Pushing Good Music Forward!

It is often quoted that spice is the ultimate essence of life, flavouring the mundane, preserving the sanctity of the soul and through colour adding vibrancy and rhythm. From the Isle of Spice where everything is sweet and nice, to the streets of West London where the musical journey continues, the Greenz trio otherwise known as SD Productions UK, continue to blaze the beat trail, producing hit after hit of music and through an unconditional love of music, consistently pushing good music forward.

 

Nominated for Best UK Soca Producers and Best Riddim ‘Hopeless Love’ in 2012, SD Productions UK are no strangers to the UK soca music industry or more notably to the Caribbean music scene. Hailing from Grenada, the trio lived and breathed music differently, until a chance meeting in London, an inherent love for music and a family connection tie pulled them together, forming initially a group called West Indian Connection (WIC) and later a record label SD Productions UK.  From the age of 6 months, they were introduced to music via carnival and at the age of 12, started playing music at family parties under the name WIC. As time went by, these family parties grew out of their familiar territory and through popularity opened further doors for the young music lovers to DJ outside of their comfort zone.

It was whilst in college, that they noticed a gap for 18-year birthday events. Fuelled by a desire to play music for a different audience and to bring their love of music to teenagers, the young boys started hiring out boats and venues to hold parties which then led to the WIC crew growing bigger.

In 2004, propelled by an innate skill of playing soca /reggae chords on a keyboard, they bought their first Apple Mac and downloaded at the time the producing software Future Loops creating their first soca beat. It was while hearing their older sibling, a rap producer using Reason software and listening to the different sounds which had nicer Caribbean vibes, that they then started remixing different songs. Taking popular R&B and chart pop songs from artists such as T-Pain, Iyaz and Akon, they remixed these songs into reggae and soca just for fun and alongside used these tracks on their DJ playlist at events. As time progressed, these songs made their way to YouTube and with increasing popularity and audience, they started to remix more songs, amongst them the reggae remix to Iyaz –Replay, which to date has amassed 1, 215,563 views alone on their YouTube page.

It was during an outing to the infamous venue, Tudor Rose that they heard one of their remixes being played by a T&T DJ ripped from their YouTube page that they realised that albeit onto something they were not getting any recognition and thus the promotion wheel started. 2010 was the breakthrough that they needed, Spicemas had a big show in West London, where a number of Grenadian soca artists were present amongst them 2013 NACCP Image Awards nominee Brother B. It was in inviting the artist after the show to their studio, that they played a few rhythms that they had produced to him. It was after this chance meeting that the song ‘Wine on It’ by Brother B was born. This was their first official remix on the soca scene with backing vocals provided by the then female soca duo 1st class, who  later came out with a single ‘I have a mission’  produced by SD Productions UK in 2011.

It is for the love of music that has seen the trio, grow and develop themselves steadily making a name for themselves in 2013. With previous experiences as DJs in Notting Hill Carnival Yaa Asantewaa Carnival Group for the last 10 years, playing at events from a young age, working as sound engineers in Grenada for artists such as Beres Hammond, Beenie Man, Bunji Garlin, Machel Montano, Tallpree, Bounty Killer and Bunny Wailer to name a few, that the scene is now awakening to the talented trio. With skills in production, mixing, mastering and recording, their range is astonishing. Working in a variety of genres, they have collaborated with UK artists and Grenadian artists and are on the verge of working with other well-known Caribbean artists from different islands.

Supporting The UK Soca Scene 100%, UKSS took time out to chat with the guys on the soca scene and to peep at their musical talents. Check out the first ever exclusive interview with SD Productions, held at their studio in West London.