BEN & LEX - interview du 18/08/12
1 - Can you tell us a little about your background? Where did you guys grow up, and where are you based now? Who are your roommates?
We grew up in middle earth, learning our skills from the hobbit master Bilbo Baggins and wizard master Gandalf. Our roommates are our hobbit wives…and sometimes Sauron if he asks nicely.
2 - How did you get into making music?
I have been writing music since I was a wee-un. I used to play guitar in loads of blues bands and then rockier bands when I was a mardy angst ridden teenager. After I met Benny at University we sold some organs, cobbled together some cash and bought an AKAI S3000XL and that’s where it all began for us as a duo.
3 - When did you first feel that you had finally discovered your own specific sound?
If I’m honest, probably only a couple of years ago, when we managed to make music a full time job. That gave us time to develop ideas properly and really put the work in on the production and sound designing side of things.
4 - What do you think stands out the most about your sound?
Hopefully we get across the fact that we are not bothered about ‘genres’ or stupid mini-genre classification and that each tune holds it weight and does the job we wanted it to! ..Also..I think we strike a nice balance between the sounds of the shire and the evil of Mordor.
5 - Do you know what kind of track you want to write before you sit down to make it, or are you just trying things out until the music gels?
Recently yes, although when we started out definitely not. Now we can go into the studio and have an idea we want to fulfill and just do it. For ages it was a case of making some drums and then just seeing what happened when we pushed some buttons and twiddled a bit!
6 - When you do sample, how do you approach it? Where do you source your samples from?
Sampling for our stuff is mostly just of drum breaks now to be honest that we will then chop and EQ. I have a very large funk & soul record collection so a lot of the time I get them straight from vinyl, although if I want something cleaner I have a big library of breaks I have collected over the years on my computer. To be honest sampling only happens if the tune is right. I do however produce a lot of hip hop that has samples in it…But I aint sayin no more than that mum…;)
7 - Do you play any instruments?
I have played guitar since I was 9 and am ok….and I can hit notes on a keyboard with all the finesse of a rhino, but I get by!
8 - What’s your studio like?
Our studio is pretty good now as we’ve been at it for a while so have amassed quite a few classice synths like the Virus and the Supernova and our JP8000 etc…and also some new toys like the Ultranova and Maschine.
9 - How and where do you record?
For demos I just record instruments and vocals in my writing studio at home but when its time to do the proper recordings I am lucky enough to work with Lewis at StarDelta Mastering ( www.stardeltamastering.com) who has an incredible mix room ( including Pete Townshend from the Who’s old mixing desk!) and loads of analogue pre’s so I go out there and do it with him as he is, quite frankly, a f*ckin G.
10 - Nowadays, do you DJ, play live or both? What are your sets like?
Mostly Djing, with or our without our resident badman MC - Jay Tuns. However we are currently working on a more live-ish set up with the laptops and some gear etc to take the album out touring and so on
11 - A little playlist of your favorite records these days?
Blimey that’s a hard one….. Well…it’s got to be our new single ‘We Are Back/Soundgal 2012’ of course!
Most of our sets will never be complete without records from the likes of Elite Force, Peo de Pitte, Hostage, RackNRuin, Pyramid to name BUT a FEW.
12 - What was the best party/gig/festival you’ve ever played, and why?
Probably still to this day, our first Glastonbury set on the Glade stage before our mate Freq Nasty. Not only is a he a friend and a hero but to play Glastonbury for the 1st time on such a big stage was immense and a feeling we will never forget.
13 - If you weren’t musicians, what would you be doing with your life?
Slingin’ rock. Boostin’ whips. (Working for the man…In Tesco probably.)
14 - Where do you think you will be musically in the next few years?
Harder better faster stronger
15 - A last word…
Flockynockynihilipilification