Drum and Bass Interviews

You have been a long-term friend of rollercoaster, what do you like about rollercoaster?
The thing about Rollercoaster, is that it does not follow what the other promotion companies do, with the line ups, the vibe it brings to the venue, Rollercoaster takes a chance, which is what I think it should be all about.

You are a very successful producer, when and how did you first get into producing?
First started in 1990, as I couldn’t afford to buy any more records, I wanted different tracks to appear on my mixtapes, so I made a tune called Some Justice. Which I followed with ‘King of the beats’ and ‘dubmoods‘, I was signed to V2 for a while, and put through two artist albums, Branson saw what was coming with all the MP3 downloads, so he more or less disbanded the label, cut back on quite a few artists, shut down a few of his offices, etc… so that all stopped then.

Have you got the names of any unreleased or newly pressed dubs that you are going to be playing at rollercoaster?
Yea! Loads of stuff! Got some new tracks from my 3rd artist album. Got two tunes called Criss cross & Jedda odyssey, watch out for those.. got some others, but they haven’t even got names yet! I’ll be playing new dubplates from producers like Evol, Urban dub, Sub sonic & Muffler

You’re from south London, and the south London scene is going from strength to strength… and a lot of south London based producers look up to you. What are your thoughts on south London and its massive, ever-evolving DnB scene?
I have always found the South London scene, the hardest, but also the truest. If you can make something work in south London, then you can make it work it anywhere.

Why don’t you play in London that often?
Well.. I play abroad a lot, I do get offered London gigs but can’t always do them.. I’ve come to find, is that If you turn down bookings… you are not asked again.. And as I’m not involved in the politics of the scene.. I spend most of my time playing around the world, and it would seem that most of the demand for me is abroad anyway

What advice can you give aspiring producers from south London?
Stick to your guns. Always introduce new ideas. What I found is, through experience, sometimes a record can do just as well if isn’t supported the top DJ’s.. Just as much as if it is being supported. Perfect examples of people who have done well by themselves include producers such as John B, High Contrast & London electricity

You are about to tour the world, what kind of places will you be playing at?
America, Europe, Eastern Europe, Australasia and South East Asia. I’m always being offered bookings in places like Columbia and Shanghia

Aphrodite’s promise, what do you want to say to the ravers about your set on the 29th, what should they expect?
A bit of everything, my aim as a DJ is to entertain, I try and play something for everyone, I play unreleased dubs, specials, etc.. Sometimes I’ll double drop three tunes into one track, sometimes I’ll play a tune for a few minutes and leave it, sometimes I bring a tune in and take in straight back out again, it’s all about the vibe of the ravers

How do you keep out of the scene and the politics?
Lol. Avoid the bullshit on discussion forums like dogsonacid, no disrespect to DOA. If someone slags off Madonna, do you think she gives a s***? You just have to realize that the more popular you are the more people will hate you, but the more people hate you for being successful, the better you are doing.

How did you blow up, how is it that you’ve become so massive?!!?
I don’t really know how it’s happened. A lot of the music that I make. Its easily accessible. If you’re into drum & bass, then you may not like my stuff.. but then there are people that are into house music and hate Drum & Bass, but they say they love Aphrodite stuff

How many tunes have you made?
I have made well over 200 tunes, about 8 of which were chart hits

How many are chart hits?
I made tunes like ‘Arsonist’, ‘All over me’ and ‘wishing on a star’

If you want to check out any of Aphrodite’s tracks, hit up Nu Urban music and everything you need is available there