“The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice… It is… Conformity.”
If you’ve seen the legend that is InsideInfo grace the decks recently then you may have heard the monster that is Conformity, popping, clicking, and tearing it’s way through the sound-system. The highly-anticipated track has just dropped on Viper, and we scored the official full-length premiere.
We caught up with the man himself to chat about the release, his forthcoming album, losing his passport at the Drum&BassArena Awards and more…
Yes Paul, good to chat! Where you joining us from?
Currently sitting in my living room, playing the new Sasha album trying to get a visualiser working for my computer so I can look at the pretty colours while it’s playing.
Big night ahead eh? Name the most random thing in the room with you right now?
Jeremy from the Upbeats. He’s sitting next to me, eating a kebab.
Send our love to Snake! On to the first order of business – You’ve just dropped the monster that is Conformity on Viper – Excuse me while I lob all my shoes in your general direction. What an absolute beast of a track. What inspired it?
Aww thanks, what size shoe are you? I might keep them.. For a friend of course, because I don’t wear women’s shoes.. During the week…. Anyway, I had the sample floating around for ages, it’s from an audio tape that was given to me a few years back by this entrepreneur business dude who was a family friend who said it was life changing. Sure enough I listened to it and it was really eye-opening, encouraged me to think more outside the box and chase my dreams kinda thing. I kept the sample aside for ages and dabbled with a few different ideas but never quite nailed it, then one day last year it all came together. Sorry that was a really boring and anti-climactic ending to that story wasn’t it?
Not at all! (A little bit, but it’s okay. We’ll let it slide) Shoes are in the post btw. Tell your ‘friend’ to enjoy.
Really loving the attention to detail on this track.. The various clicks and pops, combined with the absolutely filthy bassline… Certainly the opposite of conformity in terms of production. Did it take long to complete?
The bulk of the track was finished pretty quickly (in a few days), but i’ve been jumping in and out of the project for a few months making tweaks here and there. The main bass and all the sounds were the result of experimenting with a hardware synth i’d just bought and re-sampled.. I’ve been playing it live in my sets for quite a while and people kept asking about it which really nice, so it’s good to finally get it out there!
What’s your studio set up looking like these days?
I might as well just take a picture and show you!
Nice! But where’s Jeremy? 🙁 The artwork for the single is brilliant. Who was behind the concept?
I’m not actually allowed to say who did it because they wish to remain anonymous! But I am allowed to say it’s hand-drawn by pencil and the person who did it is a fucking G and knows me very well.
Pencil?? Incredible!! So, what else is happening in the world of InsideInfo? What’s on the horizon for the rest of the year?
I’m finishing up my first ever solo album. I really hope to put it out before the year’s up, but I want to get absolutely right. That’s the current plan anyway! It’s a long process and I want to make sure i’m completely happy with it before letting it out there, giving it everything i’ve got. It’s taken shape nicely now.
Cannot WAIT to hear that!! You’ve had some huge collabs in the past year, any coming up this year that we should know about?
At the moment no, i’m being a bit of a selfish hermit and just working on solo material for the time being. I will get back to the collabs once the albums done though. I miss collabing but recently working solo has been very rewarding and allowed me to get things out of my system and experiment.
Was great to see you at the Drum&BassArena Awards at the end of 2015– we’re celebrating 20 years of Drum&BassArena this year. Fondest memories of the brand over the years?
Ah wow, well i’ve done a few sets for D&BTV over the years which have always been fun, and the Awards have always been… well, messy 😛 But a fond memory for me was back years ago when I used to go out to raves, listening to the “dubplates” section of the site and hearing some of the tracks that were played at the nights I used to go to months before they came out and getting all excited again.
Speaking of the Awards, you managed to lose your passport that night… No doubt due to the fact you were sat at a table with the Prototypes 😉 Was this the non-conformist in you rebelling against the idea of personal identification?
You just had to mention that didn’t you?!! Ah man, that was an absolute fucking nightmare… And yes, totally the fault of Nick from the Prototypes!! Haha. I also lost the furry bit that goes on the hood of my jacket. I was DEVASTATED! I remember the feeling of utter dread that sank into my soul when I realised i’d lost it… Because I was supposed to be playing 2 gigs abroad that weekend :/ What a speng. That will NOT happen again! Fun night though 😉
I’d imagine losing that furry bit from the inside of your hood was more devastating than losing the passport itself… So, what’s the first thing you’re going to do when you’re done chatting to us?
I’m going to steal a bit of Jeremy’s kebab, then run upstairs to my studio and make a few tweaks to a vocal on an album tune, make a cup of tea, and continue listening to a few new albums. I haven’t been properly listening to enough new music lately and it’s suddenly dawned on me that I need to expand my horizons a bit!
I know the feeling! Final words of wisdom?
Yes, don’t lose your passport.
Words to live by.
Conformity is out now on Viper Recordings as a Beatport exclusive. Full release is out 22nd April. Buy or stream here.
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