‘I think that the most useful item in my studio is probably the ashtray’
Not one but THREE producers have converged for the Stutter ep. And that’s not counting the Disprove collab. Which would make four. Effectively you’re on the receiving end of something devised by three very distinct, hardcore and sleepless mindsets. We joined hands, braced ourselves and channelled the unholy Roman triumvirate of Inward, Hanzo & Randie for their siege via Optiv’s Red Light.
Hi could you take us into who’s who here?
I: I’m Inward, an Italian producer. I just graduated in Architecture and exactly during the university studies my passion for D&B began.
H: Besides being Hanzo I’m Valerio, I’m actually still studying industrial design at university and working as a waiter. I love tattoos, I love drawing, cooking, doing excursions and creating basslines.
R: I’m Randie, half of Hanzo & Randie. Or 33% of Inward, Hanzo & Randie.
The Stutter ep is really strong and really powerful. Can you tell us about the notorious Disprove collab ‘The Hutt’?
H: Thanks a lot! Well, me and Randie are both Star Wars nerds and so with that bassline sounding like a fat space anphibian was very easy to find a title. I’ve always loved the character of Jabba The Hutt with his huge and flat pug smile since I was I child.
I thought that probably he would have loved all that midrange talking sounds.
Even Disprove was immediately happy with that.
Who in D&B influences you? What producers over time?
I: Noisia, Phace, Ed Rush, Optical, Cause4Concern, Bad Company.
H: It’s very hard to say: there are so many great and different producers that we like. It also depends a lot on the period. But if I should choose the release that mostly influenced my production, I’ll definitely say Calyx & Teebee’s Anatomy LP. It’s still so strong and futuristic even nowadays.
R: Too many to mention, I love the full spectrum of D&B from liquid to crossbreed but if I have to choose someone I’d say Phace, he’s my favorite producer.
And what about underground music in general, like rock etc… what things are you into?
I: I listen to many underground genres. I don’t have one favorite band, I love all kind of music from metal to trip hop
H: Me and Randie have very different tastes in this case. He likes metal, technical music and also plays as a guitarist in an HC group, while I’m more into electronic music like IDM, trip hop and broken beats.
However these differences are not so strict: as musicians we eat music everyday. We don’t like bounds and so we are always in search of new good music that could give us something, it doesn’t really matter about the genre and I think even for Inward it’s just the same.
R: Hardcore punk and metal in general, bands like Converge or The Dillinger Escape Plan, I also play guitar in a HC band called Tibia.
Who does your excellent artwork?
I’ve always wondered too, but really don’t know. You should ask the boss.
Do you all DJ out? I imagine you all on the decks, a bit like a three piece Bad Company, who you mention.
H: We all started as Deejays and we still do it. Usually me and Randie are like a unique entity: we’ve always played b2b, while Annibale does it on his own. It’s just one year that we’ve started collaborating and we’ve never been booked all three at the same gig.
We’ve always considered Inward and Hanzo & Randie as two different projects, even if at the moment we’re thinking about joining forces into a single new collective.
When you play what stuff do you draw?
Usually we play pure neurofunk but it mostly depends on the audience.
I mean we always try to deliver the whole spectrum of D&B subgenres, but if we see that no one is dancing to a certain groove, it means that probably we have to go harder.
R: I don’t remember a night where we played together, maybe just for a quick b2b or maybe I’m wrong, I have a short memory and I used to drink a lot when I play.
What things in your studio(s) do you really love?
R: Ha ha my shitty monitors, love ’em.
I: I love my Adam monitors, I wouldn’t change them for anything else in this world!
H: It’s a good question: we don’t share the same studio and with work and study it’s hard to get the time to all meet up. We try to do it when a beat it’s almost completed so we can hear it and carve it with six ears listening all to the same monitors.
About our studio equipment, well, we have very few things. We mostly use virtual instruments. Imagine that: I’ve got not even soundcard or monitors, I use a simple 2.1 system.
I think that the most useful item in my studio is probably the ashtray.
What’s the scene like in your part of the world?
H: The scene in Italy is very complicated: we have great producers, a lot of newbie ones too, but it’s very hard to find a gig full of people. There are many promoters but they’re always forced to book foreign and famous artists cause ravers are very choosy and usually they don’t dance with DJs they don’t know.
I think that most of the people it’s still too bounded to the old ‘imaginary’ of illegal raves. It’s a shame, we have a very huge potential.
Got to ask: your country has produced some of the most killer films ever, from the best horror to wonders from Fellini… so what films in general do you dig?
I: Yes the Italian old school movies are very good. I like Sergio Leone’s movies too, especially for the awesome Ennio Morricone’s soundtracks! In general I love all the movies from David Cronenberg, David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino.
H: I’m in love with sci-fi and cyberpunk classics, from Alien to Mad Max, Kurosawa’s old Japanese movies and Kassovitz’s and Besson’s action movies. All Taxis are incredibly fun, can’t stop pissing in my pants every time I watch them.
R: My favorite film is Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness but I don’t have a particular favorite genre, maybe sci-fi… I think it’s a common thing among D&B producers.
What’s a D&B tune in your head right now?
I: Noisia ‘Banshee’.
H: Noisia’s ‘Incessant’. I hear it every time I drive my car, not only because it’s a masterpiece, but also because the CD’s stuck inside the stereo and there’s no way to get it back.
R: This moment I’m listening to SpectraSoul ‘Away With Me’ (Calibre remix).
Can you talk us through one more tune from Stutter?
H: OK, let’s talk about ‘Tank’. We arrived at one point that we had the tune finished, but it was still lacking of something, something that could ‘humanize’ it.
We’d already decided for ‘Tank’ as title, so I started searching for some movie vocals. I took many days, then I finally found the right one: an angry voice that shouts “You’re a greasy, fast, 200 pounds Italian tank, go through ’em, run over ’em!”.
Rocky, the Italian Stallion, it fitted just perfectly!
Any shouts?
Shouts to Optiv, Maztek, Dabs, Disprove, Spacedrome, Animal Defection, Tibia, Bonf, Chiara and Carlo.