TWO OH ONE

Today we have a little interview with Two Oh One for you, and it went a little something like this...

Where do you come from?

I grew up in a small town called Lincoln. Later, I moved to Croydon. Then I ended up in Los Angeles. I don't know where I'm going to end up at this point, but hopefully it will be somewhere with proper weather. Don't believe what people tell you, endless sunshine is bloody horrible. :)

What do you do?

I do a bunch of stuff! I produce, mix and write for a fairly big Industrial/Darkwave band, I'm a painter and I art direct a video game company. I'm always busy.

How did you get into producing Dubstep?

I was on the web looking out for something new, and chanced upon a few early Forensics Dubstep mixes and was instantly hooked. I'm always on the look out for new styles of music because I'm pretty obsessive compulsive about all the different genres and sub-genres of electronic music. I find it all endlessly fascinating, even though a lot of people hate categorisation and labels. I'm also a massive dub head, thanks to my Dad. He turned me onto people like Lee Scratch Perry, King Tubby, Augustus Pablo, The Professor and Dub Syndicate from an early age.

When I discovered Dubstep, what immediately hit me was the variety to the tracks with so many of the different things that I liked all in one place. I just had to have a go because I've got so many ideas and the whole Dubstep genre is held together with such a loose set of rules. With the 'anything goes' atmosphere and open minded crowd, it seemed like the early days of Rave all over again.

It certainly does get people raving! Do you have any more tracks along the lines that Endgame remix? It seems that this was a one off - if so how did you arrive at that catchy Garagey beat? (would you kinda class that as Garagey?!)

Ah, everything I do is a one off. I try to give each track a distinct personality rather than tread the same ground time and time again. I just don't have it in me to force myself into a certain style forever and ever. I think this hurts me as far as 'success' goes because people often hear one thing, like it, but then listen to the rest and become a bit put off because it's not like the one thing they liked. :) I listen to way too much different music to ever be able to nail down a recognisable sound for myself. I think I'd just get too bored.

The Garagey beat in the Endgame remix came about with a couple of cheese knives I got for Christmas. I thought they might make some cool percussive sounds, so I took them into a cupboard with a little pocket recorder and hit them and scraped them together for ten minutes and recorded the result. I managed to get some good metallic scrapes and hits that I used as the basis for the garagey beat. It's good I can still get use out of the knives, because I can't eat cheese anymore due to turning Vegan last year. They still haven't managed to make a Vegan cheese that isn't shite!

Innovative – that’s what I like! I think you should get on a few more productions with catchy little rhythms - that song is stuck on repeat!

Thank you! Glad you dig it. I usually don't put this much effort into my drum programming, but on my latest stuff, I'm approaching things in a more drumcentric (is this a real word?) way. There might well be more shuffly stuff in time to come, but not with knives, maybe with.....spoons?

Endgame (Two Oh One Remix) – Forensics [RUDEEE]

What track/s are you really digging at the moment?

The Horror and the Glory – Forensics
Ganjam - DJ $hy
The Face – VonBoyage
Jabberwock - Misk

Also a bunch of Dub Techno, particularly loving Maurizio's M7. I'm also always listening to a lot of Post Punk and Gothy stuff: Bauhaus (The Sky's Gone Out), Joy Division (She's Lost Control) and Artery (Afterwards). And then, The Specials are pretty much glued into the CD player in my car (Ghost Town, Man at C&A, Friday Night, Saturday Morning, Do Nothing). On Sundays, King Tubby's Meets Scientist at Dub Station (the whole album) in the morning, followed by a bunch of Alfred Deller in the afternoon. Great music to bake bread to. :)

If you were stuck on an island and you had the chance to listen to one record - what would it be?

Damn, this is a tough question. I've always wondered this myself! I think it would have to be a David Bowie album because they're proper albums. I'd have to say Low - long, atmospheric synth tracks punctuated by short two minute pop songs with those paranoid and claustrophobic cut up lyrics. I nicked my Dad's cassette of this album and listened to it on the train every day for months. I think I could easily listen through this time and time again as I sit under a shady tree eating coconuts.

What tracks do you have for us today?

Choke
An early one. Brooding, chromatic stuff and a sound I've since moved away from - might explore this some more later.

Long Way Home
Uber sweet, happy/sad melodic dubbiness.

Bert's Dinner Dub
Bright and Breezy. Named after Bert on Streamizm, more of a take on a classic dubby sound.

One Note Bassline
Glitchy track with a single note bassline, hence the name.

Few Might Say
Dubstep Blues, vocals by blues artist, Alex Prusmak.


Many thanks for your time.