The Freestylers need no introduction and neither does their all time classic Ruffneck. This anthem has been re-recorded and hurtled into the future by notorious electronic punks Ctrl Z.

Blending the old with the new, Ctrl Z have managed to keep the 'rough around the edges' vibe of the Freestylers original, while stamping their monstrous bassline and synth sounds all over it.

It's out now on Ctrl Z's new label Never Say Die so we grabbed Tommy Dash and Nick Demus for a few words about it and the new label...

Why have you set up Never Say Die?
We wanted the opportunity to help shape and move forward all the music we are passionate about. It also gives us more control over how our own music is branded and marketed which is ever more important when adapting to the changing face of the music industry.

What's the ethos behind the label?
The clue is in the name really! On paper it's probably one of the worst times to set up a record label. Everyone has heard the moans of the old guard about falling record sales and file sharing, etc. but we believe that right now is a really exciting time for dance music. Boundaries are being broken down and both clubs and DJs are able to be really diverse in regards to what music they play. There's been so much talk of the 'death' of certain scenes, and that's what inspired the name Never Say Die. We feel it's time to diversify and ditch being genre specific.

Who is going to be releasing on it?
Initially the label was to be an outlet for our stuff, but there's so much good music out there and so many great producers. We intend to use remix packages to widen the range of styles and artists we release. On this first release we have people like High Rankin, Pirate Soundsystem and Rack N Ruin, and we intend to move forward in the same way.

What do you look for in potential artists?
We look for people who are fresh and forward thinking with their production. Attitude and drive are really important too, as we want to help develop new talent.

How would you describe the label's sound?
Diverse! It's impossible to pigeonhole the label into one genre, we are releasing dubstep, electro, house, bassline and breaks. But the thread holding it all together is the quality of the music and its uncompromising dirty bass!

How did your remix of Ruffneck come about?
The Freestylers asked us to remix the track nearly two years ago and we jumped at the chance straight away is it's an all-time classic. We delivered the mix within a few weeks of taking on the job but unfortunately there were some issues regarding ownership and licensing of the original vocal. The whole project got put on hold and the tune was a seemingly everlasting dubplate for those who had it. When I decided to start the label we all decided that the tune needed to come out, so we re-recorded Navigator's vocal with some lyric changes and voila... Ruffneck 09 was born!

How did Computer Music come to do a masterclass on how it was made?
That was actually organised around the time the Stereo:Type album was released earlier this year. I decided to do it on Ruffneck because from a tutorial point of view there were lots of tips and tricks involved.

Tell us more about what people can expect with your remix and the other remixes...
Our remix is a straight up party breaks stomper. It was written nearly two years ago now so it's actually quite far removed from the stuff we are doing now, but we just had to get it out there. Our sound these days is going back to the dirtiness of our old style but blended with the modern sounds of electro and even dubstep. It's because of this that we decided to brand Ruffneck as a collab and get some more up to date remixes done of it. Rack N Ruin has done a dirty crack house mix, Pirate Soundsystem have done a wobbletastic bassline mix, High Rankin has done a typical 'how the hell do you classify this!?' mix and Excision & Datsik have done a balls-out, stinking nasty dubstep Mix.

Anything else you want to tell us about?
The next release! We're releasing a remix package of two tracks from the phenomenal Foreign Beggars album United Colours of Beggatron. The two tracks are No Holds Barred (produced by Noisia) and Get A Bit More. On remix duties we have Baobinga, Affinity, Youth Attack! and rising dubstep stars Excision & SkIsM.

 

Download the Rack N Ruin crack house remix of Ruffneck 09...

 

 

 

• Ctrl Z
,
• Never Say Die
,
• The Freestylers

Related Links:

• Video: Ctrl Z Producer Masterclass
• Interview: The Freestylers
• Breaks Booty Reviews
• Mindflow - Switched
• Interview: Generic Bass

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