For such a middle class, arty town it’s surprising that the new sound of the inner city streets should come from Brighton. It’s equally shocking to find that the creators of that sound, The Qemists, aren’t a mob of shadow-lurking, be-hooded ruffians on the way back from torching the car that they’ve been ram-raiding in.
This drum’n’bass trio are well-spoken late 20-somethings that you could take home to meet your mum. Their music however would spit in your dad’s face, smash the best china and then shag your sister. Aggressive? Yeah, a bit. Their new single with grime godfather Wiley, Dem No Like Me, has just been banned by Radio 1. Not for swearing, described violence or anything specific, simply because it sounds so angry.
“We got an email from the head of music saying they couldn’t play any mix of it,” says the mild mannered Dan calmly. “It’s quite a rare thing. They said it just wasn’t suitable to play to kids.”
They might be overreacting, but there is a real menace as Wiley spits tough rhymes over distorted hip hop beats that are the aural equivalent of joyriding in an artic lorry. But that’s not to say that Radio 1 has got it in for them. The boys’ mix of heavy beats and rock guitars caught the ear of Zane Lowe very early on, and he’s put every track they’ve put their name to on heavy rotation. Except, of course, the Wiley one.
“It was part of the reason we got signed,” Liam says of the bombastic DJ’s enthusiasm for their debut release, a remix of Coldcut’s Everything’s Under Control. “His support was crucial and completely unexpected. I think he’s just got a similar taste in music to us. From what I heard Zane and some of the other Radio 1 DJs wanted to play Dem No Like Me but the producers said they weren’t allowed.”
Support hasn’t been concentrated at The Nation’s Favourite though, Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden (and now 6 Music) has given the rock seal of approval, techno god Laurent Garnier has said they’re the band he’s most excited about and Enter Shakari have cited them as an influence. Presumably their civilian fans are every bit as diverse. That must have made making the album tricky, keeping the different camps happy.
“Not at all,” says Leon. “We are the disparate fans we have to keep happy. The label were certainly thinking about that but we ignored it really. The business side of it might be thinking, Where’s this going, who’s it for, but I don’t think you can do it like that. It becomes manufactured for financial gain.”
Some critics have accused The Qemists of commercialism with their mix of drum’n’bass and rock, but they point out that when they started making the album three years ago mixing those genres was unheard of. But in the middle of the slow recording of Join The Q Pendulum came along with a similar idea and became festival favourites. Still, it’s proof of concept, as they say in business and the Qems have given things a British twist and taken it so much further, not least in the guest list they invited to contribute to the LP.
Joining the Q, alongside Wiley, are legendary Faith No More vocalist Mike Patton, Alabama 3’s Zoe Devlin Love, Jenna G, the queen of drum’n’bass, and friend of SOURCE, beatboxing genius Beardyman. Did they have a favourite collaborator?
“Everyone was great,” Dan claims diplomatically. “Mike Patton is possibly the most talented person on the planet, the speed and perfection with which he came up with the vocal for that track was amazing. But Wylie, he’s very difficult to get hold of and it fell through a few times but when he came down to the studio we got on really well.”
“Navigator was amazing when he wrote his lyrics,” adds Leon. “He just put the track on loop over a couple of hours and then did it in one take, all these crazy lyrics and rhythms. Every single person on the album brought what we wanted them to bring, to the record. Their special thing, we got that out of each of them.”
With such a killer line up will there be a Motown style Qemists Revue? Suggestions of getting the whole crew on the road met with a sharp intake of breath from the band’s management, but Jenna G will be joined by Bruno for the live show, which sees the trio throw guitars, keyboards and drums into the back of a transit. It’s not going to be the easiest album to translate live – being as it’s neither a d’n’b LP nor a rock album in the truest sense – but as The Qemists started out originally as a rock band they should get it nailed, just as they’ve really got a handle on what makes a Qemists track.
“It took three years to work out our sound really,” Leon explains. “We had to decide how it works and why it works. It’s not exactly formulaic but there’s a technique to combining lots of sounds that we just happened across by practicing.”
“There was actually a list of 10 or 12 things that every track had to have,” Liam adds. “All the things we knew how to do best in music, we wanted to put them into every track. Crazy big drum fills and emotional lyrics. We had a sort of sixth sense about what had to go into it.”
Now that’s the kind of Qemistry we can get behind. Just stay away from our sisters and best crockery.
