Drumsound & Bassline Smith: ‘Drum & Bass will adapt in order to survive’

Renowned drum & bass producers Drumsound & Bassline Smith return next week with their anticipated single, Close. Since forming over a decade ago in 1999, the trio consisting of Andrew Wright, Benjamin Wiggett and Simon Smith have established themselves as a respectable underground music outfit while achieving impressive crossover success. Annie Mac, Zane Lowe, Fabio & Grooverider and Annie Nightingale have all championed their music over the years.

But it was a recent play in the afternoon earlier this year of their previous single, Freak, that stands out for the trio.

“Fearne Cotton got right behind our last single and played it numerous times on daytime radio,” Simon says, “This was a breakthrough moment for us. With the current trend of bass music getting endorsed on the airwaves it’s been great to have our tracks making up a part of it.”

The group’s desire for producing and supporting drum & bass music remains ferocious since the day they started producing. But what direction do they think drum & bass will take next?

“If only we knew,” Andy says laughing, “It will, as it has many times before, morph and adapt its direction in order to survive. Perhaps the underlying sub-genre of drum-step [a half tempo drum & bass style] may come to the fore or perhaps the powers that be will enable more daytime plays of more commercially viable drum & bass and it will become more and more globally accepted and recognised. It may go back underground and come back with a whole heap of budding new production superstars producing the music of the future.”

One of the successes of the drum & bass genre is its longevity. Since its origins in the early 90s, the artists from the genre are still enjoying success. I ask the group what are their thoughts on drum & bass in 2011.

“It still encapsulates the energy, flexibility and soul that has kept it going for so many years,” Simon says. “The huge global artists like Pendulum, Chase & Status, Sub Focus and Noisia that have come from its ranks have been an underlying credit to a scene which is sometimes overlooked but is without doubt something to be proud of and cherished. Dubstep is having its moment right now as did drum & bass, jungle and garage but only time will tell its legacy.”

Which aptly brings us to their next single, Close – the conception of which dates back to a dubstep project when the group were working on a crossover project for a band.

“There was a need for some realistic string orchestration so we had to find a suitable vsti synth to recreate the sound we were looking for,” Andy says. “After the project was completed and work began on our second studio album we decided to re-use the synth to create an orchestral feel on a drum and bass intro.

The single, out next week, has been supported by radio tastemakers such as MistaJam who made the track his Jam Hot [Record of the Week]. But it has been the vocal of the track that has been crucial to the daytime radio support Close has received.

“Once the first few chords had been recorded and added some acoustic guitar and piano, it was clear that it needed a vocal to help lead the track to the drop,” Andy says. Ordinarily this requires finding a suitable sample or a singer or writer which potentially can slow the whole process down. By pure chance nearly the second vocal sample found fitted the job perfectly, ticking all the right boxes for a tune suitable for a follow up to 2004’s Nature of the Beast album. Once the vocal and intro was found the rest of the song wrote itself.”

Freak, released earlier this year, and Close are the first and second offerings from their forthcoming album. The group are currently in the process of finding the right title for the follow-up to their successful 2009 album 10 Years Of Technique.

“We’ll probably drop one more single, we’ve got a few possible singles finished and it’s just a case of deciding which best follows Close and then we’ll drop the album,” Simon says. “This should all be happening in the autumn and released on Newstate Music. The guys there have been tremendous to work with. It’s a project we’ve been working on for two years so we want it to be the best possible.”

Aside from producing and DJing out, their own label Technique Recordings will release four track EPs from Tantrum Desire, L Plus, Crissy Criss & Dub Foundation in the near future.

Busy but exciting times for Drumsound and Bassline Smith.

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