1.Growing Up
I grew up surrounded by music. Neither of my parents really played any instruments, but they both had broad tastes in music, so I was exposed to anything from Ella Fitzgerald to Björk, or Lou Reed to Coldcut. I’m definitely really appreciative now of having had such a broad base of musical influences. Dylan [Jones] and I have always found that it’s important for us creatively to draw influence from as many different and contrasting styles of music as possible. It was also through my parents that I was first exposed to DnB/jungle and then later dubstep.
2.Inspirations
The first thing that comes to mind is Radiohead. Although it wasn’t until In Rainbows that I truly became a ‘fan’, I do have very strong memories of being a teen and hanging out with the gang listening to OK Computer. They’re an amazing example of a band who have evolved and stayed relevant over a long career. They would definitely be one of the most influential musicians/groups for us, although it may not be instantly apparent.
3.Your Crew
We’ve been doing this music thing full-time now for around 12 years. And the crew has evolved a bit in that time. We were initially drawn into the world of music production by a good old friend Joe (DJ Sift). We were in high school, and he had just entered university, and he corrupted our young minds by introducing us to a couple of pieces of software (Acid, Cakewalk and Sound Forge). As for the crew now, in the last few years we’ve worked a lot with our good friends Noisia and Shapeshifter. While the musical aspect of collaboration is really important, it’s often more the social part that defines who we work with.
4.The Music You Make And Play
We are known for making and performing drum and bass. We’ve got a bit of a signature sound, in that we like to blend the energy and production values of modern DnB, but pair that with a more organic (rock) feel. We also dabble in producing a few other styles of music. We write a lot of hip hop, instrumental beats and all sorts of other weird shit – plus the occasional surf rock tune. As far as our performances go, we play predominantly high-energy DnB, but we like to mix it up as much as possible and explore all ends of the drum and bass spectrum (while slipping in as much half-time/beatsy stuff as we can get away with).
5.Music, Right Here, Right Now
The scene for drum and bass is incredibly strong at the moment, especially through Europe and Australasia. We’re really fortunate to be involved in a scene that for the last 15 years has been as stable and healthy as DnB has been. We’re also very fortunate to have a strong, loyal fan base, and to have come through in a time I think when it was a bit easier to get noticed. There’s so much amazing music out there at the moment, and it’s so hard to get people’s attention these days. I definitely feel for new acts coming through and trying to break into the scene.
The Upbeats, plus Jvst Say Yes, appear at Chinese Laundry Friday May 20.
