There’s a distinct whiff of jungle in the air right now… Marvellous Cain has just barged back onto the scene with his exciting Yardrock plans, Uncle Dugs seems to be lurking on every corner, dealing out premium blasts from jungle’s past, present and future, J Majik & Wickaman’s Infrared label has just released the Jungle EP and then there’s the not-so-small matter of My Sound (Number 1 In The Clash).
Sporting the talents of two renowned reggae vocalists Ras Ranger and 2Nice, Aries & Gold’s latest banger is the latest in a whole slew of reggae influenced jungle drum & bass joints from Bristol badness boutique Run Tingz. Let’s have a listen…
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QYH7cVV0OA
Not only have they nailed a very distinctive sound, but they’ve got a refreshing approach to their work, too. Inspired by Congo Natty, they eschew the classic bootleg heritage of soundsystem culture and have diligently striven to source their own original vocals. It’s an exciting direction, and one that’s left them hanging around in dodgy car parks with big wads of cash… But it’s clearly paying big dividends as the Run Tingz operation boasts a soundsystem, a studio, a label and plenty more. We gave one half of Run Tingz Cru G.Tactix a call to see where they’re at…
What inspired you to set up Run Tingz?
We needed more music to play out and there wasn’t enough jungle being released on vinyl You generally didn’t get CDJs at the warehouse parties we were playing. Plus I think every producer would say they started making music because they couldn’t find enough out there that they were really into.
It was obviously a great platform to promote our music and way to start reaching out to the vocalists. We’ve got a lot of love of love for reggae music and rave culture, we both grew up in the UK illegal rave scene and there’s a lot in common with the sound system culture both here and in Jamaica.
Producers like Benny Page, the Serial Killaz and Congo Natty are massive inspirations…. Plus there are only so many times you can drop Turn Down The Lights and Junglist!
Give us three labels that inspired your approach to beats and business and why…
Digital SoundBoy: They’ve got such strong branding and artwork. Plus big tunes like Every Day and Turn Down The Lights! With artists like Benny Page and Shy, they’re a huge inspiration to what we do.
Congo Natty: Rebel and his crew pretty much symbolise UK ragga jungle for us. They’ve been pioneering the sound since the early nineties. What inspired us with Congo was their commitment to working with the vocalists and releasing original material as opposed to just bootlegging reggae and dancehall anthems. That type of culture is widespread and a huge, not to mention important, part of the whole Jungle culture… But it’s great to be making the originals and not the bootleg versions.
Hospital: Although this may seem slightly out of place as we’ve clearly not taken any musical influences from the camp, their worldwide reputation and brand in the commercial D&B scene is surely a massive inspiration to any label manager. We’ve been doing events for years but the Hospitality events that take place around the world really helped to inspire the Run Tingz Sessions, and we wanted to give the jungle scene a well branded and reputable label party that brings all the artists together and gives us all a platform to promote our music.
What have been your favorite Run Tingz memories?
There’s been so many! Hosting a stage at St Paul’s Carnival in 2011 and performing to over 3000 people has got to be up there!
The Informer video shoot is right up there as well for so many reasons and although we’ve made significant developments production wise since then it’ll always be a big part of the label’s history!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPHcqaFkK5U
Another one is turning up to a car park in St Pauls with a wad of cash and a CD in our hands to meet our boy Blackout J.A. It was the first time we met him and wanted to commission him (albeit slightly ghetto style) on our first ever recording project!
There’s also the countless studio sessions we’ve had with artists such as Blackout, YT, Tenor Fly, Topcat, David Boomah and not forgetting our girls Lady MC and Lady Fyah!
What can we look forward to in the future?
Expect a lot more activity as we’ve both just gone full-time on the label and we’ve got 12 releases planned for this year as opposed to the three that we put out in 2012! We’ve also just had a very exciting meeting with a very well know distribution company (watch this space) about taking our vinyl on. And we’ve just signed our first ever agency deal with the recently launched, and very exciting, Boom Agency.
There’s a whole year of events planned where we’ll be launching in another two major UK cities alongside what we’re already doing in Bristol, London and Brighton.
We’ve just submitted our first vinyl project since June 2012 and the Revolution Time remixes (of YT’s third album) is due to hit the shelves at the end of April. We’ll also be doing our first ever release tour off the back of this along side our mentors the Serial Killaz and YT himself so anyone interested in in booking dates needs to contact us through the web site or speak to the relevant agencies.
There are loads of big remix projects we’re currently working on and Blackout has just pulled a full length album out of nowhere! Naturally we’ve signed it and will be releasing the jungle remixes for later this year.
What’s your advice to other labels?
Make a plan and stick it. Actions speak louder than words. Embrace the digital revolution. Be professional and work hard! Simple as that!
My Sound is out now. Listen and download.