Reaching a top five position on the global Beatport charts is the stuff most local DJ/producers dare only dream of
Reaching a top five position on the global Beatport charts is the stuff most local DJ/producers dare only dream of – but local lads Blunt Instrument can claim it as a first-hand experience. Thanks to their single Battle Toad – which initially appeared on Muti Music’s An-Ten-Nae Presents Acid Crunk Vol.3 last year – Blunt Instrument have not only gone on to sign with local label Hopskotch but also released their first official EP Twice Baked earlier this year. It doesn’t stop there either, with the pair – Luke Latimer and Rocco Mico – announcing yet another EP currently in the works.
“It was sort of a big deal to us to even get on that compilation,” states Mico. “You can imagine how excited we were to even see our name amongst that kind of crowd. To see it reach number two on the chart just reaffirmed to us that we were doing something right after all. It was amazing exposure… No, it was overwhelming!”
It also served as proof that Youtube production tutorials and online tips had actually worked for Mico and Latimer, who claim that despite their obvious current talent, they were completely self-taught. Timing and patience are everything, as Latimer explains.
“We’ve known each other since high school but as Blunt Instrument we’re coming up to our third year now. We were completely self-taught which means that we’ve made mistakes along the way. That’s also inspired us to start up an online resource for people to learn some things from us. We’re trying to approach it from a different angle and make information more accessible and manageable, Rocco is a programmer by trade so it’s just a matter of him finishing it, hopefully in the next few months.”
Maintaining their priorities in what’s already proving to be a hectic year, Mico claims that it’s the duo’s upcoming EP that’s taking up more of their time, as well as future plans for a full-length album.
“We’ve got a new release coming out in May which is yet-to-be-named. We’re pushing for the similar thing we did on our last EP [Twice Baked] in January, so it’s almost like a progression or a continuation of that. That was our first proper EP release, one that was through an actual label. We had two EPs prior to that, though, but they were just free stuff that we put up on the internet. Honestly, when you look back on our earlier work, this is probably the best possible timing it could have happened for us. The production level and the level of our understanding at that point was not as good as it is now. I don’t think we were as ready to produce something as good and to release it formally prior to Twice Baked. I mean, we had the ideas but the production level just wasn’t down pat.”
Likewise, the enthusiasm was always there, as Latimer claims it’s spooky how well he and Mico get along and how much they are on the same page musically.
“It’s almost bordering on creepy how much we share similar ideas,” he laughs. “But at the same time we have extremely defined roles in that. I mean that in the sense of the process, where Rocco writes a beat or a break and maybe gets some samples, then he’ll give that to me and I will define the bass sound and come up with some working melodies and give it straight back to him. Then he turns it into a composition and it all meshes together. It was Rocco that pointed me in the direction of Ninja Tune stuff before we got together. Prior to that I played guitar and listened to punk, and that’s also influenced our production quite heavily.”
As Mico adds, “I’ve always loved instrumental hip-hop and the old Nina Tune stuff. Bass and instrumental hip-hop just blew my mind and from there it just became an obsession leading to me constantly searching out unique music. Then I got into a lot of dance music and new-school breaks, drum and bass, then stuff like Tipper and Bassnectar.”
According to Latimer, what you get with Blunt Instrument is literally a package – he and Mico are pretty much joined at the hip so much so that it’s becoming a running joke among those who know them.
“It’s the in-joke between us,” laughs Mico. “Every time we’re together we’ll go, ‘that’s it, I’m starting my solo career next week!’ We’ve never done a gig solo before, we’ve always been a production duo and we probably spend more time together than with anyone else. It’s obviously much more complicated trying to get two people to not only get along but to also be on the same page musically, but we’ve mostly found this very easy. We’ve gained a lot more confidence and we’re hoping to do a full album at some stage, but it’s still too early to tell.”
Blunt Instrument [AUS] play the Hopskotch Records Launch Party with Dysphemic and Miss Eliza [AUS], Ghettafunkt [AUS], Circuit Bent [AUS] and more on, this Saturday April 3 at Miss Libertine.
