Interviews

Claire sat down with UK DJ and producer Tristan Ingram to talk about all things music, check out our interview below.

We caught up with drum and bass producer Mark Wilkinson who has moved from strength to strength after the release of his hit single Afterglow.

We sat down with London trio, James Tadgell, Jon Clare & Vanya Taylor aka All About She to discuss festivals, their new EP and more.  Check out our interview with them at this years Wireless Festival in Finsbury Park.

We sat down with grammy nominated electronic music producer Pretty Lights at this years Wireless Festival in London's Finsbury Park to talk to him about his music, his shows and more.  Check out the interview below:

A few years ago, Duke Dumont was nearly forced to give up his career as a DJ and producer in favour of one that was actually going to pay the bills. Fortunately, his luck turned around and he subsequently went on to top the chart twice in the past two years. It was 2013′s club banger ‘Need U (100%)’ that kickstarted his meteoric success, then along came the summer anthem ‘I Got U,’ released earlier this year, to prove he’s no one-trick-pony.

A producer first and foremost, he also runs his own record label Blasé Boys Club and is now armed with a new track ‘Won’t Look Back’ showing plenty of commercial promise. It is safe to say Adam Dyment (aka Duke Dumont) is one of the most in-demand figures in electronic music, so we were lucky to catch five minutes of his time for a little chat. Here he talks to SFG about Ibiza, festivals and upcoming plans with Blasé Boys Club before his set at Hideout Festival 2014.

So you’ve just flown in from Ibiza, how was the journey?

The flight was a nightmare, but Ibiza was amazing – it was my first live residency at Sankeys. It couldn’t have gone any better, so hopefully it stays as good as throughout the season. Speaking about travelling, as a DJ I think the best way to look at it is: you get paid to travel; not to DJ. DJ’ing is the fun bit. Travelling can be a nightmare. You get paid to do that, but what I’m about to do in thirty minutes that’s the fun part.

Have you been to Croatia before?

I have about six years ago. It’s been ages since I’ve been here but unfortunately I don’t have much time here. I have to shoot off back to London tomorrow but it would have been nice to stay here a bit longer. Last time I was here it was a bit more chilled out, Hideout seems a bit more full-on. I’ve counted about four stages so far, so I’m going to be quite self-contained and not look around too much and just go straight on to the stage and just concentrate on that.

Could Croatia be the new Ibiza?

I think it’s getting a lot more popular. A lot more of the British contingent are over here. I haven’t really experienced Croatia enough to pass an accurate comment but I know Hideout is maybe more underground than what Ibiza is, but then again, Ibiza does have quite an underground element now than what it had five years ago. We’ll wait and see how it goes but it’s definitely growing out here compared to when I first came. Hideout is definitely one to watch out for!

So how is your label Blasé Boys Club going?

It’s going alright! I’m a record producer first and foremost, I’m a DJ and have started my own label and I’m hopefully going to be starting my own radio show very soon and I want to try my hand at many things. The label is going really well. I’ve signed two acts: Jax Jones – who sings on I Got U – and another artist called Kiwi. I’m hopefully going to sign my third next week, but I can’t say who that is yet although I really want to, but anyone who is into the UK house music scene will know the guy. And then maybe one more act this year, and work on my own music, the album’s on the label and next year… we’ll see how it goes!

Were you expecting Need U (100%) and I Got U to go to number one?

Need U, no. It’s kind of like a happy mistake in the way it was produced and
came about. Originally it was going to be one of our club E.P’s before we called in a vocal and it gave it more of a pop feel. There was no grand plan behind it – the radio picked it up early and started playing it and suddenly people were going out and buying it. It was as innocent a number one as you’re going to get. Then with I Got U, that was a little bit more, ‘we had success with Need U, so let’s try and replicate that.’

What’s your favourite festival to play at?

Bestival is probably one of only a few festivals I’d actually pay to go to myself. And the other one is Coachella, I had a really good time there.

What about your new single, Won’t Look Back?

Again, since Need U, things got bigger and a bit more serious. I Got U came after Need U and hopefully Won’t Look Back will come after I Got U. It’s all come together well. There’s an album coming out and all the songs will be on that. There will probably be two more singles after Won’t Look Back towards the end of the year, they’re already recorded it’s just a case of holding them back for a while.

What do you think of the current house music scene?

The popularity's here, because chart music has been staggering for the last five years or so, so house music is providing a different option. And I hope in five years’ time there’s another option to house music. So as long as popular culture is constantly changing and isn’t staggering, then it’s all good!

As seen originally online for Platform magazine: http://platform-online.net/2014/07/exclusive-interview-duke-dumont-at-hideout-festival-2014/#sthash.FVAfCnnx.dpuf

Last year, Ben Pearce dominated the charts with the catchy ‘What I Might Do’ becoming one of 2013’s most prominent anthems. The track saw the Manchester-based DJ and producer shoot to fame and is still in heavy circulation in club playlists today. In between a hectic touring schedule, he is also creative director at his own record label and DJ agency Purp & Soul.

Despite having just arrived in Croatia straight from Ibiza, Pearce managed to grant us a quick moment to chat about his smash hit, his hectic summer schedule and his favorite festivals. Here he talks to Sayuri Standing and Ben Jolley before his set at Hideout Festival 2014.

So have you just got into Croatia then?

Yeah, about three hours ago. We came straight from Ibiza after I played at Amnesia last night.

Who else are you hoping to see around here?

F**k knows! John Talabot’s on tonight so I really wanna see him but I think we are playing at pretty much the same time which is annoying. And then, I don’t know, Route 94’s on after me, I’ll watch him. Skream’s on at the same time as me. I haven’t really looked at the set times yet, I’m going to look at them more tomorrow properly, hopefully. I try not to plan festivals because there are so many people that you meet, friends that you’ve not seen for like a year so you never actually get round to watching anyone.

Are you planning on sticking around for a bit?

Yeah, for a couple of days. We’re doing a boat party tomorrow and then I’m going to go to Garden Festival after that for a bit of a holiday.

Have you been to Hideout before?

Yeah, I played last year for the first time. It was great fun, just insane. It’s on a different level!

Is there a variation between club sets and festival sets?

Kind of, maybe a bit more just high energy stuff because you can’t really play big breakdowns in festivals because everyone will just go to sleep and get bored. There’s no plan in my head, but I guess there is a quite a big variation.

Did you expect ‘What I Might Do’ to be as big as it was?

No! I never expected it to get signed, let alone anything else so it was a bit of shock.

Your new Lego E.P was released recently, what other music have you got lined up?

I’m working on quite a bit of stuff at the moment, just different projects with different people and some of my own stuff. A couple of singers, one – Anna Holder – she’s really talented, and a Dutch artist, whose name I can’t give away right now. Because I’ve been touring so much, I’ve not been in the studio for about six weeks, so hopefully after summer I’ll get to the stage where I’m making more music and I can bash out a few more tunes!

Where else are you playing over the summer?

Everywhere really! I’m back in the US at the end of August. Loads of festivals in the UK, I’ve still got Reading and Leeds and also Lovebox, which will be really good. I really don’t know what else but quite a lot – I’m very busy. June has been crazy but it’s kind of calming down a little bit, but it’s still mental.

What’s your favourite thing about festivals?

Just the range of music you can get really, ‘coz usually when you go into a club, it’s very much ‘this is what’s happening’ – unless you go to a Fabric night where there are loads of people on – but festivals there can be anyone. I’m really liking European festivals a bit more because you can get a hip-hop stage, a death metal stage, a main stage, a house then techno stage – there’s so many genres. That’s what I like about it because you can wander around the different stages and discover things which you might not have seen before.

What is your favourite festival to play at?

Oh, that’s impossible to answer. Secret Garden Party’s really good, I did it for the first time last year and it’s so f**king good. It’s kind of like a mini Bestival, it’s got that kind of Glastonbury, Bestival feel to it – a bit boutique and a bit odd, but really good. I always really enjoy that one so I’m looking forward to playing there again.

Do you think Croatia could potentially become the new Ibiza?

Yeah, it’s looking like it! I think the money is a big factor because Ibiza is what it is, it’s just really expensive. It’s 14 euros a beer in some clubs and 50 euros to get in so it’s become that kind of status thing and fair enough if you can do it. But I think Croatia’s something new and it’s got a big appeal to it because Ibiza has been around for years since I was growing up. Now, Croatia’s new, it’s something different and it’s a beautiful country. Absolutely amazing driving around it, the views are insane. So definitely, if more people get into it, it’ll easily be on the rise.

What would you be doing if you weren’t a DJ or producer?

I was working in a bank before at a call centre as a complaints manager so I was doing that and then still DJ’ing on the weekends and kind of gave that up just as this started really kicking off, so I just kind of left it till the last minute.

How would you sum up your set in three words?

Music wise, it’d probably be: diverse, random and interesting, hopefully. I’m
hoping it’s interesting!

As published on Platform magazine: http://platform-online.net/2014/07/exclusive-interview-ben-pearce-at-hideout-festival-2014/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

A year since Birmingham band, Peace, released their debut album, In Love, they have played shows across the globe and are set to headline this year’s Dot To Dot Festival. Drummer Dominic Boyce spoke to Ben Jolley about making the second album and nights out in Nottingham.

“WE played Dot To Dot in 2011 and it was so much fun. Nottingham has always been amazing to us. We've had some great shows and we've got lots of friends there so we're really excited,” says Peace drummer Dominic Boyce.

“It'll also be one of the first shows since before Christmas so we can't wait. We're ready to explode. We're ready for a great weekend and I think Dot To Dot will provide.”

It's a significant gig for the Worcester indie quartet, as headliners. They'll be on the main stage at Rock City on Sunday, one of 15 stages hosting dozens of bands and musicians during the all day event.

The last time they played the Talbot Street venue was also a significant occasion.

“That was the first night on that tour and I was pretty nervous but very excited because it was the biggest tour we had ever done. I loved that Rock City show.

“That whole area around there with the venues and clubs is great. We've had many a good night in Rescue Rooms.”

Dominic says that the follow up to last year's debut album, In Love, is near enough finished.

“Sonically there are some similarities to the debut but it certainly drifts around different sounds. I think we're moving on, in a more focused and controlled direction.

“No one could predict exactly how In Love was going to sound, because it was our first album. Whereas, with the second one we're much more educated in the process of recording an album.”

With so much hype surrounding what Peace will do next, it's surprising that they aren't feeling the pressure.

“It was very much us saying we want to do it now,” he says of the quick return to the studio to record the follow-up.

“We're not putting it off, maybe we should be, but it just felt like the right time. It feels like this is what we should be doing.”

A lot of the new songs were recorded in hotel rooms or on the back of tour buses.

“There wasn't really a lot of pre-production to the new album.

“A lot of it was written on the road. Harry would make really rough vocal and acoustic guitar demos then we'd all listen to them and come up with our own ideas of what the songs could potentially sound like.

“The album's probably been written over the last 18 months of touring, although I think we've still got a lot to give from the first album.”

The band's new single, Money, is his favourite from the new record.

He says: “It was the first song we did in the studio and we had a lot of fun recording it. We'd been waiting to get back in the studio for so long.”

Another new track, World Pleasure, hears lead singer Harrison Koisser show off his rap skills.

“I think rap's too strong a word, but it is slightly more rhythmic,” says Dominic, adding “I think it sounds cool.”

In August, Peace will be playing the main stage at the Reading and Leeds Festival.

“I think it's my favourite festival,” he says.”When we played there last year, they were probably our favourites of the whole summer. You couldn't ask for a better crowd really. We're very flattered and honoured to be asked to play the main stage this time. If people think we can do it then we'll certainly give it a good go.”

So what about the rest of 2014?

“After festival season, we hope to release the new album, probably at the end of summer. I don't know what will happen in autumn; probably much of the same really. We'll play a few shows, go abroad… we've got a lot of years left in us.”

Peace headline the Dot to Dot Festival on Sunday at Rock City from 10pm.

As seen originally in Friday 23 edition of the Notitngham Post and online at: http://www.nottinghampost.com/Dot-Dot-interview-Peace/story-21127798-detail/story.html?hga

Rock three-piece Darlia, play Dot to Dot Festival this Sunday. Frontman Nathan Day, spoke to Ben Jolley about festivals and flower parts.

So how did Darlia get together?

"Even as a kid I just wanted to be older so I could start a band and voice my opinion”, says Darlia frontman Nathan Day.

“If I wasn’t in a band, I’d just be starting one," he adds.

“When I first met Jack, we’d play on and off, and I was trying to convince him that we should start this band. We played some of the songs we play today, but it wasn’t a serious band. I didn’t want to be a 15-year-old kid in a novelty band"

"Jack went to uni and moved away, then I got Dave involved with the songs. We had this drummer at the time that was really bad and had a massive attitude, so it wasn’t really working with him. It got to a point where we were getting record deals so we got rid of him and got Jack back.”

“At the time we were all coming up with words and nothing stuck. Aside from the band, I was really interested with flowers and flower parts and Darlia kept coming up”, Nathan says.

“When we played our first gig we didn’t have a name at all. A girl in the audience handed me a plastic flower, which I kept in my back pocket for months. After we’d finalised on the name, I found it in my pocket and it was a Darlia.”

Their biggest challenge came last weekend at the Radio One Live Lounge, covering Lorde’s song, Team.

“When you’re expected to go onstage and just blurt out one of your sets, that can be incredibly easy because people are coming to see what you do best. When you have to learn a completely new song, as well as making it your own, it's like homework. It was massively challenging but extremely fun. It let us prove that we’re not just going to do an inaudible cover and sound pretentious about it. We wanted it to be a good cover and I think it went alright.”

The Blackpool trio have been announced for British Summertime at Hyde Park in July, on the same bill as The Libertines.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for Pete Doherty. I’m glad that we’re even going to be near him,” says Nathan.

They’ve also been added to this year’s Glastonbury line up.

"I’ve never been to a festival before so I guess I’ve got a lot of catching up to do,” he admits.

Nathan says that a crowd can make or break a show.

“Whatever they want to see, they’ve got to make it happen. You can play the most outrageously great show, but if the people there are just stood still… or you could play a flop show, full of mistakes and everyone’s drunk, but as long as the crowd are absolutely having it, it’s great."

And what about an album?

“Now we’ve found the right producer to make the record, we’re about to start recording it. It’ll be released at the end of the year or early next year. We’ve got another E.P, (Dear Diary) coming before that though.”

Darlia play Dot to Dot on Sunday at the Rescue Rooms from 6.15pm-6.45pm.

As seen originally online at: http://www.nottinghampost.com/Dot-Dot-interview-Darlia/story-21114577-detail/story.html

London four-piece, Wolf Alice, have just released their latest E.P, Creature Songs, and are set to return to Nottingham with one of the top slots at this year’s Dot to Dot Festival. Lead vocalist and guitarist, Ellie Roswell tells Ben Jolley why their last Nottingham visit was a “turning point” for the band.

“LAST year’s Dot To Dot was our favourite show of the year. We played at the Bodega, it was the last show of the night and everyone just went crazy. We’d never really experienced that before so it was quite a turning point in our career.”

Wolf Alice singer and guitarist Ellie Roswell is remembering their last visit to Nottingham as she and the London quartet head for Amsterdam in their tour van.

“There’s nothing particularly rock ‘n’ roll about it,” she admits.

The hotly-blogged about guitar band are currently on their own headline tour, which Ellie says is going really well.

“We’ve been very lucky with getting great crowds each evening, and there haven’t been any major hiccups which is a bonus."

“This is our first headline show in a long time, so the crowds are really different from any other time before. Now we’ve put more music out, people know us a bit better and are more willing to jump around, sing-along and have some fun."

“The shows can be a bit rowdy and it seems like this is the first time we’re really experiencing that, which is nice because I think most of our songs are really loud and energetic. They aren’t songs to just be stood still to.”

So how does she describe the Wolf Alice sound?

“I guess its heavy guitar-ridden pop music, maybe?,” she says, before running through their influences."

"We all grew up listening to different styles but there are some things that tie us all together. Joff likes acoustic guitar music, while Joel’s into his punk and Theo was in a metal/hip-hop band for a while. So it’s quite a mix.”

Wolf Alice released the Blush E.P almost six months ago, so what’s been happening since then?

“We’ve just been trying to figure out what to do next and planning to record an album. We feel like we’ve managed to find our feet after we signed a record deal a couple of months ago. We’re waiting until festival season is over to start on the album,” she adds, suggesting an early 2015 release.

There’s the new EP, Creature Songs, which includes the fan favourite Moaning Lisa Smile.

“Because we hadn’t put any music out for six months, we wanted to come back with something big, loud and heavy. It started off with just a riff that Joff had played, as he was singing Neil Young’s track, Old Man, thinking it would be a great song to cover. But then we thought we could make it in to our own.”

On their current headline tour, Wolf Alice are joined by Superfood and Gengahr, both of who are also playing Dot To Dot.

Says Ellie: “I think Superfood are one of the better bands out there at the moment and Gengahr have got their own quirky pop thing going on.”

Wolf Alice play Dot to Dot Nottingham on Sunday at Rock City, 6.15pm to 6.45pm.

As seen originally online: http://www.nottinghampost.com/Dot-Dot-interview-Wolf-Alice/story-21111650-detail/story.html

I was at Takedown Festival and managed to get a few minutes to chat with singer Jack from Chasing Cadence. 

Where abouts are your from? We're all from Hertfordshire scattered around the place but all in that general area 

Did you guys grow up together? No we found each other online, when we were looking for new bands 

Do people back home support you guys? Yeah our friends and family are great but I guess a lot of bands say it but the music scene where we are is terrible but there are people are trying to build it up it just takes a long time 

What's the goal you wish to reach in say 5 years? We'd love to be touring, getting our music out there playing some cool venues and meeting new people. 

Claim to fame? We played with Taking Back Sunday what was awesome as we all really love there music 

Do you guys have any other activities outside the band? We all work a lot so that takes up a lot of our time but couple of us like football so we sometimes play bit of that here and there. 

Who's the biggest motivator or the group and keeps everyone in line? It's prob got to be Rob, he's been a bit grumpy last few days due to lack of sleep but he's normally the one who keeps up going. 

Does anyone have any bad habits? Alf snores really loudly, sometimes we have to put head phones in to get to sleep cause it's so loud. 

What do you miss most when on tour? Eating got food got lot of spots cause eating rubbish food, we always try to get accommodation when on tour as we're all really feminine and like to always be clean, baths as most places have showers and after show you ache so a bath would be nice. Home comforts we miss.

You can find the bands music and such at https://www.facebook.com/ChasingCadence