SUB FOCUS: I’m assuming that in the meantime a lot of people know about that story but to me it still stays a fairy tale for the rave generation. A friend of mine gave Andy C a CD with a couple of my songs. Andy called me a couple of days later. At that time I didn’t know that he received my music, so I was completely surprised. A couple of months later he released the two tracks and from than I completely focused on producing.

Now, a small 5 years later, your first album can be found on the shelves of many music shops. But for a couple of years already there were some rumors about a long-player.

SUB FOCUS: in 2005 I noticed that here and there on the internet the message turned up that I would release an album, while there was nothing said about that at all. I wasn’t even the asking party for that. I’m happy that I got the time to grow slowly as a producer and to broaden my horizon. The album doesn’t only consist out of pumping dance floor drum&bass tracks, which I'm famous for, but there are also some more experimental tracks on the CD, with a lower bpm.

What do we have to imagine with that?

SUB FOCUS: I’m listening to different kinds of music. I got a lot of inspiration out of the music of Daft Punk and Justice, and especially the latest times, I like to listen to artists like Stephan Bodzin and Oliver Huntemann. I’m also a fan of Boards of Canada and Burial, and the minimal drum&bass guys like Commix, D-Bridge and Instra Mental. You will notice it when you listen to the album. There is no giant leap away from the stuff I released since now, there’s still a lot of riffy, banging dance floor material on the CD.

Trips to other genres like your fellow label friends Chase&Status were a big success, with their dubstep and hiphop they effectively reached a way bigger audience than they’ve could have reached with their drum&bass.

SUB FOCUS: it’s clear that people are not at all so stuck to genres like they used to be, and that gives you the opportunity to be more free in your productions. Chase & Status got from every direction a great reaction to their dubstep trips and in the meantime they didn’t get alienated of their drum&bass fans. There are other artists that inspired me in that direction, like Noisia. With a lot of success they have their breakbeat/house stuff, while they  still have their reputation in drum&bass. Their slow songs are obviously made out of their hand: like in their drum&bass they sound equally Noisia in their breaks stuff.

Do these things put you on a path to leave drum&bass?

SUB FOCUS: No, on the contrary. In my eyes the genre looks stronger than ever. You notice that a lot of musical genres have their moment, and disappear after a while. Drum&Bass is still there after more than ten years, thanks to the artists. Most of them are devoted to their favorite genre, and apart from that, there are a lot of capable producers in drum&bass.

In general I think that the artists in drum&bass are way ahead of their time, technically as sonically.

But sometimes it is fun to break out of that frame and try something totally different, like for instance the electro tracks on my album.

By using vocals, some of your companions also reached a wider audience. That is something you don’t seem to do, for now...

SUB FOCUS: On ‘Soundguy’ I used some sampled vocals, but I prefer to work with instrumental, electronic music. At the moment I’m working with a couple of singers on some songs, but I don’t know if something will come out of that. I’m just really picky when it comes to lyrics, and to finish it in a proper way takes a lot of time.

You used to play in a rock band, when you were 13 years old. How did you go from a rock background to computer based music?

SUB FOCUS: I was never a really good guitarist and I found it really difficult to write music with a guitar. I directed myself to the computer, because that seemed a more pleasant way to work on ideas. You can easily build up a melody or a song, and to me it seemed harder with a guitar. In that period I was in contact with Ninja Tune, Chemical Brothers and the first jungle artists like Goldie. They were doing something that was completely new and that converted me completely to electronic music.

 On the album of TC there were some noticeable cooperations between you two. The wobbly jump up of him combined with your electro-shaded vibe seemed a scoring hit. Is there going to be a sequel to that?

SUB FOCUS: Yes. In the meantime, for my album, I made a track with TC. There were a couple of people with whom I worked in the studio, like Fresh (previously Bad Company, directors note), he used to be my big example. This guy has an incredible feel for detail and it was really interesting to work with him on music. Everybody has a different way of working, you know, but we clearly had a lot of similar ideas. I’m also working with Jim Davies, a guitarist that used to play with The Prodigy. I really like this way of working.

Will 2009 be the year of Sub Focus?

SUB FOCUS: I hope so. The album will be in shops by the end of april and as a teaser there is the ‘Follow The Light’ which is making a big buzz.

Lets hope Hof Ter Lo survives it.

Sub Focus’s album ‘Timewarp’ appears on Ram Records. He’ll be playing the 25th of April in Hof ter Lo on Rampage, together with Danny Byrd, Murdock and Original Sin

http://www.myspace.com/subfocus
www.rampage-dnb.be

Murdock made a promo mix for the first Rampage party, listen to it!

Murdock - Rampage#1 Mixtape

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