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THE UPBEATS
DOA: Your new album, Big Skeleton, is an homage to the Caveirão, a tale straight out of the Brazilian ghettos. Can you shed some light on how you first heard this tale, and what about it inspired you guys to base your third album after this tale?
The Upbeats: Well, we first heard the tale through a friend of ours that we quite often meet for a coffee and a yarn when taking time out from the studio. He without a doubt will tell something of a tall tale about a completely off the wall subject and the "big skeleton" story was one of those – at the time it had us in hysterics so we decided then and there that it would be a great name for an album. So it's not really a homage to it, but just something that we thought was a good name.
DOA: There's a number of interesting collaborations on this project, from MC Kemo to country singer Jess Chambers. How did these come about?
The Upbeats: We've always enjoyed getting other people on board for albums and stuff to keep us interested and to get fresh ideas and approaches to writing. We'd worked with Jess before on our first album back in '04 and decided it would be good to record with her again, as we are really into the music she is currently doing and it's always going out on a limb a bit when we work together and that pushes us to do different things. The track with Kemo was originally going to try and be a collab with Steve Lynx and Kemo, but they were really busy with their own album and we thought it wasn't going to happen until Kemo got back to us with the vocals for "Carousel" and we finished it ourselves. Another tune on the album with contributions from an outsider was the one we did with MC Cardz from Tokyo. He played a gig with us when we were in there and we kept in touch; he ended up doing the rhyming on a track in Japanese for the album – the translation is really cool and ended up fitting the vibe of the album perfectly.
DOA: "Macabre" has you going into the dubstep realm – will we be seeing more non-DnB tunes from you lot in the future?
The Upbeats: We've always written other styles of music, and always talked about doing a side project, or double album (1 CD DnB, 1 CD other), but it's a pretty huge commitment, so we’ll see what happens.
DOA: Many should remember that Nobody's Out There had a very interesting theme throughout the project. Most DnB albums seem to be more of a combination of singles with no real glue to the project – what about the idea of a "theme" in albums appeals to you more?
The Upbeats: When we write an album, we set out to create something that will work listening from start to finish. So we've found that coming with a concept can be a good way of creating a vibe we can work around, to help develop a cohesive feel in an album.
DOA: You guys spent some time touring with Dieselboy's Monsters of Jungle project during the Summer of 2009. What was that experience like?
The Upbeats: It was so much fun. The parties were off the hook, and the team that Dieselboy had assembled were seriously a riot. It was wicked for us to have this concept put together, and really go in on creating that raucous energy vibe. Whether it was in the studio creating a rock ensemble intro or on stage downing PBR's (terrible American beer, Pabst Blue Ribbon).
DOA: 2009 has been a great year for New Zealand, with you guys doing big big things, as well as with monstrous albums from State of Mind and TREi. Is the New Zealand DnB community very tight-knit? Did you guys all have aspirations to get the recognition you've received over the last few years?
The Upbeats: Yeah, with New Zealand being such a small country, the scene over here is really tight and everyone is incredibly supportive of each other. I think pretty much every producer here has worked with one another over the years on some sort of collaboration project or another. Also the party scene here is great so we have a pretty good number of international artists passing through and keeping the bar high for the locals.
As far as aspirations go we couldn't really vouch for the SOM guys or Trei, but back in the day we really did it for the love of it and were writing pretty much as a hobby. I don't think when we started we could have ever imagined working with some of the artists that we have done that were our heroes back then. But then again everyone would love to be successful at their hobbies
DOA: What’s on the plate for NYE? You playing any big events?
The Upbeats: Yeah NYE is always a big one to look forward to. We're playing our favourite party of the year, Phat. Down in the South Island of New Zealand, miles from anywhere, 5000 people come together to get wild in the bush to DnB & Dubstep. The line-up this year includes Pendulum, Hype, Marky, Skream, Benga, Spor, BCUK etc, and we've landed the 10PM-Midnight NYE spot, can't wait!
DOA: Looking to 2010, what's on deck for you guys, be it for Non Vogue or other labels?
The Upbeats: Next on Non Vogue we're looking to do a collaboration EP with a few of our favourite artists at the moment, more info soon. As for other labels there's a new thing ("Tor") being released on the new LP on BCUK's label, Bad Taste, plus a couple of remixes coming up, but that's all top secret at this stage ;)
DOA: You've graciously hit us with a solid mix. Are there any exclusive bits in there for the Dogs to salivate over?
The Upbeats: We have a couple of new ones from us on there, "Diffused" and "Tor", plus a new remix of Ed Rush and Optical's "Get Ill"; there's also some new Spor, Dose and an unreleased Gridlok tune from the vaults, as well as some classics too...
Big shouts to Lowqui/Chernobyl, Sharon, Jeryl, Jess, Ned, Kemo, Cardz, Gridlok, Mesck and everyone who’s supported our music over the years.
Now check out the exclusive Dogs On Acid mix that The Upbeats cooked up for DOA. This mix features MC LowQui (Metalheadz, UK), an honorary New Zealander who will also be touching down with the Upbeats at PHAT10; he's also currently taking bookings for a LowQui European tour in Spring 2010; hit up ESP-International for more details.
Tracklist:
The Upbeats – Big Skeleton
Foreign Beggers - Contact (Noisia Remix)
The Upbeats – The Unearthly
Ed Rush & Optical – Get Ill (Prolix Remix)
Dose – Time Strain
Polar - Innocent
The Upbeats – Under The Sky
Illformants - Pong
Gridlok - Skuffle
The Upbeats – Laser Crypt
The Upbeats – Diffused
Cause 4 Concern - Something Else (Break Remix)
The Upbeats – Bury Your Head
Gridlok - Untitled
The Upbeats – Tor
Ewun - Screw Up (The Upbeats Remix)
The Upbeats – Carousel (ft. Kemo)
Spor - Halogen
Moth - Sugar Crashing (Kemal & Rob Data Remix)
The Upbeats – Bones (ft. Ned Worboys)
Commix - Underwater Scene
The Upbeats – Noises
>>> DOWNLOAD THE MIX <<<
www.myspace.com/theupbeatsnz
*GRAB THE UPBEATS RELEASES FROM THE DOA STORE
*GRAB THE UPBEATS TRACKS FROM DOA DOWNLOADS
*GRAB NON VOGUE RELEASES FROM THE DOA STORE
*GRAB NON VOGUE TRACKS FROM DOA DOWNLOADS
Words: khal |
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Dogs On Acid > Comments > THE UPBEATS
12-03-2009 01:12 AM
shot boys!
