Interview: Dub Phizix

23 October 2012

Manchester based Dub Phizix is currently in the process of securing himself a spot in the history of drum and bass as a legend.

With releases on labels such as Exit, Soul:r, Critical, Ingredients, Dispatch and Commercial Suicide already under his belt, as well as easily the track of 2011-2012 still doing the rounds, there seems to be no stopping him.

Phizix himself is veteran producer. With a career spanning over a decade, he's mixed tracks for a variety of acts within Manchester's circuit at his “Dub Tub” production studio above Sankeys Soap nightclub, as well as mixed the worlds first games mod for Grand Theft Auto alongside MC Code:breaker. He was even heavily involved in Manchester's Estate Recordings.

Ahead of his debut performance in India at BASS CAMP Festival, we had a little chat with him to talk music, Marka and a little bit of India. By now, you should be as excited as us about this weekend!

We’re going to get straight to the point. What do you think of the current D&B scene?

It's good at the moment. There's plenty of young new talent coming through while most of the people who made the classics are still around. I even heard Wax Doctor is making a comeback. That can only be a good thing.

How did you first get into production?

I've played guitar since I was really young. I played in bands in school but we were shit. I eventually got into hip-hop and found I could make it with 2 tape decks and a box of records. Eventually, through hip-hop I got into D&B by which time I had started using the computer to make loops. I left school at 16 to go and do a music tech course at City College, Manchester where I was taught how to use a sampler, synth and cubase. By now I had decided that D&B was for me and spent every waking hour in and around the college studios. Eventually the 100% software studio became a reality and was a much more affordable solution. From then I started building up my own rig and I've been buried in the studio ever since.

The world only seems to have woken up to the world of Dub Phizix after the release of Marka. This is not to say you haven’t made anything worth talking about within you career spanning over 10 years. Did you realise it would do that?

No, not at all. We just thought we'd made a weird tune. Still do. We thought some people would be into it as it was quite different but never expected it to get the response it did. Don't know if I could pick out a tune that I thought would be bigger but Marka isn't the one I'd have pulled out.

Talk to us about the video, the release of which was the first time the world heard Marka. I read somewhere that the tune took a day to make and the video almost a month.

We're musicians so that stuff just comes naturally. When it comes to videos we didn't really know what we're doing. We had Tom Doran film and edit it and he's great at what he does but for the rest of us, it was totally new.

You’ve worked a lot with Skeptical. Can you tell us a bit about how you first started working together and why you work together so well and so often?

We just got chatting on the Internet one day and started swapping parts. The music making process was very natural so we started working together on a regular basis. Skeptical is probably the person I feel most in tune with musically. Everything of mine he touches ends up ten times better.

So, looking forward to coming to India?

Yeah definitely.

What are you looking forward to doing? - Will this be your first time in the country?

Yeah first time so I don't know what to expect to be honest. I'm always ready to try out new stuff though.

Is there anyone in particular you'd love to meet/work with in India?

I'm not sure I'll be there long enough but I'm always open to meeting new people.

What’s coming up in the world of Dub Phizix, both in terms of releases and other projects. Are you thinking about an LP or even major labels?

Next up is another single for Exit Records. I've also got tunes coming out on Metalheadz, Shogun and Ingredients. Will definitely do an album at some point but I'm in no rush.

THE SAME 3 QUESTIONS

3 most inspirational artists

Photek
Calibre
John Lennon

3 favourite albums of all time

The Beatles - Rubber Soul
Photek - Form & Function
Brian Blade - Perceptual

3 favourtie artists of the moment

Xtrah
Chimpo
Dismantle

For a selection of free tracks being given away by Dub Phizix you can head over to his website here

*You can catch Dub Phizix play alongside a host of other artists including Jazzsteppa, BASSFoundation, Mr. Herbalist and Ox7gen at BASS CAMP Festival from October 26-28 in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. More info on these shows and others happening across the country can be found on our events page here*

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