High Contrast
Catherine Pryce talks to Wales’ premier drum and bass survivor.
Beatmag caught up with High Contrast, the golden boy of Hospital Records, before he jetted off to Prague on a schedule that’s as messy as his hair – “Some quality time in the Eastern European scene”, he says – and he’s an eloquent, charming boy from Wales yet to “make the digression to London”.
His love of music producing stems from the frustrations faced in film making, the original inspiration for the path he is riding now. “With music you can just do it all on one computer, that was the initial way in, I taught myself the way from there. I use Cubase, trying not to get too caught up in the technology. People can play with the frequency too much, missing the bigger picture, you need keep it simple and not over complicate the sounds and keep with the groove”.
A man of the old skool that can actually play and read music too, his parents had very little to do with how things have panned out as his childhood was filled with rock’n’roll and country & western (“However, it does slip through and I have sampled the odd rock tune”). He also has a bit of a thing for Britney’s ‘I’m a Slave’ and famously remixed an American producer’s track that was all about a woman that liked money and diamonds ‘n’ting, (think Heather Mills) that was frequently aired on Radio One last year. He remains a little shifty about discussing the details of this. A remixer choice for a plethora of labels and artists inside and out of the jungle camp including Missy Elliot and The White Stripes, he’s now mixed the latest in the prestigious ‘Watch the Ride’ CDs, featuring a diverse playlist including the man himself alongside Zinc, Rufige, Kru and the EZ Rollers.
High Contrast is a man that likes to be in control, not quite ‘My body is a temple’, but certainly abstinence from alcohol and drugs often associated with the dance scene. “Its logic to me, I don’t want things to get in the way of what I want to do, people can get so sidetracked. My high is anything creative you can find in the world that captures you”. He suggested that the drug scene is not prevalent everywhere he plays, although Britain has the biggest problem. He also reckons the scene is less aggressive now, or maybe it’s just that a broader spectrum of society are attracted to his shows, even some men inclined to keep their shirts on, possibly for fear of middle age moobs bouncing to the bassline.
When asked about the sub-genre-defining term ‘liquid funk,Lincoln is only too happy to enlighten: “Basically its from Fabio on his Radio One show – liquid funk is more melodic vocal drum and bass, a bit more soulful. Then people like Calibre and me came to the floor and people called it liquid funk. It’s journalists, they like to use a phrase or buzz word and lay things out. To me it doesn’t mean anything, there are a few of my tunes that fit into that category but to me its all just drum and bass”. Anything to say to Grooverider, locked up in Dubai? “Poor Grooverider, we don’t even know all the facts. I certainly wouldn’t want to play there now. I just hope he is doing alright”.
Another contentious issue is dub step, suddenly the buzz word where drum & bass used to be. “Well, we have weathered fiercer storms than this with garage,” says Lincoln, “and look where that is now. To be fair dub step is more interesting and at the few nights I have been too there are some really good tunes there but it’s a genre in its infancy and got media attention so quickly they should be careful and make sure it’s solid at its core, not letting it get out of control. It would be better for Dub Step if there aren’t a lot of chart hits. So there could be parallels in drum and bass, but as there are with garage, grime and back to hip hop”. He is, bizarrely enough working at the moment on some drum and bass mixed with dup step and finds the differences in the two brothers from the same mother: “Drum and bass has all the energy and dub step is slow and darker and not the same to dance too. I don’t know a huge amount about it but the guys I have met are safe.”
The sounds from his previous albums – such as ‘Tough Boys Don’t Dance’, the title an obvious piss take of the shirtless rude boy wonders by the speakers – have a melodic, soulful theme running through them, a signature composition style. ‘Watch the Ride’ dips its cap to the old skool Jungle, cut with deep house breaks and peppered with the occasional shout out from MC Wrec. Blame’s ‘Hindsight’ rewinding back to the 90’s style of intelligent drum and bass and his own remix of Atwell’s retro rave number ‘I Found You’ seamlessly blended with the deep, up-lifting style conquered by J Magik and Wikkaman.
“Inspiration comes from the constant interest in contrast, different things I can do. I like Nicky Black Market and LTJ, maybe other people don’t try and bring those opposing forces together”.
After a fair few years of the wobbly kind of drum and bass that’s all jump-up from Generation Dub, Hazard and those of a similar ilk he sees how the scene has changed or, in many cases, remained true to its roots: “Its funny because before I was part of it, all the dj’s would complain that everyone played the same 10 tracks, these days there is rarely an anthem that gets played by everyone and each DJ is playing the music from their own camp”.
Coming from the indie label background at Hospital, he’s aware of the demise of similar set-ups and the record industry in general. “Vinyl sales are down at present but I think that vinyl will outlive CD’s, Hospital run a tight operation and are quick to embrace new technologies and new ideas in the industry, moving into the digital domain a lot but still pushing vinyl as hard as ever”.
He is neither parroting the standard response of muso types that are so quick to blame it all on illegal downloads, suggesting that music has become devalued “It’s so ubiquitous and is there on Myspace to listen to so easily and the worth of music isn’t what it was. So many people are making tunes and drum and bass the scene is flooded with producers, on top of that the quality comes through, so if you are making good stuff, you should do alright”.
Strolling down a completely different avenue we approach the subject of his beautiful curly mop, what gunk he is using and if there will ever be any kind of product endorsement like David Guetta, because he’s worth it. Through a muffled giggle he thinks that the likes of L’Oreal would want to distance themselves from him, he just likes to let it flow. Flowing back to the music, clearly a subject he is more comfortable with than the brimming shelves of Boots, what next for High Contrast?
“Taking some time away from producing, I like a bit of space between albums, renew the energy and inspiration and come back with something. I have ideas running around and look forward to unveiling the next stage”. And to indulge in an unmissable cliché, is the jungle massive? “Yes it certainly is, I actually prefer the term jungle to drum and bass, it’s what it was when I got into it. Just the word alone can still inspire me”.
