25 augustus 2018
| Naam | Pahuldip Singh Sandhu |
| Functie | 2 × DJ |
| Geslacht | man |
| Geboortedatum | |
| Leeftijd | 37 |
| Herkomst | Verenigd Koninkrijk  |
| Genres | grime, hip hop |
| Site |  steelbanglezmusic.com |
| Links |         |
Biografie
Steel Banglez's discography reads like a who's who of the breaking British music scene.
At the forefront are his ground-breaking productions for Birmingham rapper Mist, with 'Karla's Back', 'Ain't The Same', 'Hot Property' and 'Madness' just some of the tracks that have amassed millions of streams in no time at all. And yet the East London producer is no overnight sensation. Paying his dues over the course of almost a decade, Steel Banglez's Midas touch can be heard everywhere, notably on tracks from Giggs, Ghetts, Wiley, Krept & Konan, Yungen and MoStack as well as his remix of Rudimental's 'Sun Comes Up'. Without doubt, Steel Banglez is a bona fide super-producer.
Everything about Steel Banglez's upbringing was subconsciously directing him to where he is today. The son of Indian parents who claimed asylum and uprooted to East Ham, he grew up in a house shared by three families and was surrounded by Punjabi music. Home was full of traditional instruments such as the harmonium, the taba and the tumbi, but it was the keyboard that first captured his imagination.
The family relocated the short distance to Forest Gate where the local community was even more of an influence on the youngster. His older brothers DJed at the big clubs of the era including Bagley's and Legends, while grime legend D Double E and future star Plan B were both near neighbours. Even the nearby venue the Ace of Clubs possessed an almost mythical heritage, being the site where Jimi Hendrix first chanced upon the killer riff to 'Purple Haze'.
The young Steel Banglez had a natural flair for music, which was encouraged by a teacher who let him develop his skills on Cubase while the rest of the class stuck to the curriculum. Soon he was a regular on several key pirate stations such as Mystic FM, Déjà vu FM and Heat FM. Studying audio engineering at the SAE Institute seemed like a logical progression. "I used to get frustrated because the way they taught the class wasn't what I was used to," he reflects. "But I was never one for the classroom anyway."
His struggles with his studies soon became irrelevant when he was arrested for possessing a firearm: for self-protection he asserts, although legally it was defined as with intent. As other nefarious activities also caught up with him, Steel Banglez ended up behind bars.
Years later he can see that it was a blessing in disguise, a moment that was pivotal in changing the direction of his life. "I literally had three years of just me in a room, and I never used to interact with people a lot. But I started to tap into who I was." Meditation focused his mind, but Richard and Isabella Ingalese's book 'Mental Attraction' was a key influence upon his thinking: it promotes a form of spiritualism in which the positivity you put into the world is richly returned.
Prison also introduced him to the south London scene through fellow inmates Yung Meth and Fix Dot'M, and the trio would work on ideas while incarcerated. By the time Steel Banglez was released, everything was in place for him to make an impact: he had the drive to succeed, connections with two different London scenes, and his previous experience made him the scene's stand-out producer. Work with Giggs and Wiley heightened his reputation, and a lot of his focus was on developing Krept & Konan from modest beginnings to the chart-bound stars they are today.
It was on New Year's Eve at the end of 2015 that Steel Banglez first heard Mist. "I knew something was going to be immediately special about this kid," he grins as if teleported back to that moment, noting Mist's "mad energy" after the loss of his mother, his use of the Punjabi language in his lyrics, and his innate talent. Their first production they made was 'Karla's Back' and from then on the hits kept on coming.
Steel Banglez kick-started his solo career earlier this year with the sonic banger 'Money' which boasted an all-star list of collaborators: Mist, of course, plus MoStack, Abra Cadabra and Haile of WSTRN fame. It was a ferocious statement of intent for what's to come, but why now?
"I put out a song before when I was working with Cashtastic and it did alright, but the scene wasn't as big – people weren't consuming rap music as much as they are now. So after those songs with Mist and a mixtape with MoStack, I knew my brand and my tag was getting out there and it was the perfect time. I thought I would give the fans something different. And it worked."
As much of a mark as 'Money' made, it really doesn't give you any indication of the full range of Steel Banglez's sonic palette. He cites Dr Dre, Punjabi MC and Artful Dodger as influences, but his new tracks are all over the shop: old school hip-hop, garage and drum 'n' bass right through to ballads and "songs which sound like Bieber records or Diplo beats."
Finding a formula and milking it to death really isn't the Steel Banglez way. "It's a piece of art. You wouldn't paint the same picture ten times and think you're gonna become fucking Da Vinci," he declares, letting his steely persona drop for a moment. "You have to change the colours, change the shape, change everything."
Gaining the attention of the music industry was an eye-opening experience, and not necessarily in a good way. "I'd go into label meetings and they'd compare me to other artists from the urban world. Why the fuck am I not the next Calvin [Harris]? It's because they'd already pre-judged me because of my race."
In Warner Bros Records, however, Steel Banglez found the ideal home for his future projects – especially as it offered him the chance to launch his own Gifted Music label imprint. "That's given me a platform where I can take new talent and develop them in my own way. I'm trying to differentiate the one hit wonders from the long-termers. I want to sign some of the greatest acts that are coming from the new generation of UK urban music. It might even turn into pop music. Like, I might sign the next Ed Sheeran."
And as for the future?
"I'm heading to a place where I'm perfecting my sound. It's gonna go global and I'm gonna create a lot of hit records. I can feel it. And I'm going to be one of the most in-demand producers that people want to get in the studio and it'll go for a long time. And then I'll just retire: become a philanthropist, get the fuck out of here, and go live in my treehouse."
At the forefront are his ground-breaking productions for Birmingham rapper Mist, with 'Karla's Back', 'Ain't The Same', 'Hot Property' and 'Madness' just some of the tracks that have amassed millions of streams in no time at all. And yet the East London producer is no overnight sensation. Paying his dues over the course of almost a decade, Steel Banglez's Midas touch can be heard everywhere, notably on tracks from Giggs, Ghetts, Wiley, Krept & Konan, Yungen and MoStack as well as his remix of Rudimental's 'Sun Comes Up'. Without doubt, Steel Banglez is a bona fide super-producer.
Everything about Steel Banglez's upbringing was subconsciously directing him to where he is today. The son of Indian parents who claimed asylum and uprooted to East Ham, he grew up in a house shared by three families and was surrounded by Punjabi music. Home was full of traditional instruments such as the harmonium, the taba and the tumbi, but it was the keyboard that first captured his imagination.
The family relocated the short distance to Forest Gate where the local community was even more of an influence on the youngster. His older brothers DJed at the big clubs of the era including Bagley's and Legends, while grime legend D Double E and future star Plan B were both near neighbours. Even the nearby venue the Ace of Clubs possessed an almost mythical heritage, being the site where Jimi Hendrix first chanced upon the killer riff to 'Purple Haze'.
The young Steel Banglez had a natural flair for music, which was encouraged by a teacher who let him develop his skills on Cubase while the rest of the class stuck to the curriculum. Soon he was a regular on several key pirate stations such as Mystic FM, Déjà vu FM and Heat FM. Studying audio engineering at the SAE Institute seemed like a logical progression. "I used to get frustrated because the way they taught the class wasn't what I was used to," he reflects. "But I was never one for the classroom anyway."
His struggles with his studies soon became irrelevant when he was arrested for possessing a firearm: for self-protection he asserts, although legally it was defined as with intent. As other nefarious activities also caught up with him, Steel Banglez ended up behind bars.
Years later he can see that it was a blessing in disguise, a moment that was pivotal in changing the direction of his life. "I literally had three years of just me in a room, and I never used to interact with people a lot. But I started to tap into who I was." Meditation focused his mind, but Richard and Isabella Ingalese's book 'Mental Attraction' was a key influence upon his thinking: it promotes a form of spiritualism in which the positivity you put into the world is richly returned.
Prison also introduced him to the south London scene through fellow inmates Yung Meth and Fix Dot'M, and the trio would work on ideas while incarcerated. By the time Steel Banglez was released, everything was in place for him to make an impact: he had the drive to succeed, connections with two different London scenes, and his previous experience made him the scene's stand-out producer. Work with Giggs and Wiley heightened his reputation, and a lot of his focus was on developing Krept & Konan from modest beginnings to the chart-bound stars they are today.
It was on New Year's Eve at the end of 2015 that Steel Banglez first heard Mist. "I knew something was going to be immediately special about this kid," he grins as if teleported back to that moment, noting Mist's "mad energy" after the loss of his mother, his use of the Punjabi language in his lyrics, and his innate talent. Their first production they made was 'Karla's Back' and from then on the hits kept on coming.
Steel Banglez kick-started his solo career earlier this year with the sonic banger 'Money' which boasted an all-star list of collaborators: Mist, of course, plus MoStack, Abra Cadabra and Haile of WSTRN fame. It was a ferocious statement of intent for what's to come, but why now?
"I put out a song before when I was working with Cashtastic and it did alright, but the scene wasn't as big – people weren't consuming rap music as much as they are now. So after those songs with Mist and a mixtape with MoStack, I knew my brand and my tag was getting out there and it was the perfect time. I thought I would give the fans something different. And it worked."
As much of a mark as 'Money' made, it really doesn't give you any indication of the full range of Steel Banglez's sonic palette. He cites Dr Dre, Punjabi MC and Artful Dodger as influences, but his new tracks are all over the shop: old school hip-hop, garage and drum 'n' bass right through to ballads and "songs which sound like Bieber records or Diplo beats."
Finding a formula and milking it to death really isn't the Steel Banglez way. "It's a piece of art. You wouldn't paint the same picture ten times and think you're gonna become fucking Da Vinci," he declares, letting his steely persona drop for a moment. "You have to change the colours, change the shape, change everything."
Gaining the attention of the music industry was an eye-opening experience, and not necessarily in a good way. "I'd go into label meetings and they'd compare me to other artists from the urban world. Why the fuck am I not the next Calvin [Harris]? It's because they'd already pre-judged me because of my race."
In Warner Bros Records, however, Steel Banglez found the ideal home for his future projects – especially as it offered him the chance to launch his own Gifted Music label imprint. "That's given me a platform where I can take new talent and develop them in my own way. I'm trying to differentiate the one hit wonders from the long-termers. I want to sign some of the greatest acts that are coming from the new generation of UK urban music. It might even turn into pop music. Like, I might sign the next Ed Sheeran."
And as for the future?
"I'm heading to a place where I'm perfecting my sound. It's gonna go global and I'm gonna create a lot of hit records. I can feel it. And I'm going to be one of the most in-demand producers that people want to get in the studio and it'll go for a long time. And then I'll just retire: become a philanthropist, get the fuck out of here, and go live in my treehouse."
