Can we expect any EPs or singles that are not drum and bass or moving out of the genre all together?
I think our next single will be DnB, but we’ll wait and see. We defi nitely want to do another single that’s different, but we would never move out of drum and bass. We are writing it all the time and we love it more than ever. There’s some great produc- ers coming through and the level of production is so good, it feels like an exciting time and that’s such a good thing.
Does your studio process change when you are working on tracks for an album compared to when you are working on just one-off release and singles?
No not really, to be honest we never approach a track in the same way. We are always writing and developing ideas, both individually and together in the studio, and we fi nd it never works sitting down thinking ‘Right, lets write our next single!’ All of our best stuff just seems to come together quite quickly and naturally. Through playing tracks out in our DJ sets we soon establish which tracks fi t the bracket of album track, single or simply one to disappear into the vaults forever!
What is the dynamic like between the two of you in the studio? Do you each have a different role in production?
Not strictly speaking, as coming from solo backgrounds we are both pretty comfort- able with all aspects of production. We still write a lot of our ideas separately then bring them together once a fairly solid idea is established. However we defi nitely do have our own strengths. Nick is the musician and generally starts tracks and ideas, and records instruments whereas Gav has a tendency to focus more on sound design. It is these attributes that work well together and help give us our particular sound.
Future Perfect showcases many different vocal collaborations, what do you look for when fi nding a vocalist to collaborate with?
We just look for talented vocalists who are doing something good, breaking through in the music scene and someone who has an interesting sound. It doesn’t need to be a big name or someone we’ve heard of before, we just want to work with like-minded people who can really bring something good to a studio session. We have been lucky enough to work with some amazing vocalists on the album, a lot of new names. We’ve got some really exciting collaborations with artists you will defi nitely hear a lot more of going forward. One of our favourite and most interesting features is the last track on the album Distance which features a folk singer called Lloyd Yates, he has a really unique sound and it’s a special moment to end the album.
There has been much talk about what an album is exactly, and if they are worth releasing anymore. Have you found the landscape surrounding the release of an album has changed much from when you fi rst began working on Future Perfect?
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Of course, its changed loads! Some would say gone are the days when people go out and buy a cd, get the artwork and listen to an album start to fi nish. These days for example people might go on iTunes and buy a Deadmau5 track, along with a James Blake and a Rudimental track. I think a lot less people just want to hear one thing these days. However for us we feel that an album is an important statement and can defi ne an artist. If we were to stick to just writing singles it would be diffi cult to fully show what we can do, and that’s exploring other genres, styles and tempos, which we love. While we love writing dance fl oor DnB and its what we have become known for, we are capable of doing other stuff and we really wanted to showcase that on our album.
In the current digital landscape have you found there to be more challenges compared to when you fi rst started releasing music? How has it been benefi cial?
Perhaps not ‘challenges,’ as on the whole the digital landscape has opened up music and made it a lot more accessible, meaning that ultimately more people will hear our tracks, which is a great thing. However it could be argued that what it has done is made music a lot more throwaway, it has become much more transient and this means tracks have a lot less shelf life. I also think there are a lot of artists who are in their comfort zone and don’t push themselves which is what we’re supposed to do. This is all stuff we have been conscious of when putting together our track list. As I mentioned before, music is so fast paced these days. There are a lot of fads that come in and out of fashion and tend to be short lived. It’s this kind of thing that has faced us with a real challenge as we want to be credible artists with relevant music. It would be nice to think that our music will still sound good in a few years time.
After the album comes out, what can we expect from Loadstar? What’s festival season looking like for you guys? Any tours back over here in Canada?
A lot of touring! This year is really busy, and festival season especially. For a full list of dates head over to our Facebook/Loadstarmusic but here’s a list of a few of the highlights:
Glastonbury, Global Gathering, NASS, Dour, Frequency, Beat Patrol in the UK and Europe. EDC NY, EDC Chicago, EDC Vegas and Moonrise Baltimore in the US. And we cannot forget our favourite place, Canada! We are playing Motion Notion in Calgary and Shambhala in British Columbia. Massive shout out to our followers in Canada and especially in Toronto. That is one of the best places for drum and bass, long may that continue!
WORDS BY OLIVIA WEIR
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