Cyantific continues serenely and fastidously fixed to his artistic trajectory, the latest point along being ‘Colour In The Shadows/No More Heroes’: his energised, Viper-fuelled coupling. We spoke about them. And what turns out to be the mother of all road stories which reads like a segment in a particularly good blockbuster. That you’d watch through your hands.
Hi how’s it going this year, and being a member of the Viper clan?
It’s been a great year for me, really productive in the studio. Viper feels like home, there’s such a good team spirit – it feels like we’re all pushing in the same direction.
I was reflecting: YOU know so much about the industry from your history and teaming up with the Viper people like this is a meeting of minds: how do you look to operate things, is it tough out there what with so much desensitisation going on or…?
Yeah it’s good to have all the experience around you, Brendan Futurebound has been in the game since it began pretty much, and between him, Tim and Asad there’s a lot of knowledge to draw on.
To the release, tell me about ‘No More Heroes’, what inspired? Was the track I went to first.
I wanted to see if I could get that VHS 80’s action movie vibe and marry it to a dance floor D&B tune. I used some samples from some film trailers and then played in the intro parts and ran them through a tape emulator to get that worn out VHS sound.
Originally the main body of the tune was going to be my remix for Diztortion, but I realised halfway through the project that the remix needed to be something different, so I left it and came back to it later.
Got to ask do you have a ‘cinematic’ POV? Do you imagine scenes when making music? It’s very visual.
Thanks, that’s a compliment! Yeah I guess I want things to sound like a ‘thing’, though I’m not really sure it’s something I consciously think about, I’m just drawn to music that sounds that way and has an atmosphere, and for want of a better word depth. I’m really in to sound tracks for example.
‘Colour In The Shadows’ has a wicked chord progression, it’s very memorable… was it a labour of love?
It certainly was! I spent about a year on it, coming back to it now and then.
Love the lead synth line on it. It’s got to be played live with a hand held synth. One of those ones with a guitar strap.
That lead synth was a relatively last minute inclusion, but it’s now my favourite bit…it’s like a good rug – it ties the room together. Definitely needs to be played on a keytar by someone wearing shoulder pads.
I get told off by my Mrs for air-keytaring along to that part.
How did the vocal come about? Wicked delivery and lyrics… it’s very natural and sounds great.
Futurebound passed it on to a songwriter called Andy Bullimore, who went in with Benji (above) and recorded a demo for it. We were blown away! It didn’t change much from that original demo, they nailed it.
He’s got such a good voice, he’s going to go far.
I’ve seen you DJ and really dug it so what’s some live firepower that you have in the arsenal that’s delivering? Can imagine it’s weighty!
I’ve got some great new bits from InsideInfo and Mefjus, as you can imagine they’re pretty militant!
Live work as a DJ must mean touring so you got any stories?
Some more printable than others.
I’d say the time I nearly died in Switzerland was pretty interesting. Q Project and I were coming back from a gig in Berne, to the airport in Zurich. The motorway goes through the mountains. Quiff and the driver had been partying the night before. So this driver loses concentration for a second and clips the kerb as we enter a tunnel.
The tyre then bursts and we spin out across four lanes of traffic, I was looking out the window and there were cars and trucks all heading our way, I thought ‘this is it’. Miraculously we didn’t get hit by anything… bear in mind that this was a tiny car and wouldn’t have taken a hit very well… and slammed into the wall in the tunnel.
The car was wrecked and I was shaking.
Quiff steps out of the car, sunglasses on, and says ‘I didn’t even spill my beer’.
Been dining out on that story for years.
Smashing. What’s next for you?
There’s remixes coming out for Diztortion, Ella Eyre, Lethal Bizzle, and Drumsound & Bassline Smith soon. There’s my monthly podcast Cyantific FM.
Other than that I’m getting my next single tied up and looking forward to a busy autumn of shows.
