A glorious welcome back for Skinnz! This guy has been loitering at the fringes of the dubstep scene since 2005, when his track Corner appeared on Destructive Records first Our Sound compilation.  After a lengthy hiatus, 2009 saw the first of two collaborations with I.D. (The Blues), while Offshore, also on Pinch's Earwax label, was released earlier this year.

These are wildly different tracks, but between them they exhibit a nostalgia for the sound of earlier dubstep productions, as well as the experimental percussion, powerful melodic bass and ethereal, filtered synthy pads we liked so much on Corner. Keep It Gutta, his first solo release with Boka Recordings, hits shops on November 29th on vinyl and digitally. We grilled him on his past present and future...
 
Where are you from and how did you get into producing?

I'm from all over - lived north, south, east and west, but currently I'm in Bristol. Originally I'm a junglist, but if you pay attention to jungle you can't help but follow the links through to dub, techno, garage and the rest. Been mucking about with beats since the days of Atari STs and Akai samplers...

Why 'Skinnz'?

I think I came up with it chatting to Morph one day... We were talking about how it's good to have a name you can spell wrong I think! This was before the days of Skins the TV show. To be honest I was a bit nervous about sticking with it as every character on that show makes me want to punch things.

How did you get involved with 2005's Destructive Records compilation?

Well, I originally gave the tune away online, but Search & Destroy, Slaughter Mob and a few others were really into, to the point of cutting it and playing out, and they hit me up about putting it on the Our Sound LP! I do feel quite proud to have been part of that compilation, as looking back there are some great tunes from that early period - some Skream, Slaughter Mob, Toasty and others that still sound fresh to me.

Why the five year break between your early tracks and now?

I was kind of more into the drum-led sound, not quite breakstep, but definitely the angle that Dubchild or Toasty were taking, and when the whole super-minimal halfstep thing kicked off, the drums kind of lost me to be honest. I'm a sucker for a good drum track, and I thought a lot of the early half-step was actually a bit dull - moody, minimal 808s and 909s programmed quite straight with one note basslines, as opposed to chopped up breaks and more DnB-esque basslines on the stuff I liked. Plus, other musical projects took my attention as well.

How do you think the scene has changed?

Well, obviously it's so much bigger! Back in 2005 you could pretty much meet everyone involved in one trip to Herbal or Plastic People, whereas now it's a massive global thing. Over the years since 2005 there has been a huge amount of amazing music, and you could easily argue that dubstep changed everything - look at tunes like Hazard's Wicked So to see the influence it's had on drum & bass, whereas in the early days the influence probably came the other way to a fairly large extent. As with anything that gets really massive, some of the subtlety or interest can get lost, but then people like Girl Unit, Untold, Joker or Ramadanman are clearly taking certain aspects as a starting point and going somewhere really interesting with it.

What's spurred the comeback?

A big part was hearing people like Joker and Guido ripping up the rule book and using melody so powerfully. As a junglist, I always took the view that if you couldn't make a tune bang with just subs, drums and the occasional ragga FX, then it wasn't a good tune, but hearing how Joker built these huge tunes with massive melodies and riffs galore got me excited to write 140 bpm stuff again. At the other end of the spectrum, Ramadanman and Untold were doing stuff that I could relate to in terms of chopping up breaks and working with quite stripped down sound palettes, and that side of things was also quite inspiring.

What programs do you use?

Logic 8 on a Macbook Pro - plus any outboard I can beg, borrow or steal!

What are you trying to do with the Kmag mix?

With the mix, I tired to build the tempo up as it goes on - I think I start about 134 with slower stuff like Distal, or one of the tunes from my forthcoming release on Well Rounded, and then I build it from there up to 141-ish... I tried to keep a good mix between percussive danceability and powerful synth hooks and melodies - the kind of mixture that works for your head and your feet!

Who do you think is currently making the greatest bounds for this kind of music, and why?

Obviously Joker is going to be an even bigger star than he already is, and more power to him. I think Mensah is also coming through - he's got a great work ethic, and a really clear idea of what he wants to achieve, and he's a sick DJ as well.

Tell us about your relationship with I.D.

Ed I.D. is the drum programmer par excellence! We've done tunes together for Earwax and Double Science and we work well together - I've known Ed for quite a while now so there's a good working relationship in the studio. We've got another 12" due for Earwax - Most High b/w No Love - both those tunes are on the mix.

Tell us about your involvement with Pinch - did he approach you for the Earwax tracks?

I've known Pinch for a while, and it's very impressive to see how far he's taken his involvement with the music that he loves - from Tectonic the label, to Subloaded the night, and now the Scientist project - fair play boss! Generally, I send him stuff I'm working on, and every now and then something pricks his ear up. Pinch and the whole Multiverse crew are very professional - you actually get statements, which can be a rarity in this business...

I've only had one release on Earwax and one on Boka, so it's hard to say how they differ in any great detail, but Jon at Boka has done a wicked job with the promotion for this release - plus it's on beautiful translucent yellow vinyl, which I have totally fallen in love with.

Do you approve of the label "future bass"? How would you characterise your work in relation to it?

I think as a concept, there's definitely room to explore tempos and sounds that differ from what has become the massively popular, but possibly somewhat formulaic, 'big room' dubstep sound, so it's good that people are trying to build an alternative to that... But any genre name that has the word 'future' or 'nu skool' in it is going to date pretty quickly! The other danger is that if you try and define yourself as not being so obvious as the big room stuff, you can end up going the other way and blanding shit out.

What can we expect to see from you in 2011?

More 12"s, and maybe an album?

We've got a forthcoming article on the top labels of 2010. Who do you think deserves to be on this list and why?

1. Tectonic - quality albums, and a great mix between dancefloor and headphone material.
2. Soul Jazz - for consistent quality compilations.
3. Deep Medi - for the heavyweight vinyl, and refreshingly wide range of material.
4. Swamp 81 - I think we were all wondering where Loefah would go 'post halfstep'...
5. Hyperdub - from dubstep to everything else, always interesting and challenging.
6. Kapsize - cos I'm a Joker fan!
7. Dub Police - don't watch the hate, tunes like D1 Jus Business are quality, and they have their own business down tight.
8. Punch Drunk - every release is essential.
9. Hessle / Hemlock - they both had epic double packs, and Stop What You're Doing is a classic.
10. Boka - for putting my stuff out on yellow vinyl!

Words: Rosie McLean

Download Skinnz's Winter 2010 Mix hosted by C-Strike-Z (Central Spillz) here

Tracklisting

1. Distal & Hxdb - Typewriter Tune VIP - Surefire Sound (Dub)
2. Skinnz - I Know - Well Rounded (Dub)
3. Setspeed - Drop Tools - Bass Music
4. Headhunter - Lost Prophet - Idle Hands (Dub)
5. Skinnz & I.D. - No Love - Earwax (Dub)
6. I.D. & Skinnz - Offshore - Double Science
7. Skinnz & I.D. - Most High - Earwax (Dub)
8. Skinnz - From The Get Go - Boka (Dub)
9. Randomer & Fife - On A Roll - Soul Jazz
10. I.D. & Skinnz - Shimmy - Double Science
11. Skinnz - Keep It Gutta - Boka (Dub)
12. Starkey - Robot Hands - CIVIL Music (Dub)
13. Dubkasm ft Ras Addis - Strictly Ital (Peverelist RMX) - Sufferahs Choice
14. Guido - Korg Back - Tectonic (Dub)
15. Skinnz - Turn U On - Cash Antics Vol 2
16. Skinnz - Make Me Feel - (Dub)
17. Taz Buckfaster - Gold Tooth Grin - Numbers (Dub)
18. Mensah & Noah D - Kashmir - Hench (Dub)
19. Late - Phantom Papers - Immerse

 

Related Links:

• Boka Readies Boka Dubstep - Rewind Vol.1.
• Podcast 15.2
• Boka Guest Mix
• Dark Matter - Experiments In Dubstep
• Joker Interview

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