Stereoboard Speaks To High Contrast Ahead Of His Set At Hospitality Cardiff In February (Interview)
Thursday, 20 January 2011
Written by Elliott Batte
Believe it or not, it’s been a whole year since Hospitality hit Cardiff. It’s also been a whole year since High Contrast performed in his home town. So you’ll be glad to hear that on the 5th February Hospitality will be touching down in The Great Hall at Cardiff Students Union for one of the biggest shows the city has seen yet!
Stereoboard caught up with High Contrast ahead of his homecoming show next month, which sees the Welsh DJ perform a headline set with support from fellow Hospitality stars Danny Byrd, Netsky, Nu:Tone and Hospital’s head honcho himself, London Elektricity in Room One of Cardiff's Students Union. In Room Two, Bar 9, Reso, Koan Sound and Stenchman will be bringing in their trademark weighty dubstep flavours and tearing up the place til the early hours. Check out what High Contrast had to say below.
Stereoboard: Alright, as a fellow Cardiffian, what do you think of the ever increasing drum and bass scene in the capital?
High Contrast: Uhm, yeah I mean it’s good because when I started out it was a lot smaller, so it’s been good to see new blood coming through – for a while it seemed a little bit stagnant but now there seems to be a lot of people coming through all the time, and a lot of people producing and a lot of people DJing, so yeah it’s good.
Stereoboard: I often see you at Clwb at the raves, and was wondering if you had any tips for the young DJs that always perform there regularly?
High Contrast: It’s difficult to kind of break through as just a DJ, and it’s been that way for quite a few years now, it seems that to get recognition you’ve got to make a big tune, and you kind of get DJ work off the back of that. But weirdly people who are just really good DJs are gonna have a hard time breaking through unless they get involved in production.
Stereoboard: So being a producer is the way forward nowadays?
High Contrast: I think so yeah, it’s maybe not the way it should be but I think that’s how it seems yeah.
Stereoboard: So how do you think you’ve changed as a producer since you started back around 2000 wasn’t it?
High Contrast: Yeah I mean I first started learning in around 97 or 98, but it wasn’t till about 2000 that I really got anywhere. For me I’m still doing what I’ve always done, which is just kind of playing around on my computer till I get sounds that I like and my process is still the same as it always was really. Maybe other people think my sound has changed over the years, and maybe it has but for me, I’m still just doing what I’ve always wanted to do.
Stereoboard: If you don’t mind me asking, what production software do you use when you’re producing?
High Contrast: I use Cubase, but you know most people in drum and bass use Logic and I know people who use Reason, but I don’t think it really matters what you use.
Stereoboard: Fair enough. As a fan of yourself, I have a few of your vinyl in my collection – we’ve seen you produce house under the alias ‘Two Fisted Tails’ and other artists going mainstream – so what can we expect from yourself in the future?
High Contrast: Well I’m still mainly making drum and bass but I also like to try out different genres you know, keep it fresh. I make a house tune and then go back to making drum and bass and I find that my ideas are refreshed, so on the next album there’s gonna be a few kind of non-drum and bass tunes but its mainly gonna be the kind of sound people expect from me.
Stereoboard: That’s what we like to hear, staying to your roots! When can we expect a new album out from you?
High Contrast: Well I’m working on it at the moment; I just stopped to make this phone call -
Stereoboard: Ha-ha sorry about that!
High Contrast: No no no its fine, yeah I mean I’m working on it at the moment and as soon as possible really. I imagine the album could come out before the end of the summer but we’re hoping to get some singles out there in the next few months.
Stereoboard: So in the past we’ve heard some brilliant remixes from yourself, like the Hometown Glory remix or Blue Orchid – are the anymore remixes you’ve looked at, or any tracks in particular you have your eyes on?
High Contrast: Uh I’ve kind of had to stop doing remixing for a while, just because each remix you do is kind of an idea you can’t use in your own tracks, and I just wanted to concentrate on making original music again, rather than just doing so many remixes. But it’s hard because remixes are kind of a cheap fast fix for a producer, you’ve just immediately got all the parts there and just go straight in and you do kind of knock it out where as building a tune from scratch takes a lot more time and effort.
Stereoboard: Compared to a lot of the big producers in the scene at the moment, you’re a very experienced artist, but a lot of them are very new. Do any of the new generations artists take your fancy or any new tracks that stand out to you?
High Contrast: Well the latest signings at Hospital, Netsky and Camo and Krooked, are people that I’ve been supporting for a few years, and I also like the Brookes Brothers, and there’s a guy called Metric from Brighton who I really rate.
Stereoboard: So in the recent years we’ve also seen a massive influx of DJ’s using CDJs, laptops and all kind of hardware to mix or perform live sets with, are you one of these kind of ‘pioneering’ techie DJs or do you stick loyal to the vinyl?
High Contrast: Well I have been loyal to the vinyl and am still cutting dub plates, but it becomes harder and harder each year because at clubs, most of the DJs aren’t playing vinyl so the clubs don’t look after their decks so when I try and play vinyl there’ll be some kind of feedback or technical problem, or the needle won’t work or something’s up. So I always carry CDs as kind of backup in case that happens, and more and more I have to play CDs. I don’t really want to go over to playing Serato because I don’t really want to take a laptop to a club and have to set that up. It looks kind of boring to me when you’re watching a DJ and he’s just standing at a laptop. I guess eventually vinyl will disappear but for me it’s easier to stick than replace it.
Stereoboard: You recently played Hospitality at Matter alongside other massive DJs like Shy Fx and DJ Zinc. With Matter being one of the biggest venues in the world, how do you think it compared to the other Hospitality’s around the country?
High Contrast: With Matter closing down last year, it was basically the best club in the world, and it was my favourite place to play in, but it seems that it was actually too good to be true, and that it wasn’t working economically for the club and so it closed down. Hospital switched to do the event at Brixton Academy in London, which was really good so I think they’re at the moment kind of looking for a new home. But with the other Hospitalities around the country it’s still going strong, and I think it’s been a year since we did one in Cardiff because of some sort of organisational problems in making it happen. But the guys are all looking forward to playing here again.
Stereoboard: You’re a headline act at the massive Hospitality that’s coming to Cardiff; do you find playing Hospitality shows in Cardiff better than maybe other places across the country or maybe playing at home feels more fun?
High Contrast: Yeah there’s always a particular kind of buzz from playing in your home town and it’s a good venue and the crowd all go nuts for it. I think the Hospitality shows all over the UK are really good and you’re always spoilt for choice at the gigs.
Stereoboard: How would you compare some of the Hospitality nights you’ve played to some of the other promoter’s shows like Bedlam or Valve etc?
High Contrast: Ha-ha I don’t think it would be fair for me to comment on that.
Stereoboard: One last question – out of all the DJs and producers you know, Hospital or not, who can we expect the biggest things from in 2011?
High Contrast: Well I think Netsky is a force to be reckoned with you know; he is kind of emerging from the scene and has been quite incredible. He’s still only 21 or 22, so he’s definitely worth a watch.
You can catch High Contrast at Hospitality Cardiff on Saturday 5th February 2011 at The Great Hall, Cardiff Student Union, Park Place, Cardiff playing in Room One alongside: London Elektricity, Danny Byrd, Netsky and Nu:Tone. Room Two: Bar 9, Reso, Stenchman, Koan Sound. Tickets £16 + BF available here.
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Stereoboard: Alright, as a fellow Cardiffian, what do you think of the ever increasing drum and bass scene in the capital?
