THePETEBOX

April 2012

How did you get started in music?

I started learning and played piano from being a kid, then upon discovering Nirvana picked up a guitar and started writing songs. I started playing the drums to be in a band with my brother John (also a member of Swimming) when I was about 15.

Where did the beatboxing come in?

I learnt about the concept from my cousin who had a few beatbox moves down but it was when I heard Rahzel that I realised beatboxing could be deeply skilful and musical. I was quite obsessive about it. I was fascinated by the mechanics of it and endeavoured to learn and create arrangements and shows focussing on beatboxing from then on.

But these days it isn’t just beatboxing is it as you use guitars and a loop pedal?

Making sounds wasn’t enough I guess and I wanted to turn what I was doing into music. That’s when I got the loop pedal. That saved my relationship with beatboxing because I was getting bored with it. I record and loop beatboxing to create the bed of the tracks, then I will sing lines over the top and sometimes add a guitar if it suits. I'm trying to create the kind of arrangements a band would. I record a full spectrum of sounds with my voice into my loop pedal, including basslines, brass sections, synth lines, textures and beats. Then I place perhaps more focus on the melodies that define and drive the tracks.

You’ve played Glastonbury, Bestival and V, toured with Diversity, played shows with Jay Sean and Foreign Beggars... any highlights?

I’m proud to have been part of all those shows but there's nothing quite like playing to an audience that's just there for you, so I'd say a few of the bigger festival appearances I've had have been highlights for me. Reading 2009 and V Festival 2011 were perhaps the highlights. I've also preformed at and seen the Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Monaco Grand Prix. That was pretty nuts.

Your cover of the Pixies’ Where Is My Mind? has had more than 1.8m hits on YouTube. How did that happen?

I recorded my version of it at the start of last year not really thinking too much about it. Simon Ellis filmed it in his kitchen and I uploaded it thinking it might get a few views. I saw it as a one-off but then it went mega viral and amassed half a million views in two weeks. A few famous people started posting about but the best thing that happened really was when the Pixies themselves posted in on Facebook, Twitter and their own their website. The thought that they've not only seen it but endorsed it blew my mind. The Pixies and Nirvana were the reason I started creating music. The success of the video sparked the whole idea to make a live, studio, video album.

And that is Future Loops, your debut album. Does it feel like it’s been a long time coming?

I guess so because I've been making music for a while now. Although it's actually only taken about six months to make it.

Unlike a regular album release, you’ve recorded each track in one take on video, filmed by BAFTA-nominated filmmaker Simon Ellis. Why do it that way?

There have been a lot of beatbox albums but they don't seem to capture the experience that people get from seeing beatboxing live. Making it a live, studio, video album was the best way I could think of to do that. You can see exactly what I'm recording, looping and playing live, so you know exactly what's going on. The fact that it's live I think keeps that point of interest that beatboxing carries. It's also a documentary of the exact takes that make the record. The listener can witness the moments that make up the record as they occur.

Why Simon Ellis?

A lot of your readers will know of his amazing, award winning film-making abilities. I knew he would really think about the visual side of things and he’s created a totally immersive experience. The look and style of each video is not only beautifully done but actually evolves and develops with the music.

Is there a particular style on the album?

I'm not too sure! It is a beatbox album but I'd say style-wise it's more of an indie album. I play my guitar a lot and some of the tracks have more soulful toplines. Some of them delve further into the more classic dance driven beatboxing and some have jazz type brass sections.

Are there other covers on there apart from Where Is My Mind?

I've done it half and half. I'm known for my reinterpretation of songs live and wanted to take that further onto my record so there are covers of Nirvana, Crystal Castles and The Beach Boys. I also wanted to put some of my tracks on there.

Will Future Loops be available as a regular CD and download?

You can get the physical CD/DVD or download it through iTunes and all other digital stores.

You are launching Futureloops tonight at Nottingham Contemporary. Tell me more...

We're presenting a screening of the album. The idea is the audience will see and hear the album as intended - projected onto a big screen and played through good, loud speakers. No-one's made an album in this way and we wanted to make an event around the whole idea of the album itself.

What's next for you?

I go on a tour to promote the album starting on May 29, including the Dot to Dot festival on Sunday June 3. I’ll be playing a few cool festivals over the summer, working on some new material with Swimming and then starting on a second album.

THePETEBOX and Simon Ellis present Future Loops at

Nottingham Contemporary tonight from 7.30pm to 1am. The screening takes place in The Space from 8pm, followed by an aftershow party in the Cafe Bar featuring Si Tew and DJ Joff. Tickets are £8 or £15 with a copy of the CD/DVD album, available from the gallery, from gigantic.com orthepetebox.com/futureloops.

Ronika

March 2012

THE outfit is retro sportswear. Her eyes are as bright as the shoulder length platinum hair. The lips are Marilyn Monroe deep red. And her mood is as uplifting as
the music she makes. Music that has led Ronika to be dubbed “The Madonna of the Midlands”.

“I’m happy with that,” she chirps, over a lunch of bread and paté at Broadway’s café. It’s a vegetarian paté; Ronika, a.k.a. Veronica Sampson, has been a convert since a bad experience with a chicken while on holiday in Bulgaria at the age of nine.

“I love Madonna,” she continues.

“Early Madonna was the first music I ever got into. I was a massive fan. She has an amazing back catalogue of pop tunes but she’s not my main influence.

“I guess we do have similar sounding voices. For a long time I tried to fight against that but then I accepted it’s just how I sound.”

She adds: “I make pop music inspired by 1980s dance music – disco, old school hip-hop and early Chicago house.”

Her first three EPs, released on her own RecordShop label, won Ronika national attention from the likes of the NME, The Guardian, The Mirror and The Sunday
Times, tipping her for success in 2012.
Her latest EP, Automatic, is due out next month and has already earned the approval of Chic’s Nile Rodgers, who sent her a message on Twitter saying the
track was “dope”.

“Which is amazing because he is a musical hero of mine,” she beams.

Ronika met the disco legend last year when she was picked to appear at the Red Bull Music Academy in Madrid.

“Up and coming dance music producers from all over the world apply for it and they choose 30. I was lucky enough to get picked with one other artist from the
UK.

“There were lectures by people like Nile Rodgers, Bootsy Collins, Bowie producer Tony Visconti and RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan.
“Then at night Red Bull took over the city and there were shows in all the key venues by the likes of Chic, Aphex Twin and Peaches, who I got to support.”
In June she’ll be playing the Lovebox Festival in London on the same day as Chic.

Tonight Ronika teams up with fellow Notts ladies Nina Smith and Harleighblu at The Bodega and in July the trio are part of an array of local talents playing the
Splendour Festival at Wollaton Park.
Few Notts musicians can claim to have had such national acclaim as Ronika, particularly for an artist who is self-releasing her music.
“I got a BBC bursary to set up my label,” she explains.
“My name was put forward by 1Xtra DJ Mistajam. He’s a friend of Joe Buhda who is a producer I worked with.

“That money got me started. I employed a press company to promote my first EP and they’ve stuck with me ever since.”

She is also managed by Partisan PR, who do the press for the likes of Aloe Blacc, Damien Rice, David Gray and Rumer.

It has helped spread her name across the country and beyond.

As well as Madrid, last year she played New York, as part of the CMJ Festival, a showcase of new music.

“An American booking agent who books shows for Robyn, the Gallaghers and Keane asked me if I’d like to do it.”

She’s also been interviewed for Time Out in Japan and is due to play a show in Poland soon.

And listen out for her voice on Radio 1 soon, as she’s featured on the next single by hit dance producer Herve.

Like many wannabe pop stars, Ronika started out with a guitar.

“After Madonna I got into old soul music like Al Green, Curtis Mayfield and Sly Stone, so I was learning jazz chords and writing soul inspired songs when I was 13.

“When I was 14 I got into a band with two guys from school making trip-hop and drum ‘n’ bass. We even had a track played on BBC Radio Nottingham by Dean Jackson, who was actually my science teacher.
“And we’d play in nightclubs around the city.
“At 16 I got my first set of decks and began DJing at house parties.”
She was born in Sherwood but grew up in Lowdham with two older brothers, whose music tastes had a big influence on her.
“Chris was very into all kinds of underground dance music so I started quite young on house and techno, drum ‘n’ bass and hip hop.

“Andrew was into Pet Shops Boys, New Order and new wave.”

Andrew runs Lee Rosy’s Tea Shop across the road on Broad Street, while Chris works at West Notts College in Mansfield.
“They’re both musicians and definitely influenced what I was listening to growing up”, she says.
Her parents, who are now retired (mum was a social worker and dad worked at the CPS), were not musical at all.
“Their hobbies are chess, crosswords and gardening,” she laughs.
“They didn’t listen to music at all. Maybe we are all into our music because we were musically starved.”

At 13 Ronika was searching out house parties in Forest Fields and clubbing in the city a year later.

“I’d also go to all-nighters in Brixton when William Orbit was DJing because he was the dad of one of my friends at school.”

After A levels at Clarendon she studied sound engineering at Confetti, at HND then degree level.
“I wanted to make my own music inspired by producers like Squarepusher, who blew me away. It was hip-hop and old electro mostly.”

The sound engineering skills helps her create her own music but she also passes them on to youngsters, working for Nottinghamshire County Council.
“I do music production with teenagers who have problems or are in care. It’s really good because they get a lot out of it. And we have a good time because I’m not like a teacher. We have a good laugh.”

She lives in Carrington with husband John Sampson, himself a musician, frontman with alt-rock band Swimming. His brother, Pete, is the band’s drummer but is also acclaimed beatboxer THePETEBOX.

“We get home from work and sit on our laptops making music until it’s bedtime,” she says of life at home, which is also shared by their cat, Chairman Miaow.

“It’s been an amazing year so far and I’m ready for the rest of it. First there’s the release of Automatic and then I’ll be looking to releasing the album, which is already finished.”

Automatic is out on April 9, available as a limited edition 7” vinyl and download, Go to ronikamusic.com for details.

 

“Destined for pop greatness in 2012”

The Guardian

“Ronika might be your next favourite pop singer… you have no excuse not to be very excited by this”

Popjustice

“Immaculate… the sort of effortlessly-confident, natural pop sensibility that labels spend years and millions of pounds trying, in vein, to manufacture”

NME

“Let’s party like it’s, er, 1984”

The Mirror

“Her handling of the source material is so adept and the results are so fab.”

The Sunday Times

Ronika

January 2012

My Nottingham

I LIVE in “Costa-del-Carrington” these days. I moved here quite recently after an 11-year romance with Sneinton.

I was born in Sherwood, although I can’t remember this myself – I take my mum’s word for it.

On Friday nights I might allow myself a trip into town to Broadway Cinema or for some tea at Lee Rosy’s, then maybe a gig or some comedy.

Tea is the drink of the Gods and although I’ve never bumped into any in Lee Rosy’s, it’s still a great place to hang out, listen to some good music and knock back some cake.

Broadway always has nice vibes too and I like to run across the road between the two places all night in a state of mild confusion.

I recently sang with Swimming at the Broadway for a headphones-only gig which was pretty special.

We performed in a secret room while everybody watched on a screen in the Café/Bar and listened through headphones.

For clothes shopping in Nottingham I go to Cow and Vintage Warehouse where I buy vintage sportswear. My style is pretty much 1983 PE kit.

Mimm, on Broad Street, sells the best non-vintage stuff, and Colwick car boot is also a favourite. You can usually spot a few blurry-eyed musicians wandering around on a quest for the Moog holy grail (rumour has it somebody found an old Moog synthesiser there for £20). I’ve never found a Moog but a few nice Casios.

Friday night is also good for dancing and the best place to do this, of course, is on the steps of the Council House completely alone. What? Just me then?

There are loads of great nights on in Nottingham – highlights for me last year were Wigflex at Stealth, where I caught Kode 9 and Floating Points, and Soundhism at The Bodega for Alex Nut and Fatima – not forgetting the P-Brothers night at Spanky’s, where they played disco, 80s groove and old school hip-hop treats.

When I get a takeaway it’s a lunchtime curry from the Indian Community Centre on Hucknall Road.

I’m trying to cut back to only going there five days a week. I sometimes go in disguise as it’s starting to get a little embarrassing.

I do go to the gym or for a run most days. Normally I go running in the park where I like to bark at dogs and wink at old men.

I listen to The Beat on BBC Radio Nottingham with Dean Jackson. Dean’s always played loads of Nottingham music and it’s always a joy to be on his show.

I started DJing at house parties when I was about 18 and have been playing spots around Notts and the UK since.

I play a mix of old and new and like to mix things up so I’ll play house, disco, boogie, electro-soul, Italo, hip-hop... all sorts.

Nottingham clubbers are the best – we are resistant and will dance through anything. You can drop in The Smiths and we will carry on with hands to the ceiling.

My favourite place to go in Nottinghamshire is Go Ape in Sherwood Forest, which is like doing the Krypton Factor up in the trees.

I’m also a big fan of libraries and can be found hiding my CDs in the self-help section on Angel Row.

Boating on the university lake is a lovely day out in summer and I will happily sit back eating strawberries and flirting with the ducks while you do the rowing.

Ronika’s next Nottingham show is at The Bodega in Pelham Street on March 23.

Follow Ronika on Twitter – @ohronikagirl