Meet the Underground Talent of Imagine Festival: Deeper Purpose [Q&A]
Deeper Purpose, born Stephen Galloway in Croydon, London, has stamped his name on festival bills across the globe in the ten years he’s been DJ’ing. 2017 saw the first original music production from Galloway’s artist project in Pitch Control EP. Since then, Deeper Purpose has steadily climbed the house music ranks, earning himself releases on John Summit‘s Off The Grid Records (now officially named Experts Only), Insomniac Records, Repopulate Pars, Toolroom Productions, and most recently, Spinnin’ Records with his latest sample-driven tech-house weapon, “Get Up.”
Coming off of shows at Superior Ingredients in Brooklyn, NY, Day Trip in LA, and even a three-city-sweep in Australia, Deeper Purpose is next scheduled to perform at Kingston Down, Georgia’s Imagine Music Festival in mid-September. In addition to Galloway, dance music icons Excision, Kaskade, Gorgon City, Madeon, San Holo, Dom Dolla, John Summit, ZHU, LP Giobbi, and many others will also tend decks over the course of the four-day music festival.
In anticipation of his upcoming set at Imagine (where he was supposed to make his United States’ debut two years prior), Deeper Purpose sat down with Dancing Astronaut for an exclusive Q&A. Read it below.
So far this year you’ve had releases on Insomniac, Repopulate Mars, Toolroom, and most recently, Spinnin’ Records. What goes into determining the right label for the right song?
Stephen: “I mean, it’s sort of a mixture of things, really. The most recent single, ‘Get Up,’ was obviously a sample track. There are certain labels that have better sample clearance abilities. ‘Get Up’ is sort of a cross between European tech-house with some elements of American house. So, we felt more strongly that it should be on a European label [Spinnin’ Records]. When you also factor in the sample clearance, they were the most suited label for that project. But it all really depends on the sound of the track.”
Do you have future plans to start your own label?
Stephen: “Yeah, I’ve already got the name locked down. We’re making plans to see when would be the best time to launch it. I think when I first launch the label, it’ll be just for my own releases at first, and then as time goes on, we’ll start integrating other artists into the label.”
Would you mind revealing its name?
Stephen: “Yeah, it’s cool. It’s called In 2 Deep.”
Can you touch on the inspiration behind “Get Up”, as well as the sample used?
Stephen: “The inspiration behind it was just that it was a dope sample from Vernon Burch. It’s like an old funk record that I made into a cool little party track at first. I didn’t really plan on releasing it; it was just something cool I’d play in my sets that’s a bit different. But then it started to get received quite well, so I was like, you know what? Let’s see if we can put this out.”
Looking back, what have been some of your favorite sets of 2023?
Stephen: “[Club] Space was probably the most notable one. I played my Space debut on April 29th, two days after my birthday. It’s one of those clubs on people’s bucket lists to play. It’s also like a moment of recognition that you’ve been accepted into a pool of established artists, so to speak. EDC, as well, was great, and I’m really looking forward to Imagine Festival.”
What most excites you about playing Imagine Festival?
Stephen: “Imagine Festival was actually meant to be my debut show in the US. It was meant to be my first-ever show in the United States two years ago, but the festival got canceled because of weather and we never ended up doing it. So, it’s great to have a full circle moment now, after like a year and a half of touring, to come in and actually get to play this time. And I’m excited to play it as a bigger artist than what I would have been. I’m excited to come and check it out. It’s been a long time in the making.”
What does your release schedule look like for the rest of the year?
Stephen: “My next release will be on Fisher’s label, Catch & Release; it’s a track called ‘Up and Down.’ And that should hopefully be out by the end of this month, or the start of the next. In November, I’ve got a follow up on John Summit’s label. Even moving in to the start of next year, we’ve got something on Defected [Records]. So, we’re goin’ big on the next few releases.”
Who in dance music would you love to collaborate with at this moment in time?
Stephen: “I would love to do something with Green Velvet. I’ve always sort of looked up to him for writing so much original material. I would say my project is 95, maybe 96% original? To merge our two mindsets together I think would be the dream collab.”
Featured image: Gray Matter
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Author
Violeta Rojo
EDM LOVA
