Soul Intent: "If I had to put the thing i'm doing into words I'd probably have to go with "heavy future funk"

Some say, that golden d'n'b years are already in the past. But there's a growing group of people that can easily deny this statement. Everybody call them "nu skool", but they gladly speak about "old skool". They spit on the usual d'n'b production routine and rules, but are always ready to hail their early youth idols.

Alex Judd aka Soul Intent is one of the the new talented drum'n'bass producers generation. He's DJing for 15 years already and hosts a show at Nottingham-based radio station. Rhodopsin from Re:Formataz had a chance to talk to Alex and find out how he managed to win recognition by the likes of Phil Source Direct, Doc Scott, DJ Flight, Mary Anne Hobbs, Bailey or Randall and why the same didn't happen (yet!) with Goldie.

Hey, mate! Would you mind if Lithuanian Drum'n'Bass community will steal some of your time for a little interview?

No problem, glad to speak to you guys.

Wicked! How'd you introduce yourself then, if you'd want to intrigue our readers and keep 'em till the last line?

My name is Alex, and I'm an erotic dancer and fire juggler…..sorry, only joking… I can't juggle fire.

What was you way to d'n'b music? Curvy and covering many styles and sounds or straight-to-electronic-music right from the start? Any personal non-d'n'b favourites?

My bro Tom bought a few rave compilations when I was about 12 or 13. He also used to record "MTV Party Zone" with Simone Angel. It was wicked, they played Prodigy, West Bam, House Crew, Liquid, Sonz of loop da loop etc. I remember they interviewed Moby and he did an acoustic version of 'Go' on the guitar!

When I was 15 my mate played me a tape from "Dreamscape" (a big rave which was held in Milton Keynes, UK). I'd not heard a live recording from a rave, and I was amazed how much energy there seemed to be, I'd also not heard rave tracks in the mix before. I instantly wanted to start DJ'ing.

UK's got pretty wide drum'n'bass geography – lots of big names are spread through out the country, so i was wondering, does living in a specific city can influence your sound?

Not consciously, but I think it must have. Until the age of 20 I lived in Swindon, which didn't really have d'n'b scene, so I travelled to nearby Bristol. I would go to "Full Cycle" nights, and the odd "Progression Session" at "Lakota". I've always loved the early Bristol sound, and it's definitely influenced the way I wrote tunes.

Your choonz made a huge impression not only on myself, but on a lot of label owners too: every track that's surfacing online is already signed and is on the release schedule, how would you explain your success? Cos' it's definitely not just plain luck, bro!

Very kind of you to say. It's great that people are into what I'm doing. When I first started doing production properly I was trying to write tunes with labels in mind, rather than just getting on a vibe and seeing where it goes. As soon as I stopped thinking about what I was doing, and just when with it, people started to take notice.

I don't want to ask you about musical influences, let's do it some other way, for example, if you'd have to do a soundtrack for a movie, what film would it be?

Hmmmm, good question. It would probably be a sci-fi film, maybe "Event Horizon".

How would you describe your sound then, what's making it unique?

Difficult to say, I would like to think my tunes are fairly varied. I don't want to be known as someone who just spits out tracks that all sound the same. If I had to put it into words I'd probably have to go with "heavy future funk".

How much time per day you spend on making new tracks? Do you have a day job? Any thoughts on dropping it and dedicate all of your time to music making?

I currently work full time, so that takes up a lot of my day. If I'm not too knackered when I get home I'll try and get some studio time in. I try to keep my weekends free, as that's the only time I can really get stuck in.

Electronic music gives lots of room for experiments to any person, even those who had no music making experience in the past at all. How do you think, is musical education, let's say, academy or conservatory important or give any advantage to a drum'n'bass producer? Do you have any musical ed.?

I've never had any musical training, which is probably why I'm not the quickest when it comes to writing riffs. I think as long as you know what sounds good, you'll get there in the end. If we didn't have computers, I'd be screwed! Looking back, I wish I'd stuck at the keyboard lessons my mum tried to take me to….but I just wanted to play football.

You've been DJing since 15, what made you switch from it to producing your own music? Was it easy right from the start or you spent some time just staring at the monitor and scratching your head?

Being a DJ first helped as far as arrangement goes. Though, it also means most of the time I arrange my tracks into a DJ-friendly arrangement, which can be a bit predicable. DJ'ing is great, and it's a wicked buzz, but I always thought DJ'ing with my own material would be even better.

I'd been playing around with "Fruity Loops" and basic software samplers for years, but I only really got serious about 4 years ago. I sat in with a few guys met up with, trying to get to grips with "Cubase". I still feel like a novice, so I'm trying to get in the studio with some other producers so I can hopefully pick up some useful tips. I've already got JemOne, the Insiders and Eveson up for it, and Doc Scott and Source Direct have said they're up for getting in the studio this year.

You're hosting a radio show on Nottingham-based "Kemet Radio", can you tell us something about your radio DJ'ing experience?

I first did radio whilst at university, I really enjoy hosting a show rather than just doing a mix for 2hrs. Doing a radio show allows me to play stuff I wouldn't play out.

A few years ago I hosted the "Technique Recordings" show on a pirate station in nearby Derby, I only did I for about 2 months and had to had my records in a freezer bag, so the neighbours wouldn't get suspicious. It was a laugh, but I was always worried the police would burst in and take or my tunes.

You've probably know that Radiohead released their "In Rainbows" as „free-to-pay" download. In your opinion, was that a publicity stunt or a glimpse to the near future of record industry?

I think in the case of Radiohead it was more of a clever promotion event rather than the future of music distribution. I certainly won't be giving an album away any time soon !!

What's you opinion on the whole d'n'b media thing? Vinyl or digital downloads? "Technics SL-1200", "Pioneer CDJ-1000" or "FinalScratch"?

I love vinyl, I have about four thousand records and still love finding old classics. Some tunes I've been after for 10 years, and an mp3 just won't do. Having said that, I also bought "M-Audio Conectiv", which is like "Serato" but about £200 cheaper! Its great cos I use it when I do the radio, I just take it to the studio and play off the laptop. The only thing is setting it up, and unplugging it before the next DJ comes on, which can be a pain. I'll probably get a CDJ soon, just cos it's easier than having to always rely on "Conectiv"… though it means you're constantly burning CDs….which I'll probably lose.

At the end of the day, its just another way of playing music. I don't think vinyl will ever die, people are always buy it. They'll just also buy downloads and play off cds. Now that people are getting used to the whole download/mp3 revolution, most people have realised there's still a market for vinyl, artwork and the joy of being a limited edition pressing (like the Exit Recordings releases).

How do you think, is there a way to sort out dubplate related issues in the way that everyone would be satisfied? I mean so that people would get a chance to buy fresh tracks right away without waiting for them to appear years later and artists still get payed good money for it without fear that they'll end up on soulseek?

This has always been an issue, since I've been into d'n'b. I've seen both sides of this, as a record buying punter, and a producer and to be honest I think a lot of it is down do the label owners also being DJ's and promoter's too. They're doing so many different things that running a label often takes a back seat, especially when promoting and DJ'ing brings in the cash, and putting out tunes often makes a lose (these days anyway).

Obviously this isn't always the case, we all know that some DJ's just sit on tunes for as long as possible,. This is bad enough for the punters, but just spare a thought for the producer. They want they're tunes to be out as soon as possible, so when someone's obviously just setting on a track it can get incredibly frustrating.

In a lot of cases these days, by the time a "big tune" gets released, most people are sick of it due to it getting battered in the clubs and radio. "Disco Dido" is a good example of this, a good tune if only cos it was different, but due to the time it took to come out , and the support it got, by the time it got released there were loads of people hating it….mostly due to the track being played to death before it had even made general release.

All this being said , its still no excuse to go looking for stuff on Soulseek. I did a Google search for "Bibio Dub" and found about 4 different torrents for it, as well as it being sold on a few dodgy MP3 sites, selling it for $0.20!!! I mean, the tune hasn't even been released properly yet, and these people aren't even allowed to sell it !??!? Whats the point?? It's soul destroying to see, and it's not even the big artists who are getting ripped off, new artists like myself are getting screwed, before our careers have even started!

There's a major activity on the Lithuanian scene recently, more and more quality drum'n'bass tracks appear on the forums. Some of them already singed on major labels (Spotless track on "Paradox Music", for instance). As an artist who already made his first steps in releasing your own music, do you have any advice for our upcoming producers? Is there anything they should avoid or pay more attention to?

Just ignore what everyone else is doing, don't even listen to your mates when they say "that would be heavy just throw a amen break in there".

Just make the music you believe in, and stuck to it. You're never going to please everyone, and they'll always be the twats on forums who just slate what you're doing, just for something to do.

You already know, that your track name "Bibio Dub" means „Dick's Dub" in lithuanian, what's the true meaning and etymology of that track name? How do you usually name your tunes?

Ha ha! I actually didn't know "Bibio" meant "dick's"….so I imagine sales over there haven't been so good!??! :D

Basically, when I originally started "Bibio Dub", it had a sample from an artist called Bibio. My bro Tom recommended the CD, thinking it might be sound for sampling. The Bibio sample actually got taken out, and the tune that came out is quite different to the original idea.

Bibio is actually a fly used as bate in fishing (I think). "Bibo" however (how the track is spelt thanks to Nu Urban making a typo) is some crazy monster with one eye….which is far more exciting than a fly used for fishing, so many it being spelt wrong was a good thing in the end.

Track names usually come from a sample I'm using (like in the case of "Bibio Dub") or just something that fits the vibe of the track. A lot of the time tracks have a working title (the name of the main break or something), then get a proper name when the track is finished.

Allright, and the track that made everyone talk about you was 'Jus Vibe', right? Does it have any special story? I've heard that Marie Ann Hobbs was really into it...

"Jus Vibe" is definitely a special tune to me. Not only was it my first signing, but it was the first tune of mine to get played on Radio 1 (as you mentioned, by Mary Anne Hobbs). It came out of nowhere really. I was just messing around with some hip hop breaks, got two that really worked together at 174bpm, then I just got on a vibe and the track pretty much write itself. I knew I had something, because when I played it to my brother Tom really liked it. Until that point, everything I'd played him was met with the same "that's ok" response.

After playing it to some friends, who all said it was really dubstep sounding, I thought I'd send it off to Mary Anne Hobbs, as I knew said also played the odd bit of d'n'b on her show as well. About 5 days after posting the CD I got a excited email from her saying she loved it, and was going to play it on her show (this was when I was still called DJ Lynkx). I've not had any contact with her since then, I keep meaning to send off another CD but constantly forget to burn it. I knew I should do, as I have some other tracks I'm sure she'd be into. I might do it this weekend since its fresh in my head again :)

Ok, now for some of your personal favourites: producer / DJ / label / upcoming artist / all-time best track / new track?

This changes all the time, but Liam Howlett from the Prodigy was a god to me when I was growing up, I even dyed my hair yellow like he did in the late 90s!! I also think DJ Shadow is a extremely talented producer, who like me can't play a instrument, but through knowing what sounds good and made some timeless music. DJ wise, LTJ Bukem comes to mind, he's such a tight mixer and has never felt the need to do all this double dropping, teasing, 60 tunes in a hour style mixing. I like DJs who take you on a journey and aren't scared of playing what they want. Label wise, I think it would have to be "Metalheadz", which is still putting out amazing music (like the Commix LP), 10 years down the line. It's one of my production goals to get a tune signed to "Headz". I nearly got something signed to "Rufige", Bailey was well into it, but the G man wasn't feeling it. I was a bit gutted, but I believe it'll happen at some point.

Have you DJ'ed outside UK? Any plans on doing eastern Europe tour some time soon?

I've not DJ'ed outside the UK yet, I thought I was going over to Poland a month ago but that fell through. I'd love to play in other countries, seeing what the vibe and crowds are like around the world, that's obviously any DJs dream. It's something I want to do, but as I work full time its something that'll have to fit in around that, as I've got a mortgage to pay and dnb doesn't really pay very well these days.

Simple question: what do you know about Lithuania? Because usually UK residents can't tell anything good because of the large immigration wave from Eastern Europe.

Well, I now know that "Bibio" means "dick's"! Ha ha ha! Errrm, if I'm honest I couldn't really tell you anything…..errr its part of the Baltic States I think. You'll have to get me over there so I can check the place out.

Safe, Alex! Anything else you'd like to say?

Just thanks to everyone who's bought my music (legally!!). Keep supporting the scene and be positive in everything you do.

http://www.myspace.com/soulintentdnb