As his raaaaather sprawling – and unpredictable – Sway opus happily mows down all in its path, it was time to get stuck in the grind with Macky Gee and get behind both the fabric of the release and his travels.
Hey how’s it going. First off I love your style in D&B and know it from Grooverider, mainly.
Yoooo! Yeah big up Grooverider!
Such an influential artist, he shows so much support and I really appreciate it.
Busy year?
2016 has been a very busy year already with heaps of shows across the world.
I’m just finishing the SASASAS Spring tour which has been something else, plus with my own shows I’m doing its been a crazy start to the year.
With a string of shows for the summer including Festivals, I’d say 2016 has been great but it has been playing havoc with my sleeping pattern haha… lack of sleep is something I have to get used to.
We’ll get back to that. So, on your travels where’s some big places for D&B on the map?
I get to go to so many places around the world to play the music I love and there are so many big places for Drum & Bass at the moment.
Rampage is one to look out for, that is massive and also Let it Roll in the Czech Republic, when I performed there… it was like walking into a Glastonbury for D&B.
Back home in the UK, Westfest is so sick, the atmosphere there is always hyped.
When did Sway start to take shape?
I decided about a year ago I wanted to do an album so I started working on it. I have been testing the tracks out, taking my time and making sure the tracks were right and one of the hardest parts was sitting there with 40 Tracks and narrowing them down to 16!
Love the scope of Sway, from ‘Darkness’ to the ‘Chicken Neck’, it’s tearing, so what sort of things inspire you to get into the studio?
Thank you! I really enjoyed making those tracks. In fact, this whole project has been great to work on and to work with some great artists like I have been able to work with, has been brilliant.
With inspiration, I think its more of a comfort thing. I can’t relax if I’m not being productive on new material in the studio. If I go something like 3 days of not working on music I start to feel unsettled.
I’ve always enjoyed making music.
Stuart Rowe, who features on the ‘Darkness’ track, is a singer I rate highly and someone I want to try help get out there performing.
Also the madman MC Stormin, ha ha: if you haven’t seen this guy on stage going on militant, then you must. He features on the track ‘Chicken Neck’ and he’s second to none.
Can you explain the mighty ‘Unexplainable’?
I tried to make something really different but still with pumping energy. I struggled getting the right vocal on this track with other vocalists. To the point where I sampled an old 70s horror film and put it in a vocoder and just made it sing with the track it hardly makes any sense where I chopped it up but for some reason I just like it.
You mentioned the sleep issue, so what inspired ‘Insomnia’. Killer beat.
I got Stuart to come to the studio, we were writing some chords and riffs together until we were both happy with something, then we got onto writing the lyrics.
Back to travels, got a good road story?
Ohhhh this is a very tricky one to select from as I have too many!
Definitely when I’m travelling with the SaSaSaS team it’s always a laugh everytime we go somewhere. IN FACT, it was only the other weekend I had Harry Shotta, Shabba and Stormin in the car with me, as we had to play in Torquay.
On the way home they were all freestyling to Michael Jackson for about an hour and a half solid.
I don’t know what it is but everyone in the team have me laughing non stop wherever we go.
Phantasy cracks me up everytime. Skiba keeps us behaved, he’s like the father of the crew but we still get him to join in now and then.
What tune is in your head?
‘Sway’!
Any shouts?
Big up to Cygnus the distributers behind my releases they’ve helped push and support the tracks more than what I could have so massive thanks to them. Also big up my fans and whoever is supporting my music, I really do appreciate it.
Big shouts to you guys at DNBA, Modestep, Mc Skibadee, Harry Shotta, Shabba, Stormin, DJ Phantasy, Spaow, Stuart Rowe, Grooverider, Michael my agent and massive shouts to all the artists in the D&B scene doing their thing!