GRIP: GUTTR

GUTTR is a proper Bristolian, referring to his family as ‘old school Bristol ravers’. Music is a huge part of his family: his auntie’s a singer, his uncle’s a member of Bristol drum and bass duo Flynn & Flora, and his dad has been a bass player for 40 years. The separation of his parents allowed him to enter two completely different worlds, his mum’s side more rock orientated, with bands like Foo Fighters leading the way, and on his dad’s side, R&B with the likes of Destiny's Child and bassist Marcus Miller.

Being surrounded by music from a young age definitely plays a part in shaping a musical identity, but finding your own musical identity helps not only to discover new sounds, but also parts of yourself. It was only when he reached his third year of secondary school it clicked that the music had to be ‘mixed with my own desires based on my own life experiences, and what I needed from the music as well’. Finding your own taste can easily be overlooked, but realistically it can act as a way to allow you to start living through yourself. Kane got his hands on his Dad's CD collection at the age of 10 and found 2002’s ‘The Eminem Show’, leaving a lasting impact on him and ultimately encouraging a young Kane to pick up the pen. He recalls from his youth, ‘writing some pretty gnarly stuff, and my dad was like "WHAT THE HELL!”... I was writing some pretty crazy stuff but obviously I was hearing some pretty crazy stuff and yeah my Dad did not rate it’. It wasn't just about saying naughty words though, for Kane it's always been about the art of Hip-Hop. It’s hard not to be attracted to it; culturally it's completely different to his Irish family heritage, but thanks to his auntie, he was ‘amazed by people who could spit bars on the whole Hip-hop thing, and the style and culture that comes along with it, that's what I was trying to emulate and trying to be, I wanted to be T-Pain… (before the madness) or something, it made me feel like I'm the person I want to be.’ 

Despite the reaction from his Dad, it made him feel like ‘that person’ and to this day even without having as much music out as he would like, that feeling remains the same – ‘I'm always tryna achieve more, but I'm living it right now’. He never thought pursuing music was an option until other people had told him he was good enough: ‘I would do my thing and people would we be like, 'you need to make some music' — so I used to make little tracks on Garageband on my iPod in year nine and stuff. I would sample my voice spit bars on it and take it in. People would be like ‘yo this is sick’ huddling round the iPod, that really boosted my confidence’.

It's hard for rap music to show every aspect of his personality: before Kane was GUTTR, he was quite an introverted kid ‘listening to sad music in my room’. He explains that he only started writing to, in his own words 'deal with shit in my life without telling people about it, cause I didn't want to tell people about it so I told the page, I always just gravitated towards music that nurtured me emotionally and made me feel good or sad, whatever I needed to feel. So I just started listening to whatever’. GUTTR finds peace through music; it allows him to be vulnerable to listeners who have no idea about his life outside of music and what he’s been through, he keeps a very tight circle and only a select few know the truth behind his lyrics 'I'm still able to express it to the audience, without them knowing the context...it's meditation’

Kane’s goal is clear: ‘the goal is to be respected for my art, I just want people to hear my music and like it. I want it to relate to people and relate to how they live their lives and the journey they’ve been through personally, and also I just want to be able to buy a house and just live in it and chill, just have a chilled life and be able to spend time helping other people, sorting other people out instead of worrying about myself all the time’.

GUTTR is still at the beginning of his journey but it seems to me someone with his amount of dedication, passion and patience will get exactly where he wants to be. His collective ‘1999 Records’ now have a platform to show this progression in their monthly Noods Radio show. UK rap music is finally having it's time in the spotlight with genres like Drill entering the mainstream and influencing the UKs underground, making it more hungry and increasing the need to stand out and do something different. 

The Grip project is supported by Audio-Technica. Since 1962, Audio-Technica’s audio equipment – ranging from cartridges and turntables to microphones and headphones – has been used by a diverse and eclectic mixture of music scenes throughout the world. Find out more and browse their current products via their website.