Plastic Dreams: an interview with Plastician

“It’s literally the worst place in the world in terms of a live music scene” says Plastician of his native Croydon. “We’re not just talking electronic music, there’s not even a decent sized venue to watch a local band play these days. It’s really sad. I’ve sat in on council meetings but nobody there wants to listen. They seem to have a problem with the binge drinking culture in the town, but the cheap drinks are all that’s worth heading into town for.” 

Maybe that’s why the area – the birthplace of dubstep and home to the chart-slaying BRIT School – has been so influential in recent years. Perhaps people make music there to fill the void. As a producer, club DJ, radio presenter and label chief at Terrorythm Recordings, Plastician has done more for the musical reputation of his home town than most, and he remains “passionate…in a weird way” about the place to this day. 

Originally known as Plasticman, Chris Reed started out playing UK garage before gravitating towards the darker strains it spawned at the turn of the millennium. Early productions like Cha and Aqua Riddim fell between grime and dubstep, both of which he championed in club sets at FWD and radio shows for the (then pirate, now licensed) station Rinse FM. “When I started out the only way people could listen was live via their FM radio,” he remembers. “We had lots of interaction during the show and a lot of it was done on the fly, reacting to the interaction. We felt energised by the thought of people really being locked in.” 

Music radio has changed dramatically since then, of course. “We live as an on-demand generation”, says Reed. “Doing the radio live feels a little bit lonely barring a few tweets here and there. But with things like Soundcloud, it also means we are reaching thousands every week with the podcast option. The real buzz comes the days and weeks following – watching the hits rack up and seeing where the comments are popping up on tracks.” Rinse remains a phenomenon though: “They’ve always had DJs on the station who are really passionate about the music they play, and the audience knows that the DJs really know what they’re doing, so we have a captive audience of music lovers. It’s surely one of the most respected radio stations in the world these days and I feel very privileged to be a part of it.”

Reed’s musical focus has changed over the years too. “I never really set out to lie within the constraints of one specific sound,” he explains, “but until maybe three years ago, the majority of what I was playing was around 140bpm, within the Grime and Dubstep circles.” 2014’s Plasticman Remastered – an essential compilation of vintage Reed productions – was followed by Plasticman Remixed, which featured artists like Mr Mitch, Roska, and Bristol’s own Kahn and Neek. He describes it as “my way of closing that chapter and opening ears to some producers I felt were exciting…‘here you go, it’s all there in one place – now let me get on with the next phase of my career’.”

These days Plastician sets feature a broader range of sounds and tempos. “I try to meld different genres together within my DJ sets and through my label, but I still think they all make sense together in some way. I still play stuff at 140bpm too, but tend to travel anywhere from 80 bpm up to 170 bpm generally, stopping just short of Drum & Bass which has never really been a sound I’ve been into much personally.” 

Meanwhile, Terrorythm – previously responsible for the debut releases of both Joker and Om Unit – has re-emerged as a hothouse of forward-thinking producers. Artists like JD Reid, Ganz and Color Plus draw on a wide range of flavours, including trap, footwork, house and R&B. Reed cites AWE’s Crystals and Skit & Tijani’s Sweat as favourite releases from the label’s current era: “I could list so many good tracks though”, he says. “I love everything I’ve signed and everything I’ve put out have been massive tracks in my DJ sets at the time I released them.” Like all the best labels, Terrorhythm releases look as good as they sound. “I’ve always had an eye for design”, explains Reed. “Before I got into music I wanted to pursue a career in graphic design of some sort, but sadly couldn’t get onto the course I needed to…” The label’s look was re-vamped by an artist called Sean Knowles. “It was something I’d wanted to do for so long, and his initial sketches blew me away. He came up with the new logo and the aesthetic and we rolled with it. He’s revolutionized the look of the label.” 

Running alongside Terrorhythm’s main schedule is Terrorythm Elements, a series of Bandcamp releases made available on a pay-what-you-want basis.  “In some cases these were just young producers who I felt needed more exposure,” says the label boss. “Giving the music away just helps you reach a few more ears I think. It also helped me gauge which ones people were really enjoying, and I could potentially promote to the first team.” Plastician’s eclectic vision for the label is inseparable from his trajectory as a DJ. “If there’s something you hear me play every week on the radio”, he explains, “chances are I’ve snapped it up for Terrorhythm, or tried to…it’s all about exploring new ideas within bass music.” Catch him in Bristol at a huge Tropical lineup with JME, Preditah, DJ Q, Wookie, Pay As You Go and Logan Sama. 

Plastician plays Tropical at Motion on Friday, May 1 

Listen to his Rinse FM show, Tuesdays 9pm – 11pm at rinse.fm/artists/plastician