Walter Ego is a DJ/Producer hailing from Sheffield that makes bass-driven music of the UK Funky, Garage and Grime flavour. He’s recently received plaudits from artists recognition from Toddla T and Skepta (if only from Skepta for his name). And his tracks Calm down ft Kdot & Coco Pops and Fruit punch have been played out by Toddla T. He also has had plays from Marcus nasty and monki of Rinse FM and gets support from Deja vu a former London-based pirate-radio station especially from the Wifey show. He also featured in http://ukfunky.net/ ’s top 10 producers to watch in 2012 [link].

He also helps out at Bad Taste Records, who are releasing loads of great new tunes all the time. They are also signing up loadsa new talent from Sheffield, give the site a visit.

Click read more for the full Q&A to get to know Walter Ego

When did you first get into music?

I’ve been into music since I can Remember. I started guitar lessons really young. My parents both love music so it’s always been a part of my life in some form or other. My dad was/is a dj and collected records since he was in School. I guess my first memory of  thinking that music was important was seeing him Dj as a youngster. People reacted to the music, dancing and goin mad and I think that stayed with me. It made me think wanted to be involved.

How old were you when you first started making music?

I spose I wrote my first “song” (I’m using that term pretty loosely) when I was in my early teens. I was in a couple of bands playin guitar.

I didn’t make may first piece of electronic music until I was a bit older.
I started off making strange sound montages/mash ups of other peoples music. I had a program called ACID pro. I would take all kinds of stuff hip hop, Jazz, Drum ‘n’ Bass, weird twisty sounds from films etc. chop it all up and make little tracks. I didn’t really get serious about production till I was in Uni when I started making Dubstep and Hip hop.

How did you come up with your DJ/Producer name? 

Haha its not that interesting really. I used to have another name but didn’t like it. I asked my mates if they had an ideas for my alter ego 
and he said “what about Walter Ego?”. Thought it was funny and kept it!

What would you say the genre of the music you make is?

I make different sort of stuff I think people would call some of it bass music. I definitely make Uk funky, grime and garage/8bar but some times it 
crosses over and I blur the lines.

Where can people hear more of your tunes?

 On my soundcloud soundcloud.com/walter-ego or on badtaste-records.co.uk theres some links to stuff on there too.

How do you plan to move forward / what are your plans for the future / what are you focusing on? 

I moving forwards in a few different ways. You can deffinitely expect to hear more stuff from me with emcees. 
I just produced a track for Tezz Kid’s mix tape Paradigm Shift which just dropped last month in the wake of his appearance on LOTM3. 
I’ve recently hooked up with London based label ‘Uknown to the Uknown’ (run by hot city bass) (UTTU) dropping some more UK funky tropical type stuff, You can find previews to that release on my Soundcloud.

I also help out with Badtaste records. Darkstorm and I have secured some great new releases for Badtaste including one from Sheffield based Square and Timbah respectively. Check the preview to Timbah’s release on our website.

(Click on the pic for the link)

I’ve got quite a few irons in the fire aswell as far a future projects go but I don’t wanna say too much. Watch this space. 

What do you concentrate on when making a tune?

It really depends upon the style of track but I suppose I’ve always thought percussion was important. I’m really into producers like, Burial, Blawan, Joe and Ramadan Man who all make percussion a big focus of their sound.

What equipment would you say is essential for making a tune?

For me I just need my computer a program and some good monitors. Everyone has their own set up though and their own way of working. I guess
I keep it simple. These days I’m trying to use headphones a bit more to preserve the sanity of my house mates!

Bass or Treble?

Tricky. Obviously if you’ve heard my tunes you probably know I love bass… but hi end is where my main love percussion lives so its hard to say… Both. Can I have both? 

Snare or Kick?

Hmmmm wow thats hard…. I’m gonna say kick though. Without kicks dance music would sound a bit pants!

Tune to get us through the cold winter months?

‘Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al’ Should warm the cockles of the coldest Heart.

Who do you think are up and coming artists in Sheffield and around?

There’s too many to name em all! Pretty much all the producers I know are doing something great. You already know Kidnap Kid. Me and him go back so I’m glad to see him getting the recognition he deserves. Also Square Head and Timbah my Badtaste label mates should be ones to watch this year. I can’t forget A street Cartel Aka Trell, Sniff and TK those guys are killin’ it. Also Ju5t from 2019 records has got me quite excited recently 2019 are really worth checkin out.

Basically if you haven’t heard any of the following names google them! They’re all awesome and they’re all from Sheff.

Phatworld (offmenut)
Arie (Cold up norf)
DJ-VU (2019) 
Commodo (deep Medi) 
Checan (Project all out/UTTU)
MOOVA (offmenut)
Mr Dubz (Project all out)
Ju5t (2019) 
Square Head (bad taste/HEM:PER)
Timbah (bad taste)
A-street Cartel (bad taste)
Rogue state (R8) 
Shinobi (Goon Squad)
Rawkid (bad taste)
Tez Kid (bad taste)
Coco Pops (M3)
Dots B (RTD)
Mister X (bad taste/RTD)

What do you like about the Sheffield scene?

I guess the fact that it’s so under subscribed outside of Sheffield means that its a good place for artists to incubate. Theres a
heck of a lot of talent about in all areas so its a good mixing pot. There are some great nights aswell (check out Pangaea at the Harley).

What do you not like?

I think Sheffield still lacks exposure sadly and it often seems that in order to get big and stay big artists have to get out 
(usually to London) before the world really takes any notice.

Thanks very much to Walter Ego for getting back to me on this. One to watch, here’s to a good year for everyone in the Sheffield Scene. ~WK