It’s a big week for Hospital Records’ Fred V & Grafix as they finally unleash their debut album. Well over a year in the making, Recognise surges way beyond the impressive creative boundaries they’ve set with previous releases.
We called them last Friday. Two hours fresh off a direct flight from Miami to London, they were at the Hospital HQ holding the finished article for the very first time.
“It’s such a good feeling to hold the album. It’s a satisfying accomplishment. We wish we were more sound of mind to hold it… We haven’t slept for 30 hours!” admits a blurry-eyed Fred who, it turns out, provided the lyrics and vocals that spawned the album title!
“The track itself represents quite a lot of thought we put into the album,” explains Josh Grafix. “We worked really hard on it. Fred wrote the vocals and recorded the vocals.”
Fascinated by the art of song writing and what makes a truly successful lyric, Fred even invested in singing lessons so he could execute his creation personally.
“I started the tune as a sketch and the melody came very naturally,” explains Fred. “I’m looking forward to doing more signing in the future. I love the way Calyx does it and I was also really inspired by Disclosure’s live show. The fact one of them sings makes you feel like you’re seeing an actual band.”
With such a personal tale behind the album’s title and the hard work behind it, we thought we’d ask Fred and Grafix to do a little recognition themselves and salute three people who’ve helped them to be where they are today.
“The three people we’ve picked are those you might not instantly think of like Tony Elektricity or Zane Lowe,” explains Grafix. “It’s people like Crissy who got that started. These are the men who gave us the initial inspiration and motivation to continue doing what we do. We can’t express our thanks enough to them and many more people who’ve supported us along the way.”
Fred V & Grafix will be launching Recognise at Nest, London tonight. If you can’t make it or wait until then, here’s an awesome album minimix exclusive to UKF
Recognise! Fred V & Grafix salute….
Jaye Balmer/Siege MC
Jaye is a close friend of both of ours and has been massively supportive from day one. I met him when I was 16 at Exeter College, he and Josh go back even further. We got on straight away since we had a similar obsession with drum’n’bass. He put a lot of faith in me and helped me get in touch with a lot of local promotors (I was very shy back then!) and he also introduced me to Josh at a party I was DJing at when I was about 17. More recently he has been taking care of our GetMe nights in Exeter which have had an amazing response so far.
Steve KG
Steve was the first person to invest money into releasing our music on vinyl which we have always been very grateful for. His Talkin’ Beatz label was also one of the first labels Netsky released on before blowing up. Anyone who knows Steve knows that he’s one of the nicest people in the scene and always has time for a chat. We are looking forward to hearing more new music from him soon!
Crissy Criss
I couldn’t believe it when Crissy started supporting our tunes on 1xtra! Along with Grooverider Crissy has been an amazing supporter of our music from day one, we still check out his show whenever we get a chance. He puts a massive amount of time into helping new producers get their music heard which is extremely important for the entire scene. Probably also our favourite radio host too, very entertaining!
Hungry for more Fred V & Grafix info? They’re hosting a Google Hangout at 5pm tonight!
Recognise is available directly from Hospital and iTunes.
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