GRIDLOK's interview

GRIDLOK

DOA: Hi Ryan, congratulations on your new album, how do you feel having got such a mammoth project out onto the streets? Quite an accomplishment honestly. This is right after doing the violence album which involved 4 people and a lot of opportunity to bounce ideas around. For Break the System I had to facilitate all aspects of getting it out, and this is not easy! DOA: How long did it take you to make the album, what was involved? It took about two years from start to completion, I pretty much started working on it right as welcome to violence was being finished off. It involved writing about 20 tracks, fumbling through dozens of concepts and changing the working title half a dozen times. Fortunately I was able to keep my mouth tight on most of this so there isn抰 as much misinformation around as there should be heh. DOA: What was the hardest thing about completing this album? I would say the hardest thing of finishing this album as with all album projects I have been involved in is simply staying focused from start to end and actually finishing it. DOA: Do you see any more artist-albums in your future? And if you had to do it all over again, is there anything that you抎 change? Yeh I would say its safe to say I抣l be sticking mostly with album projects from here on out, this how I抳e always wanted to do it and feel like a 12?is simply not a in depth enough experience. There are always things you look back at and would like to do differently but ultimately for my first full length solo album to hit the streets, I think it came out ok, I wish I had unlimited funds and a big fucking room with lots more mics and fun shit to make noise into them with. DOA: 態reak The System?was released on your own Project51 record label, why did you decide to set up your own imprint and how have you dealt with the challenges that come along with running your own label? (for instance do you find it hard to do the business side of things and find enough time as an artist etc) My first record came out on Technorganic Recordings, which I was basically running for my friend Lewis Davidson. So from the beginning of my career I have kinda had this approach to things. I prefer having total control and am from the mentality that most labels suck your soul and kill your creative vision. The business side of things I take very seriously as having been on the receiving end of many bad deals. Even friends with the best intentions can go wrong if they don抰 take their label seriously and keep all their records and accounting and projections locked. It抯 no secret that dnb is a small genre, and the vinyl industry is probably even smaller. If you make one financial mistake that can be your demise as I抦 sure you抳e seen with many labels in the past. DOA: In reading your bios, I remember seeing that you had a great deal of musical training in the past, including studying the violin. Do you feel as if that early training helps you in what you are doing today? I think it抯 been a blessing and a curse. The blessing is in that I do have a pretty good understanding of music and what it takes to form a song. The curse comes from the fact that dnb and most of the stuff that like in particular is very unconventional which has required me to break a lot of rules which were bashed in my head from a young age. Fortunately I抳e always been a rebellious bastard and my violin training actually ended with me being kicked from the orchestra for being non-complying and a general pain in the instructor抯 ass. DOA: Your music features a lot of eclectic and esoteric sounds, where do you find your inspiration and what is it about using obscure textures that you love so much? I think it comes down to one simple thing, I抳e heard so much music at this point in my life and have gone in deep on so many genres, that its all there in the back of my head to inspire me. Also by going deep on music and listening to lots of different stuff you get more of a birds eye view on the whole thing and realize the differences between doing a quality catchy bit of music and something truly revolutionary. I would say most of us fight to be in the first and on rare occasion move on to the 2nd. DOA: Do you think it has been harder for you to 憁ake it?in D&B coming from America, or do you think that has given you a different spin that people have picked up on? It has fucking definitely without a doubt made this an uphill journey during an avalanche while your pants are on fire and its raining hail that won抰 put out the flames. I don抰 recommend looking at being an American as an advantage in the real world. That doesn抰 just go for music? DOA: Who else from the other side of the Atlantic should we be looking out for? Other side meaning your side? Or am I an honorary European now? Hehe?I抦 feeling some stuff for sure like The Upbeats, Vicious Circle, Matt-U, Jade, Skitty, Hive has some niceness coming, Origin and Orion from L.A. have done a real nice tune with George Clinton which will be seeing the light of day this year. There is loads more cool shit but these are all guys I抦 involved with at the present which you should be seeing on the label this year. DOA: In terms of the current scene at large, things seem to be in disarray: P2Ps are trading files like nothing, many people on the forums seem to talk down many of the scenes top stars just to cut them down, and the only way many DJs make any money is by touring. Do you ever regret your decision to be a working artist in this climate? NO. and I say that not easily. There are many reasons to feel like its fucked, but I gotta say honestly, I have gone 150% in for almost 9 years now and it has paid off. I see a lot of those that are really screwing about how things are I also don抰 see them really going for it. Also maybe they don抰 have it in them naturally and are trying to force something out of themselves that they aren抰 built to be? YES. I do regret loads of things, but that抯 how our species is, we all die full of regret and pain. DOA: What are your views on 憈he scene? do things need to change? Main thing that I think needs to change, all these fucking arrogant rock star type muther fuckers in this scene that are making half as much as a waitress working in Hollywood need to calm the fuck down. I am not feeling that shit one bit and when people come at me with this big overblown ego they need to realize that is nothing but poison for the scene, cause we all see threw that bullshit and it just leaves the whole genre looking ugly and leaving people jaded on the whole thing. DOA: With regards to Internet forums and p2p trading, how do you feel about sites like DOA, do you think they have a place in 憈he scene? and what do you think are the positives and negatives of sites like ours? For lots of reasons I prefer it to other forms of media. The amount of waste and impact a website has on the planet is minimal while the amount of information available is for more vast than traditional landfill bound mediums. I also think there should be something more magazine type on the internet cause with a chat forum it does tend to go all over the place with biased ignorant opinions. I think knowledge should do a totally web based subscription! DOA: What do you have going on in the future, release-wise and tour-wise? Release wise there is a busy release schedule in store for Project 51. Some amazing material from folks like the Upbeats, Skitty, Jade & Matt-U, Dino, Bulletproof, Origin, George Clinton, plus some new collabs with Hive and Concord Dawn. I抦 working on some with Digital right now as well as Shy FX, just to do something different to keep things interesting. I抳e done a few remixes recently, Altitude with Dom for Shogun Audio and 10 Steps for Horizons. I抳e signed my first 12?to Ram and have the first side done called 揝kanka?so look out for that. Tour wise there is WMC next week where I抦 doing my first WMC label event, hopefully that will go down cool! After that I head for my first trip to Asia and then back for a brief string of U.S. dates before heading back to the U.K. around June. DOA: What do you like to do outside of Drum & Bass? Do you enjoy films, sports, making other forms of music etc? Yeh I抦 a big film buff, I抳e been working on my own script for the past 3 years and that抯 coming slowly but surely. I am bored with sports although I do appreciate its parallel to real life. I am all about other forms of music although I think I抦 better at making dnb. On this flight I have listened to: Black Hawk Down soundtrack, Miles Davis complete 態itches Brew? Dr. Dre 慣he Chronic? and Beastie Boys 慔ello Nasty? DOA: Can you hit the DOA massive off with a current top 10 tracks that don抰 leave your bin? That don抰 leave the rubbish bin? Everything ends up there for good at some point doesn抰 it!