‘We’re not limiting everything to the last bit. We’re letting it breathe’
Austrian D&B renegades RoyGreen & Protone have come in hard with their new ep on Demand… the 26th for the label as it happens, and appearing soon after their appearance on the fab Intrigue album. How does it sound? This ep is three strong and blazing slices of D&B set to energise any floor, and where the subtle and the strong co-exist.
Hey RoyGreen & Protone, what are you doing right now?
Currently we are working on a remix for a good friend of ours called B.Visible.
It’ll be a very different kind of 170bpm track. Not our usual kind of style, so we’re looking forward to everyone’s reaction!
You venture into ‘non-170’ territory then?
We do enjoy it up to a certain degree, sprinkling it into sets can give the whole thing a very interesting vibe.
I feel like this new ep on Demand must’ve taken almost no effort, it sounds fantastic and organic…
Actually it was quite a lot of work! We tried to get everything right, make it sound warm but still loud enough to work on the dancefloor.
I guess the more effortless something sounds or looks, the harder it is to produce!
‘Homeground’ is a stormer, so wicked. When did it arise?
The project itself is actually a few years old, we always liked it but the beat was very messy and we were not happy with it at that moment.
After some time we had a spare beat lying around and we added it to the project, funny enough it worked out well. Most of the work was done at that point, except the mixdown. That was hours.
Has much changed on the production front for you since your Speak The Truth ep? Or is it a case of ‘If it ain’t broke… ‘?
Music production is a constant progress of studying for us. So we are always picking up new techniques, collecting new samples, new gear and so on.
I think our approach has changed because we are trying to use more natural samples on the drums: we’re not limiting everything to the last bit… we’re letting it breathe.
Lots of releases nowadays are just so loud and compressed; it is not even enjoyable to listen to it anymore.
Three really different sounding tunes on the ep: did you want to release a collection that showed diversity… or did they just come out that way?
The guys at Demand Records have picked the music for this EP, we just kept sending them tracks for some time till we’re both were satisfied with the selection.
In general we try to produce diverse music and especially this release worked out well.
Sometimes labels just don’t want to make a diverse product because they stick to a certain grid.
Can you take us through the rather powerful ‘Warman’? Crikey.
Protone sent over the idea for Warman and we finished it together in a few sessions. The vocals are quite catchy but also very simple, as is the track itself, but sometimes the simple things work best!
Tell us what’s happening in your local scene, and on your travels: have you noticed any demand – pardon pun – changes for D&B for example in the crowd and their reaction?
What we’ve been feeling lately is that crowds are more open for smoother vibes now than they have been in the recent years.
We usually play a lot of melodic music in our sets. Sometimes the crowds do not enjoy it as much and they ask for harder stuff. But our experience shows that you don’t have to play the most dancefloor oriented tracks to get people excited.
What artists are you checking right now? What’s in the box for live sets?
Oh there are plenty of good people around the scene like Cutworks, Joakuim, Mr Joseph, Paul SG, Pennygiles and many many more. This is to just to name a few.
A tune we play in almost every set is: Cutworks ‘Soulroot’ for example! Banger!
Any forthcomings you want us to be aware of?
Our EP on Demand obviously, a track on the recent Occulti Album called ‘Thoughts For Your Thinking’, a colab with Electrosoul System on KosMos called ‘Monkey Chaos’ and more, just check out our soundcloud!
Any final shouts?
Shouts to all the lovely people out there that support our stuff, enjoy our sets and have followed us over the years!
Warman/Homeground/Navarro ep
RoyGreen & Protone sc
