[TJ] First off, what is Grindhou5e, which artists are you planning on bringing on board, digital or vinyl ?
[NC-17] Grindhou5e Audio will be be both wax & digital. We have a lot of great artists on board. At the moment we have signed a remix from the legendary duo The Upbeats who have released on basically every label in drum n bass. Smooth who has just released an EP for Viper Recordings. State of Mind who has been making waves in DNB for years. We’ve also signed tunes from new comer Mr.Xplicit who has tracks coming out on Dread Rec, V Recordings, Virus & of course us. He’s probably the freshest thing to come out of Drum n Bass in a very long time. We’ve also signed a track from Grimm, Treo & of course NC-17.
You've been travelling a bit out west, specifically Los Angeles. How is DnB there compared to here?
The fans in LA & Toronto are very similar. Both very loyal & the over all sound that people are into is very similar. The scenes are very similar. The only real difference I find between LA & Toronto is Los Angels promoters are all about the future and I find some of the bigger promoters in Toronto generally live in the past. The smaller promoters in Toronto in my opinion are the back bone of the city because they are constantly pushing the fresh local artists coming up. But unfortunately the bigger promotions in the city couldn’t give a damn whether you are making great music or hustling. They would rather book workers who have been djing for them since the early 90’s. I mean don’t get me wrong they do reach out to some of the other local producers who are doing big things but you are lucky if that phone call comes to you once every 2 years. It’s quite sad actually but other than that and the weather of course the scenes are very similar especially musically.
Over the years, you have become pretty prolific in your 3 deck sets, but we have recently seen you doing b2b sets, how do you feel bout that? Slow you down or make it more interesting?
To be honest with you I don’t do many back to back sets. The only person I do b2b sets with are my production partner Shawn. Locally though I really enjoy playing b2b sets with Rene LaVice & Gremlinz. I’ve always wanted to do back to back sets with Mystical & Lush as I’ve always looked up to those guys growing up but unfortunately, a back to back with those guys has not panned out just yet. As for slowing me down, I don’t mind because not everyone likes fast mixing plus it gives me time to rest.
You're a big fan of MMA and train as well. When you walk down the aisle towards the ring, which song is playing in the stadium?
Huge fan of MMA & over all Martial arts and combat supports. I’m even a huge fan of boxing & professional wrestling. As for music, 100% classical. Probably Ludwig Bethovens 9th Symphony second movement or Mozart’s Requiem. Classical music really calms me down, which is very important for martial arts. Last thing I want is being over hyped and wasting energy. When I spar, train or do heavy cross training I always have music that is very calming playing at the dojo. I’m always the guy wanting to throw on the classical music apposed to music at super fast tempos or lyrics which are meant to get you hyped. Cause the minute you get hyper you get tense & the second you get tense you are easily read and susceptible to injuries. Trust me I learned this the hard way getting beat up by top level strikers. Being calm and relaxed is the key to any combat sport.
Considering your love for cinema, and how often you incorporate movie snippets in your music, we are surprised you have never cut a short video for any of your tracks. Any plans in the future to merge your love of DnB and Video and work on a project like that?
Every track I work on whether its by myself, with Shawn or other producers is always inspired by Cinema in some way. Recently I’ve been able to get some film work & have been able to merge a few tracks that I’ve done in a couple of features I’ve been doing sound on. Currently we have a few tracks featured in the feature film Black Eve which is a horror film currently doing the festival run & currently working on tracks for another Horror feature which is called Sick & is in post production at the moment. It’s actually really cool to be able to fuse my music into films as its always been the other way around.
I’ll be honest it’s been a dream for me to get some film work.
- Rapid Fire:
- Studio Set up – Both shawn and I work in the box. I just have Tapco monitors and shawn has Mackies. I use Ableton 7 & shawn uses cubase 5.
- Favourite gig of 2011 – My favorite shows of 2011 was the event I played for Future Tone at the Drink inside the Guvernment complex which for a small event was rammed & the event I played in LA called church. It was a Christmas day event & it was very last minute but for a last minute show the event hit capacity at 11pm. Was amazing!
- Favourite movie of 2011 –
I’ll give you my top ten instead.
1.Snowtown
2.We Need to Talk About Kevin
3.Drive
4.Money Ball
5.Hobo With A Shotgun
6.Melancholia
7.Dark Horse
8.Contagion
9.The Artist
10.Warrior
- Favourite track of 2011 –
Fear No Distance by Mr. Xplicit. This tune is the sole reason I started Grindhou5e Audio
- Producers to watch out for – Definitely mister Xplicit. This guy is smashing it at the moment with dj support from everyone & tracks coming out on various labels. He’s probably the most under rated talent in Drum n Bass at the moment.
- You just finished a gig in downtown toronto, favourite spot to have a bite?
I know its dirty but New Ho King. It’s Chinese food & it soo bad for ya yet sooo good.
Toronto is your home town and you have seen DnB go through its motions of popularity. 2012 seems to be on an upward swing. Thoughts on Toronto, where its been and where its headed?
Toronto is definitely on an upward swing as events are a lot busier & there is loads of fresh talent coming through who are making waves world wide & like I said in the other question the smaller promoters like Aux, Soul In Motion, Rather Rude, Sonorous, GME, Ritual & many others are the back bone of the city.
Our city right now has some of the best artists in the world. But unfortunately the few bigger promoters who do all the big events are obsessed with the same locals who have been djing since the 90’s. This is a plague that has been with our city for the last 15 years and has made it very discouraging for a lot of up coming artists. If you don’t play the game these bigger companies put into place you can pretty much kiss your chances of playing for the bigger companies goodbye. Even the artists who have been making huge waves world wide for the last 5 to 10 years still are treated here as B list djs.
These promotions put their focus on locals who haven’t done a thing in decades. I think it’s time for the bigger companies to take notice of the artists in our city who are pushing dnb on a world scale. I think for this city to move forward, it’s time for the top dogs to really push & cherish the accomplished producers because we are the ones who are representing our city at gigs abroad & at the record shops. Over all I just think it’s time for the bigger promotions running the show to stop living in the past & recognize that that were not in the 1990’s no more.
Check out NC-17's new label
Grindhou5e, beats up on
soundcloud as well.
