Chase & Status Interview
DJ Fu caught up with Chase & Status ahead of their headlining gig at Free Range to talk about how they met, their influences, record labels, favourite snacks, computer games, what’s on their iPods and where they are heading in 2009. Make sure you look out for a competition appearing on Blunted next week where you can win two free tickets to their show in Oxford.
How did you both meet?
Through a mutual friend and the love of mixing in our bedrooms and going out every weekend.
What have been your biggest influences?
Artists such as the prodigy and the nostalgia of going out week in week out when we were younger.
What’s you favorite bit of studio equipment?
Mackie 824’s - I swear by them.
Do you think having two of you working on tunes has helped you adapt yourselves to so many different styles?
I definitely think that having two perspectives really helps when making tunes as you can lose sight of whether something is good or not when you’ve been working on your own for hours.
You have had great success with your debut album while still maintaining your hardcore fan base. Do you think that it is difficult to maintain your hardcore fans while reaching out to a bigger audience?
I hope not! I’m sure there are some die hard fans who say we don’t make what we used to but you have to evolve and change as an artist. If we’ve brought new fans into drum and bass then that can only be a good thing,
A lot of artists are signing to labels exclusively, was it difficult to make the decision to sign to RAM records or was it just something you were certain you wanted to do?
Ram is the only label in the DNB industry that we’d sign with so we were very happy when they approached us.
You have had some high profile collaborations such as Plan B and Kano, how did you hook up with them?
We did a remix for Plan B of ‘No Good’ and off the back of that have done a lot of work together and with ‘Against All Odds’ we knew we wanted Kano on it so we got in touch with his manager and took it forward from there.
What artists would you like to work with the most?
The artists we’re set to work with in 2009!
With the success you have had outside of Drum and Bass, do you think you have had to adapt your DJ sets accordingly?
Not particularly - we’ve always played across the board and other genres of music in our sets - the crowds these days like to hear variety.
What’s planned for the future?
Already started album number two and a heap of production work for other artists.
These are less serious ones… Every DJ has a horror story about a gig, what is yours?
Marseille - First or second international booking. Rave was atrocious and the sound engineer wanted to fight us! We’ve not been back…
What is your favourite studio snack?
Blueberry Muffins and Guylian Sea Shells.
What’s getting rotation on your iPods at the moment?
Heads, shoulders, knees and toes.
What computer games are you playing at the moment?
Not really big into games but have been caught by the Nintendo DS and classic Mario Kart lately - can’t go wrong…
Do you use Mac or PC?
PC to make music and Mac for everything else - best of both worlds.
Thanks for your time guys, good luck for the 13th at Free Range!
Questions: DJ Fu
Be sure to check out Chase & Status appearing at Free Range on 13th February.
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