that point available to download for free. I put it up at like 10pm a couple of days ago and then it got to 2am I got a message from send space going you’re file has been taken off and I’m thinking what’s going on…its because it hit a 1000 downloads and then I had to upload it again and then when I woke up it was like I had to download it again.

That’s a good look you should have made people pay for it…
Nah not at all. I mean if you’re willing to give something for free just like literally for the people who like your music just because it starts getting popular it doesn’t mean that you should suddenly turn on them like oh pay for it then.
We saw on twitter the other day that Plat Du Jour are taking you to Madrid soon what’s all that in aid of?
That’s to do a set with the dubstep guys called Tomb Crew and I’m getting taken over by the British consulate to go and do SXWS in March and I know some others went last yeah like Tinie Tempah, Mr Hudson so it would be good to see who’s on this year.
Yeah definitely and you’re managed by Chris Allen who manages quite a lot of big acts, how did you hook up with him?
He just heard my stuff on the internet, I did this remix called Brianstorm it was a freestyle over a song by the Arctic Monkeys and at the time I was listening to a lot of indie music but I wasn’t in the culture. I didn’t know all the forums and apparently it was on the Arctic Monkey forum. They put it up for download and it hit an awful lot of downloads, like it hit about 20,000 downloads. Domino Records their record label got in contact with me all effing and blinding, ‘This is a liberty!’ ‘What are you doing?’ suing and all this. I was like how can you sue me, I just put it out on myspace and back then you was allowed to do like remixes on myspace and I was like check the IP address I didn’t put it up. Of course it caused a stir so he heard my stuff and back then I was only playing the guitar for something like two months or something.

When did you decide that you wanted to pick up the guitar? Was it just because you was listening to more and more indie music or is that something that you always wanted to do?
Do you know what, I was watching Jay Z talking about that concept album he did American Gangster and he was talking about his influences, he was like ‘That’s why I did this album because the tunes are a reflection of the music that I’ve been listening to recently’. I listen to so much indie music, its just like grime and hip hop the music I was making it was a reflection of me but only one side and I just said one day being true to myself, I’m going to learn the guitar. That’s probably the only thing that even people that believe in me from day one were like ‘you cant just pick up a guitar and play the guitar’ but like I’m neurotic when it comes to learning new things so I just practiced like eight hours a day and here we are.
So your original fans have they moved with you as well or have you found people are not as open minded?
Nah its amazing man because my last mixtape Full Metal Alchemist it got kind of seen like that and its weird because deep down inside, I did want to do something like what I’m doing now because I mean it had a lot of heavy guitar samples. They was like Impulse is sick he’s different though so the minute you’ve got them saying you’re a bit different though you’ve kind of planted the seed to allow yourself to do certain things.
I get what your saying and I think the more grime goes into the charts the more people will search for something different anyway?
That’s it and it’s all about timing as well because when I had a meeting with Interscope in America one of the head guys he said something that really made me think about when to drop things. He said in England every two years there’s a cycle, the synths, then a year or two years urban music, then rock music and when you think about it like three years ago it was the Ting Tings, La Roux, Little Boots, all this stuff the synths and now its all urban music, where’s Franz Ferdinand like where’s all the bands, their last albums all sold a couple of million Arctic Monkeys, The Kooks, Kaizer Chiefs, Kasabian none of them have dropped their albums and I don’t think its a coincidence.
How did you find it out in LA I know you networked a lot and there was a load of producers who wanted to or work with you. How did it all go out there?
It was amazing, I honestly just see it as some guy that’s just started a studio in two years time could be the biggest producer in the world so you never know who you’re going to talk to so people that have achieved stuff you should be more at ease with them. Its like, well you know who they are so you don’t need to pull your punches, there’s sincerity. I’ve sat in a studio with Guy Chambers he’s sold like 35 million records and he’s like ‘what do you think of this new lyric or this new song’ and I’ve gone it is sh*t, he loved that although me and him are close. Networking in America is amazing I remember the last time I flew in as soon as I landed I had to go to this party for guitar magazine. I was just chilling and talking to these guys busting joke and I didn’t ask once what they did. When I say one guy wrote Heroes and then the other guy was I don’t really remember his name but he’s like the biggest music lawyer, he’s like Beyonce’s music lawyer and all that just came about through being yourself.
We hear you’ve got a track on Lupe’s album too, Lasers?
I’m not sure if it’s on his album but the label hired me to make something for it so if not he has wasted his money. To be honest I didn’t even send it over to him, I sent it over to his A&R and they just proofed it. I’ve heard now that kind of the whole thing with his label is sorted so it should be out next year now, next year march I think.

How did you come up with the idea of starting to do all these other refixes like reworking a whole track to make it your on your on?
This Sunday is going to be like the sixteenth week and I’ve learnt all these new skills, I’ve been engineering for a long time like when I had my label. So, after those years I’ve learnt that trade, I come back to England and I was like I’ve been in America for two years everything started popping off here. I was like I want to have a foundation here. I sat down and I thought okay what’s a good way of getting all my skills out to the public and to my fan base without scaring the crap out of them; I thought if I make songs that they’re already listening to how they would sound if they were on my album I could see how the reaction was and it would be no skin of my back. I could just say it’s probably because the tune is bad, do you know what I mean like pass it on. The other reason was I listened to Gangsters and I was like this tune is sick why the f*ck doesn’t this guy use a guitar so I made it and I thought that’s cool let me make a mixtape. Then I thought no it’s a hot song and I haven’t got anything on my youtube. Next thing you know I was like I’m going to do it every week and I opened my mouth even more like I’m going to do it for a year…I have to do it now.
Okay you’ve got The Refixes Vol. 1 EP out now have you got another EP out before your album?
Right now I’m actually working on my EP, called the Overload EP.
What’s that sounding like then?
It’s sounding sick, I’m not going to lie to I’m not an indie kid trying to rap I’m a grime mc first so the EP you’re going to be able to bump it in the clubs. The track it’s quite ironic you know people do generic club bangers on the contrary I’ve never done that so this time I’m releasing a song that is just about defining who you are. It’s kind of like a metaphor you know you turn your music louder so even though its different it pushes through and stands on the same platform as everybody else. I’ve decided to give it a double layer so for people that aren’t like really interested in concepts they just want to hear something and be like ‘Oh my god fam that’s hard bodied’ they can just get down and enjoy it. It’s a hard song with genuine guitars so it’s going to be interesting to see obviously visually me playing the guitar and spitting.
Have you had loads of people wanting to work with you as well?
Yeah I’m in the studio with loads of people like my little brother Ed Sheeran, Sem who made like that Lily Allen and Professor Green track he’s been a friend of mine for years but like I’ve just been so busy and he’s been so busy that we just never really thought of working together because we were friends before he become like this super producer guy. I mean its weird because when I think about it, I can get some pretty heavy collaborations but I think I’m just going to wait for the album for that or maybe not, maybe I’ll just want to prove myself I mean that’s what I did on Full Metal Alchemist I just had one feature on the whole thing. My sound now it’s not like I’ve been playing the guitar for like the last five years and been trying to mix it with hip hop its only been really a year.
Have you got any performances coming up soon or are you still going to be holed up in the studio?
I just did ILUVLIVE, we’re performing on the 27th at Proud Galleries and in December I’m doing a show with Ed Sheeran renting out a venue and that. I’m doing a show in November as well at the Macbeth alongside Jessie J and Maxsta and a few other people. The main one is at Balham with Ed Sheeran and November I’ve got Spain with Tomb Crew. - RWD Magazine

Random Impulse is a multi-faceted grime lyricist and musician from north London who took the scene by storm in 2008 with his mixtape ‘Full Metal Alchemist,’ a project that definitely broke the norms of a grime CD. Since then he’s worked on ‘The One Project’ with Black The Ripper and Jeeday Jawz and has also been busy forging a new sound, spending time in the US and re-working recent hits on his recent ‘Re-fix’ project. Nick Russell had a quick catch up with the rising star…

The Wrap Up: Since your last major release, what’s been happening in the world of Random Impulse?

Random Impulse: My last big release ‘Full Metal Alchemist’ got the response I wanted, as it wasn't a conventional grime project and I was honest to myself with the music. It made me stand out and represented me to the fullest, so I was really happy with it. It was a concept-focused mixtape which was the result of the positive response I got from a story track on my previous mixtape.

TWU: We don’t usually come across a lot of grime MCs that play the guitar, so how did you get into playing that instrument?

Random Impulse: There was a track on ‘Full Metal Alchemist’ called 'The Heroine' which got a really good response and contained a metal riff, but I wished I that it didn't rely on a sample. So I took time out to teach myself the electric guitar and everyone thought I was mad for jumping into it. I went on to do a remix of an Arctic Monkeys song called 'Brian Storm' and it went viral and got 60 thousand downloads. I then got contacted by Arctic Monkeys' label, Domino Records, aggressively accusing me of passing it off as an official remix, but at the time that was a frequently done thing. That subsequently caught the attention of an LA based management company who manage Linkin Park, Green Day and more, they hit me up and flew me out to LA and I ended up being managed by them. The music I then started making had a very strong guitar background with me as a grime MC spitting on top, which was the reverse to what a lot of indie bands like Hadouken were doing at the time. Following that I did a few shows out there supporting 3oh3, Katy Perry and performing at SXSW Festival and loads of big LA spots and I got a big following out there, but eventually I wanted to return back to my home town. It would've been big over there for 'band music' but it wouldn't have crossed over due to it not being a mainstream sound, so I was determined to make it work in the UK.

TWU: OK, so what exactly happened when you moved back to the UK?

Random Impulse: I started to do bring my sound back here, but was a bit shook so I did it discreetly because I know the grime/hip-hop audience can be very specific as to what they like, often being critical of well-known rappers that bring a different sound. I performed with a live band at Camden's Proud Galleries which turned out to be a hip-hop night that myself and rapper GFrSH were headlining. People were asking whether I was performing my F64 and expecting a full grime show, so I was a bit worried about how it would turn out. It eventually went down really sick and I was confident that I could bring this forward.

TWU: How did you follow up your music after that?

Random Impulse: So from there I did my take on the Tinchy Stryder tune 'Gangsta?' which sounded like it should've had an electric guitar on it, when in fact it was just synths. I re-recorded it with an electric guitar and all the other instruments and I was thinking about saving it for a mixtape, but just put it out there as the tune. Since then I’ve have been doing different tracks every week and I’m on my 8th at the moment, playing all the drums, guitar and bass all by myself.

TWU: So will this be showcased on a mixtape?

Random Impulse: No, this will be for an album, ‘Full Metal Alchemist’ was actually a mixtape but was received as an album and I took that as a massive compliment. Things have gone from 0 to 100 miles an hour.

TWU: Have you been working with anyone else recently?

Random Impulse: Yeah, I actually got commissioned by A&M Records to write the chorus and produce the title track for Lupe Fiasco's upcoming release, 'We Are Lasers'. That came about through the label wanting something similar sounding to M.I.A and I got contacted by a friend of mine who's their A&R, he's Canadian and immediately saw the English accent connection, so we just did the track and the label liked it; so hopefully it'll be on the final release. I've also got my music featured in a few TV series, including Bones, Entourage and NCIS. That really helps to pay the bills [laughs].

TWU: So what’s the situation for Random Impulse at the moment?

Random Impulse: I just got picked up by one of the country’s biggest booking agencies and did the RWD Magazine party with Tinie Tempah and Ed Sheeran, so things are slowly building up more and more for me. I'm now looking at labels in this country, as UK urban acts have become more accepted, whereas two years ago I may have been more inclined to stay in the States. I think the new sound will work, the audience is ready for it and that’s the reason why I did the re-fixes, to showcase that my music is a hybrid of both!

- MTV

LAST night I saw RANDOM IMPULSE pull off something of a coup.
The north Londoner put his neck on the line at Monday night event I Luve Live in Hoxton by playing his indie-fused music to an audience that was largely used to a more urban sound.
And he's been kind enough to hand over an exclusive refix he has done of WHITE STRIPES number Fell In Love With A Girl.
At the Queen Of Hoxton acts that had been on stage before Random, real name Jovel Walker, included R'n'B singers DARREN B and LEMAR'S protege EFFIE.

So it was touch and go how his guitar-led songs would be received by the crowd, who had remained largely static throughout the night.

Battling a severe bout of flu made his appearance all the more daunting.

Just before he hit the stage, a defiant Random said: "I'm just going to do ME, if they don't like it then at least I did what I wanted to do."

He needn't have worried.

From the minute Random kicked off on stage, supported by a band of friends, he had the crowd glued to his set.

Despite feeling under the weather, he put his all into the performance and kept the crowd fully entertained in between each song with a volley of amusing quips.

Although he has become well known for his 're-fixes', Random played all of his own original material.

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Anthemic Still They Sing had everyone singing along - the track had a brilliant 'drunken night out' theme to it.

He also played self-written tracks On A Roll, Call Me Back, Best Party Ever and Don't Know What To Make Of Me.

All the songs were strong enough to prove that he has the talent to go it alone and his combination of grime-style flows on the microphone with his guitar-playing skills, and backing band will lead to a broad appeal.
- The Sun (National Newspaper)