Skrimor Brings Back The Funk

This is a PSA. Hold onto your hats, Skrimor is on the block. A nu metal archangel turned benevolent neurofunk master, the dedicated producer defies all expectations of the genre, flexing a decades worth of quietly devastating production prowess with just plain fun; experimenting with far flung influences in his heavy hitting releases, putting the fun, funk and punk, back into neurofunk. 

Beginning his journey long ago in the heart of Poland, music appears part of the trailblazer’s DNA; combining years of punk, dubstep and production mastery within his work that bridges genres, eras and rulebooks, earning him the respect of the scene’s finest. With his esteemed production excellence finding well-deserved homes on Eatbrain, Blackout, Neosignal, Neuropunk Records, the next installment arrives this week on Evolution Chamber. The upcoming ‘Red Shift’ collaboration with legendary heavyweight Receptor rolls us all the way down the hill – hard, in a glorious melding of acid-y riffs and bass, fast breaks and mesmeric vocals. Bearing all the hallmarks of a classic Skrimor release; expectant of the unexpected, merciless energy in a gleeful cackle of the sound design skill, the grinning talent delivers another ‘banger’ with a slight nod and a smile.

Another exciting talent to come of the European woodwork over the last five years, Skrimor brings the glimmering promise of more for neurofunk’s evolution, breathing new life into an already expansive and encompassing genre.

We needed to know, where did this wizard spring from? What exactly is the thought process behind the coruscating crazy? We caught up on this turning point in his creative journey, producing in the small hours, family life and dance battle metal. 

It’s release week! Tell us, how did the Red Shift idea evolve?

Working with Receptor is crazy, he’s released so many tunes that have inspired a lot of producers. For me, it was something special to make this with him. It was a real label collab, Evolution Chamber shared some demos with me and I picked this one that stood out to me. The job was raw, but I felt that there was something there. I’ve found myself really inspired by the hypnotic and progressive trance qualities lately and thought this could be an interesting ingredient here. I wanted to find a balance between trance and drum and bass. Keeping it main stage friendly of course haha. I think it’s also about musical diversity. It’s good to be inspired by other genres.

We love genre crossover. Let’s take it back, Skrimor is relatively new for you but you’re no stranger to music…

Yeah it was a long trip! 2014 I fell in love with drum and bass. Before then I was playing guitar in a punk rock band, Nova Prospect, leading the band and composing our music. The name was a chapter in my favourite computer game. Eleven years ago I realised, I’m getting old! And I don’t have people around me who are reliable. I wanted to become a producer and bring to life the concepts I was writing about in the band. The Prodigy was my first ever reference when I was looking for some new sound and I found an interview of Liam Howlett talking about drum and bass, being inspired by drum and bass because there are lots of fresh ideas. And I took it really serious, I was already feeling the same because I’d started listening to a lot of UK music in general. I found the Neuropunk podcasts and as I could understand Russian language, I understood what these guys were saying, that’s where I connected to the neurofunk concept. 2018 I was at my first Let It Roll Festival, and I watched Eatbrain League closing the stage. That was it, I gave up on other genres and just zoned in on neurofunk.

Origins! What attracts you to neurofunk?

Neurofunk can absorb every other genre, and you can be inspired from hip hop, grunge, nu metal or something. In my case, I could imagine how Dua Lipa could sound in an arrangement. Because I’ve got this Prodigy background, I think back to their tunes back in the day – they were so complex in comparison to other music, because there were lots of genres in one tune, a lot of samples from everywhere. This complexity formula stuck with me, I loved the pursuit of this kind of balance between complexity and simplicity.

100%. We love this take. How would you describe neurofunk to a newbie?

Dance battle metal on steroids. With melody – sometimes. Massive and unstoppable.

Controlled chaos! What do you love about the European neurofunk scene?

The crowd. It’s not massive like the techno movement, but these people love neurofunk drum and bass. Honestly I don’t play in Warsaw too much so I think I don’t have a right to describe it, but as a raver I can say there are several crews here who are doing an amazing job bringing headliners in. But I feel myself being closer to the Czech Republic scene, I feel it’s becoming a new home for me. They love neurofunk, they live for it, you hear it from almost everywhere even in really small towns! You can throw a party for 100 people and all of them would be crazy about drum and bass yet their ages would be varied; kids, teenagers, even older guys who have left kids at home. I’m biased of course! But the European neurofunk scene is the best. And I promise I will do anything to keep it alive. This is family in my opinion. I treat it like a big family.

Oh this brings a tear to our eye! Shoutout to the European scene! Tell us, what’s the goal of Skrimor? What’s the story behind the man and the mission?

I’m an old skool kind of guy, I would like to build on the work of the greats; State of Mind, Neonlight, Black Sun Empire. My favorite era of neurofunk is actually just before COVID times, 2018, 2019. For me, it’s about evolving the old skool style, asking myself how we can refresh it and make it relevant to our time. I have a lot more responsibility these days, especially with a young family. Ten years ago, I told myself I would hate myself if I didn’t try to become the producer I felt I could be and create something amazing and this challenge has driven me to this very point. Where I am now, I need to find new challenges for myself, this is part of the creative process. You find these small challenges to push yourself further. You’re taking small inspirations from everywhere. Right now I’m allowing myself to get inspired, I’m setting new challenges for myself. And I think doing this drives me further and gives me motivation and power to keep going on my journey. Also I meet people at parties sometimes who will tell me they loved a tune and see what you wanted to achieve with this. When that happens, I think, wow somebody cared about that and understood what I wanted to do, I can’t believe it! The goal is to keep pushing forward and bring the music to more people.

We love those moments in music. Big responsibilities there, it is indeed a journey. What does ‘Skrimor’ mean? 

Haha, I started with 200 variations of this and eventually settled on this one. It’s neologism and I wouldn’t say what it means. I prefer that everyone would interpret this name in their own way. I know what it means for me, but I want to let the music tell the story of what Skrimor is.

Brilliant – very fitting for the ever-evolving genre. Does the same go for defining the signature Skrimor sound?

Yes! It’s difficult to describe the sound anyway. I think it should be described by itself, like, you know when you hear it. But I would say it’s the quintessence of everything that has come before. Influences from Korn, Ramstein, Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine, Chemical Brothers. Then after 2000 when I discovered dubstep, also Caspa & Rusko. Yeah I fell in love with these bass cultures at that time, it was what I was looking for – the balance between all of that sound. Funky, dirty, heavy, loud.

Yes! Bass beef bourguignon. Delicious. Do your family like drum and bass?

They are so small! My eldest daughter is only two but she likes drum and bass music, we were playing Waeys and she was twisting around, squatting, jumping haha. I hope they will like what I do, I really hope so. I would love to teach them production some day.

Haha! Mini Skrimor, we’ll wait for her productions in 10 years time or so. Can you tell us a strange production habit of yours?

Three years ago when I became Skrimor, I started producing at 5am because I realised again that I am getting old and I have no time! My days are full of responsibilities. So the only option for me is to produce early in the morning before everything kicks off and everyone is awake. It’s a magical hour where I can focus on the ideas, on the sound, even in the ears, the brain hears differently in the morning as we’re more alert. So if you listen to the same tune when you wake up vs in the middle of the day and at midnight, you will hear it differently each time. I keep my tools minimal too. I’m not using a lot of plugins and stuff. My challenge is to stay minimal and I love challenging myself in this other way.

Seeing a theme here… We salute you! We’re not quite there with 5am but we believe you! 

I sacrifice all my time, soul, heart and my body, everything to this. Yeah, this is my only extreme really. I used to play computer games and my field of, let’s say, interest was really wide but I reprioritised because I realised I needed to stay focused on this production thing. Now it’s growing and I literally have no time because I have to take care of my family and my project!

We’re not crying, you are. This is extremely heartfelt thank you. What effect has music had on your life?

How does it go? ‘Last night a DJ saved my life’ right? Yeah, I’m a human being and music is a place where I can feel confident and safe. And sometimes I would like to share it. Sometimes I would like to keep it just for me. It’s like a shelter or something, you know, safety. Sometimes I wonder what a parallel universe with no music would be like…

Luckily we’re in this reality where bass music thrives. That’s a beautiful insight. What do you want to achieve in 2025?

Right now it’s about performing. A DJ set is more than just one tune into the next. It’s a journey. And if you’re mixing two different tunes together, you can achieve some unpredictable, unexpected result and use it as a really powerful tool. So I’m investing some time into improving my mixing. I’ve tried so hard to become a better producer that I think right now is the perfect time to, you know, to focus on this. But I also want to use this gap to find out which sonic direction I would like to go further into and collect some fresh ideas.

DJing is an art form. Tell us, what should we look out for from you this year?

My Fortunes EP will be released in May! So please lookout for this. There are some other projects I can’t talk about just yet but they’re coming…. I will be playing at Audioriver Festival in Poland in July. This is one of the biggest festivals of electronic music in Poland. The name comes from it used to having been really close to the river, but yes lots of events all over Europe coming up this summer!

Stunning. What’s your message to the headz?

For the young producers who might read this interview with me, I would say that you have to be beginners and the young producers. Don’t be afraid of being a beginner, just keep going, keep trying. Also, try to stay fresh and come out with your own ideas and work more on your sound identity. When you find it, everybody will see this. Don’t try to be someone else, you’ll be far more successful being your authentic self. Let’s bring back the funk, the fun and the originality.

Buy/Stream Red Shift