Sinden Q&A
Author: Ken Andrews
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
I got this call out the blue from him, asking me to play at a new night he's starting called Inside Out. I jumped at the chance and have been asked back every month since. It was a shame it came to an end when Basement Jaxx toured a year-and-a-half later. There's talk about doing something in the near future though.
What got you into production game-
My boy Dave Taylor aka Switch / Solid Groove. I was doing PR for Jesse Rose's record labels. He'd come to the office, as he was recording for them at the time and we'd talk about dancehall and hip hop. That's how we started making tunes. We wanted to doing something JA style - crazy dancehall steez. Then we got the Lady Sovereign remix together, which was about three years back.
You also started a record label with Switch.
Counterfeet, yeah. At the moment, its vinyl only, [but we're] looking into doing more downloads soon though. Its like Switch's Dubsided label, in that a lot of the artists will record on both. The music policy is slightly less house, though and more ghetto house, booty, electro, hip hop and garage. So far, we've had a few releases, with the fifth about to drop in the next month. We've had releases from Dave and myself, Radioclit, Count Of Monte Cristal and Sinden & Count Of Monte Cristal. It's building really nicely!
Where do your music roots lie-
A bit all over the place really. It started with heavy metal and rock, but at the same time as pop. I was really into hair metal bands and guitar solos. Then I got into Public Enemy and then into the baggy scene - Stone Roses and Happy Mondays. After that I had a big love / hate relationship with hip-hop, but always came out forgiving it for getting boring sometimes. Along the way I got into the roots of hip-hop, like electro, freestyle and funk/soul. These days, I'm pretty much playing out and listening to a bit of everything. I love a good pop record, too!
What are you listening to at the moment-
The Rhianna and R Kelly records, the new Mavado and Colliebuddz albums, this crazy dubstep tune by Rusko called Cockney Thug, this Bhangra tune that's massive here right now by Chad Khairrha Baanieh Da, Skeptas new riddim, some old '80s freestyle.
You host your own radio show on KissFM. How do you go about it-
It's an hour show on kiss every week. It's very random listening - a mix of commercial urban music, rowdy southern hip hop, one drop reggae, weird world music, Grime, Baltimore club, mash-ups, house and electro, ghetto house and booty bass and as much rock as I can get away with it. I really enjoy presenting it. I don't think there's anything on the airwaves like it. Diplo's 'Mad Decent' blog hosts it, so you can check it on there.
You have already remixed, produced and collaborated with some of the biggest names in dance, you must be pretty happy with that…
Damn yeah. I've been really lucky to have had the opportunity to do that. It's a good feeling when you meet Chromeo and they say how much they're feeling the remix, or when you see Lady Sovereign in the email chain you get from the label saying how much she loves what I did. Often the artists will have some say in approving remixes, so that's always a big plus!
You have been associated with the new rave tag, but you're not a big fan of house-
I don't really like tags, especially the new rave one. I got lumped into it with a few other producers like Simian Mobile Disco that blatantly didn't come under that umbrella at all. House used to be a dirty word for me. It still is a little bit, but then I don't regard myself as a house producer strictly. I admit that it's a big part of the scene I'm in with producers like Switch, Herve and Trevor Loveys. I've always felt, I guess, that as a unit we are giving it< Tags