With more than a decade of experience – and more than 500 tracks – under his belt, US producer Let’s Go Outside finally steps out of his studio with his debut album…
It’s either a cliche or an exaggeration to say that you’re addicted to music, but in the case of Stephen Schieberl, his obsession really does border on addiction. The producer otherwise known as Let’s Go Outside is currently in the UK touring his brand-new album A Picnic With The Hunters. For most producers, that would be enough to keep him occupied, but when we speak to Stephen at the offices of Soma – which is releasing the album – he’s just finished making a tune. He’ll probably have made dozens more by the time he returns to the States. When it comes to spare time, that’s all Stephen does – make music. Thankfully, he’s good at it, as the experimental – and often dark – techy sounds of A Picnic With The Hunters proves…
Were you trying to make the album sound quite different to what else is about at the moment, or is that naturally how your music sounds?
That’s just how it sounds. There’s not a whole lot of music that I listen to other than my own stuff, so I don’t have a lot of outside musical influences. Usually when I’m working on music, the end results come about because of wherever I’m at. The sounds are inspired by what I hear walking about as opposed to any actual pre-existing music.
You must visit some pretty scary places, because some of the album’s quite dark.
It’s just walking back and forth between work. Luckily people seem to appreciate the fact that the album is different and diverse across a wide range.
It’s quite unusual that you don’t listen to a lot of other music.
There is stuff I listen to, but I don’t have an iPod or anything, and if I’m working on anything other than music, I’ll usually only listen to and review my own stuff. There are times where I’ll pick up music for DJing, and every once in a while I’ll feel like I’m missing out a little bit, but I like the fact that it gives me a unique sound.
How have people reacted to the different sounds on the album?
The biggest compliment I’ve had it that it’s a refreshing album because it doesn’t focus on one sound. People haven’t been able to pin it down to one genre. That’s one of the reasons I approached Soma – they’re really open to a lot of different styles, and I knew I’d have to find a label that appreciates diversity from a single artist.
Is it true that you sent them about 100 tracks?
At least that. I started producing really hard about 10 years ago. I’d been making tracks before, but it was then that I’d be sitting down every few days to make a new track. At the last count, there were 540 files on my hard drive. It was never meant to be that many, and it’s very rare that I’ll make a track just for the sake of making a track. It’s more that a few days will go by without me making music and I can’t function until all the stuff that’s in my head manifests itself into music.
So were the tracks you sent to Soma quite similar to what made it onto A Picnic With The Hunters?
The vast majority was beatless ambient music, 15 to 18-minute soundscapes. That makes up the bulk of what I was making before I got into dance music. But making music like that really helped me make other forms of music too – once you’ve got pure sound design down, you can apply that to other kinds of music.
It sounds like you must be constantly making music.
Yes… I don’t really watch TV or movies or play video games, so making music is my thing. In the same way that someone might sit down and read a book, this is what I’ll do instead.
So we can expect a lot more from you then?
Oh yeah.
A Picnic With The Hunters is out now on Soma. Visit www.letsgooutside.com and www.somarecords.com. Soma is also running a remix competition around one of the tracks from the album, You Make Me Struggle. Prizes include having one or more release on Soma. Deadline is April 30. CLICK HERE for more info
