Essex brings the bass! :: A1 Bassline Interview

Essex, in the U.K., presents us with more than just the oldest church in England, it gave us A1 Bassline! This dude makes disgustingly intense dance music by mixing Garage with Techno with Rave with Electro and some added wobble bass for good measure! A1 rips it! Using hard rave leads to drive the entranced listener into antelope style leaps, whilst pushing the frequency range to new levels with garage style bass and audacious electro drums.

A1 Bassline Bad Man Horror  EP on Beatport

Folks like Steve Aoki have said that he plays this man’s tracks “ALL THE TIME”, and The Kool Kids Klub describe his sound as “AN ESSENTIAL WINNING PARTY INGREDIENT”… A1 Bassline has been turning heads not just in the club scene, but in the well-respected producer market also.

DON’T PARTY caught up with the A1 himself and thought we’d ask him some questions!

• Where did the name A1 Bassline originate? Does it have anything to do with the A1 highway in the U.K?

Nah, It was kind of a joke, one of the first tracks I did in a different project I used the preset Cubase synth for a noise, it’s called A1.

• Your sound is a fresh mix between the early nineties and the future, with strong rave-leads, driven by heavy house drums and banging wobble bass…

1. How did this sound come about?

I started the project writing garage which was something i grew up on as a kid. But i wanted to slow it down and write more house music with the influences of garage, drum and bass, dancehall etc…

2.  Where you looking to combine the old and new skool stuff, or was this just a natural progression for you?

Yeah I guess so seeing some sounds I chose reminded me of music I grew up on. But I never want to be stuck on one thing or one sound. I enjoy so many genres of dance music it’s nice to write everything, everything is so open at the moment so it feels nice being able to freely write different stuff. Some of my newer tunes are a bit more stripped back but i still writing the big room stuff.

• Did it take some time for your style to be recognized and respected, or did it just hit the mark straight off the bat?

It did happen fairly quickly, my first e.p helped a lot, got some wicked support from the blogs and the label “meal deal” done a great job!

• What kind of software do you use? Are you an outboard synth junkie, or does the digital age cut it for you?

I’m a Cubase man but just bought a new mac pro and logic 9. Gonna make the change as soon as i got everything finished on my other comp. I mainly use software but i do have a few outboard synth’s and a compressor.

• I know a lot of DJ’s/ Producers from here in South Africa that reference your stuff, have you been greeted with as much love in other parts of the world as you have been in the U.K.?

Sick! Yeah, it’s crazy I have played the States, Mexico, a lot of Europe and just come back from Australia and got some wicked responses. Big thanks to the internet!

• You run your own blog… tell us more about this? [click to view the A1 Blog]

Yeah but it’s only really a personal thing to remind me of certain nights and give away free tracks and remixes. I should start updating it more.

• How do you feel about the current trend of electronic music… do you feel that it is vibrant and kicking, pushing it hard to new frontiers, or do you feel that it is slipping a bit into the tedious and mundane with the relentless amount of new “artists” popping up re-creating each other’s sound?

Yeah for sure there are a lot of new artists coming through and people do take influences but I think it keeps the scene healthy. If people are writing good music then that’s a positive thing, all the people who imitate and do it bad get pushed to one side anyways.

• With regard to remixing… you’ve done a truckload! Do you choose what you want to remix or do you get approached and commissioned to remix tracks from other artists?

I get approached to do them and yeah I have done too many maybe! Haha! Some of them I’m proud of, some of them I’m not. I’m gonna slow down on remixing and start concentrating on my original stuff.

• Do you do all your own mastering?

Nah, i send my tracks to be mastered, mastering is really important so i would rather send it of so someone who is a professional.

• Would you ever pose nude for cash money?

How much…..

• Why is 6 scared of 7?

Cos 6 is one third of the devil

A1 was kind enough to give us these tracks for you to cherish and nurture!
A1 Bassline – Here Come Da by dontparty
Fugative – Superfly (A1 bassline remix) by dontparty

but dont forget artists deserve some compensation for their work so buy his tracks on BEATPORT!

click HERE for A1 Bassline Bad Man Horror  EP on Beatport!

for more A1 check out his: myspace