Features

Phil Source

Phil Aslett, aka Phil Source, formerly of Source Direct, founded his Vampire Records imprint in 2006. In that time they have released ten 12"s and a compilation, Once Bitten Twice High, which came out last April. The follow-up to this, Drumz Of The Damned, is out now as a two CD package and a digital release. There also will be vinyl 12" samplers, one is already out, with two more to follow soon. We spoke to Phil to get the lowdown...

Tell us about how you got started making music with Source Direct.
I started DJing when I was about 14 and I met Jim Baker, the other half of Source Direct, at school. We actually made our first demo as Sounds Of Life when we were 15. We had a meeting with a lady called Georgina, who was Photek's sister, and she also lived in St Albans.

Photek was from St Albans as well but the family moved up to Ipswich, which is where the Certificate 18 link came in. Georgina was knocking about with one of our pals and she took the demo to Photek and he really liked them.

So he got us into his studio and engineered them and got them released by Certificate 18. We were the first drum & bass act to get a Peel Session, John Peel picked up on us quite early because of our youth, and things just escalated from there.

Would you ever get back together with Jim as Source Direct?
Because we started out so young we kind of eventually grew apart. When we signed the big deal with Virgin there was a lot of pressure on us and it drove us apart really and we almost began to hate each other which was a real shame.

We had musical differences and it all just fell apart. A lot of it was to do with the pressure and stress of having a major deal. I don't think it will ever happen to be honest with you. We don't really speak any more and a lot has happened in the past which no one will ever know.

It's personal stuff and I don't really want to go into it but what's done is done, my new baby is Vampire, that's what I'm pushing now. Source Direct is part of my past, a great past as we made a lot of great music but I've got to move forward. I've always been forward thinking and that's what Source Direct was about.

Why did you have a break after Source Direct?
I had four or five years completely away from music. I went to the odd club but it was more techno. I just wanted to get away from drum & bass. I was heavily involved with it for eight years so it was a long time. I wasn't sick of the music but I was sick of the scene. When you get really amongst it and get to know all the people and the way that the scene ticks it can swallow you up. I just needed a complete break and it was good for me to learn about the world and real life as well.

What changes did you notice the most?
I noticed that the music had moved on dramatically. In my day there were only a few select labels and artists that were really having it. When I came back it had gone all around the world with hundreds of artists and labels. Artists seemed to come and go quickly as well, whereas back in the day if you were an artist on a certain label then you had staying power. Nowadays there doesn't seem to be the same sort of staying power.

Music technology changed things a lot while you were away as well...
Yeah, massively. Back in the day it was all outboards, samplers, modules and mixers but now you can just sit with a laptop and a small USB keyboard and make a track. That was a big shock. I hadn't seen CDJs or Serato before either!

Now you work as a broker in London during the day, how do you balance that with running the label?
I've got an A&R role at the label at the moment that I'm pleased with. I enjoy sitting back and having music sent to me because I like selecting music. DJing is another part of what I do, so it's almost like I'm just being a selector and my favourite tracks that I'm DJing I'm also releasing.

It is difficult because 9 to 5 I'm trying to sell investments but it's nice because I don't feel the pressure that I need to do music to make money, which is why it came to a horrible end before.

How does this compilation compare to your first one?
I've never done the A&R side of things before, I haven't had a label where I've had to control maybe 30 artists before, so it's been a big learning curve. I was away from the scene for eight or nine years, so I'd lost touch with what was going on and it's taken me over two years to understand how the scene is, where it's going, what artists are doing it, what clubs are happening... I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things and you can tell.

With the first album, it was a great album and it did really well, but I think the quality of the artists and the music is better now. I think you can tell by the artwork, the concepts and the artists that are working for me that it's all growing in the right way.

What we're looking to do is create a chronicles, like a trilogy of albums. We're trying to create an identity that is completely vampire based, we want people to have almost a fascination or an escape from the normal world.

We're not just putting out music that's out there today, I'm putting out music that's maybe a year and a half old. I don't care how old or new it is, if it fits the concept of each album then I'll put it out.

Are you touring to promote it?

I'm just back from Athens, I'm going to Helsinki and Amsterdam, there are a few dates in London and I'm going to South America at the end of the year but there's no tour as such.

We're planning on doing some quarterly nights this year though. They're going to be proper parties, we're going to put some energy into them with proper sound systems and light shows. We'll make an effort because I think some promoters are being a bit lazy.

You said previously that you want Vampire to be an albums label, are albums more where you're at?
It's great putting out singles but an album is a concept, it's a story you can put energy behind and I'm happy to really get behind it with promotion. We tried putting out singles and they did OK but we're having more success with albums and releasing singles from the album. Albums are definitely the way forward for us.

Tell us more about the solo album you're working on.
I'll be honest with people, I was never the engineer in Source Direct. My role in Source Direct was concepts, samples, arrangements, drum edits, that sort of thing. The album I'm doing this year is Phil Source and Vampire family collaborations.

I'm working with all my favourite artists from the label and people who want to work with me. It's good as I can bounce off them and they can bounce off me. I have techniques that we used back in the day which maybe they don't use today and vice versa.

So it's a fusion of old school and new school. Some of the people that have agreed to go in the studio with me are TeeBee, Sabre, Qumulus, Survival, Outrage, System, Digital, Strago, Masheen, Physics, Edward Oberon, Paul T, Paradox and DJ Trax.

What's happening with your offshoot label Diablo?
Diablo was originally set up because we had a backlog of music on Vampire, it was there to put out similar music to Vampire but it's so difficult trying to get one right and I had to concentrate all my energies on Vampire. I've left Diablo for the moment but it's still there. I can come back to in the future but what I might do with it is be a bit more experimental with it.

It began as just another drum & bass label but I have all these contacts around me. I've got big tech house and hip hop artists, people that are working with Howie B, so what I might do, if I get time, is turn it into a drum & bass / dubstep / hip hop / tech house / experimental label to have fun with.

We've also got Vamp Tech, which is a tech house label, which did OK, but it didn't really come through so there are a couple of labels sitting there by the side of Vampire waiting to go.

Download The Drumz of the Damned Mix mixed by Phil Source

Tracklisting