Please introduce yourself...

We're Mike and Lee, aka Dub Foundation, a drum and bass DJ / production duo from the Midlands.

What kind of stuff did you listen to while you were growing up?
Mike: In my early years I didn't have a clue but as I grew older I started getting into jungle, house, breaks, hard house. I was into anything really, I used to love The Prodigy.

Lee: Not a lot really until I started secondary school then I started getting into the early jungle stuff from listening to tape packs. I then progressed into listening to a lot of LTJ Bukem...

What brought you to making drum & bass?
Mike: I've always messed around with making beats and stuff. I've been into DJing a long time too and I used to run my own DnB night in the back room of the local when I was around 17 or 18. I went off it for a while and then got back into it at around 21 or 22 and started playing at some local nights. I met up with a few people who were producing at the time using Reason and got into it from there really. I met up with Lee sometime later and we decided to work on the beats together...  

Lee: I had been messing around with various pieces of equipment and software from the late 90s to the early 2000 years so once I got to grips with making music on the computer there wasn't much other music I felt like making and if I did they always ended up steering their way back to drum & bass...

Who have been your biggest influences?
Mike: I'd say within DnB Hazard, Nu-tone, Logistics, all the Ganja Records camp, Goldie, SPY... too many to mention! In a way I've been inspired by the likes of Massive Attack, Prodigy, Leftfield. It's all about good soulful music for me... gotta have that energy too.

Lee: Pretty much everything to be honest, I think you can take a lot from all different styles of music...

How would you describe your sound?
Mike: It's kind of mixed... we tend not to stick ourselves in one genre. It's kind of jump-up / jungle / experimental / liquid... so you could say we cover quite a lot of ground as one act.

What kind of production set-up are you running?
Lee: We're running Cubase in our own built studio... got the whole room sound dampened. We've got Mackie 8 inch monitors, internal EMU soundcards... just all the essentials really.

How did you come to get signed by Technique?
Mike: A good friend of ours, Jayline, heard some of our beats and thought we might be suitable for Technique. He told us we should try to get some beats over to Simon. We did and a few weeks later Simon hit us up saying he wanted to arrange a meeting to talk about a possible signing. We went up to Derby, met the man himself and agreed a deal... that was it really!

Who would you like to collaborate with?
Lee: Realistically I'd say people like Steppa, Serum, Mutated Forms, Tantrum Desire, Bassline Smith, Drumsound... they're all coming with good strong beats at the moment. We're looking to collab with vocalists too; some real good ones in the scene at the moment, Riya being one of the best in our opinion.

What do you have coming out soon?
Mike: We have some releases due in spring / summer 2010, so look out for those.

What are you currently working on in the studio?
Lee: We're on a couple of new beats at the moment, got kind of a jungle type thing going on at the moment. This kind of thing seems to be making a comeback in the scene these days and we're feeling it too. Got some new drumstep tunes coming too but it's still early stages. We tend to produce what we're feeling at the time..

Done any interesting remixes recently?
Mike: We've been concentrating more on our sound and getting our beats done. We've had some good offers to remix tunes for people but we haven't had the time this year, maybe in 2010 it will be an option for us.

What's the next challenge for you?
Lee: I'd say this year we've concentrated on achieving so much support as producers (Radio 1, 1Xtra, Grooverider, Crissy Criss, MC Magika, Bassline Smith, etc.) that I think we should start to concentrate on the DJing side of things. We'd love to play overseas... Spain, Germany, Bulgaria, etc. We've spent so much time in the studio in the last 12 months that it's about time we started to play out a little more...

What tracks, producers and labels are you feeling at the moment?
Mike: Lenzman's Open Page and Original Sin is killing it for me lately, his new EP looks biiiiig!! Netsky's coming with some real nice tunes too. Distorted Minds, Taxman and I'm liking Twisted Individuals Allsorts label and I'm feeling Ganja, Hospital and Technique... they're all putting out good strong tunes at the moment. The scene's really strong just now.

Lee: Pretty much the same really, there are some good labels trying to break through as well that don't get the recognition they deserve like Moody Recordings, go check that...

What are you most looking forward to in 2010?
Mike: Working alongside Simon and all the Technique crew... just hope it all pans out well for us. Got our first overseas booking in the pipeline too so that should be a good experience for us.

 

Anything else you want to tell us about?

Lee: Yeah, add our fanpage on facebook... there are regular updates on there, exclusive clips of new beats, booking dates and photoshoots and also check our MySpace. We'd like to send a big big shout to everyone who has supported us in the last few years... MC Magika, DJ Nemasis, MC Gman, MC Fizzyman, Jayline, Grooverider, Crissy Criss. if I've missed anyone then I'm sorry but you all know who you are... big up!! Also gotta big up Simon, Drumsound and all the Technique camp for having us on board... looking forward to 2010... peace!

 

Download Dub Foundation's exclusive mix for Kmag...

 

 

Tracklist

1. Calibre - Tru Beat (Critical Sound)
2. Netsky - Prisma (Liq-Weed Ganja)
3. Alix Perez  - Down The Line (Break Remix)
4. Icicle - Frozen (Renegade Hardware)
5. Serum & Bladerunner - Images (Critical Sound)
6. Dub Foundation - Naturally Bad (Technique Dub)
7. Acuna - Soundbwoy Killa (Chronic)
8. Netsky - Starlight (Allsorts)
9. Icicle - Cause (Shogun Audio)
10. SPY - Moon Patrol (Metalheadz)
11. Jaydan - Shadows (Ganja)
12. DJ Fresh - Heavyweight (DSB)
13. Taxman & Heist - Demolition Man (Frontline)
14. Drumsound & Bassline Smith - Welcome To The Jungle (Tantrum Desire Remix - Technique)
15. Distorted Minds ft. Ghost Dawg - Maniac Cop (Stereotype)
16. Picto - Automation (Maximum Boost)
17. Dub Foundation - Destructive (Technique Dub)
18. Original Sin - Therapy (Ganja)
19. Drumsound & Bassline Smith - Can U Feel It (Technique)
20. Serum - Mechagodzilla (Nam Musik)
21. Original Sin - Kiss (Ganja)

 

• Dub Foundation
,
• Technique Recordings

Related Links:

• 33 (Sep 2000)
• Free Samples: Drumsound & Bassline Smith
• Technique Recordings New Releases
• In The Box: Technique
• Tantrum Desire Release Reach

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