The boys from Yorkshire deliver one of the most anticpated artists albums of 2013
Interview : Dan Prince
Guys welcome back to DMCWORLD – where in the world are you both now?
Rich: “Locked in the studio, working on some fresh original material and remixes. Our studio is in Sheffield at Paul’s house and I am just up the road in Leeds.”
Well you are talk of the town once again thanks to your stunning new album ‘Cyclic Operations’ out on November 4th through Toolroom. 14 pieces of music cleverly divided up by a series of interludes –‘Introduction’ with its dark vocals, ‘Intersection’ with its futuristic feel and ‘Intervention’ that is more uplifting and upbeat. Can you talk us through the remaining 11 tracks…
Reverion Paul: “This one’s to ease you into the album gently. We started off with the weird discordant pads, which were originally a sample from an old Amiga game, and the rest of the groove grew around that. We sat on it as an instrumental for a while before finding a vocal sample that fitted with the tripped-out vibe.”
Let Me Tell You Rich: “Featuring the awesome Montserrat on vocals, this track takes things in a deeper, dubbier direction. We kept it simple really – a distant rumble of bass, a spaced out organ sequence and Montserrat’s musings tying it all together.”
We Are One Paul: “We got our white jeans and sequined shirts on for this one and dug out the disco samples! One pitched down a mile into a rumbly sub and a simple reversed chord over the top. The Jesse Jackson “Watts Stax Live” speech has been used plenty of times before, but it sat with the feel of this track so well that we decided to just roll with it.”
Turbine Rich: “This is the only track on the album that has been previously released (on Toolroom’s first Rhythm Distrikt compilation), but it has been a solid fixture in our DJ sets the whole time, and when we were sequencing the album it fitted perfectly.”
Sense in Madness Paul: “We both cut our clubbing teeth in the northern trance superclubs of the early noughties, so we couldn’t resist blending a few of those influences into a track on the album. Getting the balance right took until about version 9 with this one – it was a labour of love!”
Forerunner Paul: “Straight up big-room techno on this one, with a little hint of the 90’s. Also a subtle tribute to one of our favourite sports hidden in the FX, but you’ll need a keen ear to spot it!”
Skuz Paul: “Revisiting the deeper territory of “Let Me Tell You” here, but a slightly tougher take on the same idea, with some fizzy synths and a looped up vocal snippet.”
Ghosts in the Machine Rich: “Ghosts’ was the first of the tracks here that we completed and kind of served as the nucleus that we built the feel of the album around. Classic Spektre – tough, dark and hypnotic, this one does the business on the floors and is also great for being creative with in the live shows!”
Parabolica Paul: “This is a real after-hours monster, about as tough a track as we’ve ever made, but with a few sections of booming, half time drum patterns to break things up.”
Opus Rich: “A percussive, loop-based piano track inspired equally by the old Detroit sounds of Underground Resistance and the driving loop techno of the late 90’s. It’s a bit of a departure from our normal sound, but was really enjoyable to work on.”
Steel City Sunrise Paul: “This was a little vocal/piano cut-up idea that I’d been playing around with rather aimlessly for a while, but we got in the studio together and it crystallized into the perfect closing track for the album.”
One thing I remembered you saying a couple of years back when asked about your music making was you make techno for the dancefloor but the tracks have to have a plot rather than being entirely disposable. Have you achieved that with ‘Cyclic Operations’?
Rich: “Yes, I believe we have. For the second album we set out to create a more club focused album that still displayed our diversity and still told a story. I believe this album strikes a good balance between the club tracks that people would expect from us, and some more interesting elements that show our full spectrum of inspiration and musical taste.”
Paul: “Yeah, agreed – I think with our first record we perhaps tried to be a little “too” diverse. I definitely think we have balanced it just right with this one.”
Tell us about the history of the album. When did you first start creating it and how has the studio process been with you not always being together?
Rich: “The whole process from start to finish has taken about 18 months with about 3 months of that planning and brainstorming the ideas together. Obviously then we had to decide on a label for the release and since then we have been going through the press and promotion stage for about another 4 months.”
Paul: “Yeah, we drew out a big whiteboard full of ideas and influences that we wanted to incorporate before starting anything and then gradually started developing them. As we were living at opposite ends of the country for a fair chunk of the production process, we tended to start on ideas independently, then hole up in the studio for a solid week or so at a time and finish them off together, which took a bit of getting used to but actually made great use of our time in the end.”
Who were the fellow producers you gave sneaky previews to – and what were some of their reactions?
Paul: “We were actually quite secretive with it, just playing tracks to a few trusted friends and occasionally testing things out in our DJ and live sets.”
Now be brave, what is your favourite track on the album for each of you?
Rich: “For me it would be ‘Ghosts In The Machine’ This track very much epitomizes what Spektre is all about – dark, tough techno with a great spacey lead hook that is completely unexpected. This is probably the track I am most proud of and has been getting the best response on the dancefloors.”
Paul: “I think “Steel City Sunrise” for me, as it’s something very different from what we’re known for, but still works really well. Plus it’s an ode to my adopted hometown!”
Were there any tracks that didn’t make the album and were there any arguments over any tracks?
Rich: “One track that didn’t make the album was ‘Erase The Tapes’ which actually ended up getting released on our label Respekt with a Jon Rundell and Luigi Madonna remix. Although we both loved this track we felt it didn’t quite fit the flow of the album and would do really well as a single with remixes. Turns out we were right!”
You have had another crazy summer, gigs all over shop. Where have been some of the standout gigs for you on recent months?
Rich: “I would say the best gig in recent months would definitely have to be Lehmann Club in Stuttgart. It was the perfect sized dirty warehouse style club with low ceiling and it was absolutely packed to the rafters. The sound system was awesome and it had the biggest, most user-friendly DJ booth I have ever encountered. All in all it was just a great night from start to finish. The Germans really know how to make techno clubs. They gave us both a t-shirt at the end of the night that said ‘There Is A Home For Techno’ and I tend to believe them!”
Paul: “Totally agree with Rich about Lehmann. I also just got back from a tour in India and The Crown at Aurus in Mumbai was fantastic. A small club but the place was jumping. India is definitely a scene on the rise.”
Anthem of the summer?
Paul: “Roberto Capuano ‘Vertigo’ on Drumcode has seen some serious hammer from us over the past few months – a perfect blend of an oldskool riff and fresh-sounding production.“
What is the current Top 10 you are spinning?
1.Spektre – Calberfrax (Unsigned)
2.Kalden Bess – Mary Jane (Manic Brothers Remix) (Ground Factory)
3.Chicago Loop – Ascari (Original Mix) (Respekt)
4.Mark Reeve – Metamorph (Original Mix) (MB Elektronics)
5.Spektre – Ghosts In The Machine (Original Mix) (Toolroom)
6.Matt Minimal – Souvenir (Original Mix) (Respekt)
7.Henry Cullen – Double Drop (Original Mix) (
8.Lowkey & Kardinal – Deadly Chords (Original Mix) (Respekt)
9.Mikael Jonasson – Abyss (Original Mix) (Respekt)
10.Doryan Hell – Black Past (Spektre Remix) (EP Digital)
What are the plans for the rest of the year, taking the album on tour – any big gigs coming up?
Rich: “We have some great gigs coming up in Ukraine, France, Germany, and also in Switzerland at the awesome Tresor Club in Basel.”
Paul: “Other than that, we will be locked away in the studio, taking advantage of the harsh British winter to get some fresh material finished and get ahead of ourselves with the label workload!”
And finally – who are some of the hot new producers you have spotted on your travels we should be looking out for in 2014?
Rich: “One producer we are really excited about is Chicago Loop who we have just signed an EP from for our label, Respekt. This UK based producer, whilst not strictly speaking new, is delivering some awesome tracks at the moment and we can’t wait for the release of his EP.”
Spektre’s ‘Cyclic Operations’ album (Toolroom) is released 4th November 2013
Album Teaser Clip: https://soundcloud.com/toolroomrecords/spektre-cyclic-operations-1
Video featuring “Opus” from the album: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcYayqraFbQ
Spektres’s latest podcast episode: https://soundcloud.com/spektrelive/mutual-respekt-109-with?in=spektrelive/sets/spektre-present-mutual-respekt
