Gorgon City - Interview

We caught up with London based, House and Garage duo Gorgon City to find out a little more about the new single 'Ready For Your Love', that has been found itself a regular on radio playlists all over the UK.  The duo consist of Kye Gibbon and Matt Robson-Scott; who are both heavily inspired by the British electronic scene and had a lot of experience in the profession before collaborating in 2012 and fusing the sound of Gorgon City. The guys told us about the process of their album due for release in June, as well as the antics that happened in Ibiza last year.

Contactmusic.com: Hi Matt and Kye, how are you?
Kye: Yeah we are all good thanks; we are just relaxing today as we have a gig later.

CM: It's been a long time coming for your new single 'Ready For Your Love' was it always the plan to release it after Christmas?
Matt: We made the song in June 2013, and we would have liked the song out a little earlier, but it all just comes to planning and it's that stuff that holds you back. It took a while for it to be ready, but it feels like it's a good time to be released now.

Kye: Yeah, We have been feeling a bit anxious, just due to the anticipation really. The reception has been massive and we were just really looking to get it released. 

CM: Did you expect such an early single to be so well received?
Kye: Oh no way, it was such a surprise, and at the same time it was so exciting. I think having MNEK on it was a big part as there's a lot of love and respect for him. We are still so surprised about the amount of love it got.

CM: Talking about MNEK how was he to work with?
Matt:  He really is amazing. It's just crazy how talented he is, and he is so young. He has done some great work so far, and he's a phenomenal song-writer, literally every take he does is fantastic. He's a good producer as well; he understands how to mix his vocals in the studio to get the best out of them. We enjoyed working with him so much that we have actually got him doing vocals on a few more tracks on the album. 

Kye: He's someone we would like to write with and keep collaborating in the future with. We definitely made a good connection through the music so we will keep working with him.

CM: How much creative control do you mind giving to vocalists?
Kye: We found we worked best with bringing artists into the studio with us whilst we are producing; rather than recording the song and then sending it to them. We like to start most tracks from scratch, so we might turn up with nothing more than a chord progression, sometimes that can be a bit panicked because you think 'well how are we going to make this work' but it works out because you build the track around them and work with each other, and bounce ideas off each other and it really does work well for us. We feel that doing this gives them a lot of free-reign and gets the best out of them. We also work with the artist, and work with their style and our style of production.  It feels more exciting as a producer because you don't really know where the hell the tracks going to go, and might turn out completely different to what you were expecting. It makes the whole music-making experience more organic and we really like to go with the vibes on the day. 

CM: Can you tell us about your new album?
Matt: The new album is coming out in June; we are currently in the process of finishing it. It's got a lot of wicked features and vocalists on there. We have got some great songs with some great song-writers on it, and its coming together nicely. 

Kye: Some people might be surprised to be honest; it's not just a straight up dance album. We've experimented with lots of beats and styles and not just standard house. We are really looking forward to hearing what people think of it. 

Matt: Yeah we worked with Maverick Sabre on a couple of tracks, obviously MNEK is on there. We worked with Laura Welsh . A band called Bi-Polar Sunshine. We worked with a guy called DC.  There are loads of wicked artists on there.

Kye: We are excited!

CM: Can you elaborate a little on your influences whilst you were writing the album?
Kye: We are really into playing house DJ sessions, so we listen to and are inspired by that. Although we are making songs, we try and bring in them influences. Even working with the artists, we try and use that influence on the tracks. Everyone is usually influenced by the music that they grow up listening to, I think we are both interested in the history of UK underground music, Jungle, Drum and Bass and Garage, we are both just influenced by that UK sound. 

CM: You recently finished touring with Rudimental in Australia, how was that?
Matt: It is always a lot of fun partying with them guys. They really do know how to party, and we are going away with them on Monday on our European tour. That should be absolutely crazy. And then we are going away with them again to Australia in March. That's to do a big festival that we are both playing at, so it's just going to be a lot of partying. 

CM: At the moment when you play live, do you DJ or work with a live band too?
Matt: When we play out we DJ. But we are in the process of developing a live show for specialist performances and radio sessions, but it's not quite ready just yet. By May time we will have something a bit more substantial; we are just waiting for the album to be done first.

Kye: At the moment we are just really enjoying Djing and it's what we love. Obviously when the album comes out, and more people know our tracks; we will look into further developing our live set. 

CM: Do you play any instruments?
Matt: I play a little bit of the guitar and keyboard but not too much, mainly just producing. When I was growing up I had piano lessons and guitar lessons. We have developed a really good understanding of producing from what we are into, and we have really detailed visions of how we want to sound. I think that all comes from DJing and working out how different sounds work together, and how you can bring your influences into something and make it sound new. I think if you want to get into production, DJing is a really useful device because even if you are not very musical, there's loads of different stuff to learn through it; especially about making music. 

CM: You had a busy year in 2013, have you got any memorable moments from your first real tour?
Kye: Last Summer in Ibiza, we had a really crazy night; We DJ'ed at Ibiza Rocks, and then Dj'ed at Idris Elba's party. That was pretty mental.  There's an artist called Jess Glynne who we worked with and we ended up having a great night, we just kept partying. That was one of the highlights of the summer.

CM: You ended 2013 with two huge gigs at London & Manchester Warehouse projects; do you prefer playing club nights to festivals?  
Matt: They both have their pros and cons but for me (Matt) nothing really compares to Warehouse projects. It's so f**king intense, and the vibes are unreal. When you play, you are not afraid to play anything you want, because people are so into it, and you can go mad at it. You don't worry if people are going to get it or not. We really like playing places like Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool. The vibe and crowds are just mad up there, you can tell that they are really up for it; and musically they are very open. It's always a really good time up there. 

CM: What does 2014 hold for Gorgon City?
Kye: The year feels like it's all based around the album. When that's released in June, we can't wait to be playing at festivals around the release date. It's going to be such a mad feeling. To finally get the album out there and get people's reactions. We're going abroad a lot, especially the USA. We were absolutely blown away by what we achieved by the end of 2013, and that feels like a warm-up for what 2014 is going to bring. It's going to be exciting!

Thanks for taking the time to do the interview guys. 

Tom Head