Rising electronic producer Goddard has recently released his latest Drum and Bass anthem ‘Nicotine’ craving the long anticipated return to the Summer festival season. The single boasts easily digestible liquid melodies and a hint of nostalgic breakbeat, adding a fresh approach to the genre and promising to draw attention to listeners from all music backgrounds.
Since entering the Drum and Bass scene just a year ago, Goddard has seen his previous single ‘Prospa’ passing 1 million streams on Spotify, with ‘Nicotine’ on a steady course of going even higher. His original music and remixes have already seen support from BBC Radio 1, KISS FM, Wonderland Mag and Clash Magazine.
We had a chat with Goddard to find out more...
So, what's up Goddard? What's on your mind right now? Probably festivals if i'm honest, playing out this weekend really ignited that fire in my belly to play at festivals and attend one in general to be honest... I love meeting new people in a party environment, no judgement, just happy times!
Tell us everything about your new single ‘Nicotine' ‘Nicotine’ is based around addiction - the word nicotine is the word used to symbolise that narrative, I believe that as human beings we are all subjective to different types of addictive behaviour. I myself am addicted to making music, it keeps me balanced and happy. Other people find that fix in different places whether it's reading, going to the gym, cycling etc. We all have our guilty pleasures and ‘Nicotine’ is about breaking that stigma around addiction, showing people that just because something is addictive doesn't mean it's necessarily bad!
When did you start writing music? I started off with a Reloop MIDI controller when I was 17, back in the teen days I would always have my mates round my place which then lead to me mixing for them whilst having a Jam, we were all united by DNB back then we didn't really listen to much else, it was as if DNB was in our veins. The passion for this led to attending raves which then led to me seeing an artist called Sub Zero perform at Roadmender - Northampton back in 2011. I remember it was coming to the end of the event and I remember watching Sub Zero do his thing (and at the time I was was a huge Jump Up listener), I remember watching him and idiosling what he was doing, because at the time I felt incredible and that made me realise that I wanted to make people feel way he made me feel at the time, pure euphoria and happiness. It inspired me massively to go away and start to learn to produce and then the writing bit came later on as my production level increased throughout the years.
We really liked the music video. Talk a bit more about it So the Music Video was an interesting one to say the least! We weren't able to film a "traditional" music video where we hire people to be in it or find a "cool" location etc. It was during lockdown, so we were very limited in what we could do during that time. Whilst being an independent artist in previous years with a team member of 1 (myself) I knew that I wasn't able to afford hiring videographers or graphic designers when trying to promote my work so I taught myself how to use Premiere Pro and used stock cinematography footage to create the video. Like I said, not the most "traditional" but I was really happy with the outcome of the video and the fact that I was able to create something with very limited options at the time.
Who are your musical icons? Jimi Hendrix - one of his most favourite quotes is "when the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace". We still see so many power hungry individuals in the world who lack compassion and a part of me feels sorry for them, maybe they should try listening to DNB at Boomtown for the weekend, their perception may change after that! ;) James Brown - Probably not for the way he treated women on this one, but for his sheer love for music and rhythm, he wasn't "traditionally" musically trained but he knew what felt good and what sounded good. He inspires me everyday - in DNB you find a lot of tracks which get the best reaction when the baseline isn't in key or they pitch certain parts to hit unexpected sounding notes which get craaazy responses sometimes. I love this because it is a testament to the fact that there are no rules in Music, if it sounds good then it is good.
What was the first album you purchased? Hmmmm.... Well, the first album which was bought for me because I begged my mum in the middle of Morrisons, was 'The EMINEM Show' by EMINEM. But I believe the first album I bought myself was Faithless’ ‘Greatest Hits’. I’ve seen them play on many occasions and each time was a very surreal experience.
Which artists are you listening to right now? Currently atm i'm not listening to alot of DNB to be honest, because i'm in the studio most the week it's nice for me to get a break and hear other genres of music taking inspiration from other realms, when I cook dinner i'll usually ask Google to play me some Blues or if it's Friday i'll get the Funk on and have a little boogie with an ice cold beer. But in general, I've been enjoying London Grammar and Tash Sultana's new albums. Maribou State is a huge inspiration for me, I'm eagerly waiting for their 3rd album!
You recently toured in New Zealand. How do you describe this experience? This was my first time touring and it was an experience I'll never forget. I'm so grateful to be given such an incredible experience and to actually play all the music I've been making over the past year throughout the pandemic. I was introduced to "kick ons" and "shoeys" whilst out there which was... definitely an experience i'll say that much haha! But in all seriousness, it was amazing to be able to experience life outside of lockdown again, before leaving for NZ I was starting to struggle with writer's block and as soon as I got to my hotel during my two week quarantine I set up the laptop and my mini keyboard and much to my suprise the music started pouring out of me again! I was making a track a day and four of them I was playing in every one of my sets which was incredible to see the crowd's reaction for something in quarantine.
What does the rest of 2021 hold for you? I've just come back from a weekend playing in London and Bristol and that is it now until July, these were the last sit down events before we embrace normality once more! Come the end of July i'll be touring with DNB All Stars and performing 15 shows around the UK including Warehouse Project and Printworks, i'm excited and nervous at the same time but things really do feel like their changing for the good and i'm so grateful for all the support i've been given, were now at a place where there isn't just the one team member (myself) instead the team are helping push us to the next level of the journey. I have a remix coming out on All Stars and have a stack of music ready to go but I think it's getting to the point now where I want the gigs to happen as studio time has been so intense over the past 12 months and it's time to showcase the work that's been made so far!
