Ahead of Spearhead’s standalone event at Brixton’s Plan B this Friday, we caught up with Dexcell, the trio from Watford consisting of Dave Wilson, Adam Smart and Sammy Stabile. The lads will be unleashing their signature brand of drum & bass when they make their appearance at the event, and they’ve given us an exclusive mix as a little taste of what’s to come, and boy is it a corker! With Tempza on mic duties it’s the perfect lead up to what’s becoming one of London’s most revered liquid nights. Read on to hear what the boys had to say about the mix, and what’s coming up next for them. Check the competition at the end of the page for your chance to win 2 tickets to the Spearhead event this Friday!
Big up fellas! Where have we caught you today?
Nice one. We’re just in our hometown of Watford at the moment. Putting a few finishing touches to some tracks and preparing for our set for the next Spearhead night at Plan B, Brixton.
Looking forward to it! And what can people expect from a Dexcell set if they’ve never caught one?
With our DJ sets, we like to play across the board. You’ll hear some new bits. You might also hear some classics. We tend to not stick to one sub-genre as we feel that can be a tad boring for a crowd or listener. You need to try and cater for everyone’s tastes, and hopefully our sets can reflect that for people. If you ever see us playing out, expect to hear the full spectrum of Drum & Bass! Old or new, if it sounds good, we’ll play it.
How did you 3 meet and come to be known as Dexcell?
We all met working together in a record shop. We all shared an interest in music and decided to form a group together.
What sparked your love for drum & bass?
Listening to old sets from a mutual friend’s brother. He had a DJ Hype set from an early Accelerated Culture event. We listened to it so much, that the tape got worn out and broke!
Origins of the name?
We were in a bar in Watford, trying to brainstorm a name that could sum us up as an outfit. Something that was memorable. It kind of randomly popped into heads. We wrote it down, it looked good on paper, so we went with it!
You’ve been smashing the remixes lately! Most recently the wicked remix of Hybrid Minds’ Mountains- what a roller! Do you approach remixes differently than you would original tracks?
Thank you! Yes absolutely, when it comes to a remix we would rather just take the vocals or main hook of the track and build around it, rarely do we ever use every aspect of the original in our remix. That way we have a track ready to release regardless if the vocals work or not.
What else has been cooking in the studio lately?
We have a few remixes and an EP on the way. Plus, we’ve also done a few co-labs with some other great producers. Finally to top things off, we’re working hard towards our debut album!
Yes! Can’t wait for that! Do you find that having 3 different perspectives in the studio gives you an unfair advantage?
It certainly does help having the three of us! We can bounce different ideas off of each other. See what works on a track and what doesn’t. It’s also good for getting new projects started and finished. Two of us could be working on one thing, whilst the other is starting something completely fresh. It’s very handy.
Tell us about the mix you’ve prepared- any exclusives?
There’s quite a few new bits from us. There’s a first play of a new track we’ve done with the always talented Ellie Mae, ‘Mesmerise’. Ellie is a fantastic vocalist and is always a pleasure to work with. You can catch her on the intro track of the mix too, ‘Never Free’.
There’s also a currently untitled dancefloor track we’ve been working on. We’ve got our co-lab with Six Blade ‘I Know’ in the mix as well. This one’s kind of a neuro/techy roller. It’s gone down well when we’ve played it out. We’ve also been very lucky to get MC Tempza on the mix. We first met him at a night we were DJ-ing at a few months ago. We discussed about getting him to do mic duties on a forthcoming mix for us. This mix was the end result and he’s absolutely smashed it. He’s definitely added another element to the mix.
Other artists/ labels you’re really feeling at the moment?
The DnB scene is looking really healthy at the moment. Lots of fantastic music out there. People like Six Blade, Hybrid Minds & Etherwood are smashing it at the moment. You should also be on the lookout for Memro. This guy is still relatively new to the scene, but we’re expecting big things from him in the near future.
Indeed, Memro has been smashing it lately! You launched your own label- Breach Audio, last year. Can we expect some more releases from the label soon?
Indeed! We have a few alternative genres of music that we are planning to release towards the end of the year. Once we have completed the projects we’re currently working on, we’ll focus our attention on lining up some releases. A few ideas have been discussed between us, but we need to sort out a few things before we unleash some new Breach material.
And whats in the pipeline for you guys for the rest of the year?
We’ve got a lot happening! Lots of remixes in particular. We’ve done a remix of BCee’s ‘Hold On’, which will be going out on the ‘Lost & Found’ remix EP. Then there’s our remix of ‘Mountains’ which will be released around September. We’re also currently putting together an EP for Spearhead, which we’re really looking forward to. We can’t wait for people to hear it.
Huge news! We can’t wait to hear it! Now for something a little left of field: If you could attend any event in the history of the universe, what would it be?
Haha wow that’s a difficult one! Maybe we’d go back in time to see how structures like Stonehenge or the Pyramids were built. Or even to check out some dinosaurs in the Jurassic Period.
Final shouts?
Shouts to our families, our friends and everyone who has supported us over the years. Big ups!
For your chance to win 2 tickets to the Spearhead event this Friday answer this question:
Where is the Spearhead event being held?
A. Planet 9
B. Plan B
C. Plan D
D. Watford
Email your answers to comps@breakbeat.co.uk.