Kicking off the year with a handful of quality tracks from the likes of Yxng Bane, Eugy, Afro B, Naira Marley & more, it is officially #SalutSeason and they are about to takeover. Prior to the success of ‘Dance For Me’ Team Salut have been putting in so much work to be where they are now and they are only going to work with more artists and get better. I caught up with GKP, Mr Wood & SideChainManny to talk about upcoming projects they have working with Afro B and more.

How does it feel to be one of the go-to producers for an AfroBeat instrumental?

It feels good to know that our brand’s getting stronger and more recognized, we worked very hard for this and plan to take the movement as far and wide as possible.

How did you come together and at what point in working together did you say ‘We are Team Salut’ and we now are producers as a trio.

We came together about five years ago playing instruments in church. During which we were dabbling in production. The name TeamSalut came about as an intro to a song. We all loved the tag “Salut” as it was a toast to a sick beat.

You produced one of the best tracks of all time in 2016 (Dance For Me) did you ever think that it was going to reach the success it did compared to other tracks you have produced prior to ‘Dance For Me’?

‘Dance For Me’ was a funny one, we knew the dance routine was very catchy and highly infectious but never expected it to go as viral as it did. Eugy was very clever in combing all the popular dances at the time, which made it easily relatable even for non-dancers. It’s definitely one of a kind compared to prior TeamSalut productions.

Do you all like the same sounds or do you have different opinions in where certain beats should go when producing? 

Well we all have different influences, GKP grew up listening to a lot of dancehall and traditional African music, Mr Wood loved his hip hop and old school RnB while SideChainManny was deep into the electro dance movement. We hardly ever disagree; we simply go through trial and error until the song sounds right.

What is it like working with Afro B?

Afro B was one of the first artist to get behind TeamSalut, and he stayed so he’s technically family. Our relationship and similar taste in music, makes it easy and fun to work.

I see you enjoy being in music videos with the tracks you’ve produced, what has been your favourite music video you’ve been in and why?

We love taking part in activities outside of the studio, particularly music videos so when the opportunity arose to go to Rome to be part of the ‘Good Vibes’ video, (by Iyanya) we couldn’t pass on it, so it’s definitely one of our favourite video experiences by far, as it was literally good vibes in Rome.

What is your opinion on the new wave of rappers that are just following the crowd as well as the term “Afroswing”?

It’s a good time for the UK scene and we’re excited by the number of people getting involved. Yh the name Afro swing is cool, one of many terms used to describe the emerging UK sound.

What are you most excited about for the summer?

We are very excited about #SalutSeason. The year has started with a bang and is only due to get better with more bangers coming out.

Have you got any exciting artists that you are currently working with?

There’s been a lot of exciting projects we’ve worked on, so just keep your eyes peeled for #SalutSeason.

Who would you like to work with in future?

We’ve now transitioned as artist as well, so as we work on #SalutSeason the law of attraction will bring us the right collabs.