We last spoke to Coffi, 50 Carrot and Soloman in March 2016. Even back then they were in an exciting position at the forefront of dubstep’s next generation, touring the world and being cited by the likes of Caspa as the future of the genre.
18 months later, their astronomic rise continues: more innovative, uncompromised releases, bigger shows, ever-maddening crowds and outstanding mixes like this…
Everything about their Diamond Tape sums up why they’re in such a strong position. Three mates buzzing off each other’s beats and giving back every bit of headbanging energy their ever-growing crowd is giving them. An ocean of hair-raising, skin-rippling, visceral IDs, all their own material, it’s complemented by live footage of their last year on the road and even comes with a jingle from Kurupt FM’s one and only DJ Steves.
The trio are now gradually releasing some of the IDs, one track per week. It started with the insane Lose Your Head collaboration with Trolley Snatcha and there’s plenty more to come. We rang them to find out where they’re at, what comes next and how they’re feeling about dubstep in general. Spoiler: Lots of stuff is coming and they’re buzzing. Get to know:
Let’s go back 18 months. Things were kicking off then but it seems a whole other level now!
Soloman: Yeah things have changed for sure.
50 Carrot: It’s progressed loads since then. It’s gone crazy.
Any particular highlights?
Coffi: We’ve been playing a lot of big American tours, including a great tour with Eptic and MUST DIE! and in between tours we’ve just been writing tonnes of music.
50 Carrot: There’s been so many good moments it’s hard to pick one or two.
Coffi: Project Z and Rampage spring to mind
50 Carrot: Any time we’re in LA, hooking up with friends who inspire us.
Soloman: There’s a lot of stuff that’s a highlight for us that we can’t announce quite yet, like remix opportunities which are amazing but not quite ready to reveal.
It’s just one long massive high then…
50 Carrot: Yeah it hasn’t stopped
When we last spoke you explained how were making beats on your laptops and passing round files to each other. Have the bigger shows influenced what you write or how you write or where you write?
Coffi: We still pass files back and forth and that’s probably the way we’ll always write – we prefer it that way.
50 Carrot: But the shows have definitely had a big influence on everything. The more high profile they become, the more they make us up our game and our performance.
What have you learnt from playing to bigger crowds?
50 Carrot: Mic duties have been a big one. Getting strong crowd reactions and getting everyone involved and interacting has been really important.
Who’s the strongest mic man in the Gentlemens Club then?
50 Carrot: Definitely Coffi. We all use it but he’s the main maestro.
Coffi: It’s just my deep voice, I guess.
When you started off did you think you’d be picking up the mic?
Coffi: It’s just progressed this way. Breaking up the long gaps where we’re mixing, on the breakdowns and places like that. It adds something more to the set, it creates more of a show vibe instead of a DJ set. It’s great to interact and get the crowd hyped up and get involved with them on their level. Like proper interaction, you know?
That’s what the Diamond Tape feels like. The whole mix feels like a biggup to everyone who’s followed you and supported you. Is that a fair thing to say?
50 Carrot: You’ve hit the nail on the head – that’s exactly what it is. Giving everyone something back for all the support over the last three years. Without them we’d be nowhere so we wanted to give them something back and not make them pay for it.
It’s also ID overload…
Coffi: We’ve been revealing them gradually as they’re coming out on the Diamond Mixtape but a few of them will stay as IDs. We’ve got to decide what to do with them.
Tell us about the wider project that this is all part of…
Coffi: We’ve got seven songs we’re releasing every week then putting in them in a free download release at the end of them. The mix you guys got is all those tunes and more IDs to create a bit of mystery and hype.
Will you stop at seven tracks or continue putting them out?
50 Carrot: We’ll definitely do another series, this first one is good to see what our fanbase likes and wants. It’s down to the reaction we get off this one.
The reaction seems strong so far!
Soloman: It’s been amazing!
50 Carrot: Yeah we’ve been blown away by the support.
There’s a good balance of variation and rootsy references going on. Some proper old school vibes lurking deep in the mix…
Coffi: Yeah I’d say we’ve been going back to those original influences a bit. We all draw from different things for inspiration but there’s been an old school dubstep vibe going on and working with guys like Trolley Snatcha has cemented that. He’s a legend. So trying to bring some of that vibe back but keeping it 2018 style.
You’ve been hanging out with Kurupt FM’s DJ Steves, too…
Coffi: That’s down to the great Soloman
Soloman: He’s been playing my song Bokeh Creeper at his shows so I dropped him a follow because I’m a massive fan. He followed me back then the rest of them did, we started talking and he said he wanted to do a Kurupt FM vocal on my beats which I was hyped about. So I thought I’d ask him for a jingle and he just did straight away. Absolute legend.
What’s next?
50 Carrot: We’ve got those remixes we alluded to coming out then a few big shows in Europe then we’ve got Australia in the new year where we’re playing a festival alongside some huge people we never thought we’d be playing alongside.
Where’s that?
50 Carrot: Origin Festival in Perth.
Perth is repped in that video – you can spot Metro a mile off.
50 Carrot: Yeah man. Metro. Absolutely outstanding club and crowd. That was sold out actually, thanks for reminding me. Definitely one of the many highlights we’ve had since we last spoke.
Are all three of you always playing when Gentlemens Club is on the line-up?
Coffi: No we’re keeping it varied. We do three of us for the bigger shows but it’s cool to keep it mixed up so it’s not just three staple heads.
Soloman: Also we’re so busy writing new music it means we’ve always got at least one person in the studio and two of us on the road – keeping the dynamic versatile and fresh so we stay excited and inspired ourselves.
You’re playing most of your own material but how you feeling about bass music and dubstep in general?
50 Carrot:“It’s in a great place and there’s just loads of really exciting new producers coming through like Ivory, Samplifire, Svdden Death. There’s definitely a refreshed energy in dubstep right now. Long may this continue, we’re blessed to be part of this and be able to contribute to it ourselves. Thanks to everyone who’s helped us do this so far!”
Follow Gentlemens Club: Soundcloud / Twitter / Facebook
READ
