It’s been a proper buzz from top to toe…
Dr Meaker‘s instantly-recognisable ‘Right Back’ has just dropped. The tune features THAT voice, the one and only Sian Evans backed by the eight-strong Meaker organism: it’s fully-calibrated live D&B pressure.
But let’s get back on track with DM, Right Back in fact…
I LOVE this tune and think it’s one of the best releases this year. It’s ‘Dr Meaker’, it’s crowded nights, it’s original, it’s summertime, the vocal is stunning, the hook(s) are deadly… I could go on and on. How’d it come about?
We wrote the track not really expecting too much from it and it’s blown up. It’s mad that it’s been playlisted beside artists like Pharrell Williams and Ella Eyre on the BBC Radio 1 Playlist.
We made our tune in my bedroom!
The tune came about as a response to where we were at as a band at the end of last year. We had signed a single to a label early last year and very quickly they started trying to mould us into sounding like other bands doing D&B and we didn’t wanna do that as it was fake and untrue to our roots.
We did a U-turn and decided to go back underground and write a track for the dance floor, for the true D&B heads and for ourselves DIY style. We wanted to make it sound ‘live’ so that we could get across to people that we are a live act and that we smash up the dance floor with tunes like this.
2014 sounds like it’s been busy as ever for you!
We’ve been working hard writing new music and working even harder taking the live show out on the road and smashing up the clubs and festivals. It’s getting busier too, which is wicked. Lots going on.
So how did it come to be out as a release via V and also Circus labels? That’s interesting.
It started out on V Recordings after Bryan Gee signed it. At the same time we were also in the process of doing an album deal with Circus Records and they wanted to put the track on the (future) album so it’s been done as a collab between both labels.
It’s a really cool approach and both labels have been great to work with. V and Circus are run by good people with music at the heart of what they do and we feel it’s really important to work with labels with that mentality.
I love hearing Sian here, I love her quality I always have! Is she part of your Bristol circle of colleagues in sound as it were?
Yeah we met Sian at Glastonbury Festival a few years back and hit it off. We probably met before that though to be honest.
You are only ever a couple of people/connections away from anyone in Bristol. It’s a small city and everyone knows everyone. free tiktok likes generator no human verification tiktokfollowers.info. It’s like that in Bristol.
As if the original version of ‘Right Back’ wasn’t cool enough there’s an already-legendary remix by Break. How did this come about?
A mutual friend in Bristol put me in touch with Break a while back and we had threatened to work on a collab together but it was actually Bryan Gee who brought Break in for this remix. I love it. It’s RAW.
What sort of radio support have you received, feel like it has all the D&B shows/presenters’ names on it! Bailey, Fabio & Grooverider, Friction…
There really are too many names to mention but we’ve had support from every corner of DnB scene supporting (big shout to them all for their support): Ray Keith, Fabio &
Groove, John B, Friction, Mind Vortex, Carasel MC, Roni, Donavan Bad Boy Smith, Simon Bassline Smith, Doc Scott, Logan D, Rene Lavice, Phantasy, Dazee, JJ Frost, Darren J, David Boomah, Crissy Criss, Fred V, Tony Colman, Camo & Crooked, Rob Swire (Pendulum), Mark Crown (Rudimental), Ras Kwame, Sigma, Jakes, N3GUS, Hazard, Heist… the list just goes on and on. It’s a real buzz cos virtually everyone I grew up listening in the scene is sending big ups and Respect.
It has also reached out further than just the D&B scene and other DJ’s such as Norman Jay, B Traits, Target, Rob Da Bank, Mistajam, Annie Mac, Fearne Cotton, Nick Grimshaw… It’s been playlisted at Minstry, Kiss, Radio 1, 1xtra and also getting a lot of love in Bristol on Ujima and BCFM.
It’s been a proper buzz from top to toe and we didn’t really expect it but we are loving the support as it’s really helping us to get our name out there after all these years putting in the work.
Back to Sian, any chance she’ll appear with you live?
Sian played with us at a festival last year and it’s certainly possible that she may join us onstage again.
So tell us about the ‘status’ of your live act, what’s it consist of, for anyone that doesn’t know you. Where’s it at, what do you guys do?
We are an eight piece live act with a super synchronised visual show consisting of me (Clive) on keys, Tom on drums, Mikey on bass, Lorna on vocals, Laurent
Vocals, Jon trumpet, Sam Sax & Ben Sax. It’s heavy… it’s dirty D&B with soul.
We have been playing together for long enough now that we have evolved to be tighter and more on point than ever before. We kick it LIVE and get on a vibe with our fans and it’s been like that since day one.
It’s unique and no one kicks it like we do. Come check us out.
