The past few years you have been busy releasing music on various labels such as 31 Recordings, Smooth N Groove, Soul Deep Recordings, and Omni Music. Do you find it harder to stay creative and finish songs, or actually making the time to be able to get the work done?

It's a mix of both, I find it's either I've got the time and nothing is really working, or it's working but I haven't got the time. Usually though, if I keep at it, something good will come of it. Thankfully, I'm at a point where I can recognise when something isn't working, and it can either be binned or left for another day. I do try to finish any projects that get beyond a 16 bar loop stage though, I think that's really important, there is always something to learn or improve on.

Do you usually follow a routine or outlined method for bringing your songs together or does your approach always vary and things just work out for you? How much do you think your overall workflow or personal critique has changed over the years of you making music?

I don't follow a routine as such, but over the last few years I've developed an expansive template project to start from. It's a killer on the CPU, but I wanted to replicate a real studio and have my preferred synths ready to go, routed to busses and running through effects etc - it just saves time and helps to build more of an identifiable sound.

I used to be quite chaotic and that was, if I'm being honest, due to me simply not learning how to setup certain things in the DAW. One thing that has remained a constant is that I pretty much always start with a chord sequence of some sort and then build the track around that. I rarely start with beats and breaks.

I've become more ruthless with my own music over the years, I'll scrap something if it's not working or swap out a whole element. You can spend a lot of time adding elements when it might be that the elements you have just aren't that great.

Earlier this year, you and Response had the Andromeda EP come out on the Wilderness label. You also worked together again for a July release on Okbron Records. Both records are great and it's nice this music has been able to get support. I'm guessing you two have been talking and working on music together for a bit now? Is it relatively easy going for you both to get ideas completed?

We had a period of making those tracks a couple of years ago and we haven't made any for a while but I'm sure we will, I've been mainly working solo for the last 12 months or so, not because I don't enjoy collaboration, but more so I don't get seen as a "collab" guy - I'm not making the tea here!

I've been a big fan of Response & Pliskin for years and always admired their ethos, in an era of the 3 minute track, they've gone the opposite way! They also don't crowd out their tracks, they keep it simple. I'm sure Nick probably wanted to cut a few things from our tracks that I added!

We work independently, and send over stems that then get built out, it's all very easy, we've got very similar tastes, so it's not like one of us are going to add one of those frog noises!

In August, we saw your first release on the Metalheadz label with the "Things Are Different Now" EP, which again features a song with Response as well as other guests Justice and Uneven. This is such a great EP and it's hard for me to pick a favorite song as I think I like them all equally and for how well they all fit together here. I'm guessing that some or maybe all of these songs have been on dub for a while just waiting for the right opportunity and home?

Not really! They were all recently finished when I sent over my demo to Metalheadz, the only one that was a little older was the title track itself. I try a more targeted approach with demos, it's also pointless sending over one or two tracks at a time, I think five or six is the right amount.

I'd wanted to release on Metalheadz from the moment I started even thinking about making music twenty five years ago, so they were top of the priority list, and thankfully they went for those tracks!

What might be some good information for younger producers that are trying to get music released where an EP features a number of artist collaborations?

Get to know the people you are collaborating with, make sure you are all on the same page - this isn't the 90s, you aren't going to be buying a BMW on the back of this anymore! It's also easier if you let one person send tracks out and communicate with labels/DJs. It's important to keep track on which tracks have been sent where.

Your new EP found it's home on Metalheadz which has been around for decades and continues to provide a place for artists to get their music out there. I'm sure you have followed the label for many years. What active labels would you like to get music to or some you worked with already but would love to continue with? Any upcoming releases that you might be able to talk about that we should watch for?

I'm definitely aiming to follow up with more music on Metalheadz, but the other big one for me is Over/Shadow, I love their approach with their releases and design. Does my music fit? Who knows!

Wilderness is arguably the best new label in the last few years so it was great to release that EP, and it's great to have music on vinyl again , fingers crossed I'll get something on Wilderness again.

Sadly, there aren't that many of the legendary labels still running - the big one for me when I first started releasing music was Creative Source, that's a label I'd love to see return.

Daniel Blishen (Zyon Base) and you have been making music for many years under the Silent Dust alias and operating the none60 Records label. Any information or thoughts you would like to share with readers about those efforts?

I'm sure we'll make music again at some point but there isn't really much going on with Silent Dust right now. A third Silent Dust album at some point is in the back of my mind, but I don't really know what that would sound like right now. People often think that none60 is finished, it's not. I rested it a few years back, purely so I could concentrate more on my music, but we did release some new Silent Dust music on none60 last year. I can't see us releasing regularly on there, nor will we be releasing music outside of our own. It's an outlet for Silent Dust only at the moment, but you never know! If the right music came along, I'd probably get the A&R bug again.

none60 Records

What are some other hobbies or interests you have outside of making music? If you never got into the world of Drum & Bass music and producing, where do you think you would be spending that extra time?

I'm incredibly boring, I like film (dare I say "Cinema"), I like football (a currently suffering Man United supporter), I like books and I like video games.

If it wasn't Drum & Bass, I think I would be doing something music related, I wanted to open a record shop when I was younger, so maybe I would have gone into that? I'd love to make music for films or video games too one day.

Any closing thoughts or shout outs?

Thanks to everyone that has supported all my recent releases, it's much appreciated.

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