Horror Posse member and perhaps one of the most eclectic artists I’ve encountered in my time running this blog, Chainsmoke is a masterful producer with an impressive discography under his belt. He’s also maybe my biggest supporter, he’s the one person I can always count on to always listen to the music I drop and I can’t thank him enough for that. Enjoy our interview!
1. You have a huge discography on Bandcamp, it seems like you spend a lot of time making music. Which of your releases would you say you are most proud of?
My favorites would definitely have to be dog daze and the CHAINSMOKE tapes, more specifically CHAINSMOKE VOLUME 3. I think I dropped some of my best music in the second half of 2018.
2. When did you first begin to create music? What inspired you to do so?
I was probably 15 or 16 when I started making music on a shitty old desktop computer. I had a demo of FL studio and I started making metal type stuff and some very weird dubstep type shit with my cousin. Those songs are all extremely embarrassing and only my closest friends have ever heard them. When I was around 18 my dad gave me a laptop and bought FL Studio Producer Edition for me and that was when I really started making beats
3. How would you describe your production style? I know very little else that sounds like it, but there’s definite industrial/ambient influence throughout it.
It’s kinda hard to describe my music honestly. I guess industrial and ambient would be good descriptions. Some of my tracks are trippy, some are more experimental than others. I think it would be easier to show someone a couple of my tracks than to try to describe my music.
4. You recent dropped the track ‘Painkill’, which I also hosted on Soundcloud. It’s one of few songs you’ve released that feature your vocals. Will we hear more of that from you?
I would like to make more tracks like that in the future but I don’t have anything planned out yet. I only have a couple unreleased tracks with vocals in my vault at this point and I won’t drop them till I feel the time is right, if the time is ever right.
5. Another genre that seems to influence your work is death metal, some of your tracks basically have blast beats in them. Would you say you’re a fan of the genre and if so would you ever make a greater foray into creating it?
I am definitely a massive fan of death metal and all the stupid subgenres and I actually do make some metal tracks occasionally. I have a tape called “rather be deceased” that is all metal tracks. There are several other metal tracks throughout my bandcamp and soundcloud discography as well. Most of them are instrumentals but sometimes I’ll lay some shitty pig squeals down on a track.
6. Your tag is really creepy, it definitely reflects the eerie vibe of your music. How did you decide on your name as an artist?
Unfortunately it’s not that great of a story. There is an old picture of me with like a whole pack of cigs in my mouth and the caption said “young chainsmoke”. I just liked how it sounded and it seemed kinda unique. I actually don’t even smoke cigarretes anymore.
7. What’s the latest with Horror Posse? Do you have any upcoming collabs with other members of the group?
Me and Stevie Durag are working on some really cool collabs but nothing set in stone yet as far as releases. We also have several classic collabs already that I would love to drop someday when the timing is right. As far as the rest of HP, I don’t have any collabs lined up yet but that’s something I would love to work on in 2019.
8. What’s your next planned release? Will it be on Bandcamp like the majority of your music?
Honestly at this point I don’t have any specific plans but I’m sure I will have another new tape or something sometime soon. I think I probably will post my next project on bandcamp. I’m not totally sure why but, bandcamp feels like the best platform for me personally to drop music, especially if it’s gonna be a long ass tape.
9. I’d like to thank you for being a big supporter of my blog and for contributing tracks to my tapes. Is there anyone you’d like to shoutout to finish off?
I wanna shout out all of Horror Posse but especially Stevie Durag. I love what we’re doing with HP and I’m definitely glad to be working with an underground legend like Stevie. Without him I’d still have like virtually no one listening to my stuff. When Stevie and I collab on a track it’s always dope and I’m excited for the stuff we’re working on now. I probably never would have even come in contact with 108mics without Stevie and HP. Definitely gotta give a shout out to my best friend Snortman. I also want to say thanks to 108mics for being fuckin awesome and doing great work for the underground.
Listen to Chainsmoke on Bandcamp. Follow him on Twitter at @yung_chainsmoke.
108MICS 