MAXIM: Hello! Nice to make your acquaintance. Tell us where you started and how you got here.
IMPULSE: Oh wow... Started out just MCing in the playground, joined in with a couple of other kids 'cos it seemed like the thing to do! Kept at it just as a little hobby, but as it progressed I did a mixtape called 'Word On The Street' on my own label and I ended up selling around 10,000 units in six weeks, which caused a bit of a stir! Moved onto my next mixtape, Full Metal Alchemist, which was held with high regard in the grime world. It was very different, becayse the song off that that really talked to people was called 'The Heroine' where I sampled The Vines. A lot of stuff gets sampled in Grime, but I ended up feeling a bit like 'Why can't I do that without sampling?' So I went and taught myself drums, guitar and bass, then came back able to play. I did a cover of 'Brianstorm' by The Arctic Monkeys which had 100,000 downloads and got me in loads of trouble with the label!
MAXIM: How much trouble is "loads" exactly?
IMPULSE: Ah it wasn't so bad. I wasn't selling it, so they couldn't do anything... but it got the attention of Chris Allen who manages Linkin Park and Kanye West in L.A., so I flew out there and did a few shows. One of the shows I played, Jack White came along, which was amazing because he's my hero, and he said "Ah you haven't been playing guitar that long. Keep playing it how you do. You play it wild and that's what's gonna make you something special". So I did... got some more mixtapes down but I also played lots of indie shows. Then I started doing what I like to call 'refixes', which is where I take a track and re-record all of the instruments then add my own vocals... like a remix only not! They were really popular, so I've vowed to do them for a year. It eased the urban crowd into the stuff that was more my style, which got me recording 'Overload' right before the E.P... and here we are!
MAXIM: Damn... that's quite a story. What other works of yours do you recommend people check out?
IMPULSE: I really treasure my own stuff due to the refixes coming out so regularly... Check out 'Best Party Ever' if you can find it! Go and find my myspace. Feburary 28th will be the best chance to check out my stuff because that's when my E.P. is set to come out.
MAXIM: Anything happening off the back of 'Overload' being released?
IMPULSE: 10 minutes after I put the video up on YouTube I had NME TV and Flava TV rang me up to put it on their respective channels. It's also going to be on MTV and it'll be on AKA soon too. Got a nice few endorsements too, but they're secret!
MAXIM: Fine! Don't tell us then. Grime didn't get your vibe right, but you're still keeping some of that feeling. Where else are you drawing inspiration from?
IMPULSE: My iPod is crazy. I want my album to sound like my iPod... I can't be the only person who listens to Jay-Z, Kanye West and Lil' Wayne, then Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Arctic Monkeys, White Stripes and Queens of the Stone Age. I draw inspiration from everywhere!
MAXIM: What's the situation right now? You're doing everything off your own back right? Best and worst thing about that?
IMPULSE: At the minute everything is off my own back yeah, but there are talks going on with a few people! The pros would definitely have to be reaping all the benefits, along with full control. The cons? No massive machine behind you to get you on billboards, on TV and radio. People say 'Ah you can just get a loan and do it yourself!', but the point is the labels are usually in a good relationship with the bigger channels, networks and so on, so they can just say a few magic words and it's done.
MAXIM: Who are your biggest influences, famous or otherwise?
IMPULSE: It's weird. Musically I don't try to emulate anyone, I do look to people just for how they are though. Like Jack White, I love his music but he's very bluesy, and I'm not like that at all. More punk and Grime... but his mentality is what I look up to. Any guitarist that has been playing for a couple of years should be able to play anything Jack White can play, but what makes him so talented is his heart shines through, not because of how well he plays, but how well he doesn't play. Jay-Z as well, coming from nothing to something, he did it all himself. I also draw loads of inspiration from Japanese Anime, I watch it religiously! I take the structure they use in their shows and try to emulate it in how I put my stories together in my songs.
MAXIM: Had any haters yet?
IMPULSE: I've had it the best way I could have had it... I always said when nobody can find anything to say about your music, that's when you've done something good. They'll find any excuse to say something negative, but they can't say 'This song is shit', because it isn't. But in the beginning, oh my God, I used to get ripped into on the Grimeforum with people saying I was the worst MC they'd ever heard with my first mixtape, but by the time the second one rolled around they were saying I was the best MC they'd ever heard. I just want it to be so people can say they know it's a good song, even if they don't like it.
MAXIM: Other than you being an overly talented musical genius, do you harbour any other interests/hobbies/ventures?
IMPULSE: Anime and art like that mostly. I went to Uni and got a degree in genetic engineering, science was always a big thing for me before music. I still read LifeStudy every month in order to stay up to date with genetic breakthroughs and that. I did art in college, and apparently was the only person to ever get an 'A' through anime. They told me I couldn't do my final thesis on animation and cartoons, but I did. Obviously I practice my guitar loads as well, around 4 hours a day.
MAXIM: Who would you most like to collaborate with?
IMPULSE: [he pauses to take a sip of his Jagermeister and lemonade] Alex Turner. I think his wit is unparrelled. I think secretly he wanted to be a rapper but never followed it through. The way he writes... he's got flow to his singing. Deep down he's a rapper and I'd like to work with him.
MAXIM: What's your favourite item that you own?
IMPULSE: [pulls a bundle of plectrums on a necklace from under his coat] Funny story that goes with this... my blog gets quite a few hits a day now, and it all started with this. They're just different grade picks which happen to be different colours because they're different grades. I burnt a hole through them to keep them on a chain because I always forget them, so I wear this every day. Just for kicks on my blog I called them 'The Plectrums of Destiny' and wrote some bullshit story which got majorly blown out of proportion and is now the most viewed thing on my blog, ALL the time.
MAXIM: Is there anyone that you're listening to that we should be?
IMPULSE: Ed Sheeran. If you're not listening to him, you're gonna hear him and think 'Why the hell haven't I been listening to him?'. He's blowing up at the mo. Check him out.
MAXIM: Do you have any phobias?
IMPULSE: It's not like I'm terrified or anything, I can hold them if I have to, I just have to kill them; spiders. I can't be cool with seeing one just walking around. It's got to die.
MAXIM: Do you believe in the Loch Ness Monster?
IMPULSE: Yeah, he's down there man. He's there. You've hit a nerve there. That's why I'm doing music, so I can save up enough money to go and find Nessie.
MAXIM: And then Bigfoot.
IMPULSE: Dunno about Bigfoot... I think Bigfoot is my uncle. He's ridiculously hairy. I believe in aliens as well though, there's no way we're the only living things in the entire universe. It's dumb to think otherwise.
You can check out Random Impulse's refixes every Monday by clicking here.
Follow Random Impulse on twitter by clicking here. His E.P. is out Feburary 28th.
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The following images were all taken by Paul Slocombe (paul.slocombe@gmail.com) at The Wheelbarrow Pub on Camden High Street.
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