Two producers leading the new Dubai dance music explosion with a track all over Radio 1
Interview by Dan Prince
Olly, Greg welcome to DMCWORLD – where in the world are you today?
Pleasure to get involved, currently writing this from beside a chilled pool surrounded by palm trees on the Dubai coastline. Only joking, we’re in a dark box like room making beats, but outside it’s exactly like that!
What was the first piece of music you two heard this morning after rolling out of bed?
I pretty much wake up every morning with a song in my head without turning anything on. Today was no different with a loop from Gnarls Barkley ‘Crazy’ on repeat, when finally firing up the sound system, I slapped on the new track from EDX ‘Belong’… love that sh*t
Well guys, ‘Surrounded By Bass’ our Buzz Chart team are all over your latest piece of production. Talk us through the sound and history of the track…and has it really taken you by surprise as you stated on Facebook?
It genuinely has surprised us, the bass music scene, especially the one with clear UK influence hasn’t really penetrated the Middle East region yet, so whilst we make our own blend of UKG and House that has been successful, things like ‘Surrounded’ kind of happen in the studio when we’re struggling with writing and end up simply mucking about with basslines and stupid voices. We love it, but you are kind of aware this stuff stays on a hard drive for your own enjoyment sometimes!! Haha…perhaps we should clean out more folders, we’ve got a big pile of this vibe
Who are some of the leading DJs/producers you’ve enjoyed seeing giving you the thumbs up for the track?
Any support from radio helps us massively, so it’s always sick when the likes of Mistajam, Annie Nightingale (BBC Radio One) and Coco Cole (Capital FM) give us love on UK airwaves. As the track is unsigned, we’ve still not felt the full potential of getting it into the clubs. All our other music is out on Universal, so it’d be interesting to see what someone more niche could do with our reputation and a track like this; we’re waiting for the right offer basically then it can let rip, but I think it’s got legs.
As you mentioned, you are based in Dubai…for so long such a barren territory for dance music, but these last few years a great little scene is emerging. Big DJs, a real clubbing community…tell us about it all…
It’s evolved immensely, I’m currently working alongside various government departments to truly embrace the creative cultural revolution that is happening across the Emirate. It’s an exciting place to be, tonight I’ll be catching up with EDX, Krafty Cuts, A Skills & Felix Jaen, last week it was Dâm Funk and Sander Kleinenberg; there’s a wealth of international talent flocking in, but what we have to measure is what they leave behind. There’s always the temptation for a wealthy scene to simply be perceived as a ‘cash cow’ as part of an international touring schedule; what we have to put in place here is a scene good enough that it captures the imagination of touring artists and educates and evolves the music space in the UAE rather than just sucking out all its cash and disappearing. That’s my mission, and that’s a lot of what Hollaphonic is about, exposing regional emerging talent through our own success, and the worldwide industry seems to be embracing that….Stay tuned basically the plot thickens.
How did the whole Dubai residency come about?
Ambition ultimately, we both moved here to embrace new opportunities and give ourselves a challenge. The weather is a factor, but this quickly evolves into a realization that the UAE allows for you to be entrepreneurial and for you to innovate and create new opportunities, so that’s what we tapped into, using our passion for creating and performing music we became the first Electronic act to be signed to a major in the entire MENA region, so with that came the newfound responsibility to represent and grow the scene. Although it’s an embryonic one, it is massive in terms of population, land and passion…so we are very excited about being (a small) part of its international growth.
What are the 5 big tunes in your box this weekend…
Hollaphonic – Dangerous ft. Vince Kidd
Another new one from us that has been killing it on airwaves and club systems for a few months and is out next week on UMG. Proper funky sundowner vibe.
EDX – Belong
We’re fans of most stuff coming out of the ‘Helvetic Nerds’ camp. This tune properly crosses boundaries right now, and allows us evolve our set perfectly, a great vocal and brilliant for uplifting early on in the set.
Diplo & Sleepy Tom – Be Right There
In the seemingly endless attack on 90’s hooks, this stands out as a winner for us right now and has enough meat in its future bass to snap through the speakers and change the atmosphere.
Watermat ft Becky Hill – All My Love (Mike Mago Remix)
The Watermat bassline is ill, combine that with the funk in Becky’s vocal and you’ve got a pop winner. Mike Mago has managed to change this up so it fits perfectly within a building house set.
Anton Powers & Phillip George – Alone No More (Ferreck Dawn Remix)
This tune has come out of nowhere and grown into a monster on the dancefloors, the Ferreck Dawn remix rolls nicely and the production has perfect ebbs and flows whilst still be musical (which is how we like our bass!).
Speaking of Facebook, you describe yourselves as the following…”We breathe musical fire on your ear dragons, we live with wolves and eat from the tables of giants, we are HOLLAPHONIC… and lets get messy…” – so when was the last time you two got really messy out in clubland?
We’ve managed to have a bit of a chill period hidden away in Dubai as its been pretty hot over the past months and we’ve been locked away making new music. Miami in April was pretty special though, we caught up with the Red Bull gang in the Guesthouse and basically pushed our bodies to the limit meeting as many heads as possible, which soon dissipated from great heights, raving at the SLS with the Nervo girls and generally causing trouble…same again next year and we’ll be looking to spin a few nights as well.
How important is breaking into the UK and European market for you guys?
Those scenes are part of our history, so it seems only natural that we focus on them as we create and perform overseas; however the US market has equally shown support for our sound, and we’ve worked with some big names recently, with noises coming out early 2016 that will blow everyones mind.
So we pop round to yours after the club – an embarrassing record you hide from us?
My first album was ‘Ice Ice Baby’ so I wouldn’t hide sh*t from anyone cause I’m gangster… but I do have a platinum record from my time working at EMI in the UK, which is for ‘Hey Baby’ by DJ Otzi, that would be worth hiding for anyone that cares about their image too much!
Loved your involvement in the Ray-Ban ‘Order Of Never Hide’ campaign. Must have been a wee bit awkward dressed as a boy scout though?
If it was back in the UK it would’ve probably been easier, as you can imagine there’s a huge amount of cultures in one place here in the UAE, so knocking on doors dressed as a boy scout selling cookies didn’t go down well with everyone, we had to edit out a few moments to say the least!
Noel Gallagher’s dressing room. Discuss.
I will never discuss!
You have performed alongside some mighty artists in the Middle East – who has impressed you the most?
Our first gig was to 40,000+ at the Dubai World Cup Horse Race, and we opened for Seal… that will never be beaten for the sheer mind blowing “what is happening” emotion that just swept us through that amazing moment. He was a legend too, dancing beside the stage and chatting with us about our music after, proper dude. Your first big gig always stays with you.
Anthem of the summer?
We did a remix for a Sigma & Ella Henderson track called ‘Glitterball’ and why would we suggest anyone else music eh!… seriously though, it went down a treat across the planet so we’re very proud of the platform that gave us to push our original music further, which is why we are here now!
How do you excel in the studio – who is best at what?
It started off as Greg on the engineering side and myself (Olly) songwriting, then us both producing. Now it’s literally split down the middle, although I’m still developing technically, we both work closely to build a sound and love the process of debating, high fiving, criticizing and then delivering the banger.. Its all about team work, we wanted to do this together, so that’s what we do across everything, it’s a solid pairing
When was the last time you had a big argument about music? We don’t really argue about the music, we argue about writing emails, grammar and our rider… the rest is f**kin beautiful
If you could change one thing about the clubbing / music scene in Dubai – what would it be?
We tend to not think about what we could change, where we can we just go ahead and make it happen. So right now, we want the world to acknowledge there is a scene here, we have over 40 producers making a wide range of music; so as people fly in and out, they have the unique ability to make connections and start evolving an exciting new scene, so do it… don’t just leave. All this chat makes me want to start an imprint; maybe that’s what we do. Ultimately, we want to change everything, so its good that DMC are now part of that journey!
And finally, what is coming out next from you studio wise? We’ve got a stack of 20+ tunes that are either ready to go or need a few finishing touches, currently ‘Dangerous’ comes out on October 2nd, Surrounded by Bass needs the right label and we’ve got a new SMASH called ‘Turn the Lights Down’ that you’ll hopefully be hearing on radio in the near future. Onwards and Upwards
Thanks guys, appreciate your time.
Big up DMCWORLD, respect the effort you’re making in searching for new noise, everyone from #MyDubai salutes you…
http://www.wearehollaphonic.com/
