Artist Spotlight: Luke RV

Hailing from the valleys of Neath, a small market town in Wales, Luke RV is a name for your radar. Over 200 miles away from the hub of music, he has often been suppressed by his location despite flying the flag with pride. With thanks to the internet, social media and his natural ability Luke has collaborated with London artists, KeepVibesNear and Harvey Whyte - strengthening his reputation and earning nods from the likes of DJ Target. As he begins a new era of his musical journey, we were fortunate enough to catch up with Luke to discuss all things music, in particular his most recent release LONG TERM PARKING.

Hey Luke, it’s great to meet you. Congrats on the latest release. How’s the feedback been?

Yes bro, you as well. Thank you very much, the feedback has been sick man I really feel the love right now.

It genuinely feels like you’re about to hit a turning point in your career. Of course bridging the gap between Wales and London is something you’ve been working towards for a minute now, how do you plan to nearer to fulfilling that mission?

Haha, that would be nice! Bridging the gap is one way of putting it. I think what has been more important for me is making music that is authentic and true to me and where I'm from. I think the better I have come to understand that, the better it has been received. 

Can you describe Wales, in particular the valleys of Neath to those of us who have never been there?

Neath is a pretty small town in the Neath Port-Talbot county, along the coast of South Wales. It is sort of like, the sticks of Swansea, or like a much smaller Swansea next to it... It has a lot of old coal mines, and the steelworks is in Port Talbot, so its always been like a working town, centered around industry. But there's also a lot of natural beauty surrounding it. Waterfalls, Beaches, Mountains. Like most places I guess, it all depends on where you go.

You have a very distinctive sound, one that fits perfectly in the alternative Hip-Hop scene - is that something you’ve consciously developed over time? 

That's very kind of you to say. The distinctive sound thing is something I hear a lot, I'm not sure if it's an accent thing or because people struggle to work out if I am rapping or crooning. I think I am still learning about my voice,  I didn't grow up singing or anything so breaking out of my comfort zone has definitely been an ongoing process in terms of music.

‘LONG TERM PARKING' references a specific episode of The Sopranos, can you talk us through the process of taking influence from the show and putting it into the project?

Love Sopranos, huge fan. I was watching a lot of TV around the time I was writing this track. I think I reference sopranos, seinfeld and peep show off the top of my head. I originally was going to call the song Adrianna. I had written the song about me, but then when I was watching sopranos I was just imagining how her partner, Christopher Motisanti in the show, could relate to the things I was saying. Sorry for the spoiler, but LONG TERM PARKING is the episode where Adrianna dies, so it felt like a good fit for the song.

That being said, are you a massive serial binger + what’s something you’ve been watching recently that everyone should know about?

HA! I have been known to binge from time to time. I think I have my phases. I'm watching the new season of Atlanta at the moment, Donald Glover's show. Parasyte is super cool, its like an anime about Parasites taking over the world. I watch a lot of Youtube recently, I'll save the binging for the Winter or the next time we get locked down.

Could you give us some context behind the artwork too - is that you in the image?

You can't really see me, but I am in the car. The back of the man you are seeing is Kiddus. He shot and edited the vid. This is a pic from when we went to some Airbnb in like some mountain thing in mid wales for our friends Birthday. Seemed like it captured the track pretty well so we ran with it.

With the song coming from the idea of being stagnate, how has that feeling specifically effecting you in your journey so far?

I think that has always been a pretty big motivating factor in the back of my mind as I imagine it is with lots of people. That feeling of, if you're not moving forward, you're going backwards. When you are removed from where its all going on, it is easy to get trapped in a comfort zone, or not think about a grind because you don't have to see any hustle and bustle. So there's a lot of reassuring yourself, keeping yourself motivated, reminding yourself why you're doing things but its a drive.

You recently worked with KeepVibesNear and Harvey Whyte on Late Night Link, how did that come about?

So, me and KVN had already spoken on Instagram, I think I messaged him saying he's sick and I think he checked some of my stuff off the back of that. Then I went to a Manga Saint Hilaire gig in London with Minas (who produced it), and Harvey was there. He had just produced an EP for Footsie who was performing. Me and Harvey got chatting and he invited me and Minas to his old studio in Hackney Wick. KVN showed up because him and Harvey are really tight and we all just made the track there and then. Super organic. 

You’ve been performing a lot recently, where have you had the most love? 

Yeah it's been sick to get a few more cool shows under my belt. I have performed in a bunch of places now but I still think I get the most love performing live in Cardiff. It's sick because that's where I have been living the past few years. A couple of nights in Cardiff been really special to me.

Are there any artists on your radar that you would be down to work with?

Yeah for sure. I don't wanna put no one on the spot but I have been working more with artists outside of Wales so no doubt some more artists the other side of the bridge.

Finally, where do you see yourself come the end of the summer - are you working on anything that you can plug in advance?

Come the end of summer, I definitely don't see myself on holiday unfortunately. I'm starting to roll it all out now. I'm gonna give LONG TERM PARKING a little room to breathe, but I can't wait for people to see and hear the next single. My project is 95% done.

Thanks for your time mate, will hopefully catch you at one of your forthcoming London shows!

Likewise mukka, be lovely to catch you.