We had the good fortune of connecting with Andrea Musumarra and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Andrea, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I’m sure my background matches many other’s:

Born in Italy, started listening to heavy metal at 12, of course had to learn how to play guitar and eventually co-form a band in which I learned: playing live, put a song together, recording instruments in studio.
We made records, collabs and t-shirts and we played around Italy for 4 years (find Eat You Alive on Bandcamp).

During this “formative process” I impulsively saw and bought a Korg Electribe and immediately fully submerged into electronic music too. I started understanding how to make beat loops, patterns, tracks and shape sounds while getting to know effects.
It’s from that first piece of equipment that I came up with the name Abrasive: some of its effects, blended together, were always an absolute killer! Hundreds of gritty loops!
All that in time escalated to getting a MacBook, LogicPro and a generally spending money on music equipment.

My equipment followed me to London, where I had to roll my sleeves up for 8 years. Eventually hard work paid off and got me a decent music studio in my flat! Not going to dress it up much but I have to tap myself on the shoulder when I think of where I was on day one!

Today I continue producing music, independently, although caught up in tight schedules of art handling between museums and galleries in the city: I gotta do what I gotta do for the bread! And for that same reason I keep pushing the music as much as I can, mostly the production with its continuous learnings.
Many of my tracks are available on Spotify, SoundCloud and the various platforms. Currently I’m working on a 3-track EP and guess what? … it will contain some electric guitars! I sort of want to reconnect a bit with where I started from and it feels great doing so. It’s a tricky way to go to but I really want to write THAT sound I’ve got in my head!

In parallel to this I am creating some remixes for/with Ryan 3NAM3S (@thehonoroll).
Last month we dropped “Holy Goku Abrasive Remix” online, my first track with someone’s original vocals! Very happy and proud to be part of this project, it’s doing just better than ever before! Also kind of a slightly different direction for me as the presence of solid vocal parts changes the game completely.
Soon “Ferda” remix will be ready and I am telling you it’s coming together great!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Professionally I am fully aware that I’m still growing, constantly but slowly. I try not to let perfection seeking bother me so I give my ideas shape as soon as I can, I create a track and when it sounds good it’s ready to go. Although it might sound like a superficial creative approach this is basically it, this brought me to develop very personal sonorities and a genuine and organic evolutionary creative process.
The creative part of producing (the actual music writing) I can navigate with!
Right now I’m concentrating on increasing quality of mixes and masterings. Lately I also worked with some original vocals for the first time and that has opened up other areas of interest and knowledge in music production… I just love all this, it’s pure brain juice!

To answer the question, it was kind of easy as all of what I described happened quite naturally and in time. Challenges could be considered financial? Being very solitary in London? But I suppose that is part of anyone’s process… I just continue doing it, supporting it and focusing on bringing out my sound.

My next EP will have 3 tracks, two are almost ready. The third I’m still trying to get the right idea to start from… of course I want the world to hear it as this tracks aim to give Abrasive its real trademark.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Wow, ok… I live in London so if you are around Clapham Common, there is an amazing park there I often hang out at and on a summertime it is actually an oasis in the city filled with fun and vibes. If you want to go and see all the main sightseeing stuff we can do that too.

About clubs and nightlife… the list is just long! I lived here 8 years so if you really want to visit we will work something out, I’m sure you’ll make abrasive memories!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
All right so, the shoutouts:

Great people like Ryan Adams 3NAM3S (@thehonoroll) for recently supporting and giving me the opportunity to remix some of his music. Really exciting work and a great boost to keep pursuing producing music!

My beloved band of not only musicians and artists but also friends: Eat You Alive
They are part of my earliest “formative process”! We just had the most brilliant of times and we saw a lot so, go check our stuff and more

https://eatyoualive.bandcamp.com/
https://hereandnowrecords.bandcamp.com

And of course to everyone who has supported me…
And shoutout to you for actually getting me to do an interview!

Website: www.abrasivesound.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xabrasivex/?hl=en

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AbrasiveUK

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abrasiveUK/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtfPPVLw8QL2it_Hkj7-Nlg

Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6rf0uGLVfJOGthy4yRPq1v https://soundcloud.com/abrasiveuk

Image Credits
Daniele Bettin

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