SONGWRITING The world’s greatest songs. By the people who made them. THIS WEEK: Not only is he a producer for the likes of Dave and J Hus, Pahuldip Singh Sandhu – aka Steel Banglez – is also a hitmaking artist. Here, he recalls how his recent Top 10 song Fashion Week with AJ Tracey and MoStack was done in a day... ■ INTERVIEW: GEORGE GARNER down great, everyone loved it. I was like, ‘This is s a producer, my brand has been the one!’ around for about three years, but Steel There’s a guy called Carter who’s the MC in Banglez ‘the artist-producer’ goes back Tape. He walked in and AJ Tracey is laying the to when I released Money in 2017. hook – he heard AJ say, ‘She smell like Yves Saint A I was looking at a lot of things when I decided Laurent, My garms are from Italy, I feel like the to become an artist. One of them was finances – don, Paris Fashion Week, I’m watching Louis I knew there was more money, in a business Vuitton’. And he said, “Banglez, you should call sense, in being an artist-producer. I knew I had this Fashion Week” – so big up Carter because he “I use artists to step into the limelight to stay relevant. That named it! like they use my was one reason. MoStack started off with, ‘I only trust girls on I also feel like I have good choice in music when days that don’t end with a Y’ – which has gone productions. it comes to curation, I can put artists together on viral. But I did have some backlash because of the songs – from a fan’s perspective – with a vision lyrics of the song. Someone was saying, “It’s not I make them they don’t see. I wanted to use artists like they use going to get plays because MoStack says, ‘Fucked collaborate my productions; to make them collaborate in a her with the blindfold, she ugly like me, she no way you wouldn’t expect. It’s for the culture and say nothin’, she just thought I was a freak’”. But in a way you the game. That’s where all my songs come from, to that’s the kids of today – what do you want me wouldn’t expect” be honest. to do? MoStack’s a comedian – not in [a literal] I was working on MoStack’s album for six or sense – but he’s comical, he’s like Ludacris. seven months and I needed to do something of my Dave and Fredo got to No.1 with, ‘We come STEEL BANGLEZ own. I figured out: ‘Who hasn’t collaborated from through like Funky Friday, and have all of your ON FASHION WEEK a fan’s perspective?’ AJ Tracey and MoStack! AJ’s mandem skating’. They’re talking about doing a from West London and Mo’s from North London drive-by – no-one even knows. Gun Lean [by Russ – they’re both two different characters that have Splash] goes in at No.9 – and the guy is talking grown up in multicultrual London, representing a about doing a dance before he shoots his gun. new diverse British sound. I asked if they’d be up It’s fantasy, man. Would you rather them say it for working together and they said yeah. on a song or do it in real life? Let them live Fashion Week was all made in one day. I have their fantasy. two producers who I work with, one named Paul I didn’t expect it to go Top 10 straight away, Bogumil Gollar from Germany and a guy named I thought I would have to build the record up! Keven Wolfsohn from Switzerland. We formed Fashion Week is by far my biggest record – even a group for them called The Elements and it was [considering] what I’ve produced. I did Dave’s No produced by me and them. They initially started Words which peaked at No.17, I did Fisherman the production at a studio at Tape London in which was No.47 for J Hus. I made the song I Mayfair, because I’m a partner there. We all got really wanted to do. It’s great for me. I checked together, they started the beat, I added the middle Spotify – we’re on eight million streams, three eight with the screaming and the drum changes. million on Apple, on YouTube we’re on nearly 5.5 AJ Tracey and MoStack came to Tape – it was a milllion views on my own channel. My subscribers club night – and we got drunk and made Fashion have gone up by 20,000 in two weeks – it’s insane! Fashionably great: Week all in one day and then it was done. I mixed I’ve sold over 87,000 already. It’s crazy. Steel Banglez and it when I was drunk, I mastered it when I was Fashion Week wasn’t label-headed, it wasn’t (inset) MoStack, drunk, sent it to the label, shot the video in two industry-headed. None of that was thought about. Banglez and AJ days and put it out the following week! [Laughs] I It was just a great record I enjoyed making with Tracey in the video played it at Tape before it was released and it went two rappers in a fucking club, drunk. for Fashion Week 26 | Music Week 22.04.19 musicweek.com MWK1270.hitmakers.indd 2 17/04/2019 16:31.