Sinden

Emma Warren

So Sinden, Hervé, Switch have all been breaking up dancefloors over the last year or so with something which sounded to me last night like a kind of turbo ghetto dance…

Sinden

I like turbo. Turbo is an apt term.

Emma Warren

Why is turbo a good term for what you do?

Sinden

Because it’s very energetic, very fast-paced. It’s a fitting term, it’s hyperactive, it doesn’t sit still, it’s always moving about, that’s how we make our tracks. They don’t stay still for any long time; they’re just moving along and switching it up.

Emma Warren

And the term “tearing up the dancefloor” seems quite apt.

Sinden

Yes, it does. We were recently pictured on the front cover of a magazine with chainsaws tearing up the speakers.

Emma Warren

Which of your tracks has had the most chainsaw type effect at the moment?

Sinden

We just did this new remix for Estelle, who’s a UK rapper. I might play it later, actually, it’s got a very trance kind of bassline, which is kind of tearing.

Emma Warren

Is this something you’ve been playing out recently?

Sinden

Yes, we just literally finished it last week and sent it off to the label to be approved. We haven’t heard back yet, but it’s doing really well in the clubs.

Emma Warren

Estelle goes trance, we should definitely have a listen to that one.

Sinden

We should do.

Emma Warren

Before we start listening to what you do, I thought it might be interesting to start with how prolific you’ve been. You’ve done an awful lot of remixes over the last 18 months.

Sinden

Yeah, it’s been crazy. It’s really taken off over the last couple of years, just remixing really hard. It’s a really good challenge to do, various artists have been coming: indie bands, rappers, dancehall artists, world music artists. That’s the challenge for me, reinterpreting what they do and putting our flavor on there, just putting our little signature on it.

Emma Warren

There aren’t a lot of people who could do Pharoahe Monch, To My Boy and god knows what else, Lady Sovereign, all in their remix CV.

Sinden

Yeah, it’s great and now I want to continue to work with more bands, that’s more interesting to me at the moment. I’m from a hip-hop background, so taking rap vocals is second nature, but doing something with bands is interesting. I love all the parts they give us, all the stems, all the drums and vocals. That’s cool.

Emma Warren

Did you start doing remixes because you were asked to do them or because you wanted to create stuff for your DJ sets?

Sinden

A little bit of both. Obviously, to get paid, remixes are the best. But we’re doing club tours as well, so we’ll make tunes for our DJ sets, just to spice them up. A lot of them don’t get released but it’s something that defines our DJ sets and makes them stand out from others.

Emma Warren

That’s something that taps into that old thing about having to go to see a DJ to hear a track.

Sinden

That’s true, it’s not a commodity you can go out and buy. It’s something you’d only hear if you listen to one of my DJ sets or heard a radio mix. Obviously, there’s a lot of sampling, which is why it might not always come out. Not that that’s been a big issue for us, we’ve always put out sampled tracks before.

Emma Warren

It changes the relationship between a DJ and people on the dancefloor, if you know you’re going to be getting something there that you can’t get anywhere else. It also means that you’re putting more in because you’re having to make the effort to go to hear the stuff. Do you find that people that come and see you… hmm, that’s a bit of a cul-de-sac question, isn’t it?

Sinden

[Laughs] I don’t know, possibly. I like to think I offer something more than just playing my own tracks or tracks I’m into. Hopefully, people will go back thinking, “Wow! I never heard that that before, that’s really cool.”

Emma Warren

So how prolific are you, how many remixes do you do in an average week?

Sinden

At the minute, we’re doing one or two a week, we just need to put them away. But it’s time we started holding back on the remixes a bit, because we’ve got an album we’re working on, so maybe it’s time we stop saturating the market and hold a bit back for the album.

Emma Warren

So, who’s the “we” in this?

Sinden

That’s my production partner, Count Of Monte Cristal who also goes by the name of Hervé. He’s a guy I’ve been working with for the last year, a very talented producer.

Emma Warren

I think one of the trademarks about your stuff is the really distinctive, specific noises. What’s your favorite noise at the moment?

Sinden

That’s difficult, I quite like this Estelle noise. A lot of our remixes are featuring quite trancey sounds. I don’t know if we should be going there with trance, but someone has to and twist it up. We’re not afraid, nothing’s a no-no, we don’t say “that sound’s out,” we’ll always go back and try something no one’s done for ten years.

Emma Warren

One of the things that’s interesting about what you’re all doing is you’re pulling stuff out of the past, but the stuff that’s cool now is stuff that was the most uncool first time around.

Sinden

Yeah, and that’s the dance music I grew up on. Now Technotronic and 2 Unlimited and Euro-rave is in trend at the moment. It’s cool, I can go and dig back through my old stuff. I’m not ashamed.

Emma Warren

But it’s really good, because otherwise people can end up trawling one path and it can get dry. There’s stuff in these records that have been deemed untouchable for a long time that suddenly makes them sound fresh again.

Sinden

That’s true, music can get stagnated and a lot of people seem to be copying certain trailblazers in the scene. To put your own spin on it is refreshing, if you can bring something new and fresh to the scene that’s how it’s going to evolve.

Emma Warren

I think we should have a listen to one of your biggest records at the minute. Can we have a bit of “Beeper,” please?

(music: The Count & Sinden – “Beeper” / applause)

Sinden

Thanks. That’s actually a new version with a rapper called Kid Sister, who you may know. Originally, that song used a sample of Pharrell and Fam-lay, but we had legal issues with it. We approached Pharrell and his lawyers to clear it, but they were going to take a whole load of our publishing, so we thought we’d get Kid Sister on it. The only thing left of the original is the hook and she put new lyrics on it, so it’s pretty much an original record now.

Emma Warren

And we’ve just had a little exclusive of it. Basslines seem to come from a different place than other genres which rely on basslines. It doesn’t come so much from the reggae soundsystem school, more the booty bass, Miami side of things. Would you say that’s true?

Sinden

Yes, definitely. We’re very influenced by ghetto house from Chicago and Detroit, and Miami bass music, hip-hop too. It’s funny, I was never really into house music until I met Switch and people like that. For me, it didn’t really have that bassline sound. But as soon as I heard his productions I started really getting into house music. I didn’t think it was like that before.

Emma Warren

So, in that area – ghetto house, booty bass – who are the people who really do it for you?

Sinden

I think the pioneers, people like DJ Funk, Godfather, DJ Assault, people like that. A lot of dudes in Chicago are the main people. There are a lot of new kids coming through as well and it’s great now: there are kids in Europe making that music, there are kids in Switzerland making Baltimore club music, in Australia. You can’t really put a location on it any more. Chicago and those American cities are the home of it, but…

Emma Warren

It was only a few years ago that trying to find a house DJ under 30 was almost impossible. Now it seems this style of music has rejuvenated people into wanting to DJ and play house music again.

Sinden

And also, getting people into the studio and getting creative, which is good for the scene.

Emma Warren

You talked about Detroit and some of those guys. Have you played there and is your stuff played there?

Sinden

No. I don’t know actually; a lot of our stuff crosses over in Baltimore. A friend of mine, Scottie B, has really embraced what we do. He started playing Baltimore club music and house and stuff. Even though he’s a veteran of the scene, he’s really embraced what we do. Same with a lot of people, I’m quite surprised that people don’t really have any hang-ups about playing different styles of music and just doing what they feel.

Emma Warren

So, you think you’re working in an almost genre-less age?

Sinden

Yeah, I think so. People have been trying to define what we do, put a genre on it, but I think it’s quite lazy. I don’t think music should be branded and genre-ised. I think the spirit of music now is taking from lots of different places and mixing it up, which is refreshing.

Emma Warren

Things aren’t really location-specific anymore, you have people in all these different cities in the world making baile funk or Baltimore, whatever, but they’re not necessarily from that place. I guess, that makes for interesting directions for the future.

Sinden

I think the internet has really helped with that, blogs and the way music is sent around the world. It’s less about record shops and more about finding that music online. The music now is moving so fast, like kids on the other side of the world can be playing exactly what you’re playing that week, but they’re putting their own twist on it and making that music, too, and putting it online. So, you have a good community.

Emma Warren

Which places online were particularly important for you in getting your music out there? Obviously, there’s MySpace but were there any other blogs or places that were good for you?

Sinden

I talk with people who run blogs, but usually it’s just that they’ll post tracks of mine. Sometimes the etiquette is that they will come and ask permission, but more often they just post them on site. It’s good. At first, I was a bit negative about it, like people downloading your music, but now I think it’s really cool and it’s really helped, the whole blog scene.

Emma Warren

It would be good to hear more of your stuff. You talked about Switch before and you’ve worked a lot with him. Can we hear a couple of things that show the breadth of the stuff you do with him?

Sinden

Shall I play “A Bit Patchy”? I don’t know if I have it.

Emma Warren

“Gotta Get Up,” maybe?

Sinden

OK, I’m going to play something which is…

Emma Warren

Oh, yeah! I told you I had that, didn’t I?

Sinden

Have you got it to hand, actually?

Emma Warren

No, it’s on my laptop downstairs. Whatever you’ve got there that would be nice to play. While you’re having a look can you tell us how you and Switch got together?

Sinden

I was working in a full-time job…

Emma Warren

What was that?

Sinden

I was working as a merchandiser for a fashion company, and one day a week I was doing PR for a label called Front Room for Jesse Rose. Switch was cutting his teeth at the time, producing some records for that label, just starting out and we got on really well. He said one day, “Just come into the studio one day. Even though you don’t have any studio experience, just come in and we’ll jam on some tracks. Bring some samples, bring some ideas and we’ll knock some stuff out.”

Emma Warren

So, what was he doing with house music that was different to other people?

Sinden

He was just flouting the rules, just doing these crazy eight-bar, 16-bar [things] where the track would just change direction. I’d never heard that before. Before that house music to me was, I was a bit ignorant, but it was like relentless and didn’t always have my interest. It was quite druggy and didn’t really change a lot, it was repetitive. That’s a good thing, too, there are some good tracks… I’m trying to find this track.

Emma Warren

What did you like about his music?

Sinden

I just thought sonically it was crazy, it was amazing. I’d never heard stuff like that before, just the way he had the kick drum sounding, it was so fat and bassy. He had his own sound, it was cool.

Emma Warren

I think one of the things he does and you do, too, is make stuff that’s interesting sonically, but is also really populist in the best sense of the word. Would you agree?

Sinden

Yeah, I want our stuff to cross over and be accessible. That’s why we don’t mind just using samples and being cheeky and stuff like that, referencing pop music and old dance records, those kinds of “guilty pleasures” records we talked about. While I’m looking for this track can I play something else?

Emma Warren

Yes, of course. So, what is it, what’s coming out of the CD case?

Sinden

Shall we play this Mark Ronson remix?

Emma Warren

Go ahead.

(music: Mark Ronson feat Amy Winehouse – “Valerie” (Count Of Monte Cristal & Sinden Remix) / applause)

Emma Warren

I think we’re going to hear something on a different tempo now, aren’t we?

Sinden

Yeah, that was a remix for Mark Ronson, “Valerie.” I wanted to play this because it’s a different tempo and it’s for a British grime artist called Lethal Bizzle.

(music: Lethal Bizzle – “Police On My Back” (Sinden Remix) / applause)

Emma Warren

It’s definitely the big, meaty, beaty, big approach to sound.

Sinden

That’s a slice of the ghettotech that inspires me.

Emma Warren

How does that connect with the music you grew up liking?

Sinden

That’s more of a recent thing; hip-hop is really what I grew up listening to, that and indie bands as well. Dance music came later. Definitely, hip-hop was the soundtrack to my growing up.

Emma Warren

Have you got the Buraka Som Sistema thing nearby?

Sinden

This is a remix myself and Count Of Monte Cristal did for a band called Buraka Som Sistema from Lisbon. It’s coming out on Modular.

(music: Buraka Som Sistema – “Yah!” (Count Of Monte Cristal & Sinden Remix) / applause)

Emma Warren

Nice use of the CD stutter there.

Sinden

Yeah, that’s the running joke, when a CD skips in a record shop people always say: “That’s the new Switch tune, or the new Sinden tune.”

Emma Warren

It’s like the new extended breakdown.

Sinden

I suppose, it’s a technique we use quite a lot, the vocal breakdown. It’s been a constant challenge, how to build out of a breakdown. Traditionally, it’s been the fills that get quicker, but now we’re trying to find different ways to make that transition between the breakdown and the verse.

Emma Warren

So tell me about Hervé, how did you start working together?

Sinden

Hervé is someone I met through Switch in the studio one time. Him and Switch were working on an EP for Dubsided and we just got on really well, we just hit it off and cussing each other over instant messenger, being cheeky.

Emma Warren

What good cusses has Hervé got?

Sinden

He’s really quick, he can just cut me down to the ground, he’s faster than me.

Emma Warren

So, you started working together.

Sinden

Yes, we started working together… “Beeper” was the first thing we did, almost a year ago now. We did an EP in basically a week. We both work really fast when we work together, he can turn things out really quickly. It’s a good partnership.

Emma Warren

So, we’ve got something else to listen to from the two of you.

Sinden

This is the Estelle mix I was talking about, with the trancey influence. It’s a track that Will.I.Am produced and features on.

(music: Estelle – “Wait A Minute” (Count & Sinden Remix) / applause)

Sinden

Thank you.

Emma Warren

You weren’t joking about the trance.

Sinden

I’m not messing about, am I (laughs)…

Emma Warren

Do you think it’s important as a producer almost to not care about what you’re supposed to do, because nothing’s sacred, is it?

Sinden

Yeah, definitely. I think it’s very easy to get caught up in that whole dance music snobbery thing. With house music, it’s something that’s always existed… here’s a deep house brigade, or the “You can’t do that, you can’t sample that”-people. I remember once Switch played an ABBA track I gave him, a cut-up of “Voulez Vous,” and he played it at this party in London with all these deep house and disco house DJs. They were all on the forums the next day: “Switch is playing ABBA, he’s shit. What’s he doing?” I was like, “Fuck it, it’s great.”

Emma Warren

What makes you say that? Why don’t you care?

Sinden

I don’t know, I just think I’m happy to show my influences and I suppose they are a bit kind of iffy, but I suppose that’s what we pride ourselves on, not really giving too much of a fuck, just doing what sounds right.

Emma Warren

And is fun a big part of it?

Sinden

Fun is definitely the biggest part of it, it should provoke the reaction that this is fun music and not something too serious or that you have to think about. It’s something that’s basically going to move your waist and make you let go. That’s what our stuff does, we like to think.

Emma Warren

So it’s a pied piper rave style: you will get on the dancefloor, you will lose your mind a bit and your arse will follow.

Sinden

That’s it.

Emma Warren

I thought it would be interesting to listen to something else you’ve done with Hervé. You’ve got “Tamborzuda” there.

Sinden

It’s funny you should say “pied piper,” actually. We have an advert in the UK for a theme park called Alton Towers and this bassline sounds a little bit like the advert for that theme park and the breakdown is 2 Unlimited-esque.

(music: Sinden & Count Of Monte Cristal feat MC Thiaguinho – “Tamborzuda” / applause)

Emma Warren

So what is it about 2 Unlimited, Snap!, early Prodigy that we’ve forgotten was so good, from your point of view?

Sinden

I don’t know… that’s a very good question. Maybe it’s the synth sounds they use, and also the simplicity. Sometimes we can get too complicated and think about things too much and make the music complicated, but really it should be about hooks, and some of the best tracks are just about simple drum beats and something very subtle that kind of changes.

Emma Warren

So, there’s lots of stuff from that part of music you’re taking. Obviously, there are lots of other things, too, but are you ever going to go so far as bringing back the cheesy rap?

Sinden

What, Morris Minor And The Majors? Roland Rat? (Laughs)

Emma Warren

Like “Rhythm Is A Dancer,” you know, the cheesy raps you used to get in the middle of rave records.

Sinden

Yeah, I could do that, me and Hervé.

Emma Warren

I’m not sure it’s entirely advisable, I don’t really want to be responsible. That’s one element of that era that’s thankfully been consigned to history.

Sinden

Yeah, hip-house. Some of it’s good, but some of it’s a bit… yeah.

Emma Warren

Hip-house isn’t the problem so much as dance music with the “here comes the cheesy rap bit.” One technical question: how do you and your production partners get your bass sounding so big?

Sinden

Basically, a lot of production techniques. It’s difficult, really. Hervé is definitely the man with basslines, he’s more technical than myself. We take it in turns to make the melodies, but Hervé’s the wizard in the studio who gets all the compression right.

Emma Warren

So, as a DJ, how important is it for DJs who maybe don’t have the most studio experience to work with partners who can get the sounds out of their heads and onto CD?

Sinden

That’s advisable, I started off as a DJ who then got into the studio and started making music. I still think I’m learning, I’ve only been doing it a couple of years. Switch was instrumental in bringing my ideas out and making them sound good. I think now it’s more accessible… music programs are cheap and home studios are very inexpensive. What I work on is very basic: monitors, Logic, a USB keyboard and plug-ins. It’s so much easier now.

Emma Warren

Are collaborations important?

Sinden

Collabs are good.

Emma Warren

Collabs are good! I feel a cheesy rap coming on.

Sinden

You can bounce off the other person much better and when you get stuck, the other person can come in and listen to it with fresh ears. Sometimes, when you’re in the studio, and you’re struggling over this remix or something, you need fresh ears and a second opinion. Hervé’s really good, him and Switch both, we all complement each other. Sometimes he’ll play a bassline he’ll look at me and go, “Is that good?”, and I’ll know that’s the one. If it’s a little bit borderline, it’s good to have that second opinion.

Emma Warren

And how important is going to the pub?

Sinden

Going to the pub is really important, that’s where all the best ideas come from. That’s where “A Bit Patchy” came from with Trevor Loveys, on a drinking binge (laughs).

Emma Warren

It’s a silly question, but it’s a serious question as well. Making music isn’t always about being in the studio 24 hours a day, seven days a week and looking into the blinking red lights.

Sinden

Definitely. It’s not the most inspiring place, the studio, it’s often quite dark and underground. All the best ideas are hatched through going out. It’s not even contrived, we’ll just have a chat and we’ll get onto music that we’re into at the moment or what’s inspired us in the past. It’s more natural: good music made in collaboration comes out of friendship and having a good connection.

Emma Warren

Have you got something else to play that will show us a different side to you. But while you’re looking, maybe I could ask you a little bit about Southend, which is where you’re from…

Sinden

Southend… yeah…

Emma Warren

If you think about where London is in the UK and you follow east, through the East End you end up in Southend…

Sinden

Yeah, if you follow the Thames all the way east, that’s where Southend is, on the seafront.

Emma Warren

It’s got quite a specific culture, hasn’t it?

Sinden

Yeah, it’s guys who dress up in Ralph Lauren shirts and gel their hair and wear tight trousers and loafers and drink loads of beer and go to sticky-carpet clubs.

Emma Warren

I’ve never been there, but a lot of grime MCs go there on day trips…

Sinden

I’ve heard about this… why?

Emma Warren

I don’t know why. It’s kind of a grime day trip… and the other thing I think about is kids in arcades…

Sinden

Yeah, there’s a big arcade culture. We have one theme park that’s not very good…

Emma Warren

So, is it the kind of place you need to embrace and get what you can out of it, or is it the kind of place you need to get out of?

Sinden

I think it’s the kind of place you need to get out of. It’s quite an unlikely location for music, although, saying that, it’s got a really good history. Now it’s a hotbed of bands, like The Horrors, and it was good in the ’70s and ’80s for soul and jazz nights.

Emma Warren

It was definitely on that soulboy scene.

Sinden

Yeah, a lot of people would come from London for soul weekenders… I guess it’s got a good culture, but I’d always bemoan its lack of decent nights. Actually, drum & bass was really big there – that was exciting. On Southend high street there were three shops specializing in hardcore, UK breakbeat stuff.

Emma Warren

Which bit of hardcore?

Sinden

Jungle. I got into jungle and drum & bass and going to under-18 raves… I first got into drum & bass through the Metalheadz label, Alex Reece “Pulp Fiction,” that kind of thing… That man over there, Zinc, he was responsible for quite a few tunes. I was getting into the jump-up stuff too…

So, we took the boy out of Southend, where’s the Southend in the music?

Sinden

I don’t know, it’s somewhere in there.

Emma Warren

Sometimes you don’t think that way about your music, but is there anything that connects it to where you grew up or what you listened to?

Sinden

That’s difficult. The hip-hop influence is always prominent, no matter what music we make, it always goes back to hip-hop. It might not be instantly recognizable, but it is in there.

Emma Warren

So where’s the hip-hop in the music?

Sinden

The hip-hop is in a lot of the drums we use and we’ll cut up the lyrics; we’ll make a house tune but we always put some hip-hop in there, just to get me interested in it. What I want to do is fuse dance music and hip-hop, because that’s not happening enough. When I was growing up people were into hip-hop or dance music, and it never really crossed over. That’s happening more now.

Emma Warren

So we’ve had nu rave, maybe now we’ll have nu hip-house. You’ve described yourself as a big hip-hop head. Who was it in hip hop, who really did it for you?

Sinden

Public Enemy, they had the rage and the image was striking and bold with the S1Ws, and the way Chuck and Flavor combined together, it was great. Hip-hop was really exciting for me, growing up in Southend in sleepy Essex, and then Public Enemy come along and blow your mind with this angry, hard hip-hop…

Emma Warren

It’s easy to forget or not to realize quite how alien that sounded at the time. I remember the first time I heard Public Enemy, thinking, “It’s not that I like it, that’s not really the feeling I’m getting from it, but I’ve never heard anything so alien and strong and powerful and mad in my life and I need that…”

Sinden

Sonically, it just bombards you, sounds coming out of everywhere. I heard they’d go into the studio and all play different instruments and record it, then just take one little bit of what they’ve heard. Basement Jaxx told me they do that as well, they’ll all play instruments at once and they’ll find something interesting from the session, that’ll be something they’ll run with. It’s just a cacophony of crazy sonics.

Emma Warren

So, Public Enemy were a big influence for you, who else is in your box of hip-hop records?

Sinden

A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Native Tongues thing. Jungle Brothers were big, BDP and KRS-One. I wasn’t so much into NWA. and the West Coast gangsta stuff, although I got into that later, but more the New York Gang Starr, DJ Premier stuff.

Emma Warren

Then, moving on from hip-hop, was old-school UK garage an influence on you?

Sinden

Definitely.

Emma Warren

Was it something you were actively into or something you just kind of liked?

Sinden

I just liked it really, the heavier stuff. Not so much the light, skippy vocal stuff, more the bassline-oriented stuff.

Emma Warren

So less “Sweet Like Flowers”? I mean “Sweet Like Chocolate.”

Sinden

“Flowers” was the other tune.

Emma Warren

Brrrrp! I just mashed it up. (Laughs) So less of a Sweet Female Attitude, more Benny Ill.

Sinden

Benny Hill?

Emma Warren

Ill, Benny Ill!

Sinden

Oh, yeah! Horsepower Productions, I thought you said Benny Hill. Yeah, I was into the early Tempa stuff, that whole South London Big Apple thing, Bingo, those kinds of records. Yeah, they were big.

Emma Warren

What did you like about them?

Sinden

They had a really good swing about them, they had energy and were really direct and the tempo was good as well. I always find drum & bass quite hard to digest, but that was a tempo I could move at, the 130 tempo.

Emma Warren

I guess you don’t have anything in there to illustrate the kind of garage you’re talking about, but what would you suggest people check out?

Sinden

Good question.

Emma Warren

Sorry to slightly put you on the spot.

Sinden

Wookie, actually. I’d go to a night called Twice As Nice sometimes back when that was happening and the end of the night they’d always play three or four Wookie dubs and that was the highlight. Wookie’s great.

Emma Warren

And what was the Wookie cut for you?

Sinden

It’s got to be “Scrappy,” that was the one… blew me away, amazing.

Emma Warren

I almost asked you to do me the bassline there, but I won’t… Have you got something else you can play us that brings us up to date, something that you’re working on?

Sinden

This is for a project for V2. It’s an old Latin boogaloo project, like ’60s Latin jazz, and they’re putting together a compilation, and they asked me to remix “Fever” by [La Lupe].

Emma Warren

Interesting…

(music: La Lupe – “Fever” (Sinden Remix) / applause)

Sinden

That was quite interesting, I thought I’d approach it in a different way. With a project like that people will, more often than not, just sort of update it, like with extra drums and a synth line. But I wanted to completely deconstruct it, take the vocal and put it in a completely different arena.

Emma Warren

So artistically, is irreverence an important part of what you do?

Sinden

Definitely, just have fun with it. The best results are when you’re really having fun with a track. When you’re slaving over it and not having fun, that’s when it gets a bit dry. Sometimes the decisions you make over remixes can backfire; if you’re not into the track then it’s not really advisable to remix it. If you’re having fun with it and you’re into it, that’s when you got the best results.

Emma Warren

So, you have a follow-your-feet attitude to it.

Sinden

Yeah, follow your head and your feet…

Emma Warren

You’ve got something else to play us now, haven’t you?

Sinden

Yeah, this is a guy from Sheffield called Toddla T, who’s making dancehall and this is the Count and Sinden remix of “Inna De Dancehall.”

(music: Toddla T – “Inna De Dancehall” (Count Of Monte Cristal & Sinden Remix) / applause)

Emma Warren

That sounded heavy. I like the slowing down bit.

Sinden

Slowing down is the new speeding up. (Laughter) Everybody’s going to be doing it soon, it’ll go from 130 down to 5bpm.

Emma Warren

That will fit that kind of underwater dancing thing you see people doing.

Audience member

[Inaudible]

Emma Warren

I wasn’t going to say that but you said it for me. Doesn’t matter, let’s talk about your DJing style. You’re CD-only, right?

Sinden

Yep. CDJs at the minute, I’m thinking about using Serato for CDs. I’m resisting using Ableton at the minute. I know Switch started on Ableton but now he uses CDJs. Hervé and Trevor Loveys are Ableton users, which is good, you can get good results off every format you use. Vinyl is still good, Serato is good, I’ve seen people use CDJs incredibly, it’s basically knowing your tool.

Emma Warren

So who’s brilliant on CDJs?

Sinden

Erol Alkan is amazing, he’s got his loop points and the way he’s playing with the wide pitch, the feature on the CDJ Mk III means you can go from zero bpm all the way up to 200. He’s really creative with loop points.

Emma Warren

So what do you think about that vinyl-is-best school of thought?

Sinden

I think vinyl is still really valid, and if you DJ with it and you’re really tight, that’s awesome. I don’t think it’s necessarily the case that computers are the way forward, it’s all about how you use them. You can have a computer and DJ off Ableton, but if you’re just mixing as I would be doing off a CDJ there’s no advantage to doing it. But if you’re doing it really creatively and bringing something new it’s good.

Emma Warren

Obviously, there’s the easiness of carrying them. Are there any other reasons why you use CDs and not vinyl?

Sinden

Because a lot of the tracks I’m given are CDs. A lot of the promo companies are mailing out CD instead of vinyl, and a lot of the tracks I make I can just burn onto CD. It’s the ease of having your laptop wherever you go, taking it onto a plane, having it ready for the club in the same evening.

Emma Warren

I like the way you spread everything out, you’ve got your own little messy table on the side of the decks.

Sinden

I’m really, really messy… I should be more organized.

Emma Warren

Everyone has their own style.

Sinden

I like feeling at home when I’m DJing… taking my shoes off, having a cup of tea.

Emma Warren

Maybe you could put that in your rider: I need a sofa, a comedy pillow. I think we’re coming to the end. Start thinking about any questions you want to ask Sinden and don’t forget to use the mic. Otherwise people watching afterwards won’t have the benefit of hearing your brilliant questions. Before we do that, we should talk about the label you run with Switch.

Sinden

The label I run with Switch is called Counterfeet. We got off to a very slow start and had, like, one release in one year.

Emma Warren

That’s very relaxed.

Sinden

Yeah, that’s very relaxed. Then we signed a group called Radioclit, one guy from Sweden and one from France, and we’ve done two EPs from them, one of which is in the shops. And one Count Of Monte Cristal EP, and one we did together. It started off as a bootleg label, and we were just going to do mash-ups. Then we decided that wasn’t the best way to do it and we wanted to promote music, whatever style that would be, just a platform for our productions.

Emma Warren

So, have you got something you can play us from Counterfeet?

Sinden

This is the new track by Radioclit, “Divine Gosa,” and it’s actually a beat for the Bonde De Rolê’s new album and this is a remix by a kid from Paris called Brodinski.

(music: Radioclit – “Divine Gosa” (Brodinski Remix) / applause)

Emma Warren

So, one final question from me before we open it up to everyone else. You’ve mentioned a few different people you’ve liked over the years. If you could get one person to make a tune in your style, be it Aphex Twin, Bomb Squad, Wookie, who would it be?

Sinden

Very tough question, definitely not someone from a dance background… I don’t want to pass on that question either.

Emma Warren

Maybe you can marinate on it. So, who’s got the mic, who’s got a question? That was a bit “Who’s got the poison, who’s got the remedy” wasn’t it? I’m heading toward a cheesy rap that you don’t want to hear.

Sinden

You got a career in hip-hop (laughs).

Emma Warren

So not (laughs). OK, so, any questions?

Audience member

I was just wondering if you listen much speed garage and what kind of influences you’ve gotten from that or artists that you listen to in that kind of genre

Sinden

Yeah again, I don’t know who to say really. I think it’s more a sound. I’m trying to pinpoint certain artists. I’ve just gone blank. You should check out, if you’re into speed garage, the whole kind of bassline house stuff. Back home, it’s very big in the north of England, and it’s like the new speed garage for this year. It’s very sort of bassline-led house.

Emma Warren

The bassline house thing is quite intriguing because I’ve been trying to find an in, to find what I like in it, personally. And I haven’t found my in yet. What should I be checking out?

Sinden

There’s a few people. Check out Dexplicit, who you know of. T2, who’s got a big tune called “Heartbroken.” DJ Q is a good person to check out as well.

Emma Warren

T2, “Heartbroken”?

Sinden

Yeah, massive record. DJ Q as well. He’s a 1Xtra DJ. Umm… but the tracks are few and far between. For me the production values aren’t always there. I think it’s still growing.

Emma Warren

This is some interesting stuff there.

Sinden

Yeah, some good stuff there. Check out that Niche 4/4 stuff.

Emma Warren

What’s the show on Rinse? [Inaudible comment from the audience]… Wednesday afternoon for some bassline house on the internet [Rinse FM]. [Inaudible comment from the audience] Cool, cool. We’ll be checking it out. [Points to audience] You’ve got a question?

Audience member

I was wondering what you call your music? Because I know you were on the cover of Mixmag, I think.

Sinden

DJ [magazine]?

Audience member

Yeah

Sinden

I heard a good one. I’ve heard waistline house the other day [laughs].

Emma Warren

Well, that’s better than wasteman house…

Sinden

Yeah I don’t want to be associated with wasteman house. I mean, people have tried to categorize it as fidget house, which was a deliberate move by Jesse Rose to start up media attention. And then I’ve heard crunk house. I’ve heard all kinds of different things. I don’t really call it anything. House, I suppose, used to be a bit of a dirty word. But I don’t think really it has a sound or name.

Emma Warren

OK, any other questions? Who else? [Waits for a response] Oh we’ve got a question.

Audience member

I’m just curious to know what sort of indie rock bands you’ve been working with or would like to work with. You were saying that you wanted to do more stuff with bands...

Sinden

I want to definitely.

Audience member

But are there any specific bands that you’re into right now?

Sinden

I heard a good band recently that Erol put me onto. I don’t think they have a deal yet. They’re called Late Of The Pier. Have you heard of them? They’re really good. I suppose they’re the favorite stuff that I’ve heard recently. But keeping up with bands is another thing to listen to. Like I really should do more research with bands. It’s hard enough keeping up with dance or hip hop…

Emma Warren

Yes, it’s a 24-hour job. So, I guess we should start wrapping up. Have you got anything to play us out with?

Sinden

DJ Reckless.

Emma Warren

DJ Reckless on Rinse FM on the internet.

Sinden

I’m gonna do a remix for a band actually. Since we’re talking about bands. They’re a band from Liverpool called To My Boy. It’s coming out through XL.

(music: To My Boy - “Model” (Pull Tiger Tail Remix) / applause)

Sinden

Thank you.

Emma Warren

So, really, all that’s left to do now is say thanks to Sinden.

Sinden

Thanks for having me.