Most people know the freestylers for their massive worldwide hits like ‘Push Up’ & ‘Fasten Your Seatbelts’ with Pendulum but in 10 years time what would the Freestylers like the next generation of clubbers know them for ??
Purveyors of good music and pioneers of the Breakbeat genre
Over the past 12 months what are your top 3 career achievements and highlights both as producers and performing DJs?
Not sure I could say over the past 12 months but would be more over the last 16 years of producing and performing as Djs.
For me personally I would say I’ve had more memorable highlights performing with Freestyles Live such as our legendary Glastonbury’ 99 show,touring with Lenny Kravtiz on his American Woman tour and also Big Day Out 2005;can’t believe that’s practically 10 years ago.The past year we’ve performed at some awesome new festivals as well such as Electric Castle in Cluj,Romania and Pannonia Festival in Hungary.
Djing wise we’ve been very lucky to play at some of the most amazing clubs and locations in the world and continue to do so including Japan,USA,Russia,Canada and Australia and soon to be added to the list Bali!
In December and NYE where else are you playing and is it your first time there just like your upcoming show in Bali on debut?
I’m in Toronto the weekend before flying over to Bali and then for NYE I’m playing in Auckland,so I’ll be clocking up some serious airmiles.
I’m only a Bali Virgin…Haha
How do you vision Bali? The people? The culture? the food? the clubbing scene?
I vision it to be very tropical apart from that I’ve no idea.I’ve seen lots of my Australian friends go for their holidays and when they do,it’s normally regular updates with crazy photos posted on Facebook.I’m a big foodie as well so I’m looking forward to checking out the local cuisine.
Tell us about your latest release? What label it is on? Who has been supporting it and how does it vary to music you were producing 5 years ago?
Our last 2 Freestylers tracks was released on Instant Vibes which is part run by Krafty Kuts .One was called “Love My Bass and the other “Skacid”.Both tracks were based on a House Music 4/4 vibe which I guess would be different to what most our fans would’ve expected as we’re mostly known for our Breakbeats.We’ve always liked to do something different and we’re not afraid to experiment.We’ve always had an eclectic taste in music so when you hear our Dj sets or mix tapes we like to throw everything in there.
How about your studio vs 5 years ago compared to nowadays? Are you still running some of the same hardware? Still on the same software?
We’ve been running Logic for a long time now but we did update our computer to a newer Mac.We still have lots of old,what you would say retro outboard including keyboards,effects units and Akai samplers but these are never used anymore.We just run everything through the computer.
DJing technology has come so far in over the past decade with the recent announcement of Pioneers strictly USB turntable – to most DJs it isn’t really a surprise and makes the art alot more affordable to up and coming DJS compared to the price tag on some recent releases like the CDJ2000 nexus. Where to next do you think? and why? Have you tried out the all new USB only decks? Whats your preferred set up on stage and why?
I would have to say using USBs with CDJ2000s is the best invention ever!It’s great that we both grew up buying and playing vinyl but you have to embrace the technology.I’ve recently played with Traktor as well which is an awesome programme.You can be so creative with it,I guess you have to look at is more of a performance than djing in a traditional sense.My preferred set up is 3 CDJS and a DJM 900
Taking a brief look at your touring schedule it seems you dont spend more then a few days home a month? What are the 5 things non DJ related that you cant travel without and what affect would they have if you forgot them? Any past experiences you can share from the mishap of forgetting?
Unless we’re on a tour we only stay one night in any one place whether it be in the UK or Europe ,so I would say we’re at home a bit more than just a few days a month
My Macbook and IPhone ,just for my emails ,watching movies and playing games.I did happen to leave my Mac on a plane recently,it was a very early flight and I’d had a few drinks and somehow it happened but fortunately it was handed in to the lost property which was giant relief
Xanax helps the journey go quicker on flights longer than 3 hours,haha…I would cry if I left them behind
The term ‘Bass Music’ and “Breakbeat” is such a broad genre – define it for us and how the two actually differ? Who do you see the new guard are right now that will break the sound up even more in 2015?
Bass Music is the term given to the full spectrum of music which relies heavily on Bass including Breakbeat,Trap,Bassline House and D&B which would all be sub genres.There’s loads of great new up and coming artists such as Mafia Kiss,Pirate Jams,Nixon,Cyantific and Koven to name a few
Whats next for the Freestlyers?
We’ll be releasing a retrospective Album next year with lots of our classic tunes which will also include at least 4 brand new tracks
Working on a new track with Deekline ,which I hope to be able to drop exclusively in my set in Bali
Planning a world wide tour with Freestylers Live and also djing as many places as possible