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I was recording songs in kind of a dance
way seeing as I was recording in my bedroom and not in a studio,
after making 2 or 3 songs I played them to my friends and
everyone thought they were fantastic so I thought I ought
to take the next step and get a band together and see if it
works. I ended up doing the two things separately I did the
recording of the album on my own in the bedroom and then playing
live with the rest of the band but its been a blessing because
it sounds so much different live than it does to the recorded
versions.
Do you think that guitar bands recording
on computers is going to take off??
Well yeah we're seeing more and more people
getting into it, most musicians stick to what they know but
after they try using a computer they prefer them to the more
traditional studio recording.
What made you pick the sample you used
on Death Of A Raver?
Well during the kind of "rave"
period around the early to mid 90's when it was really kind
of humongous I used to hang around with people that were into
that scene and quite into their drugs and thing and everyone
used to have a chill out CD and mine was an Astrid Gilberto
CD that had that song on it, then about a week before I went
out and bought my computer I was in a friends car and they
were playing that song and I was sit in the back and I could
hear a different song using that song I thought I'm gonna
sample it and it worked really well, the original song is
nothing like the way I have used it, it was in different keys
different time .. everything!
Death Of A Raver is a powerful title could you just clarify
the meaning?
Hahaha yea well to be honest with you nobody
has quibbled with me as yet I kind of thought it may upset
some people, the whole song is an observation about things
that went on 10 years ago and the amounts of drugs that were
going on with the people of that time, I never really participated
as much as them I was more on the sidelines as these people
kind of destroyed there brains and stuff, it just interests
me to see these people now working 9 to 5 drinking beer and
10000 brain cells lighter so it's not really to do with someone
going out and dieing it's got nothing to do with that, it's
more the death of a time. It's worked out really weird you
know with all the media going on about cream having to close
down it's just really weird that it's happening as Death Of
A Raver is coming out. I have always been quite a big fan
of dance music in general, it was more against the negative
things in that the time that were created it was such a crazy
Fu**in' time. You can only see something when you have passed
it for awhile. And now dance music is kind of dieing!
How do you feel about that you said you
were quite a fan of that scene?
I'm a fan in the terms that I like Air and
Daft Punk, I'm a fan of the innovators rather than the people
who take that on and make more money from it, I don't really
feel dance music will die I just think everything comes in
cycles music always work in cycles, I think it will just go
through a difficult time.
So how is the album coming along?
Yeah it's pretty much finished we are just
juggling the tracks around and it should be out next February
I think it's gonna be a special record I've almost killed
my self recording it trying to put all the best stuff I could
possibly do on to the record, so there has been a high level
of quality control used.
Have you used any more samples on the
album?
Yes, I've used one other sample on it, I
did have a couple of other samples but then I found out how
expensive it was! But the next single that comes out in October
is called Girl From Alaska and that has got another sample
on it by the same guy that wrote the Astrid Gilberto sample.
But the next single is a bit more twisted and darker than
Death of a Raver.
Who have you worked with on the Album producer wise?
Me basically, I kind of did it in my bedroom
which is basically like a box room and I gave the masters
to the record company and thought I hope they don't ask me
to re-master is or engineer it or work with a producer and
they said yea it's great. I have to admit I was a little insecure
about it cause I wasn't sure if it was good enough but then
my record company did a press for garbage and one day I got
a phone call from Butch Vig from Garbage who's the drummer
who produced Nevermind and he said that he really loved my
tunes and he thought the recordings were fantastic, as soon
as I heard that from him I thought well it must be ok so I
didn't worry anymore. It gave me a lot more flexibility I
suppose the only draw back is the sort of thing that you get
with working with a band in a rehearsal room but this way
it's great because I get that as well.
When you play live do you try and emulate
what you have created in the studio or are you a lot more
willing to adapt things?
Well on some of the stuff we do and some
we don't I would say the general rule was that everything
gets a lot heavier when we play live and more dynamic when
we play live, we still use some of the samples and loops on
backing mini disk but we generally just rock out on everything
a bit more. People tend to love it as well the difference
from the live sound to the recorded sound. I think you have
to capture something different in the studio and it's like
Death of a Raver, I've had so many people from studios saying
to me what kind of compressors did you use on that and which
live room did you use on that but there isn't any of that
it's just me being a bit more creative with a computer.
What tips would you give to unsigned
artists choosing software to use?
Well I actually don't think that the software
is that important and by that I mean there are so many different
packages like logic, cubase, pro-tools and I have used all
of them and I don't find there is too much difference between
all of them. I Guess my biggest tip to an artist recording
in this is don't ever let the software control you, the software
is only a tool it can't write a song for you it can't make
you sing properly it cant make people move emotionally. A
lot of my friends that write music with software spend twiddling
around with all the effects and pissing around. That's my
biggest tip, at the end of the day it's the songs that you
make that are important and the lyrics are important I don't
think anyone gives a sh*t about how you have recorded it.
When I'm mixing down I always turn off the monitor because
you shouldn't be looking at anything really.
Have you got any plans for a tour?
Yeah we have got some plans no one has filled
me in on who we are supporting as yet but as far as I know
we are touring in October and November and I'm sure there
will be some more bits and bobs going on around that time.
If you want to catch Slo-Mo before
October they are headlining at the Monarch in London on the
12th of August.
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