SG Lewis
Club culture didn’t take hold of Sam Lewis until he studied sound engineering at university in Liverpool. Already possessing a keen interest in production, his eyes were soon opened to a world of dance music styles that eventually led him to secure a DJ residency at the now-legendary Chibuku nightclub.
With a plethora of singles under his belt and further traction via remixes for the likes of London Grammar, Flume and Dua Lipa, Lewis focused on recording his debut album last year. Encouraged to read Tim Lawrence’s Love Saves the Day – charting American dance music culture in the ‘70s, Lewis became infatuated by disco and set about creating his own interpretation.
The long-awaited album, Times, topped the UK dance chart in February. Featuring Grammy-award-winning hitmaker Nile Rodgers alongside numerous high-profile vocal collaborators, the 26-year-old has bared his studio chops by co-writing, co-producing and mixing most of the record, while playing a plethora of instruments and debuting as a vocalist.
Where did your love of production come from?
“I became curious about production because I was quite a shy kid, and although I grew in confidence as an adult, the idea of performing music was always quite petrifying. Once I found that a role existed where you could spend all day in a studio working behind the scenes, that sounded absolutely brilliant because I could make tunes and produce records without the flipside. It’s ironic that I’ve ended up on stage doing something I really love, but I was just fiddling with software until I got to university.”
What happened at university to advance things?
“I studied sound engineering and was surrounded by people who, to be honest, were a lot further along the path than I was. It was like a crash course and I became immersed in their world and obsessed with every part of it. I found so many people there who were tech-focused and wanted to take apart compressors and talk about the wiring as opposed to the latest hot drum sample. I’ve still got loads of copies of lying about and I skim
