Creative Conversations 055: Put A Drill Beat Over Tunes With F:8

Ever wondered what chart topping records would sound like with a Drill beat? F:8 has you sorted with his vivacious YouTube and SoundCloud series! We caught up with the Scotland based producer to go over his Drill interpolations and original releases!

Futuremag Music: Hey F:8, for those who're unfamiliar with your work, could you give a brief rundown of what you do? In addition could you give us an insight to your relationship with music over the years?

F:8: Basically, I take popular chart songs and turn them into heavy bass, super punchy drum type Drill tracks, which are becoming even more popular by the day. The genre of Drill itself is one that is definitely taking over the scene, so I'm using this as a way to branch out into a more fun and commercial environment. I'm also working on original tracks myself combining genres and making new ones, so I'm branching out into more sides of music on streaming platforms.

Futuremag Music: I first discovered you via your series "I Put a Drill Beat Over Adele". Could you talk us through how this series came together and outline how you pick the artists and tracks you rework?

F:8: My "I Put a Drill Beat over" series first came about when I started producing Drill instrumentals around about a year ago now, I would make them for fun and post the ones I liked the most onto youtube and the most views I'd get would top 50, maybe even 100 on popular ones. When I had the idea for the remix I had already had ideas to make a Deep House version of Adeles ‘Hello’ years prior but never finished so I still had the project file there. So the idea came about how about “I put a drill beat over Hello by Adele”, so I did. I liked it then decided to post it on YouTube because I thought it was a cool concept bearing in mind back at that time the scene of drill remixes was very underground and wasn't really a thing. Straight after I posted it, it instantly became my highest viewed video with 1000 views in under a month and the rest is just upwards from then on.

In terms of artists I pick, I use more high tempo (130-155) songs that have a more high energy feel to them, I haven't used this formula for everything but its a general outline.

Futuremag Music: You also have original music, with 'Blind' being your most recent single! How do you approach your original recordings compared to remixes and other production work?

F:8: With my original music, I look to make songs that don't sound like anything you've heard before. I have an album in the works called Nothing Specific, which is going to showcase this even more. I do tend to take a lot longer on my original work as well as I feel since it's my own, I can never be happy until I feel 100% about it, which is why it's taking quite long for me to post anything original. ‘Blind’ was a spiral of inspiration and hard work so making that and being able to post it online with nothing but amazing feedback makes it so much easier to post more.

Futuremag Music: To wrap it up, if F:8 was a cocktail, what would be in it to best describe yourself and your music?

F:8: If I was a cocktail, I'd say it would mostly be unknown because I feel like with my music you don't really know what to expect, but then when it hits… it hits hard but can also have some smooth calming elements to it.