Drogheda-based DJ and producer Crimson has just returned from a year studying abroad in Spain. The Clockwork label artist, who has just launched his first commercial EP, 'Phases', found the experience surprisingly conducive for making music.

"I’ve been making a lot of stuff since I moved - I was DJing a lot more last semester and found that I was making more up-tempo stuff, house mostly, because that’s the kind of stuff I was playing live. Then the gigs dried up a bit this semester and I noticed I was shying away from making that kind of thing and writing completely different kinds of songs".

So, rather than reflecting a non-committal nature, the EP title represents his growth as a producer.

"I just went through phases of listening and making different types of stuff. I don’t really know what I’d call my style. I usually refer to it as 'hip-hop' because that's a broad description - I've never pigeon-holed myself."

Crimson - real name Brian King - started making music in his mid teens, when he learned to play the guitar.

"Me and my friend just made absolutely terrible tunes one summer, thinking they were amazing. Then, I got a proper program about 2 years later and my stuff started sounding better, I think."

King is very proud of his Drogheda roots, and credits the scene for cultivating his creative output. Venues such as McPhails gave him his start as a live DJ, but ultimately it was an uphill struggle to establish it an electronic night. After moving to Dublin for college, he began working with BMac - real name Brian McLoughlin - founder of the Clockwork label. The label has grown beyond all of King's expectation.

"It’s kind of evolved into something more than just the gigs, which was the original intention", he says, "BMac does Clockwork Radio every week now on Frission Radio, and we’ve released 2 compilations with artists from all around the globe too on the label which have gone down pretty well. This EP will be our first solo artist release.

"We basically just wanted to give ourselves a platform to release our own stuff and do our own gigs because nobody else is going to do it for us."

King feels a certain amount of dismay that the electronic scene is so exclusive to the capital.

"It’s kind of sad in the electronic music scene in Ireland. Everything seems to revolve around Dublin. So Louth is still a little bit behind in that respect. But we still have a lot of talented people in Drogheda. My first gigs were all in Drogheda where I played with some great bands, including Featuring X, and DJs alike".

Beyond Ireland, King classes French producers as his main influence, including Ed Banger, Surkin and Canblaster.

On 'Phases', Crimson demonstrates a natural flair for production, sampling the likes of Guy and Ronnie Foster. His collaboration with Ill Diam, Phuk-A-Genre, is entirely sample manipulation and percussion. Collaborating with him was huge privilege for King.

"Wale [Ill Diam] is a great producer. By God, he knows how to make a good track! He has done stuff with Souletiquette as well, who are getting a lot of attention. I’ve only done one collaboration before this, with BMac. I usually prefer working alone but collabs are always good fun."

King completed 'Phases' while completing a year's study abroad as part of his college course - how challenging was that for him?

"It hasn’t been too difficult. I’ve had a lot of free time to make music thankfully, and I think because of that I’ve gotten better since I arrived in Madrid. This semester has been tougher, so I haven’t had time to play gigs unfortunately. My Spanish audience seem to like my music. I don’t think they were used to some of the weirder elements that I played initially, so I had to tailor it a bit as time went on.

"My Spanish friends like my original tracks as well, although they love giving constructive criticism," he laughs.

As a producer, King has been an advocate for the free distribution of music. His turn away from free models, to streaming giant Spotify, is a surprising one. However, he still stresses the importance of giving away music for free music initially, in order to establish a following.

"I don’t think anyone really uses Soundcloud as much as Spotify these days, and the way Soundcloud is going with tighter regulations and remixes getting deleted every 10 minutes, I don’t think it’s going to last much longer. It could be the new MySpace. So that’s why I’m making the move to Spotify. It’s important to give music out for free though, especially as an independent artist. If I never make a cent off of a track I produced, I can live with that."

It's all systems go for the prolific producer, as he plans to continue to release new material throughout the year, with another EP on the cards for the end of 2017. He also has his eye on producers from more potential collabs, including LURKS and Kaily.

Crimson's EP, 'Phases', is out now on Clockwork.