Dam Mantle

Dam Mantle is known to his family and friends as Tom Marshall. A work in progress, he switched to entirely electronic music only recently but has bagged himself support slots with Tickely Feather and Gary War. Neu Magazine talks to him about starting young, polish flea markets and Glasgow's close knit communities.

So when did you start recording under Dam Mantle?

Very recently, it felt natural to change the name as the concept, sound and processes of the project change. I've started to incorporate or in fact be completely absorbed by electronic based music.
Had you done much before? Or any other projects?
I've been playing in bands since i was thirteen. The last project i was involved in before was a four piece called 'Beebah Stant', which was kind of on a post-rock slant. Thats a few years back. But for the last few years I've been working on solo stuff, I guess 'animals and war' could be seen as the past now.

Is it all done on your own?
Yeh, I've started working with a couple of friends, Callum ('Louts') and Jackson on a new live set up, using MPC, laptop, monome etc. Perhaps there will be other members in the future, the idea of having a band has always been floating around in my mind. But in the past and for the time being it's just me on the recordings and when playing live.

You say you want to mix lo-fi with modern electronic. can you expand on that a little bit?
Ok, well I think we're at the point where independent/lo-fi/diy music, whatever you want to call it, is beginning to meet electronic/dance music, in a number of ways.
I've got as much love for abstracted, swung hip hop and Dubstep as i do for bands like Battles, Don Caballero or Animal Collective. To put aside any of the sounds I love when recording seems un-natural and I hope that combining the two will have create something new in itself. I'm not sure whether I want to be put into the context of either, but perhaps Electronic music falls victim more easily to gentrification and so maybe I want to get inside that context and tamper with it.

Some of your stuff sounds like it's made using pretty bizarre instruments. Is it? What do you usually use?
Lots of different percussion, pots and pans, im a sucker like a lot of people are for casio keyboards and drum machines. toys. recorder, this little radio i got in a flee market in poland for like 30p, the back fell off of and i found that when you put your finger on certain solders it changes the sound, i love that thing.

You're supporting Tickley Feather before the end of the year and Gary War // Bird Names next year. Are you looking forward to that? How have your previous shows been going?
Yeh, I've been listening to Tickley Feather a lot, it's beaut. It'll be great to play in London again also, I used to live in Kent until a year or two ago when I came up to Glasgow for School. So I went to a lot of shows in London, particularly UTR shows. yeh. I should hopefully have a new set by the UTR show, perhaps with other members, who knows what can happen in the time between now and then.

How's glasgow for electronic music these days? Are people down south ignorant to the awesome stuff happening?
Totally, Glasgow is really good for music. I'd have to say it beats London in a lot of ways, not in others but theres a lot of different stuff going on. There seems to be more of a centre which cannot really exist in such a big place as London. Of course theres LuckyMe /Ballers social guys who have spawned Mike Slott/ Hudson Mohawke/ Rustie etc. and there always putting things on. There's a really rich, close knit DIY scene also for guitar based music, Cry Parrot are constantly putting on awesome touring bands. I guess what i'm trying to do, in this project is bridge the gap between the two 'scenes' or sounds, if you like.