DMA:  “Hey Rip, how’s it going?”

Rip:  “Yeah good man, yourself?”

DMA: “Brilliant, actually… It’s been about two months now hasn’t it?“

Rip:  “Yeah I think so, the last time I saw you was the day you got this job actually! Doing all the website stuff! How’re you liking it?”

DMA:  “Well of course, I’m loving it, it’s like a dream! I can’t imagine doing anything else anymore.”

Rip:  “That’s nice man, you get to do your thing! Not everyone gets to do the things that they love doing everyday. It’s awesome!”

DMA:  “Yeah I’m pretty lucky, I guess.”

Rip:  “Yeah you are, but don’t let ’em push you around or abuse the fact if you know what I mean.”

DMA:  “I get it, don’t worry I’ve had a lot jobs before this one and this is the most stress free job ever, trust me.”

Rip: “Hah yeah I’m sure it is, so erm…  What is this interview about exactly? I heard you wanted to talk about my past or something?”

DMA:  “We do yea… I mean, I do! Actually I want to talk to you, about your debut album; In Memoriam Pt.1. There’s not been a write up or any actual interviews prior to this, about you or the album so!… There’s no better time or place than now I guess!”

Rip:  “Hah-hmm, yeah I know what you mean. I’ve know I’ve been terrible in terms of getting myself out there, I remember around the time of the albums release… Personally, I wasn’t in a good place. I should of been! But I wasn’t, it all felt like a balancing act. On one side I’ve got my music and performing it, and on the other… “

DMA:  “I heard.. you, was going through a lot of personal stuff.”

Rip:  “Personal stuff?… Hmph, It’s true, but it feels like so much.. Of an understatement in all honesty.”

Rip:  “Hah, you’re talking about like when you’re a night club aren’t you? or a festival, with the themed tents and everything?”

DMA:  “I am yes! I’m still missing all that at the minute to be honest! After lockdown lifted this year I still couldn’t get any tickets.”

Rip:  “I feel that! I mean the whole thing has definitely changed how I wanted to carry on, I had a few regular nights going. Sometimes just my own original stuff, sometimes just a mix of everything, like some kind of human jukebox… And obviously I prefer people connecting to my music. But in all honesty, what all this time off really made me realize is, is that what I actually really love doing… What really makes me happy… Is the creation part, it’s exactly why I produce music full time at R3cords now! There’s nothing that makes me more excited than the idea of taking on a new music project.”

DMA:  “So what you’re saying is that you’re just a producer now? you don’t want to be a performer or an entertainer?”

Rip:  “Well, I never really wanted to be any of those things, I just did the live part because I felt like I had too, and it was a few extra quid in my pocket… I just worked hard doing what I loved doing, but not thinking about it, and over time things just change and you look back at what you’re doing, and you just ask yourself… Are you actually happy?”

DMA:  “Wow, I actually feel like I’ve been where you’re saying right now… It’s the main reason I took this job actually.”

Rip:  “I know right? I’ve never really enjoyed personal fame, you know! And yeah I get how ironic that is, but as Rip Damon the Artist… It’s more about my mind and your own being the product. If you understand that.”

DMA:  “Yeah I think I do… So jumping back to you solely be a producer now, like… Does everything you produce sound like the albums you’ve released? You know, with your own signature style or flare”

Pod:  “No not really, as an artist I do my own thing. It’s just me, expressing myself.”

DMA:  “I’ll check with them before I publish the interview. But he told me that EVERYTHING  goes, so I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Rip:  “Hmmm, zero marketing budget, zero… budget, in lots of things actually, but… We’re busy, pushing forward for those things at least.”

DMA: “Yeah, it’s a labor of love… At least I get paid.”

Rip:  “Haha, lucky you ey!”

DMA:  “We err, need to get back on track actually… So jumping back again, what was your approach to this album? And what is it about?”

Rip:  “Well… My approach to this album, was the same in all my music really. I have this kind of personal philosophy that writing music should be a very personal thing, specially when it’s origin is internal. I’m not a lyricist but I write poetry, I always write a free verse for every track that I do, and  sometimes even draw an image to go with it as well.”

DMA:  “Are you talking about writing from the soul?”

Rip:  “Erm… I guess that’s one way of putting it. I’m a lover of classical music but I don’t like writing it. I’m also a lover of most modern composers, like those in the movies. The best composers are really great at capturing emotion in their music, and I absolutely love that! The idea of leading emotion with music is something as old as music itself. But then one day I had this thought, what if I take the idea of leading emotion with music, first with the idea of creating an idea for the listener which I then guide that idea with the music.”

DMA:  “errr, I know what you’re saying, but isn’t that what a song is anyway?”

Rip:  “Well, yes and no. Because you can just listen to it, like it, think it’s cool or whatever. But then there’s more to it than it being just a cool track or whatever. It’s kind of difficult to say exactly what it is to me, because it is me, and I’ve never really tried to properly put it into words. It’ll be easier if I just bounce off what you ask I guess. Haha.”

DMA:  “So what you…Wow, so what you’re saying is that I actually haven’t experienced your music properly yet? Because I’ll be honest with you, all I’ve done so far is just listen to it in my car! Because that’s just how I listen to music. I’ve got good subwoofers in there and everything!”

Rip:  “Haha, let me just say it first, there are no rules OK! you can listen to my music however the hell you like haha, and to be honest that sounds like a cool way to do it. But you should try it at least once, just to see where your mind goes. The music, the writing and the imagery, it all comes deep from my own experience in a relatable way. I’ve never just thrown something together, it all means a lot to me, and when I construct a melody or an abstract sound, it has a purpose, it means something. It’s deeply internal and it’s tied intrinsically to an emotion when I do this.”

DMA: “You’re making me feel like I’ve been missing out on something now, haha!!”

Rip:  “Well, if you do! You know! let me know if you have a little journey or something. I like hearing what people experience.”

DMA:  “That’s quite interesting actually, so do people ever have similar experiences from the same ahhm, seeded idea?”

Rip:  “In some cases, there have been similar experiences, yes. But they’re similar from a more metaphoric standpoint than literal. The interest I have in the experience part comes from my own personal interests in psychology. The experience is pretty much a daydream which has simply been given a contextual aesthetic, in which your subconscious then fills in the rest. “

DMA:  “OK so are you a scientist as well or a psychologist or something like that?”

Rip:  “No, not really. I know what I know from books, it’s all personal research and curiosity. I had a difficult childhood, I suffered from depression at very young age, I got my first job at 13 to help my mum, I loved school but I was never really there… I had to help out with my baby sister. I used to steal books from book shops because I was banned from every library. I wanted to learn everything, I wanted win the Nobel prize. I wanted to save us.”

DMA:  “Are you saying you came to the conclusion that you just can’t control how you feel?”

Rip:  “No, because I believe you can, to a certain degree… What I really came to the conclusion of, was the fact that all of a sudden, I was a 30 year old man with no real qualifications, a terrible job and renting a tiny moldy flat. That realization was literally how long it took for me to get my life together. There’s no fault there, because some people never do. Some had it easy and sorely sadly, some don’t even make it…”

DMA: “… So erm, is this album about your life experiences, the ups and the downs?”

Rip:  “Well, I’d say it’s as much about my own experience, as much as it is about your own, or anybody else’s. I don’t even think that just an experience solely does it justice either, because in all honesty, I think a better way of explaining it is that the idea is more archetypal to the human experience. So again, It’s not necessarily about any particular unique and personal events that have happened, but there are contextual stories to the notion of each track, in effect making them archetypal metaphors.”

DMA:  “OH, so it sounds like that you’re doing something with music, that’s actually in the realm of tarot almost?”

Rip:  “In a way, yeah. There’s definitely a kinship there, in regards to the psychological effect that it can have. That said, it could be an alternative parallel to tarot. Although  this is very much an introspective exercise of the imagination, over it being an external intuitive reading to reflect upon.”

DMA:  “So if it’s an introspective thing, does that make it dangerous or risky in any way.”

Rip:  “… That depends on what you mean by dangerous or risky. I mean, my journey to even arrive at this, was starting at the idea of putting some kind order to the chaos. There’s absolutely no intent on what I do being some kind of miracle elixir in any way. It’s an exercise, with the seeded idea of an archetypal metaphor. You start with this, and then your subconscious in effect then supersedes the initial idea. The intended experience is to have a contextually controlled day dream that is representative to a small degree of the human experience. It’s something that I’ve been building upon since I was 7… But that’s something I don’t want to get into right now…”