BASS CASEMATE with PINCH 26.3.2011
V Praze se představí jeden z opravdových pionýrů dubstepového zvuku – na noci Bass Casemate zahraje dj Pinch
Není asi moc co dodávat! Pinch, Tectonic – buďto víš nebo ne. Pokud víš, je dost pravděpodobný, že pobaví tenhle rozhovor. Já jen dodám, že jsem moc rád, že se to podařilo! O Pinchovi jsem totiž slyšel, že je dost introvertní, tak se sami přesvědčte, o co se se mnou vlastně podělil…
I would like to know where do you originally come from and where do you live right now. Tell us something more about „your place“… And do you think it affects your sound in kind of way?
I was born in Scotland, grew up in Newport (South Wales) and have now lived most of my life in Bristol. I’m not sure if living in Bristol has affected my sound or not but I have long felt an affinity with the music that has come from this city - artists like Massive Attack, Tricky, Portishead, Smith & Mighty, Full Cycle crew, Henry & Louis and so on..
And a similar question concerning your dj / producer / label name. Should we translate it the ordinary way, or does it give any other sense…?
I just liked the name ‘Pinch’ - there’s not a lot more than that behind it to be honest.. ‘Tectonic’ has a bit more to it - I like the idea of implying heavy weight of bass - earthquake strength - there’s a pun on ‘Tectonic Plates’ in so far as it can also relate to vinyls as well. I also like the idea of a ‘technological tonic’ - ‘Tectonic’.
…my god, I’ve never realized the meaning of plates in „Tectonic Plates“ without havin‘ a vinyl in my mind! Funny… When wondering about dubstep one can say that it was a pretty earthquake over the last five years counting from dubstep warz on Radio1! At the moment there are a lot of different ways of what was originally the dubstep sound. I really love some of them and I‘m really a bit sad about another. Some of the guys are really pushing the sound more and more into what-I-call-dubstep implicating the atmosphere, spirit, straight subbass and some of the guys are just bandwagon jumpers at first sight from my point of view. You were the one watching this from inside since the beginning, how do you feel about dubstep these days?
I’ve never been a huge fan of commercial music - so as dubstep has entered the mainstream market I’ve become less interested in that side of the scene. Times have changed since the early ‘golden days’ of dubstep (2003-2006) - you can’t expect to hold on to the past forever. Things need to keep moving and progressing and when a scene stops doing that - it’s time to start looking elsewhere in my opinion.
Which “surprisingly” means you are not fancy of creating something like no. 1 chart hit? Can you guess / sketch in why so?
I don’t know if I’ve made my thoughts clear in the last response - I’m actually not at all opposed to music being commercially successful - it’s more the sound of ‘manufactured commercialism’ that I dislike. If you believe in your music and you don’t make compromises to please a mass market then you have every right to be successful. I think that dubstep still has a few more tricks up it’s sleeve yet - but I have to say that there’s not a lot to interest me these days in what I hear being made/played in most big room dubstep events. I think ‘dubstep’ means something different to most people/ravers these days compared with my own idea of what it stands (stood) for.
And concerning these ideas above…can you estimate your attitude in…let’s say…next two years?
I suspect that there will be little left of interest to me that goes by the popularised use of the term ‘dubstep’. There’s still a lot of room to play around with beats at the 140bpm tempo so i’m sure there’ll be something of interest going on somewhere!
Sounds smart! And maybe…can you point out kind of dubstep “substyle” or producers who already do so in your point of view?
If you look at the releases coming on Tectonic and recent set playlists you can get a good idea where I’m at. I actually preferred the early days when things were more mixed up and sets/evenings tended to represent a broad spectrum of dubstep related beats. When you start going down the path of focussing on just one style within a genre I think things get a bit stale and boring. I like to be challenged and surprised rather than keeping to one straight style all night.
Tell us a bit about your musical roots, the beginning…
When I was a kid I liked fairly crap music as you do. By the age of about 9-10 I was listening to heavy metal - Guns n Roses, Iron Maiden etc. By 11-12 I was listening to rave tapes and grunge music (Nirvana, Sound Garden, Smashing Pumpkins etc). At 13 I bought a guitar and tried to work out how to play songs I liked - Jimi Hendrix and that sort of thing.. By 14-15 I got into trip hop and jungle and other things around that.. 17-18 I started going to house and techno nights. By the time I was 19 I was mainly interested in drum and bass and 2-step and was DJing D&B. By 22 I lost interest in D&B (around 2002) and started buying minimal techno and electronica. In 2003 I discovered dubstep - 2004 I put on my first events (Context and later that year, Subloaded) and started making beats on Fruity Loops to cut to dubplate. It was also the year that I got involved with running labels - co-running the Subtext imprint. 2005 saw the birth of Tectonic.. And that takes us up to the recent years!
Are there any other musical styles you usually listen to or play for the crowd? What do you listen to when relaxing at home?
I’ve just recently started playing and making some slower tempo beats, around 128bpm - I think there’s a lot of interesting stuff going on around that bpm at the moment. At home I tend to listen to relaxing stuff like Rhythm & Sound - or old LPs that I grew up with.
Is it possible to hear (buy) that kind of your beats somewhere yet? Should we expect different producer name of yours?
My first 4/4 style 128bpm track came out last year on Swamp 81 - ‘Croydon House’ and there’s another plate lined up for release later this year…
And concerning Tectonic – tell us a bit about plans for the near future…any LP’s or some kind of different interesting stuff?
Tectonic has a bunch of great stuff lined up for this year - I’m really excited for the releases I have lined up. Next up is a collaboration plate with myself and Loefah on one side and myself and Roska on the flip. After that an awesome 12″ from one of my favourite producers Addison Groove and a BIG surprise for the release after that - TEC050. Also, expect an amazing LP form Pursuit Grooves - a real musical journey that barely even references dubstep - and a killer 12″ from USA based producer Distal - spine tingling tracks!
Well, looks tasty, good luck! Only one question emerge immediately by itself – if its Tony and when on Tectonic I would rather expect Headhunter…what about you?
Expect the unexpected…
Speaking of collaborations…I’ve heard rumours about your cooperation with my big big fav Shackleton. He was like an unleashed beast when he performed in Cross club two years ago! Need not say twice how curious I am! Hmm?
I have been working on some music with Shackleton for about 18 months now. I don’t have any more information than that at the moment - but watch this space!
Oh no, why you do so? I think many people could be very interested in… To be honest, I was very happy to hear you producing “136 trek”! Any plans to have more of that kind to come out?
I’m sure they might be interested but I’m not ready to talk about that project yet..!
Name just a few talents we possibly dunno…something like your personal tips. either producers or djs. And maybe add some names which appear to you when one say “dubstep veteran”.
I’m really enjoying music by American producer Distal and have signed a great 12″ from him for later this year. In Bristol I rate Guido and Gemmy and am a big big fan of Addison Groove. When I think of a ‘dubstep veteran’ I would immediately think of Mala.
Concerning your production…can you state that you do “feel” some of your tracks even more than others, can you pick? I can tell you my pick then…
To be honest I often think whatever the last track I made is the best thing… There are some all time favourites of course - Qawwali, Punisher, Get Up, Lazarus, The Boxer, Croydon House, Rise Up remix… They were all special to me for different reasons.
My favs are Widescreen (watching this I’ve just read a comment on youtube: “Pinch eats bass for breakfast, with a sprinkling of high hats for extra flavour. He then fucks a whale.” …ehm), “, E.motiv, Midnight Oil, etc. …all filled with strong inspiring atmosphere. I was always wondering where…or how do you refuel your inspiration?
I think it’s partly just about knowing when to get into the studio and write music - I try not to work on music unless I’m in the right mood - then things tend to flow better..
How does your dj setup looks like? And studio setup? Do you have a kind of home studio or…?
I use 2 turntables and a mixer when I play out. I make my music in a home studio which is all pretty much inside the box - ie. a computer, copy of Logic and a nice pair of monitors (Dyanaudio BM-12a’s).
Beside the bassline…Beats or Melodies? Both is strong with dj Pinch…
It’s all important really although personally I would lean towards beats as my preference…
The first and the last questions are always the same: what should Prague expect from Rob Ellis aka dj PINCH on BassCaseMate party on 26. 03. in Crossclub? Three words max… :-)
Dubplates, bass, vibes.
Ptal se Abuátor
odkazy:
http://www.tectonicrecordings.com/
http://www.facebook.com/TectonicRecordings
http://twitter.com/TectonicPinch
http://www.myspace.com/tectonicrecordings
http://www.youtube.com/user/TectonicRecordings
Ostatní účinkující:
PINCH (TECTONIC UK)
http://www.myspace.com/tectonicrecordings
Yukimura
Valoa (adf)
http://www.myspace.com/valoator
Zlatomil (glitch.cz)
http://www.facebook.com/zlatomil
http://soundcloud.com/zlatomil
Denoir (glitch.cz/eclectica)
www.soundcloud.com/denoir
www.facebook.com/daniel.denoir
Abu (basstrap)
http://www.radio1.cz/basstrap
http://www.facebook.com/kamicek
Deus Ex Machina
Ghonzales
Visuals: LUMcartel (A) & Deep Norm
dubstep stage:
2100 Denoir
2300 Valoa
01:00 Pinch
0300 Abu
0500 Yukimura
???? pinčes
abstract hip hop, glitch, dub stage:
2100 Abu
2200 Zlatomil
2300 Ghonzales
0030 Deus ex machina
0230 Zlatomil
0330 Denoir
do 21:00 60,- / po 100,-
