Interview With Renegade Soundwave’s Danny Briottet For Future Jungle Blog

Rhythm Riders is a collaboration between Tony Gad & Drummie Zeb of UK dub icons Aswad, Danny Briottet of electronica pioneers Renegade Soundwave and Tim Bran of Dreadzone / Subsonar, alongside vocalists Solomon, Sweetie Irie and Brother Culture among others.

Rhythm Riders takes the musical heritage of Aswad into a 21st century urban setting, with intricate harmonies and conscious lyrics fused with state of the art rhythms and production, taking in elements of contemporary bass music - Dub, Drum & Bass, Dubstep, Breaks, UKG, Deep House.

First single 'Come With The Love' on Sub Slayers comes with remixes from top producers in all fields from the U.K, U.S and Europe.

Rhythm Riders is 3 generations of London musical culture with its roots in dub and its eyes on the future.

We have been granted an exclusive interview with Danny from Renegade Soundwave to whom we are most grateful and to Jay Cunning and all involved in this massive release available from all good download stores…

You Have Been At The Very Roots Of The Rave Scene Since The Late 80's And Worked Alongside Some Of The Pioneers Of The Dub/Electronica Sound, Can You Tell Us A Bit More About How This Came About?

We Grew Up Around West London And Spent A Lot Of Time In New York And Berlin & Were Exposed To All The Different Cultures & Musics Such As Dub, Hip Hop, Punk, Early House And Channelled All That Into Our Music. Our Sound Was The Sum-Total Of Our Experiences And Represented London At The Time. We Used The Early Basic Technology That Was Available Such As The Akai S900 Sampler , Juno Keyboard And Notator Sequencing Software As Well As Regular Instruments And Turntables To Enable Us To Do This. This All Became Pretty Standard Stuff, But It Was New At The Time. As We Progressed So Did The Technology And The Studio Became Our Instrument.

Most People Know You For 'The Phantom', A Seminal Tune From The Early 90's, Often Sped Up To +8 By Djs Favouring The Hardcore/Jungle Sound, Did You Have Any Idea It Would Become Such A Big Tune?

That Tune Was Written Very Quickly And It Just Kind Of Had A Spirit Of Its Own, That's Why I Called It The Phantom. Didn't Write It With It Becoming Big In Mind, But After We Let A Few Copies Out To Selected Djs You Could Feel That Something Was Happening. By The Time It Came Out You Could Hear It Everywhere From The Pirates To The Big Clubs. I Think It Was One Of Those Records That Just Captured The Moment And Give People A Lift At The Right Time. It Was A Very Exciting Period With Lots Of People Being Turned On To Various Things That Has Previously Been Known Only To A Few. I've Also Been Told Many Times That It Was The Tune That Drew A Lot Of Black And Asian People Into The Rave Scene.

You Have Produced In A Variety Of Styles And Genres, Is There A Style That You Prefer To Make Tunes In?

No, Whole Point For Me Is Just To Do Your Own Thing & Not Try To Fit In With Anything. I Think That's Why You Can Still Play The Rsw Stuff.

Genres Will Come & Go But Good Records Stand The Test Of Time.

The Vocalist On 'Biting My Nails' Sounds So Much Like Shaun Ryder, Is It Him?

No Its Not But We Were Down With Shaun. There Was Supposed To Be A Happy Mondays / Renegade Soundwave Tour Of The States At One Point But It Fell Apart For Reasons I Won't Go Into.

Which Of Your Personal Productions Over The Years Are Your Favourites?

The Phantom Would Be One, And Some Of The Other Rsw Stuff Like The Dub Of Cocaine Sex. My Remix Of Moby’s 'Why Does My Heart' And Cypress Hill’s ‘Checkmate’... A Record I Did Under The Subsonic Legacy Guise Called 'Revolution (Bring The Noise)'...Grace Jones 'Corporate Cannibal'

And Who Do You Rate Musically In 2013?

Julio Bashmore, Breakage, King Yoof, Stylo G, Lg Bass Terror, @It... I Like Some Of The U.S Trap Stuff, Mainly Because It’s The First Time You've Got White Indie Kids Making Records With Black Urban Producers. We've Always Been Racially And Socially Mixed In The U.K - That's Why We Invent So Many Kinds Of Music Like D&B And Dubstep, But In The States Its Always Been Too Segregated. There's Always Interesting Stuff Coming Off The Streets Here - You Never Know Whats Round The Corner But Kids In The U.K Will Always Be Creative.

Which Brings Us To The Present Day And A New Release, A Colaboration With Aswad And Solomon Where You Have Ressurected Your Rhythm Riders Alias Along With Renegade Soundwave, Its An Incredible Tune With A Positive Message, Whats The Story Behind It?

Thanks, I Became Friends With Drummie Zeb From Aswad A Long Time Ago And We Used To Hang Out And Mess Around In The Studio. Then Him & Tony Gad Started Talking About Doing A Project In A Different Direction To Aswad, So Rhythm Riders Happened Naturally In My Studio. I've Done A Lot of Work with Tim Bran (Ex Of Dreadzone) So The Four Of Us Started Putting Down Ideas And More & More People Such As Soloman, Sweetie Irie And Brother Culture Got Involved.

Aswad Were Great Heroes Of Mine When I Was Growing Up So It Was An Honour To Find Myself Working With Them. Rhythm Riders Is Like 3 Generations Of West London Musical Culture With Its Roots In Dub And Its Eyes On The Future.

There Are Several Remixes Of 'Come With The Love' Due For Release Alongside The Original, What Do You Think Of Them?

Jay Cunning Has Done An Amazing Job Putting This Together With All These Excellent Remixes. All The Producers Have Delivered A Terrifying Array Of Versions. It’s Great To Hear Our Music In All These Different Contexts And The Response Has Been Very Positive.

Finally, Thanks For Taking The Time, Any Final Words And Shout Outs?

This Is The First Release From A Project That Has Been Simmering For A While And Now Ready To Go. There Will Be More Records And Hopefully Rhythm Riders Live And Sound System Dates And A Video To Come.

Sub Slayers 24: Rhythm Riders feat Aswad, Renegade Soundwave & Solomon by Sub Slayers