Interview: Obskür Talks Production Process & Success Since 'Bayside' Hit
- by Andrew Braithwaite
- in Interviews
Dublin, Dance/Electronic duo Obskür have made their way onto the scene with popular productions like 'Bayside,' which has gathered worldwide attention. Their tracks have gained around 80 million streams collectively on Spotify alone. They’ve played shows with some of the UK and Ireland's biggest clubbing brands, including The Warehouse Project, Creamfields, Reading & Leeds Festival, XOYO in London, as well as Amnesia alongside Sonny Fodera and Danny Howard. They’ve also expanded onto the worldwide circuit. Recently, we managed to catch up with them at the Beat-Herder Festival in Lancashire, UK.
Interviewer: Is it Obscure or Obskur?
Obskür: It's Obskür.
Interviewer: Because we were having this debate earlier on with a few of us in the studio. We weren't sure. Where does the name come from?
Obskür: We were trying to come up with names in the very beginning and we were just going through different words. We looked at different words in the urban dictionary and all these places, going through a thesaurus, just trying to find something cool that kind of fit. We found the word obscure, obviously spelled like normally. And then we're like, because at the time we were saying we wanted to do something different. We didn't want to stick to one genre. We wanted to be able to be versatile and different, we thought Obskür fit. Then we just decided to spell it that way because we thought it would look cool and look good on us.
Obskür: It was a whole kind of a breath of fresh air, I suppose, because we used to play commercial music before that. That's how we started and stuff. It was more commercial, like deep house remixes and stuff. That's how we started off with that. Then Obskur was like, let's do something different.
Interviewer: How long have you been producing tracks together?
Obskür: Four or five years now. We started when we were both 14, 15, and then produced together for five years.
Interviewer: I'm just interested to know what the production process is when you're producing tracks with it being the two of you. Is it that one of you comes up with a rough idea and then you both add bits in?
Obskür: That's one of the best parts of it. If you're doing it yourself, you have to do it all. Whereas here it's like, say he comes up with an idea, you both sit down and you're like, oh, okay, this is good, this is sick. Then we work on it, polish it off, and that's how it turns out. It's so much easier. There are so many more ideas because with the two of us, it's so much better, I feel. Because we used to do it alone, like a solo artist. It was like you'd struggle on some bits. Just say he's good at mixing and mastering or whatever. Then I'd come up with a good idea and then we combine everything together, like solid enough tunes.
Obskür: It's interesting because someone might come up with a melody and then you’re like I don't know what to do with this melody, or I don't know what genre to make it. I don't know where to take this. And then, say, for example, if he comes up with a melody, I'll be like, I know what to do with this. Or I might come up with a melody and then be like, Oh, let's do something like this.
Obskür: Yeah, like I might say these drums fit on this. It's just always bouncing back and forth.
Obskür: It's good because we work well together in the studio. Sometimes people can clash, but I feel like we have the same ideas a lot of the time.
Obskür: Being mates for that long as well. Since we were 14, 15. So if it sounds bad, you tell him.
Interviewer: I just want to keep it short and sweet. This will be going out to thousands of people. Is there anything you want to say to any fans of Obskur whilst you've got the opportunity?
Obskür: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for getting us here. It's unbelievable. The amount of gigs that we've done ever since Bayside kicked off. That was the main kick off point for us. Doing all these shows all over the world.
Obskür: Yeah, it's crazy. Sometimes we can't believe it. We were in Canada last week and we're like, "How did we get here?" It's all cliched, but it's all because of everyone that supports our music. So we're very grateful for that. Thank you.
Interviewer: Good luck with the set tonight. Thank you very much.
