Hex: No Forgiveness

Hex has popped up with the rib-threatening (pardon the pun considering the sleeve) No Forgiveness, as featured in the latest, fantastic Mauoq podcast… we linked up on the blower from Glasgow.

Hex hello: when did the tunes come about?

The initial idea came about around two years ago. I was watching the trailer for the final season of Boardwalk Empire and just heard one of those bits of dialogue you have to sample! I cut the sample and made some pads and a beat but at the time the project wasn’t clicking so I left it. I came back to it a few months ago and got the vibe going.

Never throw anything away, you never know when inspiration will come to you!

You produce in Glasgow? Whereabouts? It’s such a killer place.

I live in Partick in Glasgow’s West End with my girlfriend. I love the city, and my experiences here have definitely informed the way I write music. The track ‘Grey Skies’ is an obvious example but the city’s vibe has definitely seeped into other tracks I’ve written in more subtle ways.

And tell us about the D&B scene there. The place is on fire with nightlife, could imagine any D&B night would have a great turnout?

Glasgow actually has a pretty small – if quite dedicated – D&B scene; club wise it’s far more of a house and techno town. Myself and some other DJs have been running a night called Symbiosis which is now nearly 12 years old representing the tougher end of D&B and the crowds are generally pretty lively. Our experience is that the deeper/more liquid-y end of D&B is less popular here; it’s pretty much go hard or go home!

On the nightlife tip, big shouts to the Basstonik and Frogbeats crews, Dawn at Something Wicked and Tim at NITRIC who all run D&B or Jungle related nights from time to time, so props to all of them for helping keep the scene going here.

Take us into the ep and why the title? made me think of a film!! Nice and grim.

The title comes straight from the dialogue sample, which as I mentioned is lifted from Boardwalk Empire. With an ominous line like that the music had to be dark and foreboding so the spooky pad sounds and generally sombre elements followed quite nicely once I had the initial template down.

Takes us into the mixes here…

The ‘Gloom Mix’ was actually the first version of the track; I got into it with the halftime groove and got that one mostly finished first. I was listening back to it checking the mixdown over and it struck me that the dialogue sample would work really well with a much harder mix of the track, and it’s an idea I’ve always wanted to experiment with.

The ‘Terror Mix’ came quite naturally from that point; I stripped out the percussion and replaced that with harder amens, added the stabs and a darker bassline and voila! It’s pretty much my nod to the hard tech of artists like Dom & Roland and Tech Itch which very much got me into D&B in the early days.

So you DJing these out at all?

I’ve not had a chance to play the ‘Gloom Mix’ out but the “Terror Mix” has been smashing up the dance the last few shows I’ve played. Expect to hear it out at my next few shows too! On that front, I’ll be playing at the next Symbiosis at Audio on May 21st, I’ll be supporting Equinox, Kid Lib and Dwarde for a massive Green Bay Wax/Scientific Wax takeover on May 27th and I’ll be playing in a castle in Dundee in June!

I’ll also be playing a rare non-D&B show in Edinburgh playing the weirder side of electronica for Audacious on May 13th so plenty to look forward to; if you’re in Scotland come down and check out these shows, sure to be a riot.

Last thing before we wrap up, huge shouts to the Black Tuna crew for signing this EP and being a pleasure to deal with, Jules, Stu and Neil at Symbiosis for being the best D&B crew in town and everyone else who sends me music, books me for shows or turns up to any of the D&B events in this part of the country. You all rock.

Black Tuna Recordings