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Features

High Rankin Interview

Feb 15, 2012
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Posted by James Kendall

You seem to enjoy poking fun at the dubstep/dance scene. Do you feel the scene has become all too serious and perhaps a little boring?
I think the scene is far from boring if you know how to entertain yourself. I have always seen the dubstep scene a little like a trendy party where I don’t know anyone. Everyone there is looking at me weird because I keep making drunken advances at their girlfriends and threatening to perform penis puppetry while stood on a table. My actions might not be to everyone’s tastes but it’s likely I’ll be the topic of conversation over breakfast the next day. And, you know, fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke.

Suicide Dub goes from strength to strength – what’s the secret?
Not signing anything shit. I have always looked for stuff from new and generally unreleased artists. I think that can be where you find truly creative tracks before people have the chance to get locked into a way of working. Also, unreleased artists can be easily persuaded to hand over their music in exchange for packets of crisps and a red bull.

You’re playing with a live band for this gig – how does that work?
Well, I have actually gone to the trouble of finding some real musicians to attempt to play some of my questionable music live. So rather than my standard DJ set I now have vocalist Tigerlight who featured on my last EP and has sung backing for Beyonce, Will.I.Am and Christina Aguauuawauaulera. On keys and backing vocals have local talent Frankie Young. On guitarist, James Pryor who has slept with a 1000 women but never made love, and lastly a drummer with balls as big as Bournemouth who goes by the name of Faceman. I then have various buttons to press, knobs to twiddle and shouting to do with a microphone. I wanted to try and keep as much emphasis on being ‘dancefloor’ but at the same time giving it a live band feel. It’s basically amazing and anyone who says otherwise is just angry I never called them back the day after.

You been across America, Australia and Europe recently – what’s the best fun you had?
Hunting midgets in Adelaide. You pay $50 and you get a bow and arrow and a bucket of bait. You then have to stalk your prey over a number of miles until you can get a clear shot. Sometime you have to follow an injured midget for up to 3-4 more miles until it is sufficiently weakened for you to finish it off. I also went slosh potting in Arizona. It’s like pot holing but much sexier.

You cross quite a few genre boundaries, what is your music made up from?
Well I’m currently in a territory dispute with drum and bass over a couple of my recent tracks. Their solicitor is insistent that the roots of one of my tunes come much too far over the boundary line and the whole thing must be removed before it causes subsidence of D’N’B HQ. To be honest I just like to make what I feel like at the time. The boundaries of dance music are so blurred these days it doesn’t really matter. DJs are playing across the board much more in clubs and I think the days of playing solidly one genre are gone for the moment.

Your music is super heavy – how heavy, is it in weight?
Recently it seems that weight itself is not the concern but in fact the fat to muscle ratio is what’s important. All my music is fed on a high protein and low carb diet and indulges in a rigorous full body workout just before lunch. The use of performance enhancing drugs is very much encouraged.

You wisely advise to ‘Don’t Carry On Like A Rude Boy When Daddy’s Got A Yacht’ – how rudeboy-yachty is Brighton?
Brighton is one of the top rudeboy-yachty spots in the UK, just after Bristol and just before Dalton. It seems when the jumped up tykes aren’t firing meow into any available orifice or vomiting into each other mouths for the amusement of Binky and Hugo they are clogging up the entrances of nightclubs. The skit from the beginning of the aforementioned tune is almost verbatim of a conversation I heard one offender having outside Audio. I was tempted to par him jawside with a leng but as I didn’t, at the time, know what that meant I just watched and felt a bit sad.

You’ve got a new EP in the works – how’s it sounding?
Like a bunch of half baked ideas and badly recorded foul language at the moment. But not for long hopefully. Just need to lash together a few raw beats and a bit of old Negro wisdom and this nightmare should be over. It should in all likelihood be a bit of a mixed bag of nuts. A couple of more clubby, radio tunes, some humour and then some serious noisy boys.

You’re moving to Berlin for a bit. Why would you leave lovely Brighton?
Well I just don’t feel Brighton is trendy enough for me any more. I have been to the Green Door Store and seen students with bad haircuts crying into their own puke. I’ve had my photo taken by both Sam Hiscox and Justin De Souza at some point or another. Aaaaand I know all the words to every record on the jukebox in the Heart & Hand. OK, that last one was a lie. Really I’m moving to Berlin to make minimal techno and go to Scheiße parties at Berghain.

Feb 15, 2012
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James Kendall
James Kendall was the co-owner and editor of SOURCE. He’s been a music journalist since 1992 and spent over a decade travelling the globe covering dance music for DJmag. He’s interviewed a range of subjects from Bat For Lashes, Foals and James ‘LCD Soundsystem’ Murphy to Katie Price and the Sugababes. He’s a keen photographer and has work featured in The Guardian.
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High Rankin Interview - Brighton Source