By
Photos by Fred Shaw
August 2002

Q: Where did the name Aquasky come from, and who is Master Blaster?

The first tunes we did were the first release on Moving Shadow which was in '95 I think. But I'd been working with Dave for a good couple of years before that, and Brent as well. Brent used to produce as the Jazzy Sunflowers on an English label called Black on Black, which did triphop, downtempo, instrumental, hip hop kind of stuff, which was pretty cool. I used to hear Brent's music and he used to hear my music, and we mutually appreciated each other's stuff. And Dave was like the middleman because he had the studio and knew all the stuff about engineering. Me and Brent didn't, really. I was a deejay back then so I knew all that kind of stuff and I was a bit of a musician as well.

Q: What do you feel have been your formative musical influences? How do you feel your drum 'n' bass background have influenced your sound as breaks and 2-step artists?

A: I listen to all sorts of music, so everything really. It's really hard to pinpoint, since I grew up listening to everything and I still do. Every kind of music really, so it's a bit hard to put it down to one thing. I think with the drum 'n' bass and the breaks, like I said Brent used to make hiphop which was whatever tempo that was at,I used to make drum 'n' bass, and then we both started making drum 'n' bass together. But the speed of that back then was not so far from the breaks tempo nowadays because drum 'n' bass has gotten faster over the years. But back then it was quite similar in tempo.

To us, we treat breaks and drum 'n' bass the same really. We don't differentiate. The thing with drum 'n' bass is, it's gotten so fast it's quite difficult to put any sort of funk into it. You can't really swing the beats because they're so fast, whereas with the 130 -140 BPM tempo you can actually swing the beats a little bit, which is where the 2-step comes into it. That's the difference between breaks and 2-step, the slice or shuffle of the beats. Like I said, we treat it all the same really, whether it's drum 'n' bass or breaks or whatever we're doing. We approach it the same way, which I think is quite dancefloor. We try and make it good for the dancefloor, but also there's the ability there, if you aren't dancing, to still appreciate the vibe of it.

Q: "Beat the System" is your fourth album. How do you feel it reflects the band's evolution as artists and producers over the year? Do you feel there's been a progression that's reflected in the album?

A: I suppose as producers you're always progressing because that's the way you do it. We don't do it to make the same music over and over again. We do it to explore different avenues. The thing with this album was we did make it quite a dancefloor album, whereas the last three albums we'd done were a bit more eclectic. This we did as a straight breaks album. We could've put some drum 'n' bass on there, or some hip hop or whatever, but we decided not to. We decided to keep it just all straight breaks tunes, all similar tempo, and all in your face. On all the other albums we kind of mixed styles, but we just decided not to do it. We just didn't want to because I think we've had a problem. We produce so many different sorts of music that people get a bit confused about what we do do. We just wanted to brand the Aquasky vs Master Blaster thing as a breaks thing specifically, and really make that to differentiate from the drum 'n' bass, so people know the difference.

It's hard from our point of view to say what the progression would be because someone else listening to it could say, "Well, that's more doing this than it was that." We don't really approach making music with a plan, we just kind of do it, and it evolves in whatever way it does. We don't direct ourselves in one particular way. We just do whatever we feel is right at the time in the studio, and that's the product at the end of it isn't it? Whatever we kind of put together.

Q: The album seems to draw on a huge variety of musical influences, from drum 'n' bass to ragga/reggae to breaks, and even some house. And it's definitely got a lot of soul and funk in it. What were you aiming to achieve when you made it?

A: I think a dancefloor album. It's for deejays really, and for people who like to listen to that kind of music at home as well. It really is a good vibe kind of dance album. That's what we wanted to get at. We're happy with the way it came out and the way the tracks came together.

Q: Three of the tracks that seem to jump out off the album are "Disco Biscuit," "Megatron," and "Satellite Channel." All three are killer dancefloor tracks, but the first two have a lot of funk and soul to it, while the third one has a bit of a techy vibe to it. They all seem to show the depth and complexity of the Aquasky sound. Where do you think that comes from? Can you talk briefly about each of the three tracks?

A: The three of us produce as Aquasky and we kind of vibe off each other. One will take something in a particular way, and then the other two will join in. It's just the way we work. We've got a good relationship between the three of us, and we get on and have a laugh. We know when to step out as well. If someone's got an idea, the others kind of let go, then join in. I think that's you get that kind of extra element. It's just this kind of chemistry thing between the three of us that works well. You can't really put your finger on why it happens or why it sounds like that, but it just does.

"Satellite Channel" was quite a mad one because we were doing that on September 11th. That doesn't have anything to do with the track, but it was quite weird because we were doing that tune and watching the news as it was happening. So we just stopped and watched the news. So that was a weird sort of experience, and it's why we'll always remember that. They don't relate in any way, but it's just kind of a mad coincidence.

I think "Satellite Channel" was the first tune we did for the Botchit album, probably the first thing we did after the Master Blaster tune we did for Botchit Breaks. It was one of the early tunes, but seemed to be the one everyone picked up on. It goes down really well when we play it out. It was one of those things where you just kind of do it and it comes together really well.

With "Disco Biscuit" we wanted to give it more of a drum 'n' bassy kind of feel. It has got that sort of tech, funk, squelchy bass which we're quite into and use a lot in our tunes. It's purely a bassline tune. There's not really any music in it. It's pure dancefloor, which is really what we were aiming for with the whole album. That's one of the classic examples of nice, simple, rolling, slightly steppy beats with a driving bassline and not really anything else to it. That's it, just a few sort of clever edits in the arrangement so you don't get bored. "Megatron" has a bit more of a "stop it, go back to the old skool" feel. It's more influenced by the tunes of 10 years ago, but again with a kind of dancefloory tip to it, which we seem to put in everything. We're very pleased with the way it came out.

Aquasky chilling with the Ragga Twins

Q: I really felt the Ragga Twins tracks on the album. What was it like working with them? Are there any other vocalists or MCs you'd like to work with that you haven't had the chance yet?

A: They're really good to work with. They're sort of heroes of ours from back like 10 years ago when we used to go out. The Ragga Twins album "Reggae Owes Me Money" is one of my top 10 favorite albums of all time. We were looking for vocalists and they immediately popped up, and we thought, "We'll never probably get hold of them, but it would be nice if we could." Then we phoned them up, and they were really up for it. It was really quite mad to actually pull it off. They really were the classic sort of MCs like 10 years ago and they still bring such a vibe to a party when they do a live performance. They get everyone moving because they've got that really nice, positive party attitude. Not like moody and that kind of nasty attitude. They just bring something special to a party, which no one else does. It's cool to work with them, and I think we'll be working with them more in the future. We really enjoyed working with them, and they enjoyed working with us, so it's like a two-way partnership.

What we really wanna do is get them out touring with us because they bring such a cool vibe to a party, but it's really difficult because there are three of them because there's Cagey as well, and then there's us as well. So you end up with six people, but if there's anyone out there who wants to put up with six mad people, they're quite welcome to. That's the only problem with it, but it is a mad show. I've seen lots of MCs, but they're really something special. They're nice guys as well, which is great. We've done live PAs with them before and it goes down really well. It's a sight to see.