Ever since S.P.Y. dropped his first Med School releases back in 2006, he's been on everyone's drum & bass radar. Fast-forward through a multitude of releases and live appearances, he has managed to keep an ear firmly on the underground, whilst maintaining a fresh approach and perception. We got some words with S.P.Y. to celebrate the release of his new album, What The Future Holds, released today on Hospital Records. 

 

 

Hey S.P.Y., how are you? We wanted to find out about the album – talk to us about the process of putting it together?

I started to think about producing an album around the end of 2009 and took me quite some time to come up with a concept for it. I wrote more than 300 tracks and sketches for the album, and then decided to just go and pick my favourite tracks, selecting them the same way I play my sets - a little bit of everything. I didn't think about the album getting radio plays or expect the public to love every single track, all I wanted was just to release an album that I personally would like to hear from start to the end and I think I’ve achieved that.

 

 

Where does the title come from?

Well the title came about 2 years ago; I used to always worry too much about the future and I kept forgetting to live the present. Eventually I realised that no matter how much you plan, you never know what the future may hold for you so “What The Future Holds” came into being.

 

 

Talk to us about the tracks- are there any that stand out for you? Was it intentional to make it so varied?

I do like every single track equally, but the tracks that have a lot of meaning to me are “What The Future Holds” and “Love Hurts”, I think because those tracks were written in a really difficult part of my life.

 

 

 

 

 

That variability –- how and why do you think your approach is so diverse?

I personally find it really boring and uninspiring to produce the same style over and over again. I'm also a really eclectic person; I listen to all sort of music and genres and I think the album is quite diverse because I didn't really set any boundaries or rules to write the tracks to so the whole production is quite smooth.

 

 

 

What have been your highlights of a year on the road?
So many good things happened this year; I've meet some amazing people on the road, played some amazing festivals and parties around the world and become friends with almost every single one of my heroes in drum & bass. To have my album released on such a strong record label as Hospital has also been amazing - they respect and understand my music and where I want to go with it, which is priceless.

 

 

 

What else have you got in store – tour wise – for the rest of year?

From now on I'm going to be really busy doing the album tour. I'm going to be playing in Australia and New Zealand over Christmas and New Year and I will be also working on remixes and probably thinking about to put together a new album.

 

Finally, with you being so busy lately – do you find time for down time? What do you like to do during time off?
Well, I've been pretty busy and since January I have only had 2 weekends off! The rest of the time I've spent either in studio working on the album or touring, normally on my spare time I like to do simple things, go to the cinema and watch a film, relax in the park, basically just try to get as much rest as I can.

Related Links:

• Introducing: Seth Drake
• Introducing: Seth Drake
• Interview: Gemmy
• Interview: Gemmy
• Dom & Roland New Single & Album

Like it? Share it!
Sign up for more with the Kmag weekly newsletter.