After reaching a milestone 10 years as a duo Ulterior Motive are launching Guidance – their very own imprint which will see them experimenting with their most diverse soundscapes to date, and it’s all kicking off with a forward-thinking debut EP due for release on July 7.
Initially starting life in 2007 as an event, Guidance has gone full circle and will now be the home for their music, with the first EP also featuring the likes of Icicle and SP:MC. They’ve just dropped another track from the release – immerse yourselves in the eclectic rhythm of Clap Ya:
We caught up to find out more…
Yes fellas, thanks for joining us! Where have we caught you today?
Thanks for inviting us! We’re currently packing for Glastonbury…
Jealous! So, new label – new beginnings .. Massive congrats! Was launching your own imprint something you’d always planned to do?
Yeah it’s been on the cards for a long time, but like everything we wanted to wait for the right time. We took some time out after the album in order to let the dust settle and re-focus on what the next move was. Now seems like the right time to finally kick things off, we have the music we want to release and full autonomy…
What’s the core ethos behind the label?
We just want to release music we believe in!
It’s named after an event you guys ran in Bournemouth back in the mid 00’s, and those days were no doubt formative years for you as artists as well – will the label be an opportunity to pay homage to some of the sounds of those times?
Guidance will give us the opportunity to write what we want, and in some ways we have been taking things back to the 2008 sound but we’re not planning on making old-sounding tunes exclusively, The Wobbler featuring SP:MC is a good example of this.
The Wobbler is outrageous… What a tune. Was it inspired by anything in particular?
Thanks, this one was inspired by our Subtitles days and is the tune that sets the tone for the label.
Did you already have a beat ready for SP or was this made with him in mind?
He wanted to get involved from the first time we played it out. Initially it wasn’t made for a vocal but he really wanted to get on it and we’re good friends so set it up. He nailed it.
That he did! So will you be bringing the event back in conjunction with the imprint?
100%! We’re launching the event at The Clash Stage in Shangri-La at this year’s Glastonbury. There is also a Bristol night, London night, and some shows across Europe as well.
Label launch at Glastonbury… Doesn’t get much bigger than that does it?! Must be absolutely buzzing for that one! How did the prospect of a launch at Glasto fall into place anyways?
It’s crazy right?! It’s going to be a real celebration on Saturday! We’ve played in the area the last few years and the guys who run it offered us a curation opportunity, and we explained we’d be launching our label mid summer and they instantly offered us the launch… The team at Shangri-La are really cool and we respect what they stand for so it’s a real honour to be given such an opportunity!
Will you guys still be releasing on Metalheadz or are you taking this as an opportunity to have a period of complete artistic freedom?
We did a 12″ for Headz recently and we certainly aren’t cutting ties, but the label is our focus for now. If we write something that we feel fits Headz then we’ll still see if they want it. We are all family there and everyone respects the need for creative freedom.
Good to hear! Will you be inviting other artists to release on the label as well?
For sure, we’ve got tunes with DLR, DRS and Jubei already lined up, and we’ve spoken with others who want to get involved. However we aren’t rushing to have a whole roster of artists and releases, we just want to put out what feels right, when it feels right. We’ve started listening to demos from new producers as well, as we feel it’s important to help bring the new guys through.
Absolutely. Were the tracks made for the EP specifically or just tracks you felt deserved to see the light of day?
They were made for Guidance really.. When we decided to start the label we set aside everything we knew would fit. There are a few things that people have been playing that haven’t come out, this should explain why…
How did you go about deciding who you’d like to collab with?
We just write with friends who are on the same page socially and musically. There’s not much else to it.
Clap Ya really showcases your versatility as producers, is there a story behind this one?
Not really, we just tried something different and it worked. Sitting in front of the computer without an agenda often has the best results.
Love the raw feel of Anode with Icicle. Were you guys able to get into the studio together for this one?
Yeah, Icy came down for a for a couple days and we got a few ideas down. We’ve been friends for years so it’s always great to hang out.
Are plans in place for future EPs already? If so, have you thought about who you’d like to collab with?
The next EP is pretty much wrapped up. It will follow the same format as 001, and we’ll aim to put 4 EPs out before an album in late 2018.
Looking forward to it all! If you could give yourselves one piece of advice back when you were doing the Guidance nights, what would it be?
Don’t book a £2000 DJ the same night Dave Pearce and Erick Morillo are playing in a town with 5 clubs….
Haha you live and learn eh! There’s been a bit of a pattern with artists branching out and doing their own thing – do you think it’s important for aspiring artists to find a home at a label before they branch out into their own thing?
I think people should do what they want, there’s no rule book is there… It’s a good thing that people are setting up their own camps as it will mean more creative freedom, which will in turn lead to more inspiration across the scene.
Definitely. Final shouts?
Thanks to everyone who has helped us from the start of Guidance in ’07, right up to now!
Pre-order Guidance 001 here
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