Steven Weston is a name known well amongst producers and engineers, having engineered at studios such as Metropolis and Strongrooom, as well as at Major Toms in Hoxton where he picked up a Grammy nomination for his work on Chronixx’s Chronology album. Outside of the studio, he’s toured playing keyboards for the likes of Charli XCX, Ladyhawke and Mikky Ekko, as well as being the first lead bassist in The KLF side project Badger Kull. Now turning his talents to his solo endeavors, Steven Weston is ready to launch his new label Blank Dust this July and with this in mind we are excited to be chatting with Steven today:
Hi Steven, thanks for chatting with us today! How are things for you and whereabouts are you based at the moment?
Hey, I am great, all good my end thanks. Looking forward to gigs to start opening up. Studio is in Finsbury Park/Stroud Green London but home at the moment is Walthamstow.
You’ve been an engineer in some top studios over the years, we’d love to know a bit about your background and how you first started out in your career?
I have been very fortunate to have worked with some amazing people in some amazing studios. I studied Music Production and then moved to London for my band at the time. I worked in a few smaller studios in London and then I started working in Metropolis, super low down the pecking order but I was in. I learnt a lot there from Sam Wheat who was my boss. I was really friendly, chatty and got on with everyone in the building, but the studio manager at the time wanted me to be invisible. I didn’t get the next opening for the full time assistant engineer, so I left. From there I worked in lots of different studios on a freelance basis, and then started at Strongroom Studios. I met lots of wonderful people and friends there, it was my hub for a long time. From there I went to work with Rudimental for a couple of years as their engineer on their 3rd album, as well as touring and programming with UNKLE. Now I mainly work with James Lavelle (UNKLE), some other production gigs and I still do the odd Music Directing job for bands.
You’re in the process of launching your own label, Blank Dust, with a 5 track EP of the same title from yourself arriving in July. The EP sounds fantastic, before we get onto that, can you tell us a bit about your inspiration behind launching the label?
So the label was created to mainly put out my own music. I had made all these tracks and just wanted to get them out into the world. If all goes well I will put out some other artists I have my eye on. I also want to create a collective for music, visuals and science. I do a lot of composition for VR, installations, catwalks etc so I’m sure at some point it will evolve.
Steven Weston – Blank Dust. Will be Released 2nd July 2021 on Blank Dust BUY LINK
As we said above, the EP sounds brilliant. What was it like putting it together and how does it feel to listen back to the finished product?
Thank you! It was an amazing feeling when it was done. I have lots of tracks, but these are a good representation of the start. An intro into my sound and world. There are always things I listen back on and could tweak for days, months… but I am really really happy with it. The Solent was my kinda internal breakthrough track. I made that very early on, and when I did, I knew that I wanted to push this project full time.
Have you found that the national lockdowns have had any impact on the music you’ve been inspired to make?
I started this project properly because of lockdown. I have always been making music, but I was also working with other artists and touring as my full time job. Lockdown meant no gigs, and no studio sessions, so I went to my studio on my own and started this.
We hear that as well as the label launch, you also have a live show in the works too. We’d love to hear a bit about this, what can you tell us so far?
I do. I am programming and testing it now. I will have my Rev2, OB6, Minilogue, Roland TR8s and a small modular synth. I will be running Ableton and also Resolume for visuals. Everything is talking to each other via MIDI, so if I am moving the filter on say the Rev2, then it will also be changing the visuals in some way.
Once this is programmed I will hopefully do some shows with Taė. She is on the EP and also some other tracks of mine which will come out this year. She also plays violin and piano so it will make the show even more live.
Who have been some of your biggest musical influences throughout your life?
I was brought up listening to The KLF and The Orb from my Dad, and Pizzaman/Fatboy Slim, Sasha & Digweed Renaissance Compilation and Oasis from my older brother. The only pop music in the house was from my Mum playing Wham! As I got older I was into Bedrock Records, anything Digweed and Sasha really. I was really into Progressive House and had a set of turntables at 14. I then discovered Joy Division/New Order and they had a huge influence on me too. More recently I love Richie Hawtin, Daniel Avery and Rival Consoles.
Looking to the future, what can we expect from Blank Dust?
Right now Blank Dust is my own little world. So as this expands so will Blank Dust. The next thing to come out will be my 2nd EP… After that I will see where I am at.
It’s been a pleasure to speak with you today Steven. We wish you all the best with the new label. To round things off, is there anything else from yourself on the horizon that you’d like to tell us about?
Thank you! I should have some remixes of my EP out in the next few months from some great artists.
