DILLINJA
ATM Interview
http://www.atm-mag.co.uk/issue61/dillinja.html
Karl Francis, aka Dillinja is one of D&B’s most prolific artists. He has been a bass-head from an early age, vibing off copious sound systems like King Tubby’s or Main Attraction throughout his not so mis-spent youth. In 1993 the man of many names struck gold with one of his earliest attempts in the studio, ‘Sovereign Melody’ was forged at the tender age of 16.
Hailed as the ‘king of bass’ Dillinja has been responsible for killer tracks like ‘Threshold’, ‘Tudor Rose’, ‘Nasty Ways’ and ‘Good Girl’ to name a few, and it’s his unique brand of relentless bass and crashing beats that have shot this South London lad to D&B stardom.
For 2004 Valve has opened it’s gates to new artists for the first time with Friction & Nu-Balance, Miracle, and Craggs & Parallel Forces to name but a few making future contributions. Dillinja’s latest project is an album entitled ‘My Sound’ which is a journey of his music from early releases like ‘Threshold’ on Prototype, through to hot off the press smashers like ‘In The Grind’. The album will feature his best tracks new and old. Big Bad Bass rolls on over 2004, so ATM caught up with the bass-master to find out why it ain’t too loud!
Where did it all start for you, musically?
I started off listening to electro, then went to hip-hop, I was into the breakbeat stuff, like Big Daddy Kane’s ‘RAW’, y’know? Like all the old hip hop that was using amens, and to me that was it. You could dance to that music. Then, when hip hop moved over to more kicking snares, and became all about lyrics, and the gangster shit, that’s when I eased off it cos I was more into the beats. After that, I moved onto house cos that started using the amen breaks. That’s what made me get into the House thing, and then I started learning about all different styles of House like the Detroit sound. I’ve been through all them different journeys.
You’ve talked about bringing back the breaks, how’s this affecting your production?
I’ve always used breaks but, what I’m tryin to do know is get more intricate beats. Gotta learn the good bits about a beat first, gotta understand it, then start cutting it up. I’ve heard a lot of new cutting stuff, and it’s not cutting right man. People like Photek, a lot of the old things, they’re the sort of things that were cut right.
I’m gonna take it to the next level, I can’t be just cutting up old amens like that. We gotta start cutting new sounds otherwise its gonna seem like the same old thing brought back. What’s the point in making the new one if it’s not gonna sound as good as the old one! What I’m saying is I’m gonna be cutting new breaks, and doing it with a fresh approach!
Have you got any plans to do some liquid / deeper bits??
I am gonna do some things, but I’m not calling ‘em liquid you know? I’m gonna make some blazers! You can make a smooth tune, it doesn’t have to be banging, but if the production’s right you can mix it into a hard tune and it won’t stick out like a sore thumb. A lot of these weak productions you play ‘em next to a hard tune and it doesn’t fit in at all cos the mixdowns are so weak. The dynamics are just wrong.
So kind of like liquid tunes but with your philosophy of keeping everything hard edged?
A banging production, hip hop production. Like you listen to the hip-hop out there and the mixdown is spot on. There’s a universal sort of mix now that people are following, and there’s some liquid people following that and that’s wicked. People like High Contrast have got it right, and a lot of the Hospital guys, but there’s a lot of other people who haven’t. Obviously Calibre’s got it right with a simple melody and a nice fat b-line. It works, people don’t stop dancing when it comes on.
Do you think it’s harder to express that deeper sound cos people want dancefloor?
Course it is, man. You know what, I’m gonna cut down on the DJing. I think its very important that I do that because it does influence me. Before, I’ve gone a little deeper on something then gone out and got no response, and I’ve had to take everything out of the tune that I’ve put in, and just do a basic little thing with an element of a smashing, banging tune.
Words by Sam Smith
