Henry Alfred Steinway (born: February 8, 1991), better known by his current stage name RL Grime (formerly Clockwork), is an American producer of trap and bass music, and member of the Los Angeles electronic music collective WeDidIt. His debut Grapes EP was released in April 2012 on WeDidItz His follow-up EP High Beams was released in July 2013 on Fool's Gold Records, which debuted at No. 8 on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Albums chart, and No. 1 on the iTunes Electronic Chart. RL Grime has produced remixes for Benny Benassi, Chief Keef, Jamie Lidell, and Shlohmo. His second studio album, Nova, was released in 2018.
Early life[]
Steinway grew up in Los Angeles, California. There, he attended Windward School in Mar Vista. In 2009, he graduated from Windward and enrolled at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, with a focus in music business. In 2010 after his freshman year, he transferred from Northeastern to New York University, majoring in music business. In 2012, Steinway moved back to Los Angeles and currently resides there.
Music career[]
In 2011 RL Grime joined the WeDidIt collective with fellow Los Angeles-born producers Shlohmo, Groundislava, and D33J. In April 2012, he released his debut release on the WeDidIt label, the Grapes EP, featuring four original tracks and remixes from Shlohmo, Salva, and LOL Boys. In June 2012, RL Grime teamed up with producer Salva for a remix of Kanye West's "Mercy", which has garnered over eight million plays on SoundCloud and was called by The Fader "just massive, as if hail and tsunami waves were both byproducts of bass." In December 2012, RL Grime was tapped for an official remix of Benny Benassi's notorious song "Satisfaction", which gained over one million Soundcloud streams and charted in the top five on the Beatport electro house chart.
In October 2012, RL Grime released his first Halloween Mix, featuring original songs and remixes of popular tracks, along with vocal drops from celebrities. These mixes have been widely popular, and have continued to drop annually through 2019. Each mix has included vocal cameos from celebrities such as Tony Hawk, Pharrell Williams, and author R.L. Stine, whose name RL Grime derives from.
In July 2013, RL Grime released his High Beams EP on Fool's Gold Records, a five-track EP featuring producer Salva and Los Angeles, California rapper Problem. The EP debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes Electronic Chart, and No. 8 on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Albums chart.
RL Grime collaborated with like-minded producer Baauer on the track "Infinite Daps" in November 2013. Both producers toured together throughout July and August 2013, along with Ryan Hemsworth and Jim-E Stack.
His debut studio album, Void, was released on November 14, 2014. It featured guest appearances from Big Sean and Boys Noize among others.
On May 30, 2017, RL Grime announced his second studio album, Nova. The album was released on July 27, 2018 through WeDidIt Records, and featured collaborations with Miguel, Julia Michaels, Chief Keef, Ty Dolla Sign, 24HRS and Joji. The album's lead single, "I Wanna Know", was released on March 16, 2018, followed by "Undo" on June 13, 2018, and "Pressure" on July 11, 2018. Commenting on the album's concept, Henry stated: "NOVA' came from obsessive ideation on growth and on transition. The art and stories and the moments that inspired me through this record tend to explore this as well. The feeling of leaving behind what was, and of welcoming the foreign. Throughout the process, I had this vision of a 'nova' or of a star no bigger than a person launching from earth into outer space and expanding endlessly until its light was all that we could see. That's the feeling I get from these records, infinite light." The album's last single, "Light Me Up", which featured the vocals of Miguel and Julia Michaels, was released on July 25, 2018. Initially an unused Jack Ü demo which was shown to Grime by Diplo, Grime decided to build the demo out and have Miguel's and Michaels' vocals recut, since he felt that the album required a "summery vibe" to it.