The Bristol Bassline boys ripping it up on Defected…
Interview : Dan Prince
Alex, Adam welcome to DMCWORLD, where in the world are you right now?
Hoxton Bar & Grill. Just been to Defected HQ. Heading back to Bristol soon!
You have the DMCWORLD office jumping around right now thanks to your massive ‘Bassline’ EP swinging our way on Defected Records. Talk us through the tracks…
ADAM: I love the way Bassline came together. I had been listening to ‘No Way Back’ by Adonis on loop all day and was feeling the bassline. I got impatient and chucked the vocal and bass over a track we had been working on that morning. Me and Alex threw some fx and samples at it, tweaked it a bit and it was done!
ADAM: With Don’t Want You back we started it as an Idea in my studio, with a really strong synth and bass hook. I played it to Matt (Gorgon City). He loved it and played it at the Rudimental record launch and it went down really well. Matt suggested for us to put a vocal on it and then linked us up with Janai.
ALEX: I think On Point is my favourite track, simply because it was the most fun to write in the studio. We sat down with a load of quite different samples and sounds that shouldn’t really go together and it just worked. It’s an interesting combination of Hip Hop, Techno and House.
The remixes come via Chocolate Puma and Friend Within. Why did you choose these dudes?
ADAM: We chose Friend Within because we really liked what he was doing on dirty bird, his dirty hats and bass style our very similar to ours but he has his own vibe going on! Chocolate Puma are a great example of some wicked, classic deep house. We wanted to appeal to the labels core following and work with someone who would show that. Also, just ran into a mega House Legend at the Defected office who says he is digging the track and wants to have a crack at the remixing the tune. You will have to see wait and see who that is ?????.”
Radio 1 have been all over the tracks, where were you when it was first blasted out on the airwaves?
ALEX: I think I was doing something incredibly boring like sitting at home watching tele, and I got a text from my friend who was driving with the radio on. It said “Radio 1 now!”. It was amazing to hear it played and we owe a lot to B.Traits, Toddla T and Annie Mac for their support. ADAM: Driving around in my beat up car chucking millions of dollars out the window…. Jesse Pinkman style. I’ve been watching far to much Breaking Bad…”
The idea of GotSome is based loosely on Basement Jaxx and The Chemical Brothers. However, as they draw from the latin, funk and electro backgrounds, you reckon you have moved that idea ten years forward and are drawing from hip hop, drum n’ bass and break beat. Discuss…
ALEX: Basement Jaxx and The Chemical Brothers are always pushing boundaries in someway or another, whether it’s in the combining of different ideas or in their sound design. We’re looking to take influence from their aesthetic, to combine our favourite elements from the music we love and grew up listening to.
You have been recording as two parts of Forget Me Not who saw releases on imprints such as Hypercolour’s Losing Suki and Alfresco Disco Records. So why GotSome now, why the move into a duo?
ADAM: The music we made under Forget Me Not was really good and we had a lot of fun making it, but with Geoff moving to London it was always going to be hard to carry it on and spend time in the studio together due to the distance and time constraints. With me and Alex still in Bristol we decided to start a new project.
A huge weekend under way down at Brisfest where you have played alongside Jamie Anderson, Waifs & Strays and Just Jack. Highlights of the weekend…?
ALEX: I really enjoyed watching the Boxettes on Sunday afternoon. They’re a five piece female acappella group that create an incredibly rich and produced sound purely with layered vocals and beatbox.
ADAM: Addison Groove (Headhunter set) & Kahn & Neek aka ‘Gorgon Sound’ they both smashed it.
Biggest tune of your set?
ADAM: Its pretty self promoting, but our track ‘Heart Starts’ is getting the best reaction at the minute. It’s out on Defected at the start of 2014!
So let’s rewind, swinging back more than a decade when you met on the Bristol clubbing scene, Adam you enlisted Alex’s skills of adding some orchestral strings to a hip hop track of yours. What’s the story there?
ALEX: I’d just finished a course on composing for film and had done a lot of scoring to picture so we were really interested to see how that could be translated and combined with a dark hip hop tune. We kind of developed our working relationship from there. There was a period where everything had moody strings in it!
ADAM: Yeah, we linked through our mutual friend Steve. I was making hip hop with him at the time. We met at party, Alex asked for the track and offered to lay some strings down. Its was really good. Fuck knows where it is now. I’d love to find it… thats how it all began.
Who were your musical influences as teenagers, who were the artists that first sucked you into our dance music world?
ALEX: Initially for me it was the Brazilian by Genesis. That track still gives me goosebumps. But later on, it was hearing Orbital, and seeing the Prodigy, Chemical Brothers and Goldie at Phoenix ’96 that really kick started my love of electronic music. ADAM: For me its Massive Attack, Fresh Four, Dj Die & Jody Wisternoff (Sub Love), Tom & Jerry (4 Hero) and listening to my mums early Acid House/Rave tapes.
What is the current top 10 you are spinning?
ADAM: GotSome Top Ten
1.GotSome – Bassline (Friend Within Mix) – Defected
2. NYTA – 95 – Lobster Boy
3. GotSome – Heart Starts – Defected
4. Storm Queen – Look Right Through (MK II Mix) Ministry/Defected
5. Breach – Jack (Mak & Pasman Mix) Ninja/Atlantic
6. GotSome – On Point – Defected
7. Infinity Ink – Infinity (Skream’s Mix)
8. Route 94 – Tell Me Why
9. GotSome – Don’t Want You Back Ft Janai – Defected
10. Addison Groove & Die – Morro Dub – Gutterfunk
In your opinion, is today’s crop of Bristolian producers the most important since the first wave of the likes of Massive Attack, Smith & Mighty and Portishead – who are some of your favourite fellow producers?
ADAM: Redlight, Julio Bashmore, & Eats Everything are all as important. They appeal to the next generation we which as we all know is our future!
Tell us about your studio relationship, who brings what to the table – who excels where?
ALEX: We have very different roles in the studio. Adam is really good at coming up with hooks and keeping an eye on the bigger picture of the track. Whilst I like to go in to the intricate details, programming and fills. We tend to work pretty quick. Getting the bones of a track down in an afternoon, but then chipping away at the mix over a month or so. 9 times out of 10, the best tunes just come together really quickly without you even thinking about it. Those are good days! But then other times it’s just not working, so you have to put it to one side and move on. I think every producer or band goes through that.
ADAM: I go out DJing and get ideas. Then in my studio i’ll put some hooks and beats together and we’ll meet up a couple of times a week. Being able to get out and see how our tunes are working is great because I can get a feel for what the scene is doing and bring the feedback to the master engineer.
You are always on the lookout for new singers to work with, who are some of the people you are working with at the moment?
ADAM: We are working with loads of people but you will have to wait to find out who they are
Your dream gig you admit would be a headline slot at Glastonbury. What is your funniest ever festival story?
ALEX: The problem with festivals is that you can’t remember all the best bits! I vaguely remember some comedy times at Secret Garden Party a few years back involving a Clark Kent outfit and a Big Wheel, but the details elude me. ADAM: I’ve got loads. It’s far too early in the day to be disclosing them.
It’s your birthday, who are the 2 DJs you invite to play and what singer do you get down to sing you Happy Birthday?
ALEX: Is there any other choice for a happy birthday singer than Stevie Wonder?! I can’t think of a better one. Maybe Lionel Richie. I bet he’d belt out a good happy birthday… ADAM: Id get Alex to dress up as Jimi Saville (theres a story behind this) and do a PA with Brandon Block and Jumpin Jack Frost on the decks.
What is each other’s most annoying habit?
ALEX: Adam often tries to finish my sentences when we’re working. And looses focus just before lunch when he’s hungry!
ADAM: Alex is the biggest geek I know and loves the finer details wayyyyyy too much. But it wouldn’t work without it.
Best Bristol club night ever?
ALEX: Drive By at Level in the late 90s/early 2000s. Those were the golden years for DnB in Bristol. ADAM: Most recent was the Dirtybird night at Motion. Was sick.
And finally, word on the grapevine is that there are two further EPs coming out on Defected later this year, what can you tell us?
ALEX: We’re really excited about the material we’ve got coming up. Looking at the schedule, it might not be until the beginning of next year, but we’ve got some absolute belters we’re really looking forward to playing out.
| https://soundcloud.com/gotsome |
