Bare Noize are back!
Okay…. So they’ve only had 18 months between releases and have constantly been on social media and playing shows. They’ve hardly gone away.
But, really, they are back. As in back with fully refreshed and inspired attitude. Back with new goals, new sounds and a new label (LA90) that launched last week. Back with this epic vocal track: Elemental…
They’ve got heaps lined up to follow it, too. Find out where they’ve been, where they’re going and why they think dubstep is back in the good place it should be…
You must have just landed from America?
Ollie: Got back yesterday on the red eye. Two shows in Colorado and two shows in Webster Hall. Main room on the Friday and a surprise set in the basement on the Saturday.
Double Webster Hall weekend! What do you prefer? Big concert halls or dingy underground basement vibes?
O: Both! You can’t beat that small intimate crowd feeling though can you? We really did love both shows though – especially as it was the launch of Elemental and the label. We had the stage on the dancefloor in Webster Hall so the crowd were up close in the big room too. Best of both worlds!
Nice. So…. It’s been a while. I swear I heard rumours of you setting up a label two or three years ago!
Danny: We’ve always wanted to start a label as a platform for our own music as well as the plethora of amazing music we come across or get sent. But other commitments got in the way. It’s so nice to finally get it going an it’s exciting times to see how it pans out.
Exciting time to see you back on UKF. We go way back!
D: Luke uploaded our first ever release. It was signed to Eight:FX and he picked us up really early. From there our relationship blossomed!
So where have you been in the last year or so? What have the other commitments been? Can you say?
O: Lots of non-dubstep music, library music, additional engineering, soundtrack work. All sorts. It’s really interesting work – you get different challenges and meet different people every day and it’s regular work! We wanted to explore that end of things. Plus we have side projects in other genres. Keeping busy, really.
And that feeds back into Bare Noize stuff, right? It means you’re not just adding to the echo chamber and you’re bringing in fresh influences…
O: We’ve always wanted to put fresh twists and stay out of what you describe as the echo chamber. Look at the last UKF upload we had. At the time everyone was going mad with the bass and were chasing the same goal but we put out something that wasn’t in the vein of what was being seen as popular at the time.
Chatting to guys like Compa and The Others lately and it really feels like we’ve gone back to a much more exciting creative time with everyone chasing different goals and doing different things again. Much more variety.
O: Yeah definitely – back in the day you could tell who was on a track before you even knew. You knew a Flux track, a The Others track, a Benga track, a Datsik track before you even knew. Back then people were writing proper songs. Think about Skreams’s remix of In For The Kill or Emalkay’s When I Look At You. They weren’t just bangers chasing particular growls or sound design, they were songs first and foremost. And I think we’re going back to that – song first, sound design second. That’s really exciting for me.
That description brings us nicely to Elemental…
O: Well we have to shout out Anna for that. She’s a very talented singer, songwriter.
D: Her work rate is insane. We were really inspired by the way she works too. She’s different to any other vocalist in our experience. She doesn’t just send you a few ideas, she’ll note the whole idea and send back a fully comped vocal.
O: She doesn’t send you something to produce, she sends you her view and that’s what you work with.
Where does AFK come into this then?
D: The original bare bones idea was done with him. It began as a bootleg of an old trance tune that started three years ago in a hotel room in America. We were going through old ideas, found that, got back in touch with Jimmy and started working on it again.
Trance! Behind the rough, tough dubstep exterior you’re actually fluffy little trance boys?
D: Ha! No but we recognise musicality and inspiration in everything. I think it was the vocal of the trance tune that triggered this track.
O: The instrumentation and elements are all completely ours, though. It’s fun to work with something in that way to trigger a track.
D: It’s a wicked way of getting an idea rolling.
So tell me about LA90. Where did the name come from?
O: It’s a rating scale for noise measurements. LA90 is a threshold used by environmental health. I was going through engineering terminology, found that and thought it sounded good. You have LA 1 and LA 2 compressors.
Naming things is harder to making things…
D: A total pain in the arse. But that’s out of the way and we’ve got loads in the bag to release very soon. Loads of collabs in the works and the next single is ready to drop any time now – Spirit. Which is the complete opposite of Elemental. It’s a balls-out banger. Then after that expect all sorts of sounds and genres and ideas… Otherwise we’ll get bored.
Keeping us on our toes! Is this full steam ahead for you now? Or are you still doing all the other jobs on the side?
D: We’re definitely focusing on Bare Noize and LA90 right now. As we mentioned before, we always need other outlets personally in order to keep inspired and keep doing what we do. But in answer the question yes we are very much full steam ahead right now!
Focus on Bare Noize: Facebook / Twitter / Soundcloud
