“The paradox of infinity being the same thing as nothingness…”
And the winner of the “deepest quote ever in a Drum&BassArena interview award” goes, unanimously, to ShockOne.
He’s just released his debut album Universus. Not only does it bang (as you’d expect from the man who gave us Polygon) but it boggles, too….
D&B isn’t particularly known for deep theory and concept albums, which is why we had to give the Aussie-in-London a call. Read on to find out about break up tunes, the lifespan of a universe and how to sleep like a Tetris block. No,really!
Universus… Sounds conceptual!
Yeah it is, I guess. The concept kind of presented itself by itself. I wouldn’t call it a concept album but it definitely has an overriding theme. It certainly wasn’t a concept when I started writing it. But the whole think took me three years, and about a year into it I’d realised there were a lot of recurring themes and ideas. I’m constantly thinking about the perception of reality, how we deal with and perceive the universe we’re in and the paradox of infinity being the same thing as nothingness.
That’s a very hard idea to express in an album! So then I started looking more at the idea of the existence of a universe and its lifespan. The beginning, the end and everything in between, including the way we deal with it. That seemed to be the best way to package the narrative. Does that make sense?
Yeah sure. Any religious elements to the narrative, too? Crucify Me, for example…
Maybe a little. But Crucify Me is actually a break up tune! It’s more about human interaction. It’s the most human element of the album. I wrote it after breaking up with a girlfriend at the time. It’s all about being persecuted, without getting into it too much. I guess it’s a metaphor for something bigger. I think it’s the first metaphor I’ve ever used! Plus I don’t think there are that many break up tunes in D&B…
No! So did being based in Perth for half of the album influence the concept? Being in one of D&B’s most remote outposts possible?
Perhaps on a subconscious level, maybe. Working in Perth gives you room to really concentrate on your own creativity. You’re not being bombarded with what everyone’s doing all the time. In London you can’t move for influences and next big things. So you get a lot more space. But on the other hand, you miss that whole hustle and bustle. So writing-wise my day-to-day process in Perth would be to go to a big factory in the middle of nowhere and work, in isolation for 12 hours. So it’s me and only me. There’s nowhere to hide!
Which tunes were written in London, then? Let’s see if we can hear the different locations…
I moved to London about 18 months ago and I’ve spent at least seven months of that back in Australia anyway. I’ve skipped back and forth a lot, with my studio on me. Songs like Crucify Me was written in Australia. Chaos Theory was started in Australia but finished in London. Songs like Big Bounce and Life Cycle were both started in London. I wrote about 50 songs for the album, it’s difficult to remember where one project started and the other one finished.
You’ve just mentioned Big Bounce. That and Lose Control are both interesting departures from D&B. Are they your first adventures into tempos lower than 170?
Lose Control was, yeah. I’ve really enjoyed making both of those tracks and feel they’re some of the strongest on the album. I don’t know if I lend myself well to 130 tempos or it’s just the fresh change but sometimes I find that a lot easier to write than drum & bass. There’ll be more experimentation into this type of sound in the future. I’m especially happy with Big Bounce. That took me three days; which is very rare for me. Other tracks take eight months.
Wow
Yeah, Chaos Theory took so long, for example. I think I had seven different versions at one point. That took me well over a year.
Blimey. So what do you do with the leftover versions or ideas?
Sometimes I take elements and turn them into new things. I sometimes get sister versions of tunes; or tunes that go nowhere but lead into other tracks eventually. Like Universus and Harmonise are both linked to the same core project. So I’ll make a track, think I hate it, turn it into something else then return to the original track and think ‘hold on, this is actually pretty good!’ and finish it. So in the end I’ll have two tunes which have similar elements but are completely different. It’s a very non-linear process. You know?
Totally. You need space, you need to leave things breathe…
Completely. It’s like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle without knowing the final image. I work for 10-12 hours then go home and sleep. It’s when I’m sleeping that the puzzle pieces move themselves around to show me the clearer picture. Eventually it all comes together.
Nice. Anything else we need to know about the album?
Not really man, I just hope people like it!
Cool man. Let’s finish up with a silly question. What’s the most shocking thing you’ve ever done?
I can’t say that in an interview!
Hahah. Okay, if ShockOne could shock one person, who would it be?
Phetsta. Without a doubt. I’ve shocked him many times before. We’ve shared a bed many times on tour. We do this reverse spoon thing. A bit like Tetris blocks.
A single bed on tour? Budget tour vibes!
Hahah. It gets worse. One time it wasn’t even a tour. It was at Metrik’s house. We did rock paper scissors and I got the floor. It was cold and too hard though man, so half way through the night I said ‘move over buddy’ and cuddled up. It wasn’t the best night sleep. In fact we try not to speak of it to be honest…
Universus is out now. Listen and download.