Silk 86: “We’re Both Excellent at Making Tea and Coffee”

Emerging London based duo Finn Casey and Thomas L have been making serious waves as Silk 86 over the past twelve months or so. Both producers had been working in various outfits throughout the underground secenes for years before, but since joining forces as Silk 86, their trajecotory has seen a steeper incline, garnering them critical acclaim amongst the scene. Having positioned themselves as an eclectic partnership, the boys are busily amassing releases on labels like Manucci’s Mistress, Sneaky Music and 1Trax with whom their “About You” EP is currently tearing it up. I Voice caught up with the guys to discuss their early days, their new EP and their forthcoming projects.

What were your early gigs as Silk 86 like?

We’ve had some pretty random ones, a personal favorite was an ‘Off’ Sonar party which was in a whole other part of Spain, populated by hippies on acid. Solid crowd, interesting journey back.

How long did it take until you decided to start and make music together? What do you feel you each bring to the production process?

We were both already involved in making music, but it was probably a couple of years after we’d met that we put our heads together and figured why not. We’re both excellent at making tea and coffee, which is fundamental to the process.

How do you decide what labels to release your music on? How does it feel to hand over something you have made to a label? You want to make sure it’s gone to the right home etc.

We choose which labels to approach based on the style of the EP, as opposed to sending any new tracks to every label under the sun. We like to work with labels that put out music we’re into.

It can be tough to get your foot in the door with new labels sometimes, especially when it’s relatively early days for you as an artist and everyone who puts out wax is booked up till 2020, so it can be a little daunting.

Do you think it is important to have a good relationship with the labels you release on? How involved are you with the label once you’ve delivered the music?

We’ve been lucky in that respect as we’ve had good people we know and trust working behind every release so far, so it certainly makes things run a little smoother. In terms of involvement it really depends on how much slack the label give us, we happily pick out our artwork, remixers, etc, if the label lets us.

How did your release with 1Trax come about? What have been the reactions to the tracks since you’ve been playing them out?

‘About You’ had always got a good response when we played it out, we were confident in the track and figured even though we’re still relatively unknown maybe they’d be into it. Luckily they were. It’s taken a while to get it out but we’re happy with the end result.

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How important has East London been in the formation of your ideas / sound? Why do you think that is?

To be honest it’s not been a huge influence. The kind of music we like and make isn’t confined to East London. It happens everywhere. But it’s definitely a bonus that a lot of the good parties happen in East London. It makes going out and seeing great music more accesible, and having quality stores like Kristina Records just down the road is a massive plus.

When did you guys first go to Ibiza? Tell us about those early trips?

Don’t hate us… but we’ve actually never been! We’ve only heard good things though, as long as your not duped into being a Peruvian drug mule.

Do you have plans for playing in Ibiza this summer?

Nothing as of yet, but we’ve just signed with a booking agent so hopefully we’ll be popping our Ibiza cherry in the summer.

What have you guys got coming up in terms of new music?

Leading into summer we’ve got a track on a Various Artists EP for London label Newington, alongside our first official remix of mr Steve Huerta, out on the same label.

Following that we’ve got a release on Andre Crom’s Off Spin label, and then a few more bits to tie up going into Autumn.