Youth Q&A on the music industry, The Verve's anniversary of Urban Hymns, and his new record label Suriya Recordings

Legendary producer Youth (Martin Glover) recently returned from Spain after the launch of a festival at his recording studio in Granada: Space Mountain, where he hosted live artists, DJs and speakers at the three-day event.

"I put on parties in the 90s for 6000 people and it was so easy. Doing a legal one today for 500 is much harder," he laughs.

We had a quick catch up over the phone about his most recent projects, he thoughts on the music industry today, and why he wanted to launch his own record label.

Youth Q&A

On The Jesus and Mary Chain + The Verve/Urban Hymns 20th anniversary

It was a great buzz to have Urban Hymns remembered 20 years later. I’d had a conversation with a close associate of the band who put the original sleeve together - he was in charge of the reissue.

I gave him lots of extra tracks and footage, video from the sessions… but in his wisdom Richard chose to keep it minimal. It’s still a fantastic album, one of the ones that changed my life and one that still stands up as a classic.

On rock stars

The last iconic rock star we had in Britain is Pete Doherty, I think, and that was about 15 years ago. Liam Gallagher… I can’t think of too many young artists in rock that have that kind of presence today.

Maybe that’s because of the internet or the demise of the tribes, I don’t know. It’s a question I bring up in studios often, that maybe that was an era we won’t go back to. I feel very lucky that I was born when I was, and I went through the 80s and 90s making music. It’s much harder for kids to do that today. There are still great opportunities but it’s a whole different world.

On the music industry

It’s exciting, underground street culture is still informing the mainstream. What worries me is in somewhere like Jamaica, the music scene there is tiny compared to what it was in the 80s when there were thousands of records and singles released.

Those creative explosions still have to be nurtured or they can die. There’s some amazing music coming out of shanti towns in Johannesburg. The amazing thing today is with social media, people can blow things up from their phones - catch the public’s imagination. In the past it would have been down to a few radio stations and journalists.

On his new record label Suriya Recordings

It’s an odd time to be launching, I suppose, people are still trying to find their feet with the new industry models. Making the music has never been easier. I’ve got more resources today than I had 20 years ago. This imprint is exciting because it brings a lot of people together, it creates its own energy, and hopefully collaborations will occur, alchemy will happen. It's not something I take lightly, but I hope it will promote the artists we're working with and help them develop a long, sustainable career.

For more information about Suriya Recordings visit the website. Duende India Collective 'Escapology' and Indotranceltic 'Stone Horse' are out now