Having already had a mention in our 2012 producers to watch, Gerra & Stone step up to the plate with a new release on Basher's Proximity imprint.

One month in it's already shaping up to be a productive year for the Southampton duo, previous releases have already had huge support from the likes of Hype, Kasra, Xtrah, Ulterior Motive and Octane & DLR and the pair look fully look focussed on pushing onward and upward with the release of the Anywhere But Here EP.

With the release's imminent arrival next it seemed a perfect time to catch up for some words and see what else they have in store for the next 12 months.

For those that aren't aware of your background can you let us know some history and your journey so far?
We are both from Southampton and met through mutual friends in the area. Our journeys began with live music, but quickly moved on to drum & bass in our late teens. After both DJing separately around the south coast, we realised that we were into the same sounds and it seemed logical to get into the studio together. After a couple of years of banging our heads against a computer screen we have started to get some progress in achieving the sound we want, although we both feel we have a long road ahead.

You have an EP coming on Proximity how did the link come about?
After playing a show in Southampton with Xtrah in the summer we got chatting and exchanged AIM addresses. He was feeling our music and passed it onto Basher, who subsequently signed our Anywhere But Here EP. So massive thanks to Xtrah for his support and, of course, Darren Basher who's made it happen.

 

 

 

 

 

How does it feel having received great support from some of the scenes most respected people and being signed to Proximity?
It's a great feeling and much more than we had anticipated of our first release. We've had a reasonably wide range of support from across the scene, and are thrilled that people like DJ Hype are into it, he was one of the first drum & bass artists we listened to in our teens. Being signed to Proximity is the perfect platform for us to showcase our music to a wide audience. Basher has big plans for the label this year so we're very pleased to be a part of it.

What's your own take on the music you produce?
We aim to always blend a mixture of organic sounds with contemporary production techniques in our music. We like to structure each track with a strong progression element, but still keeping the modern dancefloor in mind.

You also run a very successful night, tell us a bit more about the promotion side of things?
Our night Release has been going from to strength as of late. The January show with Calibre and Dub Phizix was a total sell-out and we actually had to turn away about 60 people as we couldn't fit them in the venue! It has taken a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to this stage though, as the music policy has strictly adhered to the deeper side of drum & bass which doesn't always appeal to mainstream club goers. However we do now feel that there is a solid crowd of great people that turn up every month, who we are extremely grateful to.

Promotion and production are two very different things how do you successfully juggle the two?
When the night first started neither of us spent as much time in the studio as we do now, so there wasn't as much pressure. Also, there are a lot of different areas of promotion that took a while to fully grasp. Now that we have a structured plan for each month it's a lot easier to get the promotional material out to the places they need to be and still find time every week to get in the studio. However, it would not be possible without the help of our partner in the night Matt Freeman, who runs several different events in the area and knows how to get the job done!

Who right now do you look up to and why?
There are so many great artists about at the moment, it's a great time to be involved in drum & bass. The artists we particularly look up to are Octane & DLR for their clinical mixdowns and unique pallet of sounds. Also Xtrah and Foreign Concept are big inspirations for us, as they have both consistently released fresh and interesting music over the last 12 months.

You are already hotly tipped as people to watch this year, what else can we look forward to over the next 12 months?
We have big plans for the coming year, and it was an honour to be featured in your '10 Drum & Bass producers To Watch In 2012' list. We have a string of releases lined up for the first quarter of 2012, the first is the Anywhere But Here EP on Proximity, which is out on February 13th.

Next up we have a 12" coming out on Alignment Records in early March which features our track Droneheads and a collaboration with Overlook, Primus. After this we have another single coming on Proximity, which has been doing the rounds as of late. Also in the works is a very special remix of Droneheads, courtesy of Octane & DLR, which will be dropping on Alignment Records in early April.

Currently we are also working on new material with fellow south coast artists Meth, Overlook and Visionobi MC. Aside from this we are still playing our monthly residencies in Southampton as well as a few choice bookings coming up elsewhere in the UK.

Words: J Science

 

 

 

Related Links:

• Basher Launches Proximity Recordings
• Basher Interview
• Basher Reveals Transmission Tracklisting
• Basher and Xtrah Interview
• Introducing...Xtrah

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