Features

"I'm not leaving dnb behind at all, but moving forward. I have to say there is more music in my new field that excites me!" exclaims Temper D as he assesses his evolution from drum and bass, to his current state as a genre defying, bass driven house producer.

It's been a wholly unpredictable journey for Dave Bowles, a huge success on the continent headlining parties from Austria to the Czech Republic, the recognition that should have followed closer to home has never materialised:

"It's a bit of a bug bear of mine, I live within three miles of all the major drum and bass parties in London, I just never made the right tune I guess, but I do wish I could play here more often."

Inspired by the likes of Jeff Mills, Richie Hawtin and Kevin Saunderson, his desire to concentrate his efforts on pleasing the dance floor emanates from his early influences:

"I'm not interested in beard strokey, self-indulgent music, the technical side is boring to me, it's all about smiles and energy at parties!"

Acknowledging the difference in expectations of sound between here and Europe, Temper D's productions contain a clean, highly sonic sound that give a lively 360° feel:

"I used to have a production partner called K-Fire, so when we parted company I had to learn the whole engineering side pretty much from scratch. It's been a really steep learning curve but I'm finally able to make some decent sounding dance music now.

"The technical side of production and mixdowns really is the be-all-and-end-all as to whether dance music works in the clubs. Until you've nailed that side of things, you can never really smash places up properly with your own tunes! I've put in a lot of studio hours in the past few years and hopefully the stuff in this mix is proving I can do it."

It is perhaps the flexibility in sound and tempo that has attracted Temper D to pursue this new direction to often brilliant effect. His productions all retain a sense of danceability and fun, staying true to his ethos of crowd first, genre boundaries second:

"I have a very clear idea of how a club should be brought to its peak and brought down before rising again. I find a lot of DJs want to represent a specific sound, at a specific tempo, with no real regard for whether people have switched off or got bored, I'm always trying to think one step ahead and that's why a lot of my tunes change tempo."

Re-designing himself to reach a new crowd and set of listeners is an energizing prospect:

"It's kind of like starting all over again to be honest! As well as my own music, I have a collaboration project with High Rankin and a female vocalist which is basically electro-y synth-pop music which I absolutely love! It also has the most potential to blow up out of everything I'm doing so that's taking a lot of studio time at the moment."

Indeed, the hard work in the studio appears to be paying off with the endorsement of dance legend Cut La Roc a real landmark in the exploration thus far:

"I'm very flattered that he's got behind me, it means a lot. I'm hoping Rocstar can really force itself to the forefront of dance music because musically, it really has got a lot to offer."

Marrying his dedication to tweaking his production abilities and running a label, Temper can also mix to stunning effect, famed for three deck sets, the feeling that his new 'ghetto bass' angle suits his perspective on what he considers dance music and more importantly fun, is obviously apparent. Perhaps the current state and lack of innovation in dance floor orientated drum and bass is forcing producers to look elsewhere for success. Clipz to Redlight, Zinc, Nero and Chase & Status are all glaring examples:

"Personally I'm working really hard to break into the scene I really want to be operating in, the kind of more mainstream club night that the likes of Herve, or Eddie Temple Morris play, people like Drop the Lime, High Rankin, DJ Zinc etc. I feel I have a lot to offer, I want to recreate those moments when clubs get ripped to shreds, when crowds are literally screaming. They're very rare and special to me!"

Time will tell, but with a slurry of releases in the wings and no let up to the increasing popularity of the fidget house movement, Temper D should finally stop raking up those air miles and create some club shredding moments closer to home.

WORDS Owen Goldser

Temper D takes us through his highlight tunes on the mix...

"The first tune is my favourite. Wouldn't Expect It resembles a combination of all my recent tunes. I think it manages to be fun, but also naughty, and manages not to cross the cheese line too far!

Bad Loser with High Rankin is the kind of stuff you can expect to hear more regularly from us, maybe with a poppier twist.

I'm really pleased with Wonky Glasses. It's coming out with some remixes on Afghan Headspin's label Standard Audio.

Gwyneth Herbert is a good friend of mine and a quite successful jazz singer, so I'm really happy to have done the Worn Out remix for her.

Jump Around VIP should hopefully be on Rocstar early next year, a real party tune! It's an example of how I'm trying to move between tempos in my sets.

Another favourite, Minimal Blink was my contribution to what eventually got labelled 'Techno dnb'. I was really pleased when Raiden picked up on this, he's a real hero of mine!