Shogun Audio come to London for their biggest event to date on October 20th at the Great Suffolk Street Warehouse. With a line up including main man Friction, Chase & Status and Icicle, the event will allow their legion of fans to see all the label has to offer and more. As a way of celebrating, the night includes a very special set indeed. We chat to Ed Rush and Optical about what they are offering on the night, their amazing career and more.

 

 

Hi guys, thank you for taking the time out. We’re looking forward to the Shogun Audio Warehouse Party. Tell us about what you’re expecting from the event.

Shogun events are always really fun and this one has a special twist that we think will make for a great night out and some amazing music and vibes.

 

 

You’re billed for a Virus set. The punters will be licking their lips at that, can you give us any hints for those who are stepping in?

We will be going through 15 years of Virus classics and bringing the party vibes to everyone in attendance. We always aim to get off the decks with everyone feeling they had an amazing night and an unforgettable music experience.

 

 

Your careers have spanned a long period of time. Give the readers just a few highlights from your pasts.

We have both been making music for over 20 years and there has been a whole lot going on in that time but to pick a few, sets at Glastonbury, Exit festival, Insomniacs festivals and raves in USA, The End club from 1997-2002, winning many awards for our work ( eg. Mobo - best dance album, 5 Kmag awards, Sony Ericsson - best producer award), working with many of our musical Idols (Herbie Hancock, The Stone Roses, Skin to name a few) and getting to produce and work with some of the most talented producers in d&b and dance in general.

 

 

You are well known to be the names who effectively spawned techstep. How has your sound matured over the years? Is there one track you can pick as a summation of the ER&O sound?

Our work has covered a lot of ground over the years and continues to evolve over time but we always are looking to create something with a really strong funk element, something that can take you on a journey with many layers of texture so that the tracks work in a club and also as a listening experience on your headphones too, power and subtlety in equal measure. As far as picking one track, might have to be two, ‘Sicknote’ for the straight up dirty funk and ‘Satellites’ for the journey into outerspace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

How about life in 2012? What are you up to, and what do you see in the future for ER&O.

We have had an amazing year in 2012, the music in our scene has reached new levels of production and innovation, the clubs and festivals have all been sick and Virus has released 2 classic d&b LPs from Audio and BTK & Optiv that have set us apart from all other labels in the genre. We are hard at work on our 8th artist album, now nearly completed, we have tried to make it something special and without giving too much away it will cover most of the styles we have been known for plus some new twists, we have both studied hard over the last few years to create music that sounds like us but with today’s modern production techniques and we think we have cracked it with the new LP.

 

 

 Is it possible to compare producing in the 90s to making music now? What are the good and bad parts of d&b in 2012 compared to the past?

The 90s was the pinnacle of analogue production gear, 50 years of modern music making and research had gone in to making the equipment that was available and it all sounded great with a depth that has been extremely hard to replicate with the advent of digital production. Personally we feel that the transition to ‘in the box’ production has made music as a whole suffer over the last decade, but recently, just as in the analogue days during the 50s, the available plugins and production software has started to improve to the point where a lot of that depth has begun to return and we can see a much brighter future in terms of sound quality and the ability to produce recordings that speak to you on many levels. Drum & bass has evolved through so many styles in the nearly 20 years of its existence but we think right now there is a focus on groove and funk again and it always makes people want to dance and just let themselves go for an hour or two. In this world of high-speed stress there is nothing better than to escape and just dance it all away once in a while.

 

 

 

 

www.shogunaudio.co.uk

 

Related Links:

• Virus Release Schedule
• Looking Back Looking Forward: Optical
• Issue 81
• Audio - Genesis Device Preview
• The Prototypes Interview

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