Bringing the drums to the dancefloor
Tomek, Ashley welcome to DMCWORLD Magazine boys. Massive tune smashing up dancefloors right now ‘Tom Toms’ out on Fools Gold – talk us through this little corker…
“‘Tom Toms’, part of the ‘Tom Toms’ EP which also features ‘Italian Spiderman’ and ‘Bear Bang’, is a track all about Tom Tom drums which has a jacking groove featuring several tuned tom tom sounds, our broken drum machine and lots of
bass!”
You were both at the same school together and making music separately – what did you think of each others music you were creating?
“Probably embryonic and directionless. Hopefully we have got a bit better since then.”
How did you first discover dance music – who were the early DJs and clubs you were rocking about in?
“We were kids in the late 90s so we were surrounded by lots of DnB and house; Daft Punk, Leftfield, Basement Jaxx, Deep Dish, Photek, LTJ Bukem. Being a bit too young for clubbing we both used to record the Essential Mix on Radio 1 and listen to pirate radio.”
If you hadn’t pursued a career in music, what do you think you would have ended up doing?
“I’d be a doctor and Ashley would be a lawyer.”
Right. Sure. Okay, well what does each of you bring to the studio, in other words, who is good at what?
“We have a fairly freestyle approach in the studio. Ashley is great at the high brow and I enjoy the low brow work.”
Who were your early musical influences?
“Classical music, soul, funk and disco. Modern dance music influences would be lots of American and French house and early drum and bass.”
What is the current top 10 you are spinning?
Foster The People “Don’t Stop” (Oliver Remix)
Q-Tip “Work It Out” Disclosure Booty call edit
B Traits “Fever” (Eats Everything mix)
Alex Metric “Rave Weapon”
Sinden “Pull Up Wheel Up”
His Majesty Andre “Spades” (Keith + Supabeatz mix)
Zinc “Goin In” (Foamo remix)
Hot Chip “Night and Day” (2 Bears remix)
NAPT & Fireflowerz “Connect”
Udachi “Put Down De Gun” (NAPT mix)
Bobby Tank “Afterburner”
How would you describe your production style right now?
“Left of centre club based action. Bass and snare drums. Keyboard parts on old synths. Touching on indie dance, electro and bass music.”
Who are the producers around the world you are giving high fives to at the moment?
“Eats Everything, T.E.E.D, ONRA, Disclosure, Joe Goddard, Peo De Pitte, Foamo, Zinc, Supabeats and Keith, Reset! Bobby Tank, Justin Martin, Rudimental, SCNTST, Flosstradamus, Russ Chimes, Alex Metric.”
A busy six months under your belt, what is coming next studio wise from you…?
“We have some more exciting EPs coming out soon… We also have remixes coming out for Elektropusher on Cheap Thrills, Udachi on Party Like Us, Far Too Loud on Bazooka and Plump DJ’s on Grand Hotel.”
It may not be good for our image, but NAPT really like…
“Phil Collins drum solos and chick lit.”
What are the big gigs you are looking forward to this summer?
“The festival season is always an exciting time – hard to pick one!”
What is the one record that once you heard it, you knew you just HAD to produce music?
“Daft Punk ‘Da Funk’.”
What means the most to you; winning the awards, support from top selectors or the feedback from the dancefloor?
“If you spend time making a piece of music and other people like it then that is probably the best thing of all!”
What are the plans for your Red Sugar Records in 2012?
“We just released the Russ Chimes mix of our track “Bass” and have some more remixes of other tracks coming up from Baxta, Jay Robinson and Blaze Tripp and some fresh new material from ourselves.”
And finally, who would you love to get into the studio and collaborate with?
“Prince, Diplo, Jay Z, Grace Jones, Daft Punk and Giorgio Moroder.”
