We tipped this drum & bass duo as ones to watch back in December and 2012 is definitely shaping up to be Gerra & Stone's breakthrough year. Following their last Proximity outing, Gerra & Stone deliver two new cuts in the form of Test Chamber and Subconscious, further showcasing their talent and cementing their reputation with some more serious straight up dance floor deepness. To coincide with this week's release Gerra and Stone tell us more about the releases, a whirlwind six months and how the rest of 2012 is shaping up.

Another outing on the mighty Proximity, can you tell us about the two releases?
Yeah, its our second release on Proximity and our third release overall. We wanted to continue along the lines 'Street Talk' and 'Droneheads' as these seemed to be the tracks that got the best response from people. The tracks are (hopefully) aimed strongly at the dancefloor, but still with home listening in mind.

 

 

 

The last six months have certainly seen you gather some great momentum and support, what have been the highlights so far?
Getting our debut EP into number four on the DnB Arena album chart was definitely a good feeling. Receiving support from Hype on Kiss FM was brilliant, as well as people like Marky, Doc Scott, S.P.Y and Nu:Tone who we have both looked up to for years. Stand-out gig of 2012 so far has to be warming up the Metalheadz label night in Southampton back April, massive vibes all round!

You have already managed to build up a heavy gig schedule and are about to embark on an onslaught of festivals, what does the summer and the rest of 2012 have in store for you gig wise?
Festival wise we are very happy to be performing at Glade and Outlook this summer. On top of that we have a few other other nice bookings around the UK lined up - in June we've got Cafe 1001 in London on 22nd with yourselves and Proximity which should be wicked, we're also really looking forward to playing Momentum in Leeds on 29th. Ant TC1 knows how to throw a good party! Aside from that we are looking forward to gigs in Belgium and Prague in early Autumn.

Your production seems to just be going from strength to strength at the moment you must be pretty pleased right now, what's the secret?
I think we would be lying if we said we weren't pleased, but there honestly is no secret apart from hard work. We have however been fortunate enough to meet the right people, of which we are very grateful for.

How has your production evolved over the last 12 months?
We hope that our production has evolved to become more 'musical' and organic over the last 12 months. We are both very conscious of the fact that the deeper end of drum & bass has become quite saturated in the last couple of years, and that it can be easy to lose that sense of funk and musicality when you are writing hard hitting tracks for the dancefloor. At the moment we are striving to keep a balance between the two.

You have some bits signed to new imprint Scientia, a label that is gaining some huge support can you tell us more about the label and your forthcoming tunes?
Yes, we are pleased to be releasing a single on Scientia, label owner J Science has picked some other good names like Subterra, Keza and Collectiv as well so we believe it will be a good mix of artists on there. The tracks we signed are on a different vibe to our previous releases, 'Make It RIght' is more soul based, and 'Melting Pot' has a strong dub influence, but still with our trademark bass work.

You have managed to harness your own sound and style with your productions and bring your own brand of originality, do you deliberately set out to stamp your own twist on your output or is it something that happens naturally?
More recently we do set out in the studio with some sort of plan, sometimes the end result will be true to it and others entirely different! It has always been a fairly natural process though, even from the beginning, which is why we have stuck as a duo.

What's the relationship like with Basher, label boss at Proximity, obviously being on Ram himself he must have a lot of great advice and it must really help?
Our relationship with Basher is great and something that we cant be more thankful for. He's helped both of us in a lot of different areas, from advice on tunes, to the business side of things, getting us gigs through proximity and getting us press. He's always got good advice and runs the label in the upmost professional manner, so it's a pleasure to work with him.

As relative newcomers what advice would you give to any one looking to follow in your footsteps?
As we mentioned before dedication is definitely the key, keep sticking at it even though it can be very frustrating at times. Also networking is essential for many reasons, getting feedback on your tracks form peers and artists you look up to is a great way to build your sound, most people we've gone to for advice have been extremely helpful and accommodating. Thinking out of the box is something we have have found very rewarding in the last few months, it's very easy to slip in to habits in the studio which work but when you try something completely new it can open all sorts of doors.

You've achieved quite a bit already where do you go from here and what more would you like to achieve?
We definitely still feel that we have a large amount to achieve, the main things we're working towards are more regular international DJ bookings, and getting our tracks signed to any of the major labels. Until that time comes though we are very proud to represent Proximity and feel that the label will really start to shine through in the next six months. So watch this space!
 

Related Links:

• Gerra and Stone Interview
• Basher Launches Proximity Recordings
• Stone Island Shadow Project SS '011
• New Label Profile: Alignment Records
• New Label Profile: Alignment Records

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