We first came across Geek Boy with the awesome February 2016 #2 UK Christian Chart remix of Lily Jo’s Bring Me Back track. Hailing from Manchester, Geek Boy has made a name for himself producing some of the best disco, future bass and hip hop music out there, having been featured on numerous blogs and music channels, with some of his songs having hundreds of thousands of plays.
We caught up with this talented producer and were keen to find out more about him. Geek Boy started off, “I grew up in a Christian family and I can’t really remember a time when I didn’t believe. But at various points on the journey I’ve questioned and re-examined my faith. The faith of a five year old can’t sustain you when you’re fifteen. And the faith of a fifteen year old can’t sustain you when you’re twenty five”.
He stated, “I’ve gone through periods of doubt and existential crises, and I’ve been through periods of amazing blessing and deepening of my faith. Many of my beliefs and doctrines have changed along the way, sometimes in ways which have surprised me, but that’s all part of the journey of following Jesus which is as important to me now as it ever was.
Geek Boy continued “Due to some circumstances in my personal life, last year was one of the most painful years of my life so far. But God really met me in a place of grief and suffering. I’m always so amazed by how incredibly faithful God is through the tough stuff, even when I feel I haven’t been particularly faithful to him. God is good and I feel so consistently and abundantly blessed by him”.
This seemed like the perfect time to talk about a few more things:
How did you get into music?
I come from a very musical family. My dad sings and plays the piano and used to write songs in his youth, so he was very keen for me to have piano lessons when I was a kid. Unfortunately it always felt like a bit of a chore so it kind of fell by the wayside when I hit my teens. Most of the people in my family play about three instruments each, so in a way I’m kind of the black sheep of the family!
When I was 13 my dad bought a new computer with a soundcard and a midi keyboard and some really basic music software. He’d bought it with the intention of using it himself but in the end he never found the time, so I taught myself to sequence MIDI and make really simple dance tunes. They sounded pretty rubbish but to me it was just so exciting that I could make my own music with just a computer! It was the first time I’d ever had a hobby that I spent even more hours on than video games! I knew this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and I’ve never really looked back!
Who is your favourite artist at the moment?
Wow, that’s a tough question, so hard to narrow it down to just one! I feel there’s loads of people I could mention but I’m gonna say Lido. I’ve been massively in awe of him for some time now. He’s an incredibly talented songwriter and producer and he’s also an amazing singer and pianist, so an all-round mad talented guy. I think what I love about his music is that it’s never boring. He always takes risks in his productions and whatever he works on, whether it’s a collaboration or a solo track or a remix, you can totally hear the attention to detail and the level of work that’s gone into it!
If we’re talking favourite act of all time though, definitely Kraftwerk! They were real innovators and I feel like anyone making any kind of electronic music owes them a huge debt! I love all their albums and I had the huge pleasure of seeing them play live in Stockholm last year. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life!
If you could be a cartoon character who would it be?
It’s tempting to say Batman because he’s my favourite comic book character, but let’s be honest, actually being Batman doesn’t look like that much fun. He may be badass but he’s also obsessive and brooding and motivated by grief. Plus bad guys are always trying to kill him! So I’m going to go to the other end of the spectrum and say Jake the Dog from Adventure Time. He’s so happy, he looks like he doesn’t have a care in the world!
Can you tell us anything about your future plans for music?
In the near future I’ve got a couple of remixes coming out soon. One of LZ7 and another of Bailey, the fantastically talented singer songwriter from New Wine! Really excited about them.
In the more mid to long term, I’m starting to think about my next EP. That’s still very much in the gestation stage though as I’ve got maybe one track for that so I’m looking forward to cracking on and writing some more. I love working with talented singers and songwriters. I’m keen to do more of that so hopefully some great collaborations will end up on my next release!
Music is obviously something you want to do but if it didn’t exist, what would you be doing?
That’s a tricky one because I honestly feel this is my only skill set, there’s really not a lot else I’m good at! I make music because I love music. So if I couldn’t make music I guess I’d have to make something else I love. I love food, maybe I could become a chef!
Geek Boy’s love and passion definitely shines through in his latest remix of Newdays’ anthem. Check it out above!
