Interview – Audio
When a familiar face from a successful group goes solo, there is always slight trepidation that the strength of their work may diminish, however, for drum’n’bass performer and producer Audio, undoubtedly one of the top notches in the tech-heavy d’n’b echelons, going solo after several years with the popular Resonant Evil has proven to be a boon, as his success continues on an upwards spiral of popularity amongst lovers of the genre.
“I always worked solo, and, obviously, I started solo when I was sending tunes to the guys from Resonant Evil (Mackie and Risk),” Audio explains. “I’d send Mackie a little material to sign, and he said come to the studio and we’ll see how it goes. So I did and we wrote a few tracks, and the rest is history. So it wasn’t really a conscious decision or something new for me, but it was more convincing myself that yeah I could do it on my own and that I could be successful, and that people wanted to hear what I do on my own. I’ve think I’ve got something different to offer, so, it wasn’t too hard.”
Audio is a musician with an air of humility surrounding him, which is no more evident than in his opinions on the state of d’n’b in general, which, refreshingly, still conveys a sense of wonder at his success. “I find that a lot of DJs like me, not necessarily from the hard d’n’b genres, but from all the other genres as well … other people can be very complacent about the position they are in,” he explains with a slight deriding tone to his tone.
“I’m very privileged to get paid to party to the music that I like. Sometimes I still find it hard to believe that I get paid to do it, know what I mean? I just try and keep on that level throughout what I do. I don’t bullshit people, if things are black or white then I fucking call it black or white, I’m quite straight talking and people that know me know, know me for being like that – so hopefully it does, because d’n’b is, you know, full of bullshitters.”
This straight talk transfers to an all round philosophy on d’n'b, one which can only be admired for its brutal honesty when it comes to commenting on the d’n'b scene in his homeland as compared to the rest of the world. “Drum and bass in England is quite up itself, it takes itself far, far too seriously.” he remarks. “You have to remember that its music to go out to and have a good time with, that’s it, full stop. When you get rid of all the bullshit and everything around it, it’s music to go party to, so I find people who get too anal or too introverted in their opinions about d’n’b, it’s just… ” he pauses, stopping to laugh at the inanity of it all “Ohh, just fuck off, you know?”
As an individual who tends towards that bluntness in his personal interactions, it is also a trait that uniquely transfers to his music, as well as to his performances. “I pride myself in riding the fine line between the really fucking nose bleed d’n’b and the kind of neuron-techy,” he remarks, explaining his positioning in the drum and bass diaspora. “I kind of roll between the two, so it’s hard, rolling d’n’b with a lot of momentum – I don’t like letting the pace up for the whole duration of the set really, it will just increase or slightly increase.”
“I just get into it. I enjoy mixing, and I like to think that I put on a good show and that you can see that I’m enjoying myself – I’m not the guy who sits there and fucking stares at the decks looking all moody, you’ll see me jumping around and getting down to it, so hopefully that gets everyone going so we can have a great party.”
(this is a pre-edit draft which may differ to that found in press)
Tags: dj audio, drum'n'bass, inpress, tour