Heinrich Steinway founded Steinway & Sons Pianos and made some of the finest pianos in the world.
His great-great grandson, Henry Steinway aka RL Grime is an LA-based DJ and trap lord who creates some of the most distinct and defining music of the current electronic generation.
A year on from releasing his debut album, ‘Void’, Henry says he's still overwhelmed by the response from fans. “It’s been pretty great, I’m really happy with what I accomplished with it. I was trying to [produce] something in between something you can play in clubs and something you can still listen to in your car or at home; actually making a solid, cohesive body of work.
“I’m still really happy with the songs, they go off at shows. The album’s a mix of everything I’ve been inspired by; I have songs on the record that will be some weird, dark, dub, bass song, or some weird drum & bass song. So I like to experiment with stuff that I’m inspired by and it’s nice to have that freedom with my projects.”
Next month RL Grime will tour Australia, a visit he's looking forward to. “Australia’s one of my favourite places in the world, just the craziest crowds and some of my favourite shows have been in Australia, so I’m always excited to come back down there.”
Aside from his original work, Henry has a significant output of remixes including an official remix of Benny Benassi’s ‘Satisfaction’ and a popular bootleg of ‘Mercy’ by Kanye West. “It’s always being a fan of the song first and just wanting to put my own interpretation on it,” Henry says about selecting tracks to remix.
“For example, I put out a remix of ‘The Hills’ by The Weeknd recently and that started out as an edit that I wanted, because I wanted to play the song out in my set and it just started out me formatting it as a song and ended up turning into a full-blown remix.
“So it depends on the song and what I’m feeling. I’ve been a little more selective in the past year or so with remixes because I’m not a huge fan of just putting out a bunch of music and hoping some of it’s good, doing this whole quantity-over-quality thing, and I prefer to take my time.
"I’m a perfectionist when it comes to production so it takes me a while to be happy with it and ready to put it out.”
In addition to a hectic tour schedule, Henry is also working on a follow up to ‘Void’ he says is set for release next year. “I’m in the middle of doing either an EP or an album,” he says.
“I’ve got a bunch of songs done and I have some demos down and it’s going to take me fleshing it out over the next few months and deciding what I want to do, but I do have a lot of music that’s almost ready so I’m excited to finish it all up and see what happens.”
RL Grime Tour Dates
Wed 30 Dec - Beyond The Valley (Melbourne)Thu 31 Dec - Origin NYE (Perth)
Thu 31 Dec - Claremont Showgrounds (Perth)
Fri 1 Jan - Field Day (Sydney)
Sat 2 Jan - Thebarton Theatre (Adelaide)
Sat 9 Jan - FOMO Festival (Brisbane)
