| Riley and Durrant
To celebrate Riley and Durrant’s debut album ‘Research and Development’ due out on the 13th of August (notice the subtle advertisement there), thanks to Cypher Press we’ve been able to exclusively interview the Gatecrasher residents over a couple of beers (by that I mean I sat at home with a panda pop shandy e mailing questions... Live the life me).
So without further ado;
MPFS - Ok first off gents, thanks for your time, know you’re busy with the radio show (will get to that later), start off with the few standard questions;
What drove you to become Dj's?
Andi - I spent 2 weeks work experience in 1996 at the council in Huddersfield making weak tea and choosing the best fonts for new road signs.. which made me take a hard look into ways of making a living out of my hobby and not getting a proper job. I used to make tapes of old hardcore, drum and bass and rave and sell them outside school for £2.50 – so I figured it was the way forward.
Nick - In my early teens I was into rock so I brought a guitar to play along with the music I was into. When I got into dance music I soon ditched the guitar and brought some decks. The plan was to start producing at the same time, but it took me 6 years after getting my decks to get round to it!
MPFS - Where does your passion for music originate?
Nick - Both my parents are musical and I was encouraged to learn instruments when I was growing up, it was never very cool playing the violin or trumpet but I’m thankful I did as the basic foundations have stayed with me.
Andi - Same for me – always been a music geek. I was made to take keyboard lessons from being 8 years old, and my Dad’s always been into electronic stuff – he was a DJ in the 70s so it runs in the family anyway.
MPFS - Do you still have any unachieved ambitions in the Dj'ing world? if so, what are they?
Andi - We’ve got mountains of things to do yet – more albums, live projects, more work for TV and film, produce some bands.. I don’t imagine we’ll ever be ready to sit back and say “Finished!”
Nick - Loads! I always set targets so I stay focused, the first was to DJ for Gatecrasher and the next was to produce a record (Candesco). I thrive on people telling me I will never be able to do this or that, it just makes me more determined. I suppose my main ambition is just to carry on making a living out of something I love.
MPFS - Has becoming Crasher residents changed you as DJs at all over the past few years? if so, how?
Andi - Its definitely opened up doors and enabled us to play some of the biggest and best events around the world. It’s also been a place we’ve been able to play the broad spectrum of music we’re into, rather than having to stick one style.. in fact warming up for Oakenfold at 9pm one week, and playing after Mauro Picotto at 5am the next week taught us to be versatile with our music.
MPFS - Would you ever consider going solo again?
Nick - Probably not… we’re like a married couple – in fact we spend more time together then we do with our wives and girlfriends.
Andi - We both bring different things to the table to, and when there’s 2 of you, you can obviously take on twice the workload.. which is handy when you DJ, write, produce, present radio shows and run a production company.
MPFS - Although you're known as primarily trance DJs, your first release on your Nu Breed label is an electro track. Some might say this is just pandering to the latest fad rather than sticking to your roots. How do you feel about that?
Andi - It depends how people know us I suppose – if people have only ever heard our Galaxy radio shows they might think we play house, techno, trance, minimal and drum n bass.. but if someones only ever heard us playing a late set at Gatecrasher for example, you might think we’re trance DJs.. it’s a shame that people still get so bogged down about “genres”. When dance music first became massive in the 90s, DJs like Carl Cox and Paul Oakenfold we’re playing right across the board.. it’s only recently DJs have felt the need to so specialized to one style.
Nick - Fair point about the track though – nobody wants to be a bandwagon jumper – and electro is the big sound of the moment, but I wouldn’t actually call the track “electro”. Nu Breed Music aims to be a genreless label, basically if we like it and would play it in our sets, we’ll sign it.
MPFS - What are your feelings on the digital age making music production/Dj'ing available to anyone who owns a pc, it's so common these days for Joe Blogs to come up with a hit in his bedroom, has this had an effect on the overall dance scene, both behind the scenes (Dj'ing and producing) as well as clubland itself?
Nick - It’s one thing Joe Bloggs producing a good track in his bedroom but it’s quite another getting it signed to the correct label. That’s where NuBreed comes in as bedroom producers know that they can send us their tracks which we’ll always give a fair and honest appraisal to. If it’s up to the mark we’ll play it on the show which reaches hundreds and thousands of people every week.
Andi - It has opened up the doors to many new styles of music globally. Also it’s now possible to produce a track with someone on the other side of the world, which is something nobody would have dreamt of ten years ago. The downside though is that lots of shit tracks are available to buy as it costs nothing to upload a track to a download site.
MPFS - What do you feel is your strongest production to date?
Andi - I don’t know – you’re never perfectly happy with your own stuff so it’s hard to say, although the one I’m most proud of is “My Enemy” on the album as I wrote the track and lyrics on my own.. drunk at home.
MPFS - Now we've your background a few more personal and bizarre questions if possible. Who would win in a fight between you two and the Above and Beyond lads?
Nick - Us obviously! We have the age, height and weight advantage. Plus Andi is light on his feet; he’s Leeds’ answer to Billy Elliot.
Andi - I’m a lover not a fighter, but its funny you should ask.. when we’re bored on long journeys to gigs we often debate subjects as challenging as “hardest DJ”. For the record, Nick goes for Alex P (very hench) and my money’s on Jules (proven on the odd occasion he can throw a punch or 2 and always taller than you think he’s going to be)
Nick - If it was a tag team with us against Alex P and Brandon Block, we would get battered!
MPFS - If you could be reincarnated as any animal what animal would it be and why?
Nick - A chimpanzee as they are the only other species apart from humans that masturbate for fun. I think Andi would be an orangutan as they have the smallest penis of any primate.
MPFS - Has the fact that you’re Dj's ever got you laid with more than one lass at once? (If so where do I sign up?)
Nick - Ha Ha, it happens all the time…
Andi - Bollocks – that is a lie to make you look cool – he has a wife and baby at home.
MPFS - Tell us a joke
Nick - While redecorating a church, three nuns become extremely hot and sweaty in their habits, so Mother Superior says, "Let's take our clothes off, and work naked."
The other two nuns disapprove, and ask, "What if someone sees us?"
But the Mother Superior says, "Don't worry, no one will see us, we'll just lock the door."
So the other nuns agree, strip down and return to work.
Suddenly, they hear a knock at the door, and grab their clothes in a panic.
Mother Superior runs to the door and calls through, "Who is it?"
"Blind man," a man's voice comes back.
So she opens the door, and lets in the blind man, who turns to the nuns and says, "Great tits, ladies, now where do you want these blinds?"
Andi - Dude – that’s terrible. How about “How does a pig go to hospital?
In a hambulance.”
MPFS - If all the women in the world were only mermaids but of two kinds which would you prefer? The ones with the tail? Or the ones with the fish part up top and woman on the bottom?
Nick - Obviously being one half of a duo I could have both. I would cut them both in two, re-join them correctly and get the woman to cook me the fish!
Andi - So you’d brutally murder 2 mermaids – have sex with one and EAT the other? That’s pretty sick mate.
‘Research & Development’ features twelve killer tracks which see the lads drift effortlessly from the finest dirty house to deep techno, ambient interludes and of course not forgetting a dash of more trance-led moments all wrapped up in the finest production to give ‘Research & Development’ such a well rounded edge to create a modern master piece.
Featuring strong vocal collaborations with Gina Dootson on tracks ‘Hollow’ ‘Dead Of Night’ ‘Tears Down The Walls’ (alongside production skills of Paul Maddox) and ‘Magnificent Love’ the duo also work with vocalist Ben Renwick on ‘My Enemy’ producers Hauswerks on ‘Experiment No.2’ and a brand new version of their classic ‘Candesco’ this album will cross boundaries into many genres.
For more information on Riley and Durrant visit there myspace at www.myspace.com/rileyanddurrant |
