When an upcoming artist gets signed by a major label, no one can ever be sure quite how things are going to turn out. After signing for Ram Records last year, Mind Vortex quickly laid any fears to rest, smashing up dancefloors across the country with the massive debut single, ‘Hotbox/Now It’s Time’.
One year and many gigs later, the second single Alive/Arc is is ready for our consumption. We caught up with Laurie to find out just what treats they have in store this time around…
So, Hotbox went down a treat! How have the last 12 months been since the debut single?
We’ve been really busy writing lots of contenders for the next single, working on mixes and just generally building a big catalogue of tracks. It takes a lot of time to work through different tunes and ideas that we want to try out.
Is this all gearing up towards a possible album release perhaps?
Yeah maybe this year or next year, whenever we and Ram feels the time is right really. It’s something that we’d both love to do and if that’s what people want to hear then we’ll go for it!
Both Alive and Arc showcases the diversity that you guys bring to your music. Did you actively try and make something different or is it just part of your own musical development?
All we try and do it write what we feel and we don’t like to just produce one particular style of D&B, so we try and mix up lots of different ideas and we think this is reflected in the releases. Even then, once we have tracks down they’re tested, especially by Andy C in the clubs so it’s really the crowd that decides what tracks we’re going to put out.
It can’t be a bad thing getting feedback from the big boss man?
Andy’s great to work with, he gives us really honest feedback, lets us know about any tweaks we need to make, and basically does anything he can to make sure that the tune impacts as hard as possible. Before we were signed, we made a wish list of labels we would like to approach and Ram was at the top, so when they said they wanted to sign us it was a dream come true and we never had to write out to any other labels.
Are there any particular artists or styles that you’re really feeling at the moment, or anything that has a big influence on your music?
We’re really open-eared when it comes to sound in general so anything from electrohouse and trap right the way through to rock and classical music. It’s all about soaking up as much good music as we possibly can because we feel that will filter out into our tracks and bring out our musicality. The number one producer for us in terms of technical ability and song writing has to be Noisia. They have the best production for us, hands down. We’ve also got big respect for Rob Swire, his Pendulum and Knife Party productions are wicked… And then you can’t talk about production and leave out Culture Shock – he’s a proper funky mofo!
So what’s next for you guys?
We’ve nearly finished our next single. We’re working with a vocalist at the moment and have a few contenders for the B-side. Unfortunately I can’t give out any details in case it falls through! We’d love to hopefully get in the studio with Calyx and Teebee, we’ve had chats with them about it. They cleaned up at the Drum&BassArena Awards and I can’t wait to hear their next album.
The collectives we’ve spoken to before seem to consist of an ideas man and a producer. How do you guys go about working together?
We actually both come up with ideas and write individually, produce individually, and then when we have a few ideas down just get together, whittle them down, bounce a few ideas off each other, and then produce the track to the end product together. Since we’re both music people we can both get tracks to a good level and then we push the best ones on together.
Any arguments?
Haha! All the time mate – we’re like a married couple at times!
Interview: Adam K & Chris D
Alive / Arc is out now. Listen and download
