Fabricka
Simon Grech’s creative journey started from a very young age. Despite the wide range of creative interests, he was particularly intrigued by the non-visual communication of sound and music and started studying classical piano at the Johann Strauss Royal School of Music at the ripe age of 4 and quickly obtained a formidable ear in music.
This acquired skill-set had already been turning heads especially De La Salle College where he underwent his primary and secondary education. He frequently landed lead roles as pianist in several performances under his mentors Maestro Ray Sciberras and Tania Craus. At age 11, he sparked a keen interest in computer-based music for its versatility and creative possibilities from one singular perspective. After graduating, Simon wanted to be able to exercise and develop his skills in music and various other forms of art. Therefore he decided to embark in a film production programme at the MCAST Institute of Art & Design and attained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Moving Image Media where he focused on sound design. This became the foundation of his productions of music which, as a result, became highly dramatic and story-telling thus instantiating his alias Fabricka… denoting the notion of fabrication.
With the skill now refined, he publicised the pseudonym Fabricka and his works on online social media. One of these in particular was the community-based musical platform Trackage Scheme through which immediately caught the eye of various local audiences and artists. This resulted in Simon playing in various collaborations such as the highly received project Across Borders with Hazed founder Keith Said and also landed spots in big local festivals such as Earth Garden, Sunscape Festival, Sliema Street Arts Festival and played against electronic music heavyweights such as Plaid, Solar fields, AES Dana and Wisp. It was not long until he finally caught the attention of labels and distributors in the UK and United States and joined the roster with Silent Motion Records whilst having several compositions published by Just Music UK alongside his long-time influences Jon Hopkins and Marconi Union.
After graduating from his degree course Simon moved to Mellieha where he set up a small music promotion called Chuckraitnatz alongside Muke Spiteri through which they upheld several musical events in aid of various local charities such as Puttinu Cares and Dar tal-Providenza. Despite the prosperity of this project, Simon decided that it was time to venture in his own beliefs and therefore moved back to Marsaskala. This ultimately gave birth to Cold Minor, an impressive array of production and recording services, top-class equipment, and affordable rates in a picturesque underground art sanctuary through which he works with and teaches various aspiring and established local artists of different mediums whilst forcing the notions of structure, space and change.