As part one of Dawn Raid‘s new The Prestige comp draws near it was time to step inside their personal maelstrom. Turns out the magic they feel in this music is in part a literal thing. Time to take in that Sappo mix as well, at the end.
Hey again DR how’s things?
Yep, life is good. We are both mad busy with life and what the D&B grind has to throw at us, but we couldn’t be happier in terms of the progress we feel we are steadily making as label managers, producers and DJs. The future feels bright, and we’re just looking to maintain a work ethic that will sustain the efforts we and everybody affiliated with the label has put in so far.
First off… this artwork’s nice.
Thanks… the artwork is always something we look very closely at with our graphic designer, Lara who is a good friend. Normally we come up with a conceptand then float a few ideas back and forth with her. This is then normally whittled down to three or four potential final pieces of imagery.
When did the decision to make a comp come about? It’s no small feat!
The decision to put together an album was an organic process. Initially it was never really meant to turn out this way. It’s just that we work with sooooo many talented/like-minded producers and artists across the scene, and we just couldn’t keep up/release the amount of music we wanted to within a given time frame.
So after a period of time, it just became obvious that the best thing to do was put out the plethora of excellent original music and remixes we had received as a double LP.
What was the criterion?
The overall selection process was centred around wanting to showcase the full spectrum of what D&B/jungle has to offer… whilst keeping it dancefloor, with a nod to the sound that pioneered what we call D&B today, whilst still keeping it fresh and forward-thinking.
Thanks to the artists involved, we feel we have managed to achieve that.
The ‘Prestige’ title itself is intriguing…
The title The Prestige came about through us wanting to have a link to the label name Hocus Pocus. Most people on the planet would associate the terminology Hocus Pocus with sorcery and magic! In the annals of the magicians world, a magic trick manifests itself over three stages…
A. The Pledge – the showing of something real, normal and unaltered.
B. The Turn – the magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary, like disappear!
C. The Prestige – Because making something disappear isn’t enough; you have to bring it back. That’s why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, this part is called “The Prestige.” Also the word ‘prestige’ literally centres on quality, admiration and respect.
Overall so many great names here: Cabin Fever, Rawtee, Sappo, yourself… must be hard to pick some tunes to discuss!
There are so many top artists on the two parts of the LP that it really would be difficult for us to pick out specific tracks & producers… we just hope that the D&B community think the same.
Can you select one? Maybe?
It’s tough… after deliberation I think we’d both go for Rawtee’s ‘Higher Ground’ because it covers so many styles and unifies sub-genres within the D&B scene in one tune… whilst also managing to do damage to any dancefloor it comes into contact with
Will we see The Prestige material dropped live?
We’ll showcase as many tracks off the album across the nights we have been booked to play at in the North-West – predominantly – over the next couple of months. So check our socials for what’s on the horizon.
I note your own material pops up here…
We’ve been lucky enough to have four massive remixes of our back catalogue from Voltage, Callide, Cabin Fever and DJ Sappo make it on to the LP.
All have been very well received on the dancefloor and amongst our peers. Therefore the lads have done us proud in that respect! The original track that we have thrown into the mix is called ‘Dead to Rights’… a dancefloor roller we made a fair while back. ‘Dead to Rights’ seemed to just naturally compliment everything else already on the album.
To be honest though, we really wanted this project to showcase the artists on the label and help to build the Hocus Pocus profile as a quality D&B label.
The album’s in two parts, can you explain?
The two parts of the album are coming out digitally: initially exclusive to Juno Download, then worldwide the week after in August and September 2015 respectively.
Any vinyl due?
Ideally, in the future we really want to explore putting out some vinyl to underpin the digital releases, but as with any business venture, no matter how artistic, the figures have to add up in order for us to sustain future investment in vinyl as a label.
So how do you perceive the scene in general? What do you personally really like?
To be honest we really do love all progressive D&B/jungle, and that’s what we try to showcase with the label. However, it is important to us that the sound we push represents where the music has come from as well as where it’s going to! Right now across the scene we are particularly feeling the amount of real quality rollers that are coming out.
Rolling it out, we feel is one of the core essences of D&B… and over the past year there seems to be a swell of producers who are keeping it gritty, hard and rolling whilst also maintaining that soulful element, which is important for all music of a high quality.
Final words for now, Dawn Raid?
Shouts to all the producers involved on the project: we feel blessed to call you all brethrens. Shouts to our immediate family for putting up with our commitment to all things D&B. Shouts to Sappo for his mastering efforts on this project, also big shouts to our MC BIC and all the artists at Heavy Water Studios.
Also shouts Adam at NBA/dLO and to DJ Randall and the MAC II family for supporting our music and his words of encouragement. Big respect to all the ravers and punters who keep what we do relevant… especially those in the Manc clubland! Manchester is goin’ in right now.
Concrete respect to DNBA! Peace.
The Prestige Vol 1
Dawn Raid sc
Dawn Raid twitter
Sappo Prestige mix
