Progressive, Deep and Melodic, London-based DJ and producer Greg Newman otherwise known as Blank Page has been rising his way through the ranks after his debut release ‘Autumn’ reached the top 3 in the Trackitdown charts. Greg has achieved a great deal in his relatively short career as his follow-up EP went on to gain support from BBC Introducing and since then he has been signed to labels such as Plasmapool, Xtrxx, Club Restricted Records. We caught up with Blank Page for a short quickfire interview to find out a bit more about the up-and-coming producer.
Sum yourself up as an artist in 3 words
Determined, varied, energetic
Preferred genre?
Progressive House
Best song of all time?
Can never answer this so I’m cheating and giving you two…
deadmau5 – ‘Strobe’ or Eric Prydz – ‘Opus’
Who is your biggest inspiration?
Eric Prydz
What do you want to achieve in 2019?
A few releases on a couple of specific labels. I’m in talks with one now but I’ll keep it quiet in case I fail!
Which one of your own releases are your favourite and why?
It’s currently unreleased but a track called ‘Ischia’ because it’s based around a chord progression that I wrote on my phone, on garage band (lol), on a plane back from Italy.
Describe your music in a sentence.
It’s always infused with some sort of melodic/emotive element, but uses gritty synths to ensure it’s clear that it’s still electronic music!
Favourite club?
Phonox in London
First rave you went to?
I genuinely can’t remember! But I can tell you it was almost certainly at Ministry Of Sound in London!
Best festival you have been to?
I can’t remember the name of it but it was a 3-day festival on Zrce beach in Croatia. Same location as Hideout Festival and it’s based around 3 or 4 different outdoor venue/stages on the beach. It’s class. Get yourself to Croatia people!
Dream gig?
It has to be a gig with Anjunadeep or All Day I Dream… Absolutely love the stuff those labels put out.
DJ’ing or producing?
It’s so hard to answer this! I have to go with producing though… I get restless and frustrated if I don’t get to spend time in the studio.
Facebook or Instagram?
Easy… Instaaaaa! Facebook is dead nowadays. You have to pay for your own fans to see posts you make on your artist page.
Biggest achievement to date?
Playing at Ministry Of Sound.
Who would you love to work with?
Eric Prydz, deadmau5, Lane 8, Ben Bohmer… The list goes on!
Favourite record label?
It has to be Anjunadeep.
Best thing about the music industry?
Partying and making music!
Worst thing about the music industry?
There’s a fake and shallow side to it. DJs using ghost producers because they’re too lazy to learn themselves, people buying plays and track sales, people buying Instagram followers because they think 10k followers means they can be a superstar. There seems to be a real “get rich/famous quick” vibe to some people, which is shit. It should just be about good music and having a laugh! Rant over!
Where do you see dance music in 5 years time?
I was talking about this with someone the other day… They reckon with the advances in VR, soon you’ll be able to experience gigs from your living room and they’ll be fully immersive. The technology is mad but that sucks… Surely you want to be on that sweaty dancefloor, not stuck at home?
Best piece of advice you were given in the early stages of your career?
So I was given this a while go but only just realised the value in it… And to new producers it will sound shit haha. Someone said “just enjoy making music”. The reason that’s important is because if you’re enjoying it, you’ll finish tracks. Just sit down and produce and see what comes out. Write whatever you feel like because if you start trying to force a track to be something it’s not, then you’ll struggle, you’ll get pissed off, and it won’t go anywhere. You don’t have to release everything, so just enjoy it! If you write something that’s completely different to your style, chuck it out as a free download! Hope that helps some people!
Blank Page Online