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.
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
