1. Growing Up
Andy: For me it would be listening to both my grandfather and auntie playing the piano. Both were excellent players and early exposure to this really gave me a fascination with instruments and music in general.
Pete: My mum and dad’s old record collection was frankly embarrassing. Meat Loaf for days. But I had some piano lessons when I was younger and I used to record songs off the radio using an old top-loading tape deck.
2. Inspirations
Pete: LTJ Bukem, Intense, Peshay; those old, deep jungle tunes had a profound impact on me. It was the first music I could claim as my own, and I became very territorial and blinkered about it, so much so that by the time I got to college, I hadn’t really listened to much else! But slowly my tastes expanded, and I started investigating older music, tracing the roots of jungle back through hip-hop, funk and soul to jazz.
Andy: From the early days of jungle and attending early rave parties in the ’90s, I used to look up at DJs like Hype, Dougal, and knew that was what I wanted to do with my life. They all had a presence and this aura about them, right at the time when the scene was kicking off. It was an exciting place to be as you felt you were at the birth of something special, a rebellion against all the commercial shit in the charts, something you and your mates could call your own.
3. Your Crew
Andy: We have an incredible support network with Shogun, and having Friction and K-Tee on your side is huge. Plus all the people that work behind the scenes, our agent and the Shogun office staff. The most important crew of all, however, are our partners, family and friends. These are the people that really spur us on the most. Having grown up on a mutual love of drum and bass and jungle, it really does give you that boost to keep striving forward.
4. The Music You Make
Our upcoming DJ sets will contain a lot of material from our debut album Desire Paths, but will also feature a lot of exclusives and cheeky remixes that we are hoping to test out, and being on tour is the perfect time to do this. Plus being able to now compose on a laptop means we can write while we are being inspired by the shows, so we may even play some bits that are truly exclusive! Ultimately though, expect us to go in all directions with the sets. As long as it has soul, that’s the vibe we try and recreate in our performances.
5. Music, Right Here, Right Now
Back in the ’90s when we first started getting involved it was very much a UK thing. But these days the d&b scene is truly global. We’ve got tunes topping the charts in the UK, and scratch the surface of the underground and you can find such a wide variety of styles and flavours, all under the drum and bass umbrella. We feel truly humbled to be part of such a fantastic scene.
