40 DRUM&BASS//BREAKS//DUBSTEP
THE GUESTLIST NETWORK | JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2011 ILLAMAN / TOMB CREW
New Year and a massive start for you guys already! Kick- ing off with Fabric this Friday you’re playing with the Scratch Perverts, Andy C, Bailey, Messy MC and then off to Barcelona where Guestlist Network have just launched. You excited? Super excited! Playing Fabric is a big achievement and playing Room One is like getting into heaven. (laughs) Then going to Barcelona to play Razzmatazz is a great start to the year indeed. I think I’m most excited to go to my favourite res- taurant out there for a paella and a beer or six.
What would you say the group’s style is musically? All across the board. We are all into loads of different stuff but I’d say Bass music with a good fun vibe. We are just about to drop an E.P. on Trouble and Bass, and they described it as “mixing circus basslines, piano stabs, siren sounds and horn bellows with memorable vocal samples”, pretty fitting.
You describe yourselves on your web as not a ‘band’ rather a lot, can you elaborate on this?
It’s that London saying like “rah that’s a lot” or “that was a lot” just another way of saying something was really good or incredible. So I’d say it’s a bit of harmless self praise. (laughs) We all put a lot of effort in and work hard at our craft.
Outside of Tomb Crew you have a lot of own projects, what’s new for you this year? Loads and loads, I work very closely with DJ Klose One (Urban Nerds/ATG) who is my live DJ for when I do shows and he will be doing the mixes for my upcoming mixtape a little later this year. I’ve also started working again with my guitarist from my old band on some completely different stuff from what everyone is used to hearing/seeing me do, which I’m very excited about. Also I’m gonna be working on an E.P. with Daiverse Concepts which is gonna be really interesting and again
Joanne Bristowe
Tomb Crew are tearing up and down the UK Dubstep/Bass scene in a BIG way right now! Kicking off 2011 with a massive Fabric show, joined by Andy C and the Scratch Perverts. We grabbed Illaman to see who’s funeral it is this year...
a very different sound and style, plus a load of new material with Tomb Crew, Mr Cris, GM Baby, RacknRuin, Noisses and a few in- credible Dubstep producers whom I can’t mention yet as we’ve got to get it all confirmed, plus doing the live shows up and down the country and around the world with TC. All in all it’s gonna be a busy and creative year I think.
What inspired you from a young age? I hear your first band was called Flict and you used to be a bit of a Metal head?
My grandfather is a music man and was part of a sound when he was younger so from a tiny Illa. I was raised around music, my sister’s dad was a DJ/B-Boy and had the decks set up in our front room when I was younger so I’ve always been around it. I think growing up on an estate had a large part to play in it as well it was all about who had the latest Jungle tapes and music played a large role in everyone’s life where I grew up. My cousin started mixing and got a set on a pirate radio station when I was about 13. I went with him to jam and ended up hosting a set for him, from then I just developed a passion for it! I enjoyed the atten- tion. (laughs) Then when I got to secondary school I met a bunch of guys who became my best friends and who were heavily into guitar music a lot of Radiohead and Korn/Deftones etc. I hated it at first but when they invited me to a studio session to jam one weekend I thought “well fuck it.... Might be fun”. Turns out I loved the live band sound and we ended up entering a battle of the bands and winning so I guess we all were like “shit, this works...” I was with Flict for 8yrs until we lost our guitarist in a tragic accident. For all that are interested to hear my Metal voice:
www.soundcloud.com/illaman/ reworked
So you describe yourself as ‘A cat having a fight with nine giraffes in a Queens Park’, it can’t be really how you sound can it?
It’s more like a cow drop kicking a badger now but yeah, imagine it!
How important would you say sites like YouTube, Facebook, etc. have been in getting the word out about your music? It’s the only way I feel at the mo- ment! It’s incredible the way you can self promote now so many people are really creating a buzz and getting signed from self pro- moting on these sites. I’m a Twitter fan, love Twitter it really gives me a chance to chat freely and have a load of fun being myself. Thanks to sites like that I’ve discovered a load of new music and met some really great people.
Who’s on your iPod right now? Hmmm... The new Ghostface album (plus his entire back cata- logue), Lamb of God, Norah Jones, Radiohead (all their albums) and a shed-load of instrumentals I’m currently writing to.
What’s next for you guys this year?
More production. More shows. Festivals and lots and lots of fun.
FIVE RANDOMS
What would we find in your fridge? A big bottle of cold water and some Chicken Kievs.
When was the last time you said FML?! When I was chased by a lady boy on a moped Thailand....
Party trick? Lighting a shot of Sambuca in my mouth.
Snog, marry, avoid? Snog Katrina Bowden (plays the receptionist in 30 Rock) Marry Norah Jones. Avoid Pat Butcher.
If someone wrote a biography about you what would the title be? De nehnehnehne- hnananana Illllaaaa- man.
Sneak preview of the Tomb Crew EP right here! Out 8th Feb :
blog/introducing-tomb- crew
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