Tom Kerridge On RAMP, Guerilla Promotion And More

RAMP founder lays down a Shining Path...

Tom Kerridge founded RAMP Recordings a few years back, rapidly establishing it as one of the most sought after, unique voices in British electronic music. But after a while things grew stale.

Creativity seemed to dim, and the label owner grew tired of the strictures living in a city places on his life.

So he moved. Tom picks up the story: "I set up a few music venues in the musically deprived town I was born in. Along the way, I met some incredible musicians, singers and songwriters. A few months ago, I picked up some production software for the first time ever, and started writing and making music with some of those musicians and singers."

Using the name Shining Path, he began collating these recordings in one place. New EP 'Full Glooom' is out now, and we're lucky enough to be able to premiere a Drones Club re-work of the title cut.

As if that wasn't enough, Tom has penned a piece of guerilla promotion in off grid places – it makes for fascinating reading.

A few years ago, I decided I wanted a bit of time out from record labels and releasing music. Sales were down, and I was pouring my heart and soul into releases that were getting great press, but didn't seem to be clicking with the record buying public. Demos I was being sent were fetishising 90's house and techno music, which was boring me senseless. Forward thinking music was on the decline. I was investing more and more of my own funds into artists and projects that just weren't selling. I needed a break.

I was born in Ipswich. The town has such an an incredible legacy of music. There is a big Caribbean community, lots of long standing Sound Systems that have been doing their thing for decades. Back in the 90's it was the second home to D&B and a lot of big producers and DJ's lived here. There has always been a big hip hop community here, and the current scene is really vibrant, and I think would rival so many much bigger towns and cities. Kirk DeGeorgio lives here, s.maharba, Loom, Klute. Despite all of this, there is no scene. Nightlife consists of soulless bars full of middle aged sexual predators with dead eyes, chains packed to the rafters with legends hoovering up pub gak and knocking the shit out of each other, 5 shots for £1 meat markets, local superclub conglomerates overusing the word "urban", piss-smelling boozers with a band awkwardly crammed into the corner. I felt like the town really needed a space people could dance and listen to music.

I'm nearly three years in, and with my second venue in the town now, and I can honestly say it's one of the most difficult things I have ever done. There is a tightrope to be walked – you can't book anything too new or different as nobody will turn up. Even when you booking big hitters, there is still a chance people won't turn up, but when you get it right, it's a beautiful thing, there is a great atmosphere and such a strong community feeling when it all comes together.

I've done a lot of events in London, and it's very different. London, people are open minded, people will give things a chance, but it's so big, sometimes it can be so difficult connecting with people. Ipswich has a population of 180,000 – it's much easier to communicate with that amount of people, and if you get your booking right, people will rally round and come to the event in hordes. It really is the balance of finding the right acts.

On the local level – it's such a small scene that to make it work, the people need to support it. There are so many DJ's, rappers, bands who expect people to turn up to their gigs, but never turn up for anybody else's.

Small town mentality is often our biggest enemy. The other week, I overheard a local lad who was just about to DJ at the bar say how there are no venues in town, how there is nowhere to DJ, nowhere that supports music, and I though "dude, you are literally just about to DJ in a venue that's main objective is to bring music into the town". The previous week we had DJ Randall play, the week before Mr Thing – 2 DJ's who have been at the top of their respective games for years, playing in our town, supported by local DJ's, yet somehow, in some narrow minds, there are still no establishments in town supporting music.

I sometimes feel friction from local people who don't think we should be here, and have had a lot of negativity from them in the past. If everybody were to come together, Ipswich could be a paradise. It happens very occasionally, when the stars align, but on the whole, people are flaky, people are stubborn. It's a shame. The town has so much potential – it's small, but so multicultural. It's such a contrast to the rest of East Anglia. It has that small country town charm, but still has that gnarlyness you get form a big city, surrounded by the beautiful Suffolk countryside. Some of the the people who live here just don't see the possibilities.

The worst thing for myself is the small town drama. The place is awash with gossip, and it can get pretty hurtful. Drugs and drug policy is always a big thing. We have other license holders in town telling people our venue is druggy because we run D&B or Grime events, or because we let people with hoodies in, while their patrons consume pounds of pub gak right under their noses. Seeing what happened with Fabric, and working in venues for the past few years, for me has really reinforced the fact that drugs are everywhere, not just in clubs playing electronic music – but the problem is the establishments under the microscope are the ones who do have clear drug policies, and venues who are actually dealing with the issue. Nothing is ever said about the piss-smelling pubs in Suffolk, or the city boy boozers in London, where cocaine is abundant and conveniently ignored.

We had a lot of friction with the Police when we started, they blocked our license because they thought the place would be some kind of "legalised illegal rave" – but we fought back and managed to win our license. Since working with the authorities, we're on great terms with them. I've even had emails from the police commending us on how our team dealt with certain situations. We have the quietest incident book, the least trouble in town.

Big up Rye Shabby, Bessie, Villem & McLeod, Freedom Sound, Loom, WUF, Ben Marr, Jimmy Green, Booda French, UD, SuperGlu, Indigo Frequency, WaveyxTimes, Piers James, Whodem, Ashanti Yard, Downsetters, Remi, Cad, DLH, Red Eye Records, BBC Introducing In Suffolk, IBC Licensing, the Pump & Grind team, my Mum, and everybody else standing firm and helping us push things forward in our little town.

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