Indian Summer Interview - Electronic Transformation
Meet Indian Summer (Gabe), one of the standout creatives from Melbourne. Since going solo with the Indian Summer project, Gabe has gone through an electric evolution! We had a chat to Indian Summer about his relationship with music, the writing process of his new single, and of course cocktails.
Futuremag Music: How'd you move into the music scene? Can you talk us through your relationship with music?
Indian Summer: Music has always been a massive part of my life, I was a big fanboy and nerd as a kid. I had been a gigging musician in a few different bands since I was around 13 years old, hauling heaps of gear from place to place. I started getting into electronic music in my late teens, mostly left field stuff like Aphex Twin, Autechre, Squarepusher - I was a bit of an IDM wanker and admittedly super pretentious. After tinkering around with various bits of prehistoric audio software, I subsequently lied to a promoter and told him I knew how to DJ. Being introduced to that world definitely steered the direction of what I was listening to on my iPod and helped me discover house and techno. Things kind of took off from there so I quit my day job and haven't looked back. I ran several blogs during that time as well so what I was being sent and the material I discovered pushed me in different places also.
Futuremag Music: Can you talk us through the production process of 'Right At Home'? The sound is a little more bubbly and bright compared to your previous work, was that a conscious decision?
Indian Summer: I'm not sure that the decision was conscious, my production is constantly evolving with my changing taste as well as being inspired by the tracks I play on the radio or in my sets. Other creative people who are around the studio or players who contribute to my productions have an influence on the end result as well. I'm a pretty restless guy and I hate staying in the same place musically for too long.
Futuremag Music: How'd you loop up with Aaron Michael?
Indian Summer: We got introduced somehow on email, the process was really fluid - he was a great collaborator to work with and very receptive to my vocal ideas which was great because I'm not a super confident singer.
Futuremag Music: If 'Indian Summer' was a cocktail, what would be in it to best describe yourself and your music?
Indian Summer: Haha would saying an Old Fashioned make me sound lame? I like whisky so that'd probably be my preference - not really sure if that's an answer that relates to the music though. I guess I like to keep booze and tunes seperate, I'm sure you can appriciate the philosophy there.
Futuremag Music: What does the rest of 2018 hold for you?
Indian Summer: There'll be a tour in a couple of months, I'm super excited to be on the road again and get in front of some audiences. The main reason I do what I do is to be able to communicate with people so there's nothing I love more than watching the reaction to something I've spent countless hours tweaking. There's also heaps of material that's ready to roll, very much looking forward to getting it out into the world.