Rudimental Interview

In recent years the role of the producer has drastically changed and Rudimental are the perfect group to highlight this, having stepped from behind a mixing desk into live shows. The four London born producers work together to create music influenced by growing up around the eclectic mixture of music that soundtrack the streets of Hackney, combining soul, hip-hop, jungle, reggae and drum and bass on their debut album ‘Home’. Ahead of their performance at Live at Leeds WOW247 spoke to Piers Aggett from the group.

What can people expect from the album?
Soul, bass and beats. It’s going to have a theme of soulful vocals as that’s what we are about and melodies and grooves that make you want to dance. It’s not just drum and bass there is going to be house, garage, hip hop, a little bit of reggae.

When you are dipping in and out of so many different genres and singers how do you keep a consistent sound?
It’s definitely hard, labels don’t like it and they get a bit stressed out. We are fanatics of music so if we have an idea and it kind of doesn’t sit, then we will change it. Good vocals and vibe instruments, mixing that with electronic music is our big thing so I think people will get that from our album but it’s different, it will keep people on their toes. I think we are a more of a band but we have come from the electronic world. When we do a fast song it leans towards jungle and when we do a slow song it leans towards house.

The role of the producer has changed in the last few years, where do you think it’s headed?
It’s changed hugely, if you go back to the 90s the role of the producer wasn’t really writing it was more advising the writers and advising the project and making it all work together. The producer these days kind of does a bit of everything, we write the idea with the artist or sometimes on our own, we kind of do the middle bit of putting it together and we do the end bit, we even sometimes do the mixing, because there is four of us we can pass the work around. The role of the producer is definitely a multi-role thing rather than a one-role thing that it used to be.

What do you want from the future of the band?
When we first met we all said we would love to headline Glastonbury one day, however long that takes. Or do our own gig at Hyde Park like Coldplay did and Blur, have an amazing live show and keep producing albums.



Published in Yorkshire Evening Post 

Fun @ Leeds O2 Academy Leeds 16th April 2013

Not many bands have the ability to impart on a gig a festival atmosphere but that is exactly what Fun did when they brought their show to Leeds.

The American band started in 2008 but it wasn’t until they released their second album Some Nights and the lead single We Are Young filtered onto radios that Fun’s spirited pop was brought to the masses.

Lead singer Nate Ruess commands attention as he dashes around the stage, his presence a mixture between Rufus Wainright, Mika and Freddie Mercury just without the flamboyant dress sense. He is one of those frontmen that draws your focus and you find yourself not being able to look away from him.

The only instrument he uses throughout the gig is his voice so he is able to move swiftly around the stage and by the end of the gig he must have covered every inch of the floor but still looks like he has the energy to run a marathon. His vocal ability is extraordinary; a male hasn’t reached and sustained such high notes since Danny Zuko in Grease.

The set feels like it is over before it has begun as the songs are so well crafted that there isn’t a moment where you aren’t carried along by the anthemic tracks. The tracks are filled with upbeat sentiments and empowering lyrics that prompts the sense of inclusion that you don’t get with my many gigs where everyone in that room at that moment is feeling the same thing.

Where the festival spirit is really evident is during the encore of We Are Young when the entire audience is on their feet, arms raised above their heads as the band round off a motivating and energetic gig.


Published in Yorkshire Evening Post