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It’s getting big this ol bass music ting. Stateside Skrillex has created a sound touted as the new rock n roll, UK whippersnappers like Disclosure, Melé and Last Japan have used it to reinvigorate house music and there’s a growing trend from the likes of South Central and the monolithic Magnetic Man project from Skream, Benga & Artwork to gift it a live edge. New upstarts ANiMAL are forging their own take on it. They’ve supported bands as wide ranging as shrieky anarchists The Blackout and molten vocalled genre benders Alabama 3, as well as their own shows and scintillating DJ sets. Their debut single ‘I Am Fire’ is out now (and part of Ministry’s brand new House Party 2013 compilation) so we pinned them down for an exclusive mix and had a quick interview with band member Pete Pocket. Rest assured you’ll be hearing more of them come 2013.
Tell us about the mix you’ve done for us then. And for anyone that hasn’t heard about you before, your style and sound. The mix is an eclectic mash up. That’s what we are. With luck we’ve gone and given a good representation of us, our personalities, and our band.
Tell us some more about your individual personal backgrounds as well, what were you doing before you formed the band? We all worked in music as DJ’s or Producers or Engineers; it’s all we have ever done. I have this dream that one day we can all hold down a three day a week manual labour job. That’s the dream after the music is gone and my tattoos look stupid.
How has 2012 treated you, we hear you’ve been on tour with Alabama 3 and The Blackout? Touring has been good. It’s been a good year. We got to go to Poland a couple of times and plough round other parts of Europe. We got management, signed our Publishing to EMI and generally got a lot of other stuff done, kind of setting the groundwork for everything,.Next year will be bigger. You know when you hit someone in the face and you’re like ‘damn that was a good punch’, but the next punch is gonna put you on your arse? Well that’s kind of where we are at. Hopefully once we have done that then it will be time to get the machete out…
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How does playing live compare to DJing, and do you have a preference? DJ is the party from the lab. You cook up your beats and then try them out and throw in the exciting stuff you got off Beatport or wherever the night before. The live show is where the energy comes to life and the songs transform into an experience that you share with everyone. That’s the exciting shit right there.
What other producers and bands are you really feeling right now? Itch, Deorro, Hadouken!, South Central, Big Kids, Funtcase, Dirty Dike.
What does 2013 have in store for you? Is the next year going to be an eventful one? I am so superstitious that I can’t walk over three drains without having a panic attack. I always end up looking like a rocking bobbing lunatic when I encounter a swarm of Magpies that then all need to be saluted. Jinxing the future by talking about it is already giving me a twitch. I can say that I plan to get to bed tonight and say my prayers.
And finally, dream situation time. You can go back to any period in clubland history, and play at any club. Who would you have playing alongside you and what tune would you drop that would define the evening? Or have you been lucky enough to have had this moment properly? I think when the Prodigy played Red Square in Moscow. To have played as a live band warming up for them, that would have been it and it would have been off the chain. Is there any better show on earth that has happened yet? It’s doubtful.
