Brett Gould

Currently sat in the Beatport Top 100 with his ‘Drum Machine’ EP out on Solardo’s Sola imprint, Brett is renowned for releasing on some of the most respected labels in the business. His flawless production techniques, thundering basslines and deep overtones have resulted in releases on Solid Grooves, Twisted Fusion, Simma Black and Snatch! In fact, Riva Starr asked Brett to mix Snatch’s ‘Best of 2017’ compilation to end last year. Now bringing the crux of his sound to Glasgow Underground, ‘Mess With The Freak’ represents a vision that Brett has been building up since his 2016 ‘Body Language’ release which gained support from Claude Von Stroke, Lee Foss and Denny to name a few. The cogs are certainly starting to turn for Brett’s 2018, oh, and he has a release lined up on Idris Elba’s 7 Wallace label for March! We thought it about time we checked in with the main man…

 

Hi Brett, how’s it going? A release on Sola, now Glasgow Underground, is it safe to say you’re feeling inspired in the studio at the minute?

I’m sweet as a nut! I can honestly say that I’ve never felt more inspired about music than I do right now. The past year for me has been big in terms of learning what works on the dancefloor so I just want to try out as many things as I can. I know what my strengths are with music production and just need to keep playing to them.

‘Mess with the Freak’ comes out as a double A-side with ‘Hurry Up’, are you excited about its release? Has the feedback been positive so far?

It’s been huge. Monki played the track on Radio 1 before it was even signed so I knew there was something going on with it. It’s been supported by Steve Lawler, De La Swing, Roger Sanchez, Danny Howard, Prok & Fitch, Mat.Joe, Nightwave, Mark Knight, Pirupa and loads more. Monki played it again this weekend so very happy days! I’m really excited as it’s a slightly different sound too – it’s not straight up tech-house.

Can you tell us about the production behind ‘Mess with the Freak’? How did that tune come about?

I like to think about the journey of my sets when I’m writing first and knew this could be something that really played with people’s head on the dance floor. I always go deep into my sample searching and found someone talking about how they produced music and frequencies. Straight away I knew it would work once pitched with various effects on it. The bass was influenced by Sasha’s ‘Out Of Time.’ The drums I made first but kept them really clean and groovy. I’m very happy how the top end of the sound turned out.

‘Mess with the Freak’ Beatport Pre-order: http://bit.ly/2stnncJ

And ‘Hurry Up’ – did you always have the idea of the track in your head or was it a spontaneous studio session?

This is the weird thing actually ‘Hurry Up’ I was looking for a synth sound idea. Then I heard the vocal and thought ‘that’s a hook.’ So, I put it in straight away – it was really of the cuff! As the vocal is a bit cheeky, I kept the whole track a bit more fun so the electro plucks came in and the track grew into a more housier vibe.

‘Hurry Up’ Traxsource Pre-order: http://bit.ly/2CiXPyC

You released on Glasgow Underground when it relaunched nearly 7 years ago now, is the sound and style of the label one that you admire?

I literally play everything they sign in terms of it’s house sound. Kevin McKay is a top A & R guy. He discovered Mylo with his previous label Breast Fed and signs some real quality house. I speak to the top guys in this game and there’s massive respect for the label. It’s seen as a really cool imprint, so it’s great to be part of GU’s history. There’s no surprise that the label is growing in stature.

Which other labels do you aspire to release on, are there any that influence you from a studio perspective to playing live and being a DJ?

Hot Trax, Hot Creations, Relief, 2020 Vision, Toolroom, Defected, DFTD, True Soul, Knee Deep In Sound, Moon Harbour, Kaluki, Dirty Bird, Edible, Elrow, LNOE and Suara. Unfortunately we’re in a game that is saturated so you have to be signed to the big guns to get the best gigs. Different artists inspire me to push the boundaries of my performance and take my sets to a more live level like Kink and Saytek. As I said previously I see a set as a journey, so different labels have their particular sound for my journey within my sets. Some would be deeper and others for the bangers. I’m in a good place as I work closely with Riva Starr’s Snatch Records, Solardo’s Sola label and the Solid Grooves guys. In a way you have different sounds there which are crowd and club dependent.

Are there any other future releases you can tell us about at the minute? Is there anything else in the pipeline for you?

Yeah man. I’m actually working with Idris Elba’s label 7Wallace. They’ve put out some really cool tracks including the Andrea Olivia remix of Idris Elba – ‘Make It Bump’. So, look out for my ‘Get Down’ E.P end of March. Huxley’s on the remix as we speak so looking forward to hearing that. He’s a great artist and again is a little diverse which I like. I’m also remixing Paolo Martini for his label so this should all be finalised in the next few weeks.


You’re also taking your sound to Teatro in Leeds soon, looking forward to playing that show?

I can’t wait to get back up there. I have all this new music to play so that always inspires me. The last one was so much fun and I was just getting over the flu so couldn’t party as much. This time I’ll be on the dancefloor after my set!

When playing live, is there one track that always seems to make its way into your set?

‘House Music is’ always works at the right time. I honestly didn’t realise quite how big that record was. ‘Play’ by Riva Starr, Dennis Cruz and Gene Farris. It’s a great groove and gives me time to think and see where the set is going

Finally, for those that don’t know you’re also currently taking a degree. Can you tell us about that?

I started it 3 years ago as I wanted to immerse myself in music. It’s a BA in Popular Music. I’m in my 3rd year and it’s tough from an academic point of view. It looks at different music cultures and the theorists of music who are wrong and right with their views. It covers record contracts, marketing, live recording and production. My thesis is going to be on artist management. It’s a massive challenge. I actually think my DJ career will take off even further once this is finished as I can completely focus on one thing not 200!

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