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Category Archives: Interviews

Jaguar Skills Interview

Beatzbase interview with Jaguar Skills

1. I guess my first question has to be: why Jaguar Skills as a name?
You have to watch the film “Ninja Terminator” to find what you’re looking for.

2. Congratulations on your Toolroom Knights compilation – I really
enjoyed it. How would you describe the album, it seemed to me to be a very eclectic selection?
It’s a bit like a brick to the face, wrapped up in some Jaguar fur, wrapped up in another brick. I’ve taken a load of tunes and mutated them. Glad you liked the experiment.

3. How do you go about compiling your legendary mixes/mash-ups?
Depends. If they have a theme running though it, I try and get as many tunes relating to that theme as possible, and go on from there. But if it’s a freestyle thing, I just go with a vibe and see where it takes me.

I don’t normally know where they’re gonna lead to. It’s not super-planned or anything. All I try to do is make the mixes a cohesive and enjoyable thing. That’s all really.

4. How do you find or select the samples you use (which seem to be from movies)?
Yeah, weird movies mostly. The worst B-Movies have the best dialog. I’ve got a massive collection of lame movies.

5. What’s the top 3 tracks you’re listening to at the moment?
I listen to so much stuff, I really can’t answer that question. Humm? Three Roy Ayers tracks.

6. Are we likely to see any more Jaguar Skills releases?
Yeah man, there’s a bunch of things in the pipeline. So real cool things.

7. Which do you prefer, working in the studio on your mixes or DJing live? And what’s your experiences of playing live?
You cannot beat DJing live. The buzz, the crowd, the nerves, the mask, the heat, the vibes. Playing live in clubs, pretty much, dictates what tunes I put in my mixes for the radio.

8. Any tips for the next big thing in dance music?
Nope. I dunno? House-Step? Baseline Folk? Nu-Lunchen Beat? I have absolutely no idea. I hope it’s gonna be sample based 90′s Hip-Hop….but it probably won’t.

9. Finally, if your life was to be made into a movie, which actor would you like to play you and who would you have direct the movie?
This dude called Sho Kosugi could play me and I would want it directed by Sam Firstenburg. I would request that it would have hardly any budget too. A super-ninja style B-Movie. And it would have to be dubbed!

Interview with DEVolution

DEVolution (Artful Dodger’s Pete Devereux and former Size Records artist Tom Devos) debut release, “Good Love” is out on 29th August (on One More Tune). It’s a great tune, with a dubstep hook which is more melodic than most and fits nicely with the underlying beat and vocals. Check out the video at the end of this post.

Anyway, Beatzbase had an opportunity to interview DEVolution:

1. ​Congratulations on your new release, how would you describe your track and its sound?

Thank you very much! ‘Good Love’ is a pretty good blueprint for all of our future productions; a good top line, strong melodic hooks with a thumping bottom end.

2. ​When you make music, do you aim for a track that will make it commercially in the charts or something that will please the clubbers on the dance floors?

I think we just try and make a solid record that will work in a club, anything more than that is a bonus!

3. ​What’re the top 3 tracks you’re listening to at the moment?

Kanye West & Jay-Z – Otis
Emeli Sande – Heaven
Maverick Sabre – Let Me Go

4.​ Who would you most like to collaborate with on a future track?

Justin Timberlake, Kelis, Sebastian Ingrosso, Robin Thicke, Emili Sande.

5.​ Which do you prefer, working in the studio or performing live? And what are your experiences of playing live?

Well unless you are a covers band you can’t play live without creating the record in the first place, so the studio always comes first. The buzz of making a new record is great, as is playing it to an audience! We love them both, equally.

Tom did a season in Ibiza a few years ago playing improvised live sets along the sunset strip; Café Del Mar, Savannah & Café Mambo. They were all amazing gigs apart from one where Tom knelt down to pick up his shades and his knee hit the power button for the whole rig and you can guess the rest! A 3 minute (painful!) silent symphony followed!

Highlights for Pete (in his Artful Dodger days) were playing live on Jools Holland and headlining Homelands with their live band.

6. ​Any tips for the next big thing in dance music?

Don’t rely on the internet.. Most DJ’s inboxes are overflowing with great records, so if you want to get your record heard (and ultimately played on Radio) burn a CD and go find out where a DJ you think will like your sound is playing, put it in his hand and say a quick hello!

7.​What’s next for you? What’re your music plans?

Obviously we are busy promoting the single, and are hard at work in the studio getting some tracks together for a new EP plus we have a live session coming up this month which is taking a lot of planning / rehearsing, and we can’t wait to hit the road and do some gigs later on this year.

8​. Finally, if your life was to be made into a movie, which actor would you like to play you and who would you have direct the movie?

Pete – Matt Damon could probably pull it off, and definitely The Coen Brothers Directing

Tom – Leonardo DiCaprio Directed by Martin Scorsese

“Good Love” is out August 29th

Modestep Interview

Beatzbase pries into the inner thinkings of Modestep’s Josh:

1. Congratulations on your new release, how would you describe your track and its sound?

Our latest single ‘Sunlight’ was actually an old track of ours that we re-visited this year to finally give it a release. The style of the track is a combination of styles that have influenced us musically, we have the hard hitting/electronic sounds from dubstep, electric guitars from our rock background, some soul influences with the vocal and breakdown sections and also a transition to drum and bass/drumstep at the end. The overall tone we were going for was an aggressive yet anthemic summer track that could be played in clubs but also could sit comfortably on your iPod too.

2. When you make music, do you aim for a track that will make it commercially in the charts or something that will please the clubbers on the dance floors?

We don’t really aim for either. It’s been a pretty natural progression for us as a band to make stuff with hooks in (Josh has been a singer/songwriter for 10+ years) and the club sound just comes from the years we have spent working the dubstep scene. While we think it’s important for stuff to sonically work in both domains (we always mix our drums to sound punchy on big sound systems and the bass is designed to rumble in a club) we rarely walk into a studio session with any preconceived notions of where our tracks should sit in a marketplace.

3. What’re the top 3 tracks you’re listening to at the moment?

1. Candi Staton – Mr & Mrs Untrue – An absolutely GOLD old soul track that I recently stumbled upon.

2. Persist – BLAM – One of my favourite dubstep tunes of the moment, really fantastic sound design and groove.

3. Torqux & Twist – H E L L – Another belter by a great dubstep duo.

4. Who would you most like to collaborate with on a future track?

If it was a no-holds-barred kind of situation, I think we all agree that we would like the extremely talented Lauren Hill to get on a soul/dance crossover track with us. She would tear it apart.

5. Which do you prefer, working in the studio or performing live? And what are your experiences of playing live?

Definitely performing live for us. While we really love producing and writing our music and the outcome can be extremely satisfying, spending 15 hours a time in a dark room listening to the same 4 bars on repeat over and over again can be somewhat bad for our mental health. When it comes to mixing down our tracks, I can spend upwards of 4 days listening to the same few sounds and just tweaking them for hours, it’s not a particularly creative job and I think most producers from the dubstep scene find it a bane of their existence. Playing live is quite often instant gratification, there isn’t really a better feeling. We tend to have a strange pattern emerging with our live shows; before we go on stage there is no-one in the crowd, so we assume it’s going to be a terrible show… by the time we’re on stage, a crowd appears from nowhere. It’s happened far too many times to count now and it always comes as an amazing surprise for us.

6. Any tips for the next big thing in dance music?

Keep an eye out for Torqux & Twist, these guys are extremely talented producers and are taking the dustup world by storm right now. Also a young producer signed to Chronos Records who is based in Belguim called Eptic. This kid has some SERIOUS talent in both music and art and he has amazed us with everything he has put out so far.

7. What’s next for you? What’re your music plans?

We try not to plan too much. For us, it’s all about doing what is right for now and enjoying ourselves. We always think that if we try and plan too far ahead we’ll miss what is really important, right now! Musically we will just keep doing what we are doing, working on our album and trying to broaden out the spectrum a little more with our productions and live shows.

8 Finally, if your life was to be made into a movie, which actor would you like to play you and who would you have direct the movie?

Ross Kemp and Steve McFadden, otherwise known as the Mitchell brothers… mainly because we would find it funny. As for the director, we would have to go for the guy who has been shooting our web series ‘The Summer Of Modestep’, Liam Underwood of Suckerpunch. We know he would be able to represent what we are all about as he’s been living with us for a couple of months!

“Sunlight” by Modestep is out on August 15th

Free download and interview with Ant Brooks

If you like your house music deep, then check out Ant Brooks free download of “Deeper” which is available on Soundcloud (here), and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, mySpace, Podomatic or his website for details of his next free download, “The Trip” in the near future.

“Deeper” has everything you need for a nice entrancing deep house track – a nice repetitive groove interlaced with hihats, vocal chants and bongos. Check it out!

Ant Brooks – Deeper [FREE DOWNLOAD] by antbrooksmusic

Interview with Ant Brooks courtesy of Rising Digital:

1. Were are you in the world and what can you see out of your window?
I’m based in Coventry in the Midlands. At the minute all I can see is more houses..and a tree.

2. Describe 2010 in three words?
Adventurous, fun & hard work!

3. Tell us what to expect from you in 2011?
I’m working very hard to make 2011 my biggest year yet. I have new management and have just also just rebranded,  which has given me a whole new energy and I’m really excited about it all. I have lots of new music on the way along with some very exciting collaborations. So watch this space!

4. What inspires you to make music?
I’d have to say other music. Listening to other music gives me lots of ideas. It’s hard to listen to new tracks these days without sitting there analysing it! I always have my ipod on me with new music.

5. What artists have you/would you most like to collaborate with?
In the past I have collaborated with Michael Woods, Jon Rundell, Pete Griffiths and am currently working on a track with Matteo DiMarr. Artists that I’d love to work with include D.Ramirez, Dubfire, Pirupa, Steve Lawler, Santos & Nic Fanciulli.

6. Is there anything you are currently working on that we should keep our eyes peeled for?
I have just finished a 2 track EP which I am going to be giving out for free at the end of January called “The Deeper EP”
Also a recent collaboration with Pete Griffiths I am really excited about. This will be out on the forthcoming Toolroom Miami compilation. It has a really big breakdown which goes off in the clubs! 

Following that I have an EP coming out on Leaders Of The New School and a single release on Neurotraxx.

I also have a catalogue of unsigned great new music ready to drop in 2011.

7. What other labels have you worked with?
Well my producer career has been relatively short but previous labels I have worked with include Size, Toolroom, CR2 Strictly Rhythm, Starlight, 303 Lovers, Diffused, and Suara amongst others..

8. What was the last gig you played at that gave you goosebumps? 
NYE at Kinetik was massive for me! Absolutely loved the crowd there. 

9. Do you get much downtime if so how do you spend it?
I don’t actually have downtime apart from when I’m sleeping. I am a bit of a workaholic, but to be honest it’s not really work when you enjoy it is it?

10.To those wanting to get into the industry and make it as a DJ what three pieces of advice would you give them?
1. Be nice to people! 
2. Learn to produce music. It’s the only way to progress. Learning to do it all yourself is the key to longevity in the industry.
3. Make and play the music YOU love and stick to it. It takes a long time and people do give in but it’s those that stick at it and have that passion that will get to where they want to be.

Guest blog: Toolroom Records interview with Pete Tong

Where in the world are you right now?
 
In London in bed recovering from a blitz in Italy…
 
Your latest release the ‘Headstrong EP’ has just dropped on Toolroom, tell us a little about it…
 
It’s the results of a long summer and some great sessions at my studio with Paul Rogers. I think we have finally discovered our sound and are starting to get on a bit of a roll. Between the travelling and the remixes, N.E.R.D, Bryan Ferry & Japanese Popstars recently, it always takes a bit longer than I would like but we get there in the end and we have a saying in this game…its ready when it’s ready! ‘Headstrong EP’ is available now on Beatport
 
How did you first get involved with Toolroom?
 
A bit of a joke between Mark and I about keeping it Kent! We are all from the same area and I thought it would be good karma for my first music with Paul Rogers to come out on a label from my home county!…I like the attention to detail at Toolroom I think they have adapted to the new market faster than most.
 
As a renowned tastemaker in electronic music you need to continually find the freshest tracks, how do you source music and do you still get that same buzz you used to when you discover a real hidden gem?
 
A lot of listening and talking and reading and connecting. Music comes at me from all sorts of ways but primarily talking to other DJ’s and producers is the best source.
 
Which track has been the highlight of your sets this year?
 
From my own stuff I think WHAT has been the biggest revelation in terms of a really fresh sound that people only now are starting to get their heads round… it’s the biggest tune for me now in December and it came out in May! Also I am so happy with our mix of Phoenix “Love Like A Sunset” I picked the track off the album and called Zdar and asked if I could have the parts… it’s a continuation of parts 1 & 2 , a tribute so we called it part 3! It closed most nights at Wonderland in the summer…I hope it comes out now that this track in its original form features in the new Sophia Coppola movie “Somewhere”
 
Where can we find you playing this New Years Eve?
 
I’m actually going to take the night off with my wife! She’s very happy, first time in about 20 years !! Having said that I’m playing in Punta Del Este on the 30th Dec and 4th Jan 2011.
 
What New Years resolution will you be making?
 
Don’t get distracted! Stay on track….
 
What have you got planned for 2011?
 
An early trip to India, a new Wonderland Mix album for Miami and more music. Watch this space….

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