We spent the time of our conversation in a very loose atmosphere after Jeff and Sparr finished their set at Roxy, Prague. They were very satisfied and enthusiastic and while they were talking, a bottle of vodka and some spliffs were consumed ;) This version is shortened because of various reasons :)
Dan, why didn't you come yesterday to Ostrava?
I was indisposed and nobody needs to nose…
How did you like it yesterday in Ostrava, Jeff?
I was telling Sparr earlier. It was one of the best gigs I've played at for a long long while… Really good man! Really really good! I got a crowd reaction that I haven't in a long while… I really liked it.
What about tonight?
Tonight it was wicked as well man! Damn good! I guess Europe is like touch'n'go. Certain places in Europe are really bangin'! You know what I mean? We played in Poland, Slovenia, Estonia… Eastern Europe…they're just in it man! The life there is probably not as easy than in Western Europe, but that's what makes the difference. The people are like: " Yeah man!!" I play for money, but I fucking come out and party… It's a big thing. The weekend comes around and the people just wanna have a good time. None of this ego shit.
So how different is it in the UK?
I just said it. The egos, you know. You look good, you wear a nice shirt… Not that London is bad or anything but here it's about the music. In London, you have Ed Rush, Andy C, Hype, Fabio all in one night… Here you have one DJ on Friday night and it's like a big thing, you know. You appreciate it a lot more.
What's the ideal length of a set for you?
2 and a half hours. We haven't played for as long in a long while…
So you don't really get to play as long in the UK?
We only play one hour… Religiously only one hour… In London you get to hear all the famous DJs during a night so there's no time to play longer, but when you go abroad you're the headliner. When you've got more time, you can play what you want, you can be more versatile. When you play one hour, it's like a rush hour…you know what I mean?
Did you know about the Czech scene anything before you
came here?
The first time we've heard of it was when Andy C came back and he said it was wicked. But we don't know any producers or anything. But I got a CD from someone yesterday, what was the name again? Fatalerr?
How do you feel about new talented producers emerging all over the world, outside of the UK?
That's a good question…we really like that question… Ok, next question :) … There's a great potentiall in them. It's healthy right now… We went to Australia at the beginning of the year and we heard a tune, you know Pendulum – Vault? And we were like: „Yeah, that's a good tune“ and when we got back, everyone was playing it. We travell the world and we get to hear lots of stuff from many different people, computer and software based stuff, and we're like: „That's cool“ … We've heard so much stuff… Like the Pendulum thing, it's got a totally new sound. But the point was: worldwide there are a lot of talents like Hive, Dieselboy, Concord Dawn, Black Sun Empire, Pendulum, AK 1200, whoose production is really fucking good and it's healthy for the music.
How's RAM Records doing?
It's good, it's established, independent… It's probably the strongest it's ever been. If something comes out on RAM, youn know it's gonna be of good quality.
Are there any new people coming out on RAM?
Yeah, you heard the first tune we played tonight, with the guitars? In six months' time it's gonna be out on RAM. Fucking heavy metal! It's good!
Was that a CD or a dubplate? I liked it a lot!
It was a dubplate…
I heard you're pretty big movie fans…
Yeah! Bring on the movie questions! :)
What movie did you like in the past few weeks or months?
In the last few months? The Ring! But we take our influences from old movies. Old movies are the best. And the reason why is, they're low budget and there's this cheesyness… When I see an old movie and I really like it, it gives me something that I haven't actually grown up with, 'cause I'm too young… And it gives me inspiration…like: „Fuck, I wanna make a tune, which represents what it's all about“ , because they didn't have anything and they were pushing it to the limit. A good question…
Do you like Blade Runner?
Blade Runner? Yeah, fuck, of course, BR's a fucking classic!!
Well, the interesting thing is, I asked a lot of producers and DJs if they liked BR and everyone said yes…
Yeah, 'cause BR was a movie which was one step ahead of what the fuck was to come… It really was, and when you look at the date when it was made… For me, that's excellent!
Have you read the book „Do androids dream of electric sheep“?
No man…anyway, next question :)
So how exactly do the movies influence you & your music?
I was just saying it… We're trying to give someone a vision of what we're trying to say…it's hard to explain… It's easy for a lot of people to make a beat and make it sound heavy and hard, but we're trying to take it one step further, and to do that, we have to focus on what we're good at. What we're trying to create with our music is more than just sound, we're trying to create an image and a picture. For me…you know Neo, the tune by Hive? That's got such a picture! You can hear the sound and it produces an image. You know what I mean? There's a close link between tunes and movies.
What hardware do you use?
Emulators, software, live instruments. Whatever we can get our hands on… Bongos, guitars… We're building our own studio right now, building it off the floor… Come in a year man, we'll have a lot of new stuff!
What do you think about D'n'B live bands?
They're fucking wicked! D'n'B is so musical…
Are you trying to produce also other stuff than D'n'B?
Yeah, all the time…
Are you gonna release some of it?
Not at the moment, but we'll do…the reason being, as a musician, I need to do that and I need to explore… It gives me ideas for drumandbass. If you got an idea, it might not work, but at least you tried it…
Moving Fusion @ Roxy In Da Bush | 27.9.2003
Questioned by: Stano
Questions made up by: Bartias a Stano
Photo: Miso from Deejays.cz, Dan and Mellow from Techno.cz