May 23 2013: Rockwell makes broadcasting history by being the first producer to blow up a bass bin in the Radio 1 studio with his massive new banger Detroit.
If Drumandbassarenablog had a reactionary tabloid flavour, this is how we’d respond to such destructive behaviour…
IS THIS WHAT WE’RE PAYING OUR LICENCE FEES FOR?!
Better still, this…
ROCKWELL SHOULD BE BANNED FROM THE BBC STUDIOS AND FINED!
Hell, let’s go right to the top of Scandal Town…
ROCKWELL SHOULD BE DEPORTED FOR WASTING BBC LICENCE FEES!
But we’re not a muck-raking rag. We’re passionate about supporting the best drum & bass music and telling the stories behind it. The very fact that a filthy homage to one of music’s most influential cities was played and received so rapturously before the watershed is a story in itself. Let alone how it damaged BBC property. This is golden moment in drum & bass / broadcast history… And we, for one, are happy for our licence fee to go towards a new bass bin. Let’s hear how it went down:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcjK_7t_wNc
“I hope they don’t invoice me and I hope it doesn’t put them off supporting my tunes in the future!” laughs Rockwell, perhaps a little nervously. “The reaction from Mistajam and Zane Lowe has been crazy because it was never written to be on radio, it wasn’t written to get that type of attention. We didn’t sit down and go ‘right, here’s a big summer banger’ or anything. It wasn’t contrived at all, I’m really shocked at the way things have developed so naturally.”
In fact Detroit was meant to be part of a bigger EP but Rockwell couldn’t firm up vocals for another track in time. Having tested Detroit at Friction’s debut Elevate night earlier this year (and getting an instant unanimous reload request from the crowd), he knew he had get it out there so released it with an equally filthy, ghetto-burner Back Again. Madly, though, Detroit actually began several years ago.
“I was toying with different elements at the time and also made the tune 808,” says Tom. “You couldn’t have played the original version, the bass was all over the shop, the mixdown wasn’t there. It was just an idea. Was there any specific piece of kit of production knowledge that helped me finish it? No. It’s not down to one specific bit of knowledge, it’s more down to just spending more and more time in the studio and learning more about what I do. I knew it was on the right track, but I didn’t know how to make it sound as good as I wanted it to be.”
Interestingly, it’s a neat snapshot of how Rockwell writes all of his tunes. An initial sketch goes down and is allowed to mature as he ruminates over its sound and how he wants to portray himself as an artist. No templates, no regurgitation, no expectations… The broad scope between his Detroit to his last single Childhood Memories speaks volumes, reflecting Rockwell’s approach to both his own work and music in general.
“I’ve never been into just one genre of music,” he explains. “So for Detroit and Back Again I’ve played around with the ghetto tech sound from artists like DJ Assault. I love the rawness of what they do. I think in drum & bass we all get stuck in the whole production thing and polish up the production so it sounds like it’s been rubbed up with Mr Sheen.”
“Drum & bass producers are some of the best producers in the world,” he continues. “And I love that super polished, super aggressive tech stuff, I think it’s wicked. There’s not one genre where I don’t like some of its releases. On Facebook people seem to go ‘ah this genre is shit and that genre is rubbish’ but, for me, no genre is devoid of bad tunes. You might not like country and western, but you can’t not say Johnny Cash is sick! There’s not one genre which you can identify as rubbish.”
Not content with making broadcasting history, Rockwell’s now making Drumandbassarenablog history… No one’s bigged up country and western on here before. Back to Detroit and if you want to understand the true influence behind the track Rockwell suggests any mixtape on DJ Assault’s website.
“There’s feedback all over the shop and they’re so messy and chaotic,” he grins. “But the vibe is incredible! I love the innocence of the idea and not really knowing what you’re doing in the studio. That’s where the creativity comes through.”
Influences aside, there’s just one final piece to the Detroit puzzle… HOW has such a raw, filthy, gritty piece of ghetto-tech D&B found its way into the Radio1 studio in the first place? There’s no vocal, it’s designed for peaktime club mischief… No one could have dreamt the support it’s had.
“It’s taken people by surprise and I think that’s it,” ponders Rockwell. “Like Marka and Disco Dodo. When they came out they sounded completely fresh. Maybe that’s why? The reaction’s taken me by surprise anyway!”
Detroit / Back Again is out now. Listen and download.