Monthly newspaper and online publication targeting 18 to 35 year olds. The ultimate guide to the hottest parties, going out and having fun. Music, fashion, film, travel, festivals, technology, comedy, and parties! London, Barcelona, Miami and Ibiza.
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Hey what going on? I am doing basslines, yeah! Congrats on your massive comeback over the past couple years. Thanks brother Last time you spoke to us you were just adding some final touches to Take Kontrol, just wondered what's been happen since then? It's been a great year getting back on the road and touring. It's good to know we've got a live show that we can put together pretty much whenever we want to and take on the road and just keep adding catalogue to it. Its great to have all the labels too like, Mansion and Full Cycle just there to give me a vibe. Has been good having new material out there? I put out a couple of remixes last year maybe one or two on Philly Blunt but this year I'm hoping to have a track out every month after February, at least two tracks a month that's my goal! Ahh nice! Yeah it's all about that consistency, making sure music is coming out on a regularly basis. Just to get all those younger heads. And it's not just drum & bass, i'm trying a couple of styles man. I'm not gonna put a tags on them. For me tempos have always been irrelevant. Yeah because when you go out today, it's not just a drum & bass rave, or just a garage rave you go and you can get everything now. Does that help you be more creative? I've always been like that anyway. They'll be gigs at the back of '97, I've played and I'll drop a Missy Elliot tune, or a Pharrell tune in the middle of my set. I'll mix it up a bit, I'll probably play a bit of reggae. People like myself and Shy FX have diluted the substance of drum & bass by adding more of our influences into it. Like I played a gig the other day in Italy and I tried to play some stuff that was a bit different but they just wasn't having it. You hear that a lot, that in the UK people are a lot more open to listening to sets that do experiment a bit. Exactly, in the UK I think they'll have it, I think abroad they not having it! They like what they want and that's it. That's it. They book you because they want you to play Roni Size, all day. It must be good to know though that people enjoy your sound? Well I hope they are. I think that the feedback from my audiences is quite minimal because I'm not online. I don't tweet as much as maybe I should. Back in the day when I just to go out and DJ there be like 5000 people dance, but if there's one person not dancing that's the person remember and it's the same with social media. I'll probably get 100 great comments and I'll get one person like, no it's noise pollution please go away, and I remember that one person. You know i've got thick sick man, but i'm human as well man. If anyone says any shit about me on social media i just block them straight away, no second chances! After these 20 years, what's kept the buzz, what's kept you into the scene? Thing is the scene is so far and widespread now I don't really have the same connection directly with the scene but i still have an affiliation with the music industry. What keeps me, when I DJ or perform I'd describe it as drinking from the fountain of youth. It just keeps me young, it's helps my dress sense, I see what the kids wearing and I'm thinking, you know what i can dress like that. Don't get it twisted though, i'm a leader in fashion!!! You've played a lot over your career. Is there a favourite place you like the play, Bristol? Bristols always the challenge because you're looking into the whites of those eyes of the people that you know. You're like okay, thats my next door neighbour, oh there's such and such you know that's what Bristol is. But my favourite places to play are the biggest stages in the world like Miami Music Conference, Las Vegas EDC, Coachella, you know the big stages where you have to have a stage presence, where people don't know your music but they know your name. If there was a gig anywhere in the world that you haven't played but could, where would that be? Burning Man? Closer to home, I wouldn't mind playing V Festival that I haven't done for years and would love to do, I haven't done Reading & Leeds in a while, T In The Park? With your comeback have there been new challenges? Yer there are always new challenges, but these challenges are what make you into a more experienced person in this industry. I think the real challenge is not quitting. I think this is the hardest part of my career. See when you're someone that's new and just breaking though people don't have any expectations. But when you have a legacy, that's what I like to call it, because I've been here for 20 years and had hits in the drum & bass world and one or two on the commercial side, but to keep doing that over and over again is the biggest challenge for any producer. Full Cycle is going on a European tour with Krust and Dynamite MC, feel good about bringing that back on the road? Yeah. Until we actually do it we won't know how it's gonna go down. See we're gonna go and play our sound and that's all we're gonna do. We'll have to make sure people get what we're about. We're about the melodies and the basslines, we're about rollers, about breaks, where's the breakbeats? We're the last of the breakbeat warriors, that's the way i look at it man, lets get back into the breaks! With Full Cycle back on the road can we expect any new material? Yeah, yeah absolutely! As soon as we get off the phone that's what I'll be doing. I'll be back on making some tunes for Full Cycle Keep your ear to the ground! What are you most in love with right now? I pick up my daughter most days from school, I do a school run and I really enjoy that! Erm I really enjoy cooking Cricket? Cricket?! no cooking. Though years ago I just to love cricket, had a cricket club just round the corner. It's a long game though. I know but we didn't really play it that, it wasn't like test cricket more like pest cricket! Any ideas that have changed your life? Erm, yeah but they might be bad ideas! If you were a superhero what would your superpower be? Invisibility, nah actually it would be mindreader. Would make reading the crowd a little easier. Actually it wouldn't even be a mind reader, I'd like to make people have bubbles above their head so I could see what they are thinking. Like thinking bubbles? Yeah! You could pick and choose who you want to see, maybe everybody could see it! Would be well funny to see! Any advice for anyone trying to break into the scene? I'm not really one for giving advice. I think if you're in it you're in it if you're not you're not. Doesn't matter what you do, do it honestly and have a good trust threshold. Do you have a life motto? Not really a life motto, but you gotta live life like it's your last day on earth. Well try to, but not literally haha Here's a question for you. Do the foxes hibernate at this time of year? Its because they keep going through my bins and they haven't done that for about 6 weeks? Well Roni after a quick search, foxes do not hibernate but when the weather is extreme they will take refuge until the weather is nicer. A man who has rightfully gained legendary status in drum & bass, Roni Size has been instrumental in the development of the genre since the early days. He has had an incredible comeback, with a new album and a hefty touring schedule, but he's not letting that slow him down. This year, along with Krust and Dynamite MC, they are taking Full Cycle back on the road. We had a chat with him to see what's going down. INTERVIEW: RONI SIZE " That's the major challenge, you wake up and you go, okay today is not a good day but I'm not gonna quit " 7 7 2016 / Issue 84 DRUM & BASS 47 follow @RoniSizeBristol By: Arren Haynes