Roni Size’s the founder of Bristol drum ‘n’ bass collective Reprazent who won the Mercury Prize in ’97, and he’s a pioneer in dance music. He’s had several albums out since then and has worked with some incredible names. With drum ‘n’ bass firmly back in the charts these days, Reprazent are back with a blisteringly hot live performance and a great new album to show us how it’s really done. Playing worldwide to crowds who just can’t get enough, this legend of the Bristol scene and musical innovator will be at Latitude Festival this month to give Suffolk a proper kick up its arse. I spoke to the man himself about his career thus far and that time he turned Madonna down. REWIND!
How are you doing mate? I’m actually a little bit exhausted! I’ve had an amazing last few months. I’ve been to Tokyo, New Zealand, Australia, then we came back to the UK and played at Liverpool and did a big show in Bristol. It’s been a whirlwind but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I love what I do! How did you first start getting into music, and when did you first discovered and started to create drum ‘n’ bass? I was fortunate to grow up being surrounded by a family of music lovers; two brothers, a sister and my mum and dad. Tey would have parties where they’d play their old 7” records. One of my brothers was into reggae and the other was into hip hop, and my sister used to listen to pop music and sing around the house, so it all absorbed into me, the youngest. Tere wasn’t much to do back in the day; football, being mischievous, breakdancing or being a DJ, and that’s what I wanted to do, music. Bristol had a small number of music lovers and when we saw them starting to appear on the TV, like Nellee Hooper with Soul II Soul, it was incredible. Tere was this guy who we saw everyday on the telly! So then we wanted to do what he was doing…he wasn’t trying
12 / July 2015/
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to be a pop star, he was doing what he normally did; he was an incredible inspiration to everyone from Bristol. So we started to make music. Smith & Mighty were around and had lots of studio equipment and space and free time, so we used their studio. We started messing around with a sound we first called ‘rave’, then ‘jungle’, then jungle techno’ and then it became “drum ‘n’ bass’. Bristol must be very dear to your heart as you’ve lived there all you life, until recently. It’s been a hotbed of drum n bass activity as well as trip hop. How do you think the city has affected your music over the years? Trough the years Bristol’s been renowned for trip- hop acts like Tricky, Portishead, Massive Attack and Te Wild Bunch, and it has a great authentic history. For my name to be placed next to those names is fantastic.
Of course, we’re all still going as well! Drum ‘n’ bass and dance music is really popular at the moment, it’s all over the radio and TV. It’s really taken off again because
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