Welcome to ChaiWalla’s Boombox Shamik,  how did you get into beat-boxing? what was the first moment like when everything just clicked and you knew this was your ‘element’ of expression ?
Thank you! Making sounds, doing voices, and mimicking a lot of things were characteristics that came naturally to me. I would come home from school and imitate teachers, or quote lines from a movie after only seeing it once. I didn’t really know there was such a thing called beatboxing until I heard Rahzel’s ‘Make the Music 2000′ album or saw Doug E Fresh’s cameo in the movie ‘Beat Street.’ Then I became obsessed and looked for it anywhere I could. Keep in mind this was pre-internet revolution, youtube, and social media. You can find out a lot about a genre with google right now if you wanted to. For me beatboxing with guitar players, bass players, singers, and MC’s came first…so I learned how to think like a drummer. I was really into rock and hip hop, but my influences and style changed when I discovered electronic music. That’s when making synth and basslines became my focus. I don’t think it really clicked until I hopped on mics at open stages back in the day…and people gave me feedback. Eventually, beatboxing became like breathing where I didn’t even know I was doing it. It became my outlet to bring life to the music I heard in my head.

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One thing that blows me away is your ability to draw from current bass heavy sounds in the market, and bring them to life with your voice, like in track 16 “nomadic injections” that “wobble” like voice effect you’ve used is Brilliant ! So if your voice is your Abelton Live or Drum Sampler, my question is how many samples do you have banked in that brain of yours ? how do these sounds come from inception to prototype to new sound ?

Well the sounds in this brain are endless…same with the ideas. Sometimes I’ll hear a genre I like and want to do something similar. Other times I think of elements of genres I don’t like and how I would change them. Writing an album can be fun that way…where the listener becomes the critic to make music for other listeners. Half of this album is electronic and the other half is organic so you can hear the two extremes of the ideas I had over the past 3 years.

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Whats your Mic of preference when performing live and then when in the studio ?
I am still loyal to the Shure SM 58 mic at shows. In the studio a good condenser mic works well…but it also depends on what you want to do or what sounds you’re trying to isolate.

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Who designed the artwork concept on your album with all the microphones dangling down in front of that mirror ?

The album photo and design was done by Chelsea Hailes. Check her out: http://chelseahailes.com

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Where did you find yourself writing most of the time for ‘nomadic injections’, since you were a pretty much a nomad ?
A lot of my beatboxing ideas came from practicing while walking in various places. Some of the tunes were done in several sessions so I wrote my parts in the studio. The shortest time length for a song’s completion was ‘Extra Extra’ with Vandal & Goldfish…which was done in 2 hours in Kuala Lumpur. For a few of the tunes, I had the easier end of the deal because the production took a few more sessions after I put my parts down. I wrote some of my verses on planes and in airports. I was in Melbourne in June 2009 when I recorded the beat and bassline for ‘Bruise You’ with Johnny Hooves & JPS. Then I had a show in Sydney and came back to Melbourne after having written 3 verses while in transit. I had the beat in my headphones the whole time. The title track of the album  was recorded in January of this year in Kuala Lumpur. Similar to Melbourne, I put down the beat and kept it with me. I took it while I was on tour in Thailand and Philippines and came back to KL with my verses. Vandal and I spoke about our travels throughout the song.

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Nomadic Injections by Shamik w/ Vandal

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Your whole album is one giant collaboration ? and I take it these collaborations happened throughout the world. Did you have these tracks and specific guests pre-planned before you entered a new continent or was this all done off the fly ?
Sometimes I feel like life is one big collaboration! A lot of the tunes came to be because I made plans to work on music with certain artists. With good cats like Subvert, Knight Riderz, Erica Dee…there was a lot of “hey when are we gonna work on a tune?” conversations so it was a matter of timing.

Some of the tracks were born from me coincidentally being in the same city as a cool producer or artist. For example ‘Boom Box Riddim’ was produced by Sweet Az Soundsystem. We met because were were on the same bill as support for Pitch Black in Sydney. We traded schedules and made it happen. A couple weeks later we were performing at Peats Ridge Festival so we collaborated during Sweet Az’s set as well.

Clip of Sweet Az Soundsystem & Shamik from 2009 Peats Ridge Festival in Glenworth Valley, Australia:

Another example…’Space Zoo’ with Longwalkshortdock happened because we met at a Shah DJ’s party at the end of last summer. We were both busy in the fall and winter…then when we had some time in Vancouver, we hammered out 2 sessions. It was a lot of fun cause LWSD is an amazing dude and producer who is good at making you feel free to do whatever…he even has a tickle trunk of gadgets that make funny or cool noises…which pretty much gets a gold star from any beatboxer. The title gives you an idea of the crazy sounds we came up with together…literally what animals would sound like in space.

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Space Zoo by Shamik w/ Longwalkshortdock

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Favourite venue you’ve performed at ? and who was there ? its a tough one I know but consider everything from the sound engineering to the crowd to the sheer prestige of performing at the venue ?

Wow…so many to choose from! I would have to narrow it down to 2 shows.

1) Last June I did a show with Marky and Kentaro in Osaka, Japan at Triangle. It was packed and those Japanese sure party hard! The show was a huge honor since Marky is one of the drum and bass gods…and turntablist wizard Kentaro is a hero out there! That show manifested because I opened for Kentaro in Bangkok last April. We jammed out at the end of the show and then his management team invited me out to Japan since I was still on tour in Asia in June! I didn’t know many people at the show, but it felt like a turning point in my career to play my first show in Japan.

2) In 2008, I had a crazy set in The Village at Shambhala Music Festival right before Numark as well. That stage can fit 5000+ people and the PK Sound rig in there is bass at the next level. Anyone who has stood in The Village can vouch for this. Every PK speaker is custom built to amplify bass so your eardums hear it how it is supposed to sound. Shambhala is one of the biggest platforms to showcase at in Canada…hands down.

PURCHASE YOUR COPY OF NOMADIC INJECTIONS HERE

Links
Website- http://shamikmusic.com
Fan Page- http://facebook.com/shamikdynamik
Twitter- http://twitter.com/shamikdynamik
Blog- http://shamikboycaught.blogspot.com
Youtube Channel: http://youtube.com/shamikdynamik
Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/shamik