South African dubstep / drum & bass producer SFR has just mixed the latest podcast for SPL's Hollow Point label so we caught up with him to discover more about him...

Please introduce yourself...

My name is SFR, I'm a Cape Town based dubstep and drum & bass producer. I write energetic dance floor orientated music. I love technology and any form of Asian food!  

When did you first try your hand at DJing and producing?

Around 2000 I was introduced to drum & bass by a friend and everything about the genre just fascinated me. The speedy drum patterns, the sub bass, the complex rhythms and the overall subculture of people that belonged to it. Not long after I bought a turntable, started buying records and began fiddling around in a few sequencers.  

What kind of stuff did you listen to while you were growing up?

When I was a child, my dad listened to a lot of 70s rock music, artists such as Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heap and Black Sabbath. So as a teenager I was into all forms of new school rock and heavy metal. I also listened to a lot of hip hop and electronic artists such as The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim and The Chemical Brothers.

Once I was introduced to drum & bass a whole new world opened up to me. In Cape Town, local artists Counterstrike had just started running Homegrown (which is currently South Africa's biggest monthly drum & bass night). I dragged a few mates with me to one of their nights and we ended up raving our tits off till 5am.

What styles of music do you make?

Up until 2007 I had been writing solely drum & bass, with a couple of releases out on Trouble on Vinyl and Zombie Recordings. I then hit a huge wall where I just couldn't write it any more. Around the same time I stumbled across dubstep and had the same exciting feeling I got when I was first introduced to drum & bass. Since then I have spent the last two years crafting a unique, punchy and energetic style of dubstep that's aimed strictly for the Dance floor.

How would describe you approach to making music?

Drums, drums, drums. I have always loved listening to the patterns live drummers play and have always had the idea that drums are one of the most important aspects of music, because they create the whole groove and vibe to a track, especially in dance music.

So I would usually start a track by creating a complex drum loop which would usually pave the way for the bass and melody. Once the bass and melody are laid down, I find myself removing parts of the drum pattern to create space for other elements that are added to the track.  

Who or what inspires your music?

I find inspiration in listening to current pop, rock and dance music. But not only the charts, I like to dig a bit around and find the raw underground stuff too. That combined with listening to a lot of older drum & bass that in its time was groundbreaking and fresh. I take influence from the elements in the older tracks that made them special and try and combine those elements with current trends to create a sort of hybrid.

Who would you like to collaborate with?

I really like a lot of what Bar 9 are doing at the moment, they have a very fresh but dirty sound and I would love to see what a collaboration would turn out like. I have also been a fan of DJ Fresh for years and it would be a great opportunity to sit in studio with him as his approach to music has always seemed very interesting and creative to me.

What do you have coming out soon?

I have a series of digital releases titled Digital Sessions which are coming out soon on Hollow Point Recordings followed by a 12" release with them too. Twisted Individual has also just signed a new 12" single. There are also a few other pending releases in the pipeline, which will hopefully materialize soon.  

What are you currently working on in the studio?

I am currently finishing off a track titled Fast Lane for Hollow Point, which I tested out the other night and it destroyed the dance floor. So I'm excited to see how it will be received abroad. I'm also working on a dancehall influenced dubstep track with a local female Vocalist/MC, EJ Von Lyrik. EJ has a very unique style which combines rapping and attitude filled ragga vocals.

Done any interesting remixes recently?

I often collaborate with DJ Hyphen who is another South African dubstep and drum & bass producer / DJ, and we have remixed a local track titled Out of Town by Mix 'n Blend, which is out now on African Dope Records. I will also be remixing some material for Hollow Point Recordings in the near future and can't wait to get stuck into that.   

What's the next challenge for you?

I am starting to get a fair amount of recognition as an artist and I need to keep pushing myself, keep writing more material and push out my name as much as possible. I would like to tour the United States in the next year or two and I am currently planning a UK / European tour for later this year.

What tracks, producers and labels are you feeling at the moment?

At the moment anything that Nero, Emalkay, Bar 9 and Flux Pavilion are putting out at the moment is really inspiring. I am also really into Mix 'n Blend who are a South African electronic collaboration. Their music is really awesome because they combine traditional musical elements and instruments with hard edge dance floor drums and bass lines.  

Tell us more about the podcast you've just done and how you approach studio and club mixes in general...

The podcast that I have done is a showcase of music I am feeling at the moment, regardless of whether it is going to destroy a dance floor or not. It's aimed more at the listener. A lot of DJs approach studio mixes nowadays by using Ableton or putting the mix together in a sequencer. I like to stick to traditional mixing by using turntables, CDJs and a mixer.

I find that by doing that it feels more like a live mix and you can focus more on a journey through the mix opposed to physically putting together a track list. I take a similar approach to clubs, where I put a lot of emphasis on trying to read a crowd and by doing that I move between big dance floor shaking anthems and the deeper, more grinding tracks.   

What has been your best experience DJing?

My best experience to date was playing at the Rex Club in Paris a few years back. I was touring Europe for my first time. The club was full and everyone was really up for it. The crowd was crazy, I remember rewinding a track and a guy at the front of the floor was so pumped up that he started chewing on a cable that was connected to the club's db meter. Haha. I'll never forget that.

What's the best gig you played in the last six months?

I'd have to say Ramfest, which is an outdoor rock festival that's hosted in a mountainous valley about two hours drive from Cape Town. Pendulum had just headlined the event and after their set the local drum & bass / dubstep deejays stepped up. DJ Hyphen and I ended up playing until the sun rose revealing the beautiful mountains in the morning light. It was truly spectacular.   

What's the best piece of advice you've ever had?

"Hurry up and wait". I think this is so true in every aspect of life, especially in the music industry, where perseverance and patience are the most important aspects of trying to make a name for yourself in the industry.

Who's your all-time hero & why?

My father has always been my all-time hero, as he always made me believe in myself and gave me the confidence to pursue my dreams.

What's the best piece of equipment you've ever used?

It's really hard to say, I'm tempted to say my Access Virus Synthesizer because it's capable of making really phat bass patches. But as cheesy as it sounds, I'd have to say my ears. If it wasn't for the ability to be able to listen to music and dissect music into the raw elements, I wouldn't be able to write music at all.   

What was the best set you've ever heard?

I spent a few months in London a few years back, and I went down to Plastic People to check out one of the FWD nights. I was a bit skeptical of dubstep at the time, but it all changed that night after I heard Plastician's set. I can't remember whether his set was extremely technical, but all I can remember is that he had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hands.

Who would be playing at your ideal night out and why?

In all honesty, my ideal night would be a gig where there are about 800 people on the floor and the line-up would be a combination of my favorite South African artists such as Mix 'n Blend, Hyphen, Counterstrike and Niskerone mixed with a line-up of some of my favorite artists I have met over the years such as Danny Wheeler, Nymfo, Boom Monk Ben, and Freesteppa.

Who would you like to play back-to-back with and why?

I have never been to an event where he's played at, but from videos I've seen I think Rusko would be a fun person to play back to back with. He has a lot of energy on stage which I can relate to.

Anything else you want to tell us about?

Check out my current releases Future Science / Swings Dub on Xs Dubz and Binary Crunch / Tourette Step on Guinea Pig Recordings.

 

Download SFR's Podcast

1. SFR - Apocalypse Then [Forthcoming Hollow Point Recordings]
2. SFR & Mix 'n Blend Ft. EJ Von Lyrik - Tantrum [African Dope]
3. Mr. Boogie & ill Bill Bachelor - Monkey Spank [Forthcoming Rottun Recordings]
4. Mix 'n Blend - Out of Town (Hyphen & SFR's cherries and berries remix) [African Dope]
5. Boltan - Nine to Five (DZ Remix) [Party Like Us]
6. SFR - Mozambican Smile [Forthcoming Hollow Point Recordings]
7. Breakage - Open up [Digital Soundboy]
8. SFR & Mr. Boogie - Moments in Time [Forthcoming Stroke Audio]
9. Turboweekend - Trouble is (Joker Remix) [Mermaid Records]
10. Skream - Minimalistix [Nonplus]
11. SFR - Babylon Beware Now ft. Farrell [Forthcoming Grid Recordings]
12. Mix 'n Blend & Narch - I got Bitches [Forthcoming Muti Music]
13. SFR - Hideous Sound [Forthcoming Hollow Point Recordings]
14. Bassnectar - Basshead (SPL's Alpha Juno rinseout remix)
15. SFR - Absolutely [Forthcoming Hollow Point Recordings]
16. Twelv 'n Thesis - Games (Mix 'n Blend's Wreckin Like its Tekken Remix) [Forthcoming On a Break]
17. SFR - Binary Crunch [Guinea Pig Records]
18. Emalkay - When I look at you [Dub Police]

SFR - Shut Up by deejaysfr

• SFR
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• Hollow Point

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• We Love Bass (Vol 1)
• We Love Bass (Vol 1)
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• Exclusive Free Track: SPL
• Introducing: Teknik

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