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Issue 43 / 2012 TAB TAYLOR | tab@guestlist.net DRUM N BASS / DUBSTEP 39 www.guestlist.net 7 RONI SIZE This artist who has been repping drum and bass in and putting his hometown Bristol on the map for many years. He smashed his way to critical acclaim with his huge album New Forms. Some might say he has been off the radar but he has been travelling the world delivering his individual, iconic style of energetic bass line driven, beat roling dnb. He has also been hard at work putting something special together for his new album. We caught up with him for his first interview in two years... Yo what's happening, You cool Where you at now? Ah what you saying, yeah safe I'm just in Bristol at home. Just came back from Belgium. Just about to go to work, putting the final touches to this album that I've been working on for about three years. It's orchestral, more vocal and sounds very different and futuristic. What I'm trying to do with this record is don't make it doesn't sound like anything else. Nice, because you've kind of set the benchmark for coming out with things that make people's' ears open. Thing is, I believe that my peers, the people that support me, rather than the punter who is looking for something new, it's more about the producers and the musicians: they hear stuff in my music and they respect that and they grab onto that. A lot of drummers have come to me and said they love what I do. That must be good when musicians feel your music? That's what I'm saying. To the average punter who just wants to listen to something on Radio 1 or Kiss, they can grab onto it straightaway and explore. It'll take them awhile to get it. But the people who get what I do are the people who understand the process of what has gone on to get to that stage where the sound can be called original. And that's always been my goal. Nice. Now the last time I saw you was when you were in the airport lounge on the way to Miami and you've just come back from Belgium, how's the world treating you nowadays? It's funny you know, I've been in the game for a minute and there's so many generations of people coming to the music and the drum and bass thing always managed to sustain certain type of numbers. I think I was playing a gig about three, four weeks ago and it was packed. Massive tent, about four thousand people but I guarantee three quarters didn't know who I was. That was a massive challenge to know that there was a whole new audience out there, but by the time I finished they knew! I'm so proud and privileged to still be in the game. I love it more now than I did when I first started. What would you say has changed for you over the last ten years? Well for me, I've been doing a lot of stuff outside of the group, before we used to work as a unit and for me I'd like to adapt to who I am as a person, I have found my confidence. And now when I hit the stages I hit the stages by myself. I can command it. When I first started I was quite nervous, but now you can put me on in front of ten thousand people by myself and I'll be fine, Wow. So like with this new confidence and you doing things a lot more by yourself it's like there's a whole new thing ahead of you? I'm in a place now where I've kind of schooled myself in this game as a DJ and a producer. I'm confident you can put me into any environment, with any producer, with any vocalist, in any country, on any stage and I'll be able to come up ten out of ten It sounds like you're quite balanced now, would you say you're in tune with your subconscious? Yeah absolutely. It's been a rollercoaster the last ten, fifteen years and you have to have some type of bravado, you have to have some sort of higher confidence and that confidence does happen in your subconscious. You have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror and you have to be able to have a good nights sleep and wake up and feel like you're driven, you know. I'm 43 years old now. And the longer that young kid in me experiments the better. I am now a fully fledged man: I have children all grown and I've lived a little, so all of this now will incorporate into my music. Tell me what you're looking forward to. Getting back on stage with a live band and being able to perform with them all over the world on main stages with orchestras. I did this thing with an orchestra in Bristol at Colston Hall, I'm looking forward to the Royal Festival Hall, Vienna Hall, the main stage at Bestival and am really looking forward to playing at the Relaxation Generation Festival at Vibe Bar, there is a wicked line up so yeah I'm looking forward to doing all of that and more. Have you got any specific goals left in your mind that you have to conquer? Yeah absolutely, when we won the mercury music prize in 1997 it was a bit of a shock to the system but we enjoyed it and what I'm trying to do now is prove to myself that I can make a record that I can put on and feel 100% proud of that record and feel that I've done it myself, I've got a lot to prove to myself. Back in the day you were one of the pioneers, you helped set the stage bringing this music to the masses and in the last ten years lots of you have been doing big things i.e Fresh and Chase & Status. Yea but I think they've all been there from the beginning as well and you know it wasn't just me there were a lot of others around at that time too, the Goldie's and the whole of the electronic scene and I was quite fortunate that I became one of the spokespeople for the scene and I was in the position where I could spread the gospel so you know I'll take a small part of that accolade. It's good the see the way that people have gone now, but at the same time you see people jump ship as well. They do drum and bass and they see it as a vehicle and then when they get to where they're going, they jump ship and start making their own styles of music. That's not to say it's a bad thing but it's nice to put something back into the industry that made you. Now it would be interesting to know whose influencing you out there either in forms of music or work ethic? Well there's a kid called Swindle, he's a young kid from Croydon whose making, erm I wouldn't even call it Dubstep, it's kind of funk, some kind of funk shit! Yeah I don't know there's so much, I'm inspired by a lot of people behind the scenes; programmers, engineers, producers and you can learn so much from these guys. So you're from Bristol man, are you ever going to make the move to London? I lived in London for a little bit but I'm so fortunate that I travel every weekend, so I live in Bristol but I'm never really here that much. I mean I DJ three days a week in different countries. Well Bristol's crazy, we all know Bristol's a hub of energy and music, its always got hot artist's emerging but there's something about Bristol where people seem to be so spiritual, what is that? Well obviously we're a bit further away from the main city of London and it's a little bit calmer down here. The energy of the countryside is here and close to the sea, getting down to Devon and stuff, so you know it's a cool place. You're a very humble guy Roni! Well yea I'm part of it, you've got to remain humble, you have to be, you can't be going and demanding things and being treated like you're a king. You're only as good as your last record, you know what I'm saying. So you've got to push yourself with every record. Ever used the line "do you know who I am"? Ohhh I've used it once in Australia when I'd probably had one drink too many and I was trying to get into a club and I was probably 22 or 23 and that was the last time I ever used it. Did it work? No, not at all, got kicked right out! (laughs) Oh wicked (laughs)... If you were invisible for a day what would you do? I'd probably go round to NASA for the day or something, I'd sneak onto a spaceship, go to Mars or something. I would be gone! Any advice you've picked up from your worldly travels you'd like to share with the Guestlist network readers? If nothing else, Life is one big education, there's stuff that people won't teach you, the real way that you can learn is by travelling and experiencing, other countries and that is the biggest learning curve so don't be thinking that you can learn it all in one go. I mean I've only got one qualification to my name but I feel like I'm well educated. See the whole interview here http://guestlist.net/interviews/4405/roni-size-interview/