Emerging bass duo The Wild Knights are turning heads with their new Neon Nightlife mixtape and track Without. Get in the know and download both for free below.

 

Where are you from and to what extent would you say this influences your music?
We're from Brighton. I think traditionally people associate the town with the more fun, cartoony side of music. I'm not sure we fit into that.

When did you first try your hand at DJing and producing? What made you try?
First started producing and DJing when we were about 20ish. We played lots of drum & bass from Ganja Kru and Peshay to Bukem. We also listened to garage and breakstep like old Bingo beats stuff.

How would you describe your approach to making music?
It's an open minded approach. Sometimes working with instruments sometimes with soft synths.
It comes in waves with periods of intense productivity followed by times when we go off the radar and do other stuff. We're never quite sure what kind of music we're going to make that day, but that's the beauty of it.

What's your studio setup like?
Our studio used to be full of hardware but it got sold. We work with a few choice instruments now and a lot of in-the-box plug-ins and synths. We run both Mac and PC using Logic, Cubase and Ableton. We use Event TR8 monitors with a beautiful Beyerdynamic 840n mic.

Tell us more about your Neon Nightlife mixtape and how you approached putting it together...
There's so much good music out there at the minute. The internet is bulging with new producers pushing interesting sounds. Bass music is so varied and interesting now. For a while everything sounded similar but producers seem to be trusting their own tastes again. We wanted a range of styles in the mix and not all necessarily the newest releases.

 

 

You're also giving away a free track called Without, what can you tell us about that?
We wanted to strike the middle ground between melodic post-dubstep tracks and the heavier end of the bass music spectrum. Hopefully we've achieved that. It works well when we've played it out. Lots of people ask us for the name which is usually a good sign!

 

 

Got any other releases / remixes in the pipeline we should look out for?
There's a debut EP on the way which features some guest vocalists and takes in a range of influences - so not all bass music or club fodder.

What else have you been working on in the studio recently?
Some interesting Mount Kimbie style stuff and also some rinsing old skool 2 step garage. An eclectic time studio wise.

Where can people see you play in the near future?
We'll be at Secret Garden Party, Boomtown and Playgroup festivals over the summer with some club gigs in the pipeline too. Come say hello.

What do you get up to outside of music?
Teaching kids about music and trying to stay healthy. Which is hard sometimes, especially  after a day in the studio full of hyped kids.

Any advice for any aspiring producers / DJs out there?
Yeah loads. Learn some music theory. It will improve your music no end. Get online and get to grips with chords and melodies because these add emotion. Finish songs. Too many young producers we see expect their first songs to be amazing. It's a long process learning music so be prepared to make some pretty average music on the way. But at least learn to finish a song. Nobody will sign 3/4 of a song.

What tracks, producers and labels are you feeling at the moment?
So many. Alby Daniels is amazing. There's a young producer called Joe Martin from Brighton that has a couple of beautiful ambient garage tracks that are great. In terms of more dancefloor stuff Mak & Pasteman are excellent. Dark Sky are super consistent. Always loved Brackles & Shortstuff's beats. The No Brainer label is solid.

What's the best gig you played in the last six months?
Really enjoyed Gottwood Festival in Anglesey. Our management, Finger Lickin Management, were hosting a stage there and we got to play. It's like a house party that got out of control!

Anything else you want to tell us about?
These first few bits are really just the tip of the iceberg from us. If you like the mix and the 'Without' track, check out some of the remixes we've done for The Correspondents, Lazy Habits and Jennifer Left.

Related Links:

• Urban Knights - DVJ specialists
• Obie Trice - Watch the Chrome Mixtape
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• Free Dynamite MC Mixtape

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