Photo: Press (Samuel Kerridge)
Off The Tracks aims at reversing the roles, offering a weekly contribution narrated by various artists inside or outside of the electronic music scene. Up next is the British and Berlin-based DJ Samuel Kerridge who has just released his new EP The Silence Between Us on Downwards, his first release since his album Fatal Light Attraction. For our essay series, Kerridge shares his background in joinery, working for football clubs in Manchester, and why he moved to Berlin.
Throughout my education there was a pressure in society to pursue the academic route, which I very briefly succumbed to. Enrolling in Business Studies, Film & Media, and Music Production, I attended 3 lessons and never went back. It was too restrictive and sterile. You can’t learn creativity or teach imagination, and I certainly didn’t want to produce music within a set of rules. So going on to further education was a bad decision. I should’ve known that from the start as I was a complete terror at school, partly because I hated academia and being the clown made it bearable.
So cast out of college and back into normal society, I started to look for an apprenticeship in Joinery. I’ve always been good with my hands, wink wink, so being creative in woodwork seemed a logical route to take. Throughout my apprenticeship I’d use my spare time to build extravagant designs. The older generation in the workshop didn’t appreciate my extra-curricular activities, but I’ve been upsetting people my whole life and I wasn’t looking to break that habit.
During this time I went home and proposed we should tear down the ceiling of my bedroom and create a mezzanine floor with a studio below. In hindsight it still seems a good idea, but I was met with a resounding “NO”, though worth a try! However that didn’t stop me drilling holes in the ceiling and hanging my TV on metal chains.
Once qualified I found employment working on projects for Manchester United & City football clubs. This would also involve working for the players in their own homes. Coming from a working class background this was another world entirely and a high level of craftsmanship was required. Though the hardest transition was keeping my blasphemy under control.
