Interview: Hallucinator

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Italy. The very word conjures up thoughts of good food, good wine and sunshine. But evil death metal infused technoid D&B?? Maybe not, but Bolognas's Hallucinator hail from a world far removed from the clinical electronic studios and dancefloors dotted with impeccable white trainers usually associated with today's international drum & bass scene.

Instead their history brings them from a place most UK headz might recognise as heavy metal. Band members Nk, Geenobronx and Perfect Unknown have journeyed through a void littered with all things you'd associate with death metal culture. Far from renouncing their former faith, they've embraced it, slammed it through a sampler and have come out the other side with the aural version of a kick in the teeth from the world's darkest mosh pit.

Hallucinator are offering some of the freshest, darkest drum & bass Italy (and the world) has to offer, with an unusual slant and a whole lot of pride, these Italians are bringing something totally new to the scene. One listen to their awesome selection on their MySpace page and a quick look at their images will tell you a bit about where they're coming from, and that is straight from hell.

They encapsulate everything I love about death metal - the intensity of the music, the power and the darkness and the gift of being able to take yourself with a pinch of salt. We caught up with DJ Nk, one third of this blood gargling trio to get the lowdown on their take on what they have affectionately termed 'Drill n Thrill D&B'...

What were your early influences, and how were you introduced to D&B?
We all come from metal and hardcore, apart from Geenobronx who was more into hip hop. All of us played in bands, in my specific case I was really into death metal and grindcore but I also liked the 4AD stuff. I came to live in London with my band Crematorium. At the time the death metal scene there was massive, and after a while I joined an English band called Salem Orchid, now named Akercocke, but all of this came to an end. The clubs hosting metal gigs became less and less to give space to the growing rave scene and, to tell the truth, I was fascinated by this new obsessive sound. I started buying vinyl, which at that time consisted mainly of techno and trance tracks, as well as the first Prodigy albums. Then I went back to Italy, got into DJing and started playing at the first raves. After a few years I discovered drum 'n' bass and got into it. I started with the sounds of No U Turn, Ram, Virus and Moving Shadow. In a way, it felt to me like a sort of electronic death metal...

What made you decide to use the name Hallucinator?
After spending days in front of the PC listening to the same line over and over we thought it was like hallucinating so decided to adopt the name Hallucinator.

European D&B seems to be very heavily influenced by techno at the moment, would you agree with that, and do you make a conscious effort to follow a particular thread / strain or do you tend to produce stuff you like?
Yeah, definitely technoid and Techno D&B is massive all over Europe and also in Italy. We always tried to have our own identity and not to follow a particular style, this is why we like to call ours "Drill 'n' Thrill", which is a mixture of the heavy way a death metal track could sound with no guitars involved and the impact of industrial music with the atmosphere of the nastiest horror movie. It's kinda hard to push this forward because many labels aren't too keen about the originality of their artists and tend to follow only their genre, like it's best if you sound like everyone else.

What do you have coming out soon?
A forthcoming 12" out on American label Mindsaw Recordings, The Plague / Unholy, and also our first vinyl, released on the Italian imprint Modulate Recordings.

What's the D&B scene like in Italy at the moment?
There are quite a few producers here covering almost every kind of D&B. Even if we're all scattered around the nation almost everyone knows the other ones thanks to the parties, the board www.dnbmovement.it and labels such as Modulate, Subculture, D-Box and Transistor Technology.

How well do your records sell in the UK?
Our labels know this better than us but they're very happy with the sales so I reckon they ain't doing too bad. Still, I don't know how many copies we sell in the UK or elsewhere. In the UK there are a few DJs playing our stuff but I can't remember all of their names apart from AMC who was one of the first to contact us.