‘I really enjoy sitting in horrible positions late at night for hours on end shifting snare layers by milliseconds at a time… ‘
Hybrid producer Lockjaw – part Aussie, part Berliner – beams in to talk about the diverse threads, thoughts and finely-tuned approaches which comprise the Ghost In The Machine ep, new on Dispatch. It’s a totally engaging ride, combining something very accessible with something pretty alien/gritty too. We found out more.
Hi Lockjaw, you’re busy on the release schedule… does this mean you’re always at work? What’s your studio set up like?
I don’t know if I’d call it “work” but I produce at least something every day.
I’m always in the process of starting and finishing songs, mixing and also mastering/mixing music for people, there isn’t a shortage of stuff for me to do. Like anything else, there are ebbs and flows in production but I know I’m always improving musically and technically so it’s always an enjoyable experience overall.
I’ve just moved to Berlin so my “studio” set-up at the moment is my PC, my audio interface and my headphones, I don’t even have a MIDI keyboard at the moment. I’ve always been entirely software based so the only real things I’m missing from my nice studio in Australia are a soundproofed room and speakers.
Let’s talk about the new ep, and start with ‘Hesitation’, it’s a wicked mood.
Yeah, I guess I was just experimenting with trying to make some prominent chord progressions with pads that sounded ok and that led onto the rest of the laid-back groove of the tune. A lot of tunes end up like that, they start with a basic idea or concept and then the things you come up with inspire you to construct the track further.
I like it because it still retains a bit of dirt and groove in the leads and bass but the melodies manage to float along too, underneath.
Is there a common thread/theme in the ep?
That’s an interesting question. The tunes were actually all produced separately from one another so there is no obvious theme. That is something I would like to do one day, however.
All four songs were produced consecutively over a period of a few months and looking back on them now, I can hear some sort of continuity between them and listening to them takes me back to the specific time in my life that I spent producing them and what I was figuring out about production at the time.
Are there any targets that you had in mind when you write? ‘Keep Lying’ for example?
The tunes are definitely not targeted at anyone. One of the biggest reasons I started making drum and bass was to get complete creative control over every aspect of my music making, do exactly what I want and how I want so these songs are all really just completely personal discoveries and experimentations of my own designed to give me a kick.
I guess what I mean is that I just try to produce stuff that I find really cool. That’s the only thing that drives my producing; there is no interest in making music for me if it doesn’t excite me.
I also really enjoy sitting in horrible positions late at night for hours on end shifting snare layers by milliseconds at a time.
Can you take us through the title tune?
‘Ghost in the Machine’ was kind of a production breakthrough for me. I felt the drums and lead bass sounds were a step up from my previous stuff and that, after finishing the tune, I had a palpable sense that I was a markedly better producer, technically, than I was when I had started it.
I also kept revisiting the intro and redoing it, just forcing myself to go over every track in the project until the reason that I let it be wasn’t because I just couldn’t be bothered but rather that I had tweaked it so much that I couldn’t figure out how to make it better and I’m glad I did because I can still hear all the details I put into the tune when I listen back to it.
And the title itself?
The title just comes from what the tune sounds like to me: an alien ghost wreaking havoc in some kind of huge planet-eating machine.
How’s it feel to be back on Dispatch?
Really satisfying. Getting my first release on Dispatch was a huge deal for me back in 2013 so I’m real excited to have this newer, bigger EP out, especially as I feel all four tunes are quite a step above – personally anyway – my first LTD release.
What tunes are killing you right now, what’s inspiring?
In D&B:
Current Value ‘Gyrocopter’
Signal ‘Tripwire’
Survey ‘Paperhands’
Noisia/Mefjus/Hybris ‘Clusterfunk’
Emperor ‘Passed Up’
What about outside of D&B?
The last two albums I listened to thoroughly were ASAP Rocky’s first and Todd Terje’s, I love his synths. I’m really also just a sucker for amazing vocalists, so I enjoy people like Jessie Ware, Lianne La Havas, Maynard James Keenan and guests Fly Lo gets on his albums.
Another thing I really love are movie soundtracks so things like Bladerunner, Chinatown, Ex Machina and Gone Girl soundtracks get me going.
I also really love Synkro and his mixes at the moment.
What shifts in D&B are you feeling, what new trends and vibes… and this is down to the audience too of course, what they like.
I actually have no idea about this; the genre and what people like about it is always changing but my personal views on D&B and music in general change constantly too so I don’t know if I can even comment on it.
I just remember that the vibe I had around 2010 and what I thought about drum and bass is now completely different.
I have no idea what the global community of drum and bass fans likes to hear. When I mix or play live, the tunes I play have to be tunes that I like: I would never play a tune out to an audience that I didn’t like just to appease them or whatever, that defeats the purpose of DJing for me personally.
I think there will always be the cheesier side and the techier/deeper side that continues in any genre of music. Personally, what interests me most about drum and bass now is trying to focus on bringing a more melodic and progression-based sound whilst still retaining the ominously dark and techy theme whilst also making it appealing to people on a dancefloor and sitting at home with headphones on.
I also think the genre has proven itself to be so versatile too so it will just keep morphing and going through different stage but it will always be drum and bass.
OK thanks Lockjaw, any shouts and dates you would like us to know?
To Ant and Alex for running one of the most legit and well respected labels of all time and for being all-round amazing guys as well as anyone who takes the time to listen to my music!
I’ll be playing in the UK in July, Slovakia in August, hopefully France sometime soon as well.