Greg Haynes is one of three responsible for the fast-growing Shades Of Grey clubnight and label, a producer under the name Fybe:one and an artist. As Fybe:one he makes glitchy electronica that shares elements of club and downtempo music alike. The track he’s given us, ‘So Soon So Bad,’ is a synth-driven, vocal bootleg. Grab it below and read more about the Fybe:one and Shades of Grey projects.
- Hi Greg, can you first tell us a bit about how the Fybe:one and Shades Of Grey projects started.
Hey. Well Fybe:one was my graffiti alias and i just carried it across to the music too. Iv been making music as Fybe:one since i was about 19 or so. Then Shades started when I met Duct and Owen Howells. We decided, after talking about music online, that we should do it over a beer, in person.
- Do you have a certain policy on who you would book for your nights and release music of, or would you, in theory, work with anyone?
Yeh, in theory we would work with anyone, as long as we all like the music. I suppose with the events there is a certain element of ‘who will pull the crowds?’. This isn’t really a factor with releases though, I tend to steer towards the opposite and im always looking for new talent and unheard music. The remix album of my ‘Harp’ EP has a lot of producers that people may not have heard of before as well as some more familiar names.
- What do you play when DJing? Your own production don’t seem particularly dancefloor orientated…
Yes this is true! If you want to send everyone to sleep put on my music! After i released the ‘Harp’ EP i realised that none of it was particularly dance-able.. so i have started to try and make some slightly more upbeat stuff (i think that So Soon So Bad is a bit more lively?!). Saying that though, I think that there is too much pressure to make club tunes and because of this tracks are coming out so regularly and not lasting. If a track is over a week old then no one bothers playing it anymore! I try to play as much music from Shades and my friends and affiliates as possible in my sets mixed up with new and old tracks and not resricting the whole set to one tempo.
- Record labels, artists, club nights and blogs are more and more often merging to form ‘brands’ like Shades of Grey. Other examples might be Church, Sonic Router, Audio Doughnuts and, of course, Get Some – do you think there are any downsides to this blurring within the UK music industry?
Its a good thing really – as long as the quality is there, those guys are all making moves and are to be taken seriously.
- Which clubnights do you go to in London?
Usually Rhythm Factory, Corsica, Plan B.. anywhere with a good line up though. Oscillate Wildly, Lucid, Streets of Beige… are all doing wicked nights.
- If you could DJ anywhere in the world where would it be?
Iv been wanting to do a festival (because there have been so many recently) and DJ in the sunshine.. hopefully I will get the opportunity to DJ in Amsterdam, had some great nights there. Shades have also been booked to play Paris next year so that will be cool.
- Can you give us a few highlights from the Shades Of Grey nights over the last 12 months?
I had the launch for my Harp EP in January which was wicked.. i got to do some live drawing on the walls and did a set of all my tunes.. and no one fell asleep! We held a night with Sigha, and my mate Dexter Kane which was rammed.. Iv never seen the club like it.. proper sweat box! We ve had so many great sets there.. Lando Kal, Kidnap Kid, Randomer, Pariah, Gang Colours…
- What can we hope to see from Fybe:one over the next year or so?
Hopefully another EP if i ever get any time! I work as a graphic designer by trade and as i make my money from it i have to prioritise. This time last year my EP was done and ready to go… Iv made one loop for my next EP so far! I have done a lot of remixes recently though, remixes for The Part Time Heroes, Monokle, Tonic, Warsnare, and Im working on one for Skip & Die. We will be releasing some good stuff on the label too. The Harp EP Remixes is coming out in November and as i said before, has some sick producers on it (Deft, Troy Gunner, Soosh, Mute Speaker, Blacksmif and more…). We ll also be releasing a collaboration project with Owen Howells and Duct called Elson David. Some material from Capes, Stanky and Manni Dee too.
I tried to get a bit more dancey with this track, it also uses a pretty blatant sample so I didn’t want to release it properly.
- And finally, please complete the following sentence: Get Some…
Shades (cos its still a bit sunny)