If there's two things I love in tunes it's big bass and catchy riffs. Radioactive Man knows how to do these very well. Having been on the scene for 20 years, he's brought out some great music, from creating some quality tracks with Andrew Weatherall as Two Lone Swordsmen to collaborating with Billy Nasty as well as putting out his own solid releases. Growl is an album that I know inside out and I was lucky enough to catch him play twice last year and both times he was epic. I thought my brain was going to explode at his set at Bloc which was definitely one of the highlights of the weekend. With a new EP this month and and album in February for Wang Trax, 2012 looks set to be another busy year for the veteran producer . I'm delighted to have an interview with him to pick his brain and find out more about the upcoming releases.
I suppose
firstly, what was it that got you interested in electronic music and making
your own tunes?
Well, turning 20 in 1992 and being in the midst of
the most exciting change in music was the main thing...
The free parties were kicking right off, every
single weekend there was a massive rave somewhere, I had a big blue van and
every weekend I would fill it with mates and off we went..
Culminating in the beast of a rave that was
Castlemorton, estimated 50,000 people by word of mouth that went on for
10 days..
It was a truly amazing time, the birth of Jungle
/Drum n bass as we know it, all fuelled by a new drug called ecstasy - it was a
recipe for adventures and going completely mental for days on end...
But before all that I was going to clubs like the
Drum club,(thursday) Sabresonic (Friday) and Full circle on a Sunday where it
was mainly Techno /House vibes..
I was playing guitar in a band ,so I wanted to
experiment with electronic music too, and it was great cos you could do it all
on your own, which after playing in a band is very refreshing...
My 1st release was a 12" on Full circle records
with a mate, we were called 7Hz..
The new
album and EP Engine have been a while coming. Was this a conscious decision?
Did you purposely take your time with them?
No, some of these new tracks have been done for 3-4
years. It was going to come out on my own label Control Tower, which was being
funded and run by Fabric records.. to cut a long story short, they had to wind
things up on the record side of things, as a lot of small labels did, because
people just weren't buying enough to justify the cost. It’s not that much better now really, but
things have got better and hopefully still are.
After that happened I was very disillusioned with it
all and decided to just sit back for a bit and see how things panned out. Good
music will still be good music in the future, and that can also be a good test
- the test of time.. I was just about to release it all on Digital, (
begrudgingly because it sounds so much better on vinyl ), when my good
friends at Wang told me they were starting a label with vinyl and would I
like to put my music out with them..
So now I have a big backlog of tracks to release
which is good.
Growl has
a different feel to your other releases in the sense that it feels more
experimental. Was this intentional?
I don’t think it was experimental when u compare it
to things like Autechre for example, but for me – I don’t really want to repeat
myself too much, you got to keep things fresh for yourself otherwise you're
just going over the same shit. That’s why it always amazes me when people
just make 4/4 music or DnB or one kind of any music - it would drive me
nuts.
Do you think electronic
music is progressing through incorporating different genre styles or do you
think sticking with the old-skool methods are enough?
Yes its defo progressing, I think thats what we do
best on these isles - we are generally the ones who push things forward and
some of the stuff coming out now is well warped... But sometimes simplicity is
the key too, I don’t like tracks that sound like a technology competition when
sometimes a good groove is all u need..
Having said that, there are people that do that
kinda stuff exceptionally well.. Aphex being one of the untouchables..
What do
you find more satisfying – a DJ set or playing out live?
Both are really enjoyable, but playing live defo has
the edge.. theres more room to jam and Ad lib etc..
The new
EP is being released through new London label WANG Trax. How did this deal come
about and what’s the story behind the label?
Wang is Lou and Nathan Hernando, really good friends
of mine whom I've know for years.. I grew up in same area as Nathan. They've
been doing parties indoors and out for over 12years, really musically
enthusiastic people so when they said they were doing the label I jumped at the
chance because i know they're hearts are in it 100% . I always liked to
put my music out with people I know cos its a really personal thing too, and
you can always trust your mates to give you an honest opinion.
Do you listen to non-electronic music and if so, who?
Yep, loads. I've got a staple diet of roots reggae
(Lee Scratch Perry being one of the most inventive producers ever in my
opinion). I learned to play guitar when I was young by learning blues so I
still love all things bluesy like Jon Spencer, R.L Burnside, Howling wolf,
The Kills, PJ Harvey, Hendrix, etc to loads of 70's funk and soul,
The Meters being a fave... to dirty rock n roll like The Cramps, Nirvana etc.
Most new music is shite and over cooked, and don’t get me started on the
karoake competition which is X factor etc. shocking. They should at least be
encouraging people to write their own music ffs. But the public seem to
lap it up, so who am I to argue ?
How do you
approach writing a tune? Any gear and routines that are always a must?
I normally start with the drums, inevitably the 808
as I just love that sound so much. I cant believe no-one's invented a drum
machine that is so immediately brilliant sounding.. The kick drum alone has and
still is in all genres from DnB to house to hip hop.. unbeatable. And I
love using arpeggios cos you always end up with unexpected stuff happening..
What are the benefits of using hardware over software?
Hardware sounds much fatter, especially the analogue
kind, and generally the clock is much tighter..
EG an Akai Mpc sounds totally different to a
computer clock. And computers are generally much thinner sounding than machines
which are built to do music specifically.
What kind of reaction do you want your music to evoke from the listener?
Crying, Laughing, Raving, shagging.
What producers are you into at the moment?
Boddika is doing some great stuff, Neil
Landstrumm, Jerome Hill, Cisco Ferreira, Ed Rush and Optical, Carl Finlow,
Dexorcist, AFX, Luke Vibert , and Paul Blackford + all things Detroit
like Model 500, Carl Craig, Mad Mike, to name a few..
What is your favourite piece of music?
Brian Eno 'An ending ascent' is one of them... I
could listen to that on loop for hours.
What does
2012 hold for you?
Hopefully lots of gigs and good times, as i'm
not cut out to get a 'proper' job. :)
Big up to Radioactive Man for the interview. His new EP drops at the end of this month with an album to follow in February so make sure and get your hands on em.
0 comments:
Post a Comment