Jason Greenhalgh and Paul Smith, better known as Drum and Bass production crew Total Science, have, in almost twenty years of association, always shared a common love of cutting edge break beats. Whereas as their chosen style of artistic expression grew in leaps and bounds over the years, the duos long journey started out quite simply.
“We both grew up loving electro and hip-hop,” Smith says, talking of their beginning forays into the style. “Drum and bass just seemed to be the next step for us.” Indeed that step lead to a much longer journey, when they hit their first taste of success. “It all comes back to Q-Project’s (Greenhalgs) ‘Champion Sound’ and the remix we did of it. This was a very pivotal moment in our music career.”
It was “Champion Sound” that catapulted Total Science into dnb awareness, and before long the duo were releasing more and more tracks as the combinant duo. With more years behind them than most other producers, one would think that motivation would wane, and yet TS are still as buoyant as ever in their output.
“The thing that keeps us motivated is our passion for all styles of dnb. This makes it interesting every time we go in the studio,” Smith explains. “The Total Science stuff gets done on a day-to-day basis. Quiff does his Q-Project stuff when he can, so basically, he never sleeps! He’s the engineer and so does most of the technical work, where as I write more of the music.”
As one of the more influential dnb production crews over those years, Total Science is nothing but forward looking – as drum n bass constantly re-invents itself, even old hands are sometimes mystified as to the direction the genre is heading in. “I think the next big thing [in dnb] is going to be manstep, which is a more man based style. Body builders will love it! Whaaaaaat?” Smith jokes, with trademark TS finesse. “Seriously though, it’s hard to predict the next big thing because there are so many different styles being made right now.”
The unpredictability of current dnb, and the impossibility of truly charting a general direction isn’t lost on the lads from Total Science, and even their own influences show the rarity and clearly diverse range of styles that are utilised in its creation. “We borrow from a vast array of artists from a number of music genres,” Smith remarks. “However, our main influence is rare groove. This is where we have got most of our breaks and sounds from.” Smith is also reticent to be anything but humble in regards to the music produced by Total Science, and may simply view their success in the same light as many other dnb producers see their own.
“To be honest we don’t stop and think about it too much,” he replies when asked about what he would attribute their popularity to. “I would guess that the reason why our music’s been so well received might be down to our ever changing style.” Which, in drum n bass, is not only why the genre has probably survived as an entity, but is also a critical element towards any producers continuing visibility.
After having produced a long with a string of releases since ‘Champion sound’ brought them out into the open, in late 1997 the pair established their first record label, CIA. This further several spawned sub-imprints, such as Advanced and CIA Ltd – all focusing on different sub-genres, and all of which continue to release a multitude of tracks from established as well as up and coming producers. Total Sciences labels antics read more like a race-schedule than simple vinyl releases, so diverse and far-ranging are the releases.
“Aside from the Soul Patrol release we have an EP from Bungle, which is a precursor for a Bungle LP on CIA. There’s also going to be a EP from Laura Pacheco, who is a vocalist that featured on the track ‘I know’ off ‘Mars Needs…’. This EP will feature production from State of Mind , Bungle, Q Project and Total Science. Of course, this is just for CIA,” Smith enthuses. “On Advanced we have 12″s from Zero Tolerance, Danny Byrd, Baby Origami, Funky Technicians and Tactile and on Fix we have some tunes coming from Tropic, Rawtee and Splittin’ Atoms. For the CIA Ltd imprint Taxman has been on the case and has done a remix of Splittin’ Atom’s “Bulletproof Monk”. Also we are adding a new string to the CIA bow with CIA Deep Kut , which will be an outlet for the deeper side of the music we sign with 12″s from Calibre, Atlantic Connection and ourselves.”
You can almost hear Smith take a breath as he punches out the work that they have coming forth, as he finishes up with a final flourish, just for good measure. “On top of all that we have been working with Marky on a number of productions and also expect more music with MC Conrad.”
When all is said and done, Total Science has always been immensely popular with the Perth dnb crew. With their memorable Drum Club performance in 2001 with Groove Rider still firmly remembered by all who attended, the lads of TS are always highly anticipated. “You can expect anything from deep calibre stuff to hard gridlok tunes,” Smith promises of their upcoming tour. “The Australian scene has always been really healthy. In our opinion some of the finest drum and bass is happening down under – big up your chests.”
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