Artist Spotlight: SHMIKESSS

This is one of the more unique interviews we have ever done, and that is because our interviewee SHMIKESSS (Michael Veltman) was chatting to us via a Google Meet from a well-known Berlin establishment, one of the most famous and iconic nightclubs in the world. All we can say is that we loved the commitment - being able to do an interview in the early hours of Sunday morning from Berghain. Only real ones could.

SHMIKESSS is a Cape Town-based cinematographer, DJ, live performer, and music producer who aims to guide listeners through a profound journey of soundscapes. His innovative approach to production and magnetic DJ and live performances have rapidly gained him attention, establishing him as an exciting emerging talent in the South African music scene. As well as his individual act, he also performs as one half of The Lost Boys duo, running their freshly minted label "Tomorrow's Monday Records".

How is your night? How was it getting into Berghain?

It's been really epic. I have been here once before, and I have also been bounced a few times. I just think there are so many factors to being able to experience it. Spending time with friends and listening to some of the most underground and progressive music I have heard in a long time has been such an awesome experience. Being in this city I have been able to network with so many industry connections and DJs that I would otherwise have never been able to meet.

How has this trip to Berlin been overall? How can you compare the scene there to Cape Town?

This trip has been more tame for me than other trips to Berlin, even though I am literally calling you from Berghain right now (laughing), but yeah a lot of my time has been spent in studio, networking and connecting with other producers, as well as reaching out to artist agencies and labels for the potential of international representation. I just really want to network a bit further outside of Cape Town. I really think it's important to reach out and see a bigger perspective of music. Our festival scene in Cape Town is so strong and I really love it, but unfortunately our club culture is not really anywhere close to the kind of level of international clubs, so it is always really refreshing to get out and explore all these spaces that showcase different kinds of music. I also just really love Berlin. In this city you can just be whoever you want to be and just fit in wherever you want to fit in. There's zero judgement.

I think what is going to help elevate Cape Town’s scene overall in the next few years would be a greater emphasis on understanding and pushing boutique underground labels and artists with unique niche sounds, and creating platforms for them to connect to wider, global audiences. We need to focus on bridging the gap between Cape Town and the rest of the world but also expand the musical view and taste of our audiences in Cape Town and expose people to new sounds and genres. I feel like Cape Town can sometimes get quite saturated, a lot of different DJ's playing similar styles. I've seen it go through a wave especially in the Indie Dance genres. I would really like to see more local artists in Cape Town pushing sounds that properly represent the city and its scene across all of its subgenres.

Myself and Wes (Wesley Lewis - the other half of The Lost Boys) have been prepping the launch of our own label (Tomorrow’s Monday Records) and it's definitely something we want to explore. We’re looking to put that into action soon in order to give a platform to new artists, with the end goal of trying to make the world smaller and our network bigger, and opening up that network to all involved with our label.

Editors Note: Tomorrow's Monday Records has since launched and you can find their page here.

How did your journey with music begin?

I grew up in Durban - my older brother was always into DJing and hosting events and my older cousin was a wedding DJ and he had decks. My older brother loaded a stack of music onto my ipod for me and that got me exploring a variety of different genres. It was when I was around 15 or 16 years old that I had just started to explore clubbing and discovering electronic music. There were a lot of events in Durban during that era and I remember New School Production events, Raffles, Origin, Absolute and Taco Zulu being really popular. The Deep House scene was huge.

After matriculating I moved over to the Cape to Stellenbosch University and that was when I started networking and exploring Cape Town. I was focusing all my spare time into filmmaking then and after graduating I started traveling the world creating and shooting surf cinematography. I was lucky enough to be in Hawaii when COVID began and actually got locked down there for about 8 months. They have a very small party scene out there, but with the little skills I had I was lucky enough to hop on the decks and DJ at some house parties. I must have done okay, because after that I somehow managed to get invited to DJ at a 4th of July Boat Party at Waimea Bay - it was one of my first gigs playing for a lot of people.

I returned to Cape Town and people had seen footage of me DJing the boat party and from there it started to grow - it all just happened quite organically. My best mate Wes and I have always been quite aligned on the styles of music we like to listen to and play, as well as the parties we enjoyed going to, so we partnered as a duo under the alias “The Lost Boys” and began getting a few bookings. From there a curiosity in music production began and I started teaching myself how to produce on Ableton from watching YouTube. This opened up such a beautiful creative portal as another outlet aside from my main profession as a cinematographer.

I am nearing the stage where I am honestly really giving a career in music a shot. I still do cinematography and editing work but I joke around and say that I am in my struggling artist phase - just giving myself the time and capacity to put myself out there, hone in on production, grow our label and expand my network internationally.

How does your sound compare to what you experience in Berlin?

Honestly, I have been working on a lot of different projects from house, minimal, dub, techno, downtempo to faster psytrance - a bit all over, but since being in Berlin I have gotten a lot of inspiration. I am planning a live set I’ll be performing soon which I hope will open up a new chapter of my sound journey too.

At the moment I could release an album if I wanted to but I don’t think my sound is there yet, but I have been pushing things like live sets and exploring new themes which has been a really cool learning experience. It's been a bit of a struggle to find a label that matches my sound and my niche because I guess I’m still kind of figuring out exactly what my sound is and I think that's okay.

My first live set was at AfrikaBurn in 2023 at the 8th Day of Creation stage. The stage was so special, it was such an unbelievable place to be able to play my first ever live set. My setup was an Ableton Push, mini keyboard, and then I also had a novation launch control and touch sensitive midi which can connect to anything and creates a feedback loop so that if it is touched the signal sends electrical currents which triggers Midi within Ableton. I’d seen a lot of stuff online of people using mushrooms to create sounds and modulating different sounds from them, and that became an inspiration for my set at AfrikaBurn. My friend and roommate Angelique bought me some king oyster mushrooms and I connected them to the Midi and got to play some sounds from the mushrooms. I think a lot of people don’t yet know what “playing live” is. They think if you’re up there DJing that it's live, but there are so many different facets of playing live and different avenues you can go down, and I’m just so keen to explore that going forward with a focus on all original production.

What is a normal day in the life?

I wake up at home, meditate and then go to the ocean for a dip. If I'm not shooting that day I’ll come back to my office, answer emails, work on pre-production of various video shoots or I'll be editing projects. I try to find a balance and dedicate time each week to produce and sit in my studio and work on music also. It depends - if I have a gig booked I'll be working on new productions building up to that.

What is your studio setup?

I recently finished acoustically treating a studio space in my house. I have JBL monitors, but I am looking to eventually get a 3 way system with a sub. I have a variety of synths, midi keyboards, Ableton Push, drum machine and I recently added a Theremin.

Although gear is fun, I think that you can have all the gear in the world and not be able to create something worthwhile unless the space is suited to creativity first. It really is more about the creative space for me, cause you could literally do everything “in the box” straight out of your laptop.

For me right now, inspiration comes from collaboration with other artists and exploring new sounds. There is nothing better than sitting with someone in the studio and just creating, that is when I achieve my ultimate flow state, and I’m just going to try to push to do more of that! I really want my studio to be a space that amazing local and visiting international artists can come and create too and I hope that it just becomes an awesome space of creation for many people, not just myself.

I really feel like collaborating with other artists helps me translate sounds into the music I am wanting to create. I have quite a lot of unreleased stuff with artists like Purple Floyd, Yo-Gurt and Newire and other local artists which I am really looking forward to sharing!

Who are some of the artists that have had the biggest influence on you and your creative process?

Growing up I was much more into the video realm instead of music but in some ways the processes I go through overlap and are similar in their creativity, no matter the medium of the art. I remember when I was younger on the school bus I would always be listening to all kinds of genres with my headphones on. I would close my eyes and begin to visualise a surf video I would want to make, and then would imagine how it would look with my favourite song at the time. From that point, I would go and shoot the video based on this inspiration and visualisation I had already seen. I think a big part of my integration into music would be from utilising similar techniques. It's taking that visualisation and bringing it to life.

In terms of artists there are so many I draw inspiration from but at the moment I would say Arutani and Avem are really big inspirations to me in terms of style and sound design. They sort of bridge the gap between Dub, Minimal, some hypnotic elements and also a bit of softer ambient atmospheres. I was lucky enough to even sit with Arutani in the studio on this trip and get to network and pick his brain. It's been a really awesome experience!

In terms of labels - another inspiration is Maccabi House in the sense of community and following I have seen fostered, and also the sound they push is super cool and funky. The way they have generated the label and pushed each other by giving remix opportunities and EP opportunities to younger artists within their scene and provided them with a platform to develop their sound. This is something I would really love to do with Tomorrow’s Monday in Cape Town. I think it's important to create a launch pad for Cape Town by showcasing local talent, putting our sounds on the map and creating an international springboard.

Is there a music highlight moment that stands out as a moment in your life?

I think in terms of behind the decks, a highlight was definitely playing at the Canyon at Pangea 2023 with Wes. I was involved in the build of the stage and so when there was a last minute slot available because someone else didn't arrive I got the opportunity to play solo for an hour and then b2b 2 hours with Wez as The Lost Boys. It was a crazy full circle feeling because a year or two before that I had made a Pangea submission mix called “Canyon Dream Mix” which started with a particular intro. Because I got asked last minute, I didn’t really know what I was going to play until I got on stage and realised I had actually almost visualised it all before. I thought “Let me just play what I wanted - my dream start” and from there the rest of the set just flowed. It was an awesome full circle moment that just emphasised and revealed the power of visualisation to me.

If (when) we touch base in 5 years - where would you love to be and what would you love to be doing?

This may sound cliche, but the main reason I love music is because I see it as a creative tool: “if art is how we decorate space, music is how we decorate time”. For me, creation in the present moment and the magic and transformational power of music can create is something I really try to access through my sound. I really think that on a molecular level, the right frequencies can raise the vibrations around us and can invite the world in a better direction.
I would love to keep developing my sound with this in mind, and refine and expand my productions and live sets. I would love to be playing internationally and check off bucket list gigs like Boom Festival. I’d also love to be able to play upstairs haha (Panorama Bar) that would be pretty cool! It would be great to also have Tomorrow's Monday growing and creating a niche sound and following. I know I just gotta be patient with myself, putting my best creative foot forward.

Is there any advice that you would give yourself as a creative?

It's really tough because of course every artist's journey is unique, but the advice I would give to others and myself is to just keep creating for yourself, not for anyone else. I think also in terms of getting stuff out there, sometimes it's good to just start, you know? And try not to be so hard on yourself for where you are at in your artist journey. Good things take time.

I look back at certain projects I have worked on now and see how and where they may have fallen short and be quick to scrutinize, but I think that is part of the journey and I know that in a few years from now, I will look back on some of my up and coming releases and know that all of those were stepping stones to get me to where I hope to be!

So, if I could give any advice to other artists out there I would just say create for yourself and don’t feel afraid to share with others in order to get your stuff out there!