The Nextmen need hardly any introduction. Mixtape legends, badboy producers, guaranteed party rockers and some would go as far as to say a British institution, there is not a dancefloor that these boys have not smashed in their time. From hip hop, dubstep, drum and bass to house, electro and disco, there's not a genre the guys won't dabble in, so naturally DigDeep Promotions are flying them in for their High Flyers NYD party in Sydney (buy tix below). Nicc Johnson got in touch with one half of the duo, Dom, to find out more about them.
Pulse: You have a bit of a tour planned for Australia and New Zealand and have a very loyal following here. What is your overall reaction to the crowd here? Dom: We're more concerned about the reaction of the crowd to us! We've steadily built a reputation over in Australia and NZ over the past few years and people know what to expect from us: the unexpected. Playing lots of different genres can be risky but once you're twenty minutes in to a next men set you pretty much know the deal. The Aus and NZ crowds are great, always up for a good time and ready to party all night.
Can you tell us where The Nextmen name came from…does it have anything to do with John Byrne’s Dark Horse comic 'The Next Men'? No, Nextmen is one word and we just wanted a name that suggested we were doing something that was a little different, one that wouldn't date. We're still happy with it so I think it was a good choice.
We have just downloaded your tracks with Joe Dukie, who is one of my favourite male soul singers. Needless to say, I love the tracks. Can you tell us about any other exciting new tracks/collaborations you have in the pipeline? It's been great for us that those from-the-vault tracks have received a good reaction. We remember putting them together and writing with Joe Dukie in London, great vibes. At the time we just weren't sure whether the tracks were finished or not so just sat on them. We've been doing a lot of stuff recently, some together and some independently. Brad has been doing some great work with writing team Biffco and I've just signed to Paul Epworth's publishing imprint Wolftone, which has been an exciting move.
We also have a new Nextmen-produced project called 'Echo Foxx' in the making, it's about 80% there. It's a graphic novel story based music project about an alternate future London and its warring population of foxes. Think Fantastic Mr Fox with some batman mixed in and a mysterious sci-fi element, all set in and around London in 2048. The album that goes along with this story is like a narrative of several scenes from the book. Dynamite MC provides the vocals. There's a wide range of tempos and a futuristic edge to the sound.
Does either of you have an artist you have always dreamt of working with? I always wanted to work with Lykke Li and that came true on a Wolftone writing trip to LA recently, which was great. Adele is another. Who knows, maybe that could come true as well.
I just watched “The Man with the Iron Fists” which was written, produced and directed by RZA. Have you ever thought of working on a music/movie project? See the above answer about Echo Foxx! It's not a movie but it is a step in that direction and yes we'd both love to get involved in composing for screen. I've written a couple of children's books too, just honing my craft with that at the moment. I'd also like to do some work with my old friend Rob Sulman, he's working in graphics and animation over in canada and we have some ideas that we'd like to see through to finished products. We've got loads of ideas, it's just finding the time to get stuff done in and around DJing and production duties.
Dom, you are a bit of a snake lover…plan on going snake hunting while in Oz this time around? Ha! Well yes my background academically is Biology and I was for a while a bit of a snake expert. Biology is my 'other' thing, especially the evolutionary side of things. I've done quite a bit of snake catching around the world. I might sneak off into the countryside to see if I can bag a few eastern browns. I'll make sure I let you know where I went tho incase you need to send an ambulance out.
On another notw, both of you come from musical backgrounds and have said that there is too much mediocre music out there right now. Do you think it can be simply put to the fact that anyone can invest in studio gear to produce a track or would you agree that a lot of established producers have just gotten lazy and would rather release a steady flow of productions, rather then focus on quality? I think the laptop revolution has been fantastic for music. I love the differences you can hear between a lush, well recorded, natural production and a track that was made at 3am on a laptop with all its textures and shades. It's a very exciting time for music makers as you can make releasable quality music with just a laptop these days. I think the last days of recording snobbery are upon us. Finally it's clear that it really is just about the vibe and it doesn't matter how you get there. No one needs to feel like they need to spend silly money to get things done properly any more. Maybe some producers have become lazy but there is a lot to be said for forming a sound and sticking to it. Many producers generate their own style whilst cutting their teeth and then keep consistent with the identity they've created. That's not lazy it's just being unique. There'll always be good music and bad music there's just more of both these days.
When you guys are pulling crazy production schedules and late nights, what will usually be on the menu, do you keep fuelled up on fast food or Red Bull? Growing up in Cambridge, did you ever try those amazing crepes from the mobile van, near the markets. Do you know which place I mean? Yeah! That's gone now I think. Cambridge is just that though - the place we grew up. We don't go back there for any reason other than to see our families. Good crepes though. Red Bull can help, it's always handy when you're burning the candle at both ends.
In previous interviews you guys mentioned that Cambridge had one of the best record stores while growing up there (Assasin Records). What was the overall scene like though…as it’s a Uni town, were there plenty of good parties on or did you have to head into London? There were good parties yeah. There was a burgeoning hiphop scene there in the late eighties and nineties, small, but still good. Lot's of djs armed with the latest vinyl throwing house parties. Assassin records, or Jay's as it was know to us, was the shit. They had all the new stuff, UK, imports, everything, it was one of the best shops around and probably responsible for so many people at there time getting into hiphop and dance music. Cambridge was, is and will always be a Uni town first, everything else second. It's not a clubbing centre. You need to leave Cambridge if you want to see what a real club scene is like, for sure. We've both lived in north London for so long now it's hard to imagine living anywhere else.
You guys are playing some rather big shows while over this side of the world including Breakfest in Perth. Our event is a very intimate show, which makes it rather special. Do you prepare a completely different set for each type of gig or do you just come heavily armed with great tracks and see where the crowd takes you? It depends. Increasingly the latter, which is actually a return to how we used to dj. Nextmen sets are club sets, with some live activity mixed in. it's not turntablism. We've been doing some two-deck sets recently, back to back stuff, and it has felt good after so many bears of the four deck show. We always have bits prepared and new bits coming. One thing we do find is that people always want to hear the vintage nextmen bootlegs and a few of our own tunes. They may be old to us but we do bring them out as it's what is expected of us. For your show we'll play what we think the crowd wants, intimate club style.
Thank you for your time Dom and Brad. We look forward to your set at High Flyers Little Secret NYD party at the Red Bull HQ in Sydney. We wish you a safe journey over from the UK. Thank you, see you soon.
