Skream interview – Unpublished

This is the full length q&a interview with Skream which was used for the feature published in ATM Magazine, June 2006. This unedited version of the q&a session I did with Skream is previously unpublished.

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So when, how and why did you start making music?
Skream: I was about 13 and some boys I was rolling with they started making tunes, and it was like ‘rah they’re making music!’ It was on a Playstation I think, and I always DJed from when I was 11 and it was like just that next step, and it seemed so easy on that and it was just wanting to do your own stuff. Wanting to imitate the tunes you’d wanna get and make your own stuff.
Big Apple was also a big part of it, obviously. My brother used to work there and I got in there, met Hatcha, and he was spinning that dark 2step thing. And it just took me. I was on that commercial sort of garage, like most people were, but it was twist and difference in the sound. It was just mad. The whole music thing has always been the thing for me, it’s a cool thing to be involved in and the people involved in music always seemed like cool sort of guys. It’s a good way to make a living… well no it’s a good career choice if you can get in there, you know?
I was listening to El-B, Horsepower, Artwork, and it just felt like it was for me man. It was something I molded into and it was when I was at school. I wasn’t interested in school one little bit, I was a little fucker (laughs). But that was something I could concentrate on, and go off and be in my own little zone.

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written by Laurent

DJ Zinc feature – Published in ATM, 2004

Faster, Faster, Zinc, Kill, Kill!!

“If this album didn’t even come out, I have had so much fun and I have learnt so much from doing it that I’m happy.” This sentence seems to sum up perfectly the state of mind DJ Zinc is in, since finishing his new album. Over 3 years in the making, the LP ‘Faster’ is a welcome surprise from one of D&B’s most prolific and influential producers. He seems very relaxed and happy about it, sitting in the sun discussing the trials and tribulations that have brought him to release an album on a subsidiary of Polydor, P Records, which is the label that signed Ms Dynamite and shot her to fame. But rest assured that Zinc has no intention of selling out, as he explains his main motivation for releasing an LP outside of Playaz and his own Bingo imprint: “I said to myself ‘what do I want to achieve by putting this album out?’ My bottom line aim all along was to try and get the music to as many people as possible.” Let’s rewind back a few years to what started as a seemingly innocent favour for a friend of his.

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written by Laurent

Pendulum cover feature – Published as cover feature in ATM Magazine, 2005

Menace from Down Under

“We’re going to the UK to make drum n bass where drum n bass comes from – see if they like it – work with people that wanna work with us.” When Australian trio Pendulum uttered those words nearly two years ago they had no idea how true they would ring. By the time these words came to print (back in ATM issue 57) their first official release under the Pendulum moniker, the now legendary ‘Vault’, had started them on the path to dnb stardom and made them into a household name before most people had even seen them or heard their story. A couple of tracks later and the trio, composed of Paul, Gareth and Rob, were on their way to London town with hope in their eyes and a deal with the newly born Breakbeat Kaos label, fronted by Adam F and Fresh. In retrospect it seems only fitting they would end up on Fresh’s label, seeing as they first fell in love with the drums and the bass after hearing Fresh and Maldini play in Perth. As Rob explains “I heard ‘Messiah’ that night and I was like ‘fuckin hell!’” Gareth adds “we walked out of the club that day, looked at each other and said ‘fuck it, let’s do that!’” Fast-forward to 2004 and Pendulum is the name on everyone’s lips when it comes to dnb, from the most fervent raver to the most clueless newbie. With an original approach, concepts galore and a finesse and refinement in sound which leaves most other productions by the wayside, Pendulum have come and taken drum n bass to a whole other level, repeating the success of ‘Vault’ a few times over and laying claim to the genre like no other crew since… well since Bad Company maybe…

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written by Laurent

Digital downloads feature – Published in ATM Magazine, 2004

The revolution will not be digitised… until now!

In the last century alone the world of music has witnessed no less than three major revolutions, each impacting on the way we consume music, the way it spreads and is recorded. And now at the dawn of a new century yet another revolution has engulfed the music world but this one has the potential to truly change the landscape of modern music like never before. The revolutions in question involve music formats. First we had vinyl, which has so far survived all the following revolutions and claims of its death. Then we had tapes which didn’t survive so well. And then came CDs with people claiming they would once and for all kill all other formats. While not entirely true, CDs have played a big part in helping eradicate tapes and usher in the digital revolution. By the end of the century CDs had become the major format on which music is sold and consumed, alongside newer digital formats like DVD. Yet the foretold revolution was still waiting to happen: vinyl sales were on the up at the turn of the century, the turntable constantly outsold the guitar in most developed countries and DJs had never been so popular. The eternal death of analogue technologies is nowhere to be seen yet their continued existence have not hindered the progression and rise of digital technologies, and somehow a happy medium between both has installed itself since the late 90s. But it looks like all this could change…

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written by Laurent

Mix Master Mike feature – Published in ATM Magazine, 2004

A full version of the q&a this feature is based is available online at spinscience.org.uk and ukhh.com.

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Terror-wrist-ism

Mixmaster Mike is a legend in the world of DJing but not necessarily for all the right reasons. He’s won DMC world titles, he introduced Qbert to scratching, he’s been a part of the most famous DJ crew in history (the Invisibl Skratch Piklz) alongside Qbert, Disk, Apollo, D-Styles and Shortkut, he’s been the Beastie Boys’ DJ since 98 and yet he’s also known as a crazy motherfucker both on and off stage, responsible for some of the most mental turntable music to date and for using his scratches to talk to aliens and other cosmic entities (and that’s not even the half of it). But it would seem that time has had a soothing effect on Mike as demonstrated by his recent second solo LP, ‘Bangzilla’, a sharp contrast to his first solo outing, ‘Anti Theft Device’ an album still regarded to this day as one of the weirdest and most singular pieces of turntable music and production ever released. So has time really soothed the Serial Wax Killer or is just a ploy?

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written by Laurent

Jonny L feature – Published in ATM Magazine, 2004

Jonny L has been a busy man. ‘27 Hours a Day’, is the title of his new album, and by the looks of things he’s been working against the clock for the last five months trying to finish it. Add to that all the stress and work involved in releasing an album, when you don’t have the backing of a major or even a big independent like XL, as well as running your own label and you can see how the album is aptly titled.

So how different was it for Jonny to produce and release an album on his own? “Well for one by the end of my time at XL I was always complaining, about artwork, record sleeves and the rest. In the end I had a little falling out with them, and then I went onto a proper major (Arista/BMG) for a while when I was working with Truesteppers. And there I realised how much better XL actually were, because Arista were a proper nightmare! And with this LP on Piranha, I have really come to realise how much work is involved in releasing an album and how time consuming it can be. I even had to hire someone at the last minute to help me because I just couldn’t bare it anymore. Releasing singles I can handle, but now that I have seen what’s involved in doing an album, I don’t think I would do it ever again.”

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written by Laurent

French Drum N Bass Scene – Published in ATM Magazine, 2004

In this constantly growing international dnb scene the “French touch” is not something that should be quickly overlooked. The French are slowly but surely making their presence felt in dnb after putting in years of hard work. The jungle and dnb scene in France took seemingly much longer to fully develop than many other countries. London exported its early rave and junglistic sounds to the mainland as far back as 1990-1991, but it wasn’t until the early 00s that these sounds would become ingrained into the French musical landscape and cross the channel back to the UK.

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written by Laurent

Dutch Drum N Bass Scene – Published in ATM Magazine, 2004

Globalisation is not a term you would automatically associate with Drum n Bass, yet it has never been more relevant to this music than today, with a scene gone global in the last few years in all meanings of the word. After years of UK dominance both in production and DJing the scene is enjoying a global expansion that has taken many people by surprise. From the Aussie sounds of Pendulum, to the Latin tinged rhythms of Marky and XRS, DnB isn’t just a London ting no more.

Holland holds a place in many a junglist’s heart for its widely available herbal remedies, yet it also holds one of the longest running electronic scenes in Europe, with the early rave and techno sounds nurturing the birth and growth of what would become Dutch DnB. Take Dreazz, one of the Dutch originators, who turned his love for the music into one of the most successful DnB related companies, Triple Vision. With a shop, record labels covering techno and DnB, distribution company and some of the biggest parties in Holland and Europe, Dreazz is best placed to let us know how DnB grew up Dutch style. “In 1992 I discovered breakbeat and rave and in 93 I started a small fanzine for about 50 people. Through this I started selling tapes and second hand records which I bought in the UK. I then met up with Nubian (another scene originator in Holland) and we started a bedroom style shop, which slowly grew into Triple Vision. At the end of 97 I split up with Nubian and went solo and in 1998 I met up with Edge of Motion, two techno veterans of the Dutch scene, who I managed to persuade into starting a label. We started Black Jack, Piruh and Fokuz (most notably Piruh’s first release was from Black Sun Empire) but closely after the first releases they lost interest and so I started a new label called Citrus and continued to do business with Fokuz and Piruh, using their strength in the Techno scene to push the early DnB sounds. We had no artist yet for Citrus until I met up with Falcon. We did one tune together, and then released about 30 tunes from Falcon solo, as well as more collaborations together on labels like Citrus, Ohm, Synthetic and more. We had one anthem that sold over 8000 (and is still selling 25 a month) a remix of Jill Scott called “It’s Love” which helped to launch us internationally. This led us to playing abroad a lot and it all just progressed from there. Party wise the same happened. We had been doing small things from early 95 and it just expanded. Now as Major League we do the biggest raves in the country with around 1500 people each time and at least 4 UK headliners alongside Dutch and European talents.”

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written by Laurent

LTJ Bukem feature – Published in ATM Magazine, 2005

“I’m into music that can be played in ten years’ time, and the Speed reunion proved that. It proved to me that [dnb] is as fresh as it was ten years ago. I listen to stuff that is 30 years old, and knowing that dnb is becoming like that is wicked” exclaims Bukem as we speak about the recent Speed reunion at The End nightclub in London. It’s hard not to agree with him when you consider the giant leaps and progressions this music has made over the last 10 years. Conducting this interview over the phone on a gloomy winter afternoon whilst driving to the airport, it’s hard to not get contaminated by Bukem’s enthusiasm, vibrancy and energy even though I’m not even standing in front of him. The man who has pioneered new sounds and styles for the last decade is still as barmy about this music as he was when he discovered it as a teenager. “I’ve been doing plenty of touring, seems like I’ve been on a life long tour for the last ten years. Loving the DJing as always. Still on my decks when I can, busting mixes, calling Conrad to tell him ‘check this mix!!’ like it was 15 years ago. Enjoying the music, all the new artists coming through, the guys at Hospital as well as the old heads like Renegade and all that.”

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written by Laurent

Adam F and DJ Fresh feature – Published in ATM Magazine and Serie B Magazine, 2004

Order in Kaos

As the old saying goes ‘two heads are better than one’ and in the last year alone two of the most famous dnb producers have yet again proved that there is a lot of truth in that saying. Adam F and Fresh joined forces in 2003 to form Breakbeat Kaos and in the process create a label and camp that would literally take the scene by storm within a year. Having just returned from an extensive stay in the US, proving beneficial for both the label and its artists on more than one level, ATM had the chance to catch up with those two workhorses of dnb over the phone to find out exactly what they have been up to stateside and what we can expect in the coming year. Trust us things are only going to get bigger.

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written by Laurent

A-Trak feature – Published in ATM magazine, 2004

A longer version of the q&a this feature is based on is available online at spinscience.org.uk and ukhh.com.

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Being a ‘child prodigy’ is never easy, especially when you are constantly under the spotlight, but there is one Canadian kid that has showed that when it comes to DJing an early start doesn’t necesseraly mean you burn out by the age of 20. Starting at the tender age of 13, A-Trak had won his first DJ battle by 15 and in the same year had become the youngest ever World DMC winner. He followed this by winning every major world title by the age of 18, including ITF, Vestax and DMC Teams. Not content of being the most precarious and one of the most talented DJ by the turn of the century, A-Trak was also a member of two of the best and most influential DJ crews, namely the Invisibl Skratch Piklz and the Allies alongside such scratch luminaries as Craze, Q-Bert, D-Styles and Mix Master Mike. But like most world winners before him, A-Trak learnt that battling isn’t everything and that to survive as a ‘scratch artist’ you must move on and in a way ‘mature’ from the battles. And that is exactly what the Canadian wonder has been doing since his departure from battling in 2000.
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written by Laurent

Roni Size & Bryan Gee feature – Published as cover feature in ATM Magazine, 2005

This is the full length version of a q&a session I did with Roni Size and Bryan Gee, ahead of Roni’s ‘Return To V’ album release. A shorter, edited version of the q&a was published as the cover feature in ATM Magazine.

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Return of the prodigal son

There are defining moments in music that change the way you perceive it. In dnb these moments can be few and far between but they stay in your mind for years after. The first time Marky hit these windy shores, the Latin invasion that followed, the arrival of Ozzy trio Pendulum on the scene, the recent return of Photek to the frontline are just some of these moments. More recently one of dnb’s leading names has returned to his starting ground, joining forces again with one dnb’s leading ambassadors and labels. The names? Roni Size and Bryan Gee of course, and the album is none other than the prodigal Return To V, Roni’s fifth album outing. So what better way to celebrate this triumphant return than by cornering both Roni and Bryan and quizzing them on their origins and the soon to be most famous return in dnb history. It’s been ten years in the making…

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written by Laurent

Skream feature – Published in ATM Magazine, 2006

Welcome to the Future

Skream is what you’d call a bit of a musical wonder - soon after he started making music at 15, he became one of the producers responsible for establishing the grounds for the evolution of Dubstep. Then a few years later his anthemic ‘Midnight Request Line’ would prove to be crucial in fuelling the fires of a worldwide interest and spread of the sound. In just under 6 years he’s proven to be one of Dubstep’s most interesting and talented producers. Something he is about to further establish with the upcoming release of his first solo album.

It all started when he heard some friends making beats – having DJed from the age of 11, making tracks ‘was the next logical step’. Around the same time he’d started working at the Big Apple record shop in Croydon, a shop and label that were deeply influential in the birth and early developments of Dubstep. Through Big Apple, Skream met Hatcha, the pioneering DJ who at the time was spinning the darker 2step sounds emanating from the south London borough. ‘That stuff just took me, I was on that commercial sort of Garage, but the twist and difference in the sound was just mad.’ He then hooked up with Benga, another young and influential producer, by playing beats down the phone to each other, and started on a road that would lead him to become one of the most prolific producers of any genre – as testified by the 1000+ tracks sitting on his hard drives five years later. ‘I wasn’t interested in school one little bit, I was a little fucker, but music was something I could concentrate on and being involved in it was always something I wanted to do – it seemed like a good career choice if you could get in there’.

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written by Laurent