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DILLINJA
AND LEMON D/INTERVIEW ISSUE 57
ATM: The ‘Big Bad Bass’ album last year was
a success for you guys, as have singles like ‘This
Is A Warning’ and ‘Generation X’ been
this year. Do you feel that Valve is beginning to shape
up the way you want it?
Dillinja: “Definitely. Everything, right from the
sales of the records through to the excitement we’ve
all got, has come such a long way since we first started
out. There’s always been a few things that we’ve
wanted to test out and Valve has given us the opportunities
to do that. Recently we were talking about putting our
records out quicker than what we’ve been doing
in the past, but we were worried that it might affect
the sales in a negative way. Luckily, it’s been
a positive move and that can only be a good thing. We
can literally press tracks up onto vinyl, get them out
to the shops and shift double of what they used to sell.”
ATM: That’s the way it should be. I can remember
when you made ‘Threshold’ for Protoype back
in mid ‘95 and it didn’t end up getting released
until over a year and a half later. It used to seem
like that was the norm in those days!
Dillinja: “Yeah, it was way too long back then
(laughs), way too long, and that did end up affecting
how many copies people would sell because by the time
an old track eventually got into the shops, the punters
wouldn’t want it, so the exclusivity sort of backfired
on itself.”
Lemon D: “With the sales of all our stuff on Valve
now literally at double we’ve realised that can
actually release music quicker and people will still
want to go out and buy it. I think that the absolute
minimum time between a track being played fresh on plate
through to the promos hitting the stores should be three
months tops. The days of it staying on plate forever
are over.”
ATM: That’s a very refreshing way of thinking!
Dillinja: “Well, it’s just the way it has
to be nowadays; no compromise. At the same time though,
I still want to send my records to all of the big DJs,
but those who are based all over the world, as well
as those here in the UK. A lot of people aren’t
really doing that as they don’t see the bigger
picture, but I’m consciously doing it as I believe
that every territory world-wide has it’s select
few DJs, so they should all get the music at the same
time. No favouritism.”
ATM: And we’ve seen that development of DJs outside
of the UK over recent years with people like Marky and
Patife from Brazil, Dieselboy from the US, Gilb:r from
France, etc, all making names for themselves. It’s
very much a global thing now.
Dillinja: “That’s right. I’ll give my
stuff to people like Dieselboy at exactly the same time
as I give things to Grooverider or Andy C. I’m
not differentiating between them any more. If they want
my music then it is there for them to play. If certain
DJs want to be snobby about it then that’s their
problem. I just don’t care any more. The drum and
bass scene will not expand if people keep on thinking
that they have to lock their music down to just one
or two DJs in the UK. It can’t carry on like that
for much longer, it’ll die. The
scene has been fucked for such a long time, so we’re
doing what we can to try and turn that around.”
ATM: It’s the only way forward!
Lemon D: “Yeah, and a lot more people need to start
thinking along those same lines. Then and only then
will the scene grow healthy again.”
ATM: I think that there’s many people who sit and
take notice of what you both do, so it could quite easily
have a knock-on effect.
Lemon D: “We’d both be very pleased if that
does happen. It’d be good if more and more producers
start sending their tracks out to DJs further afield
instead of just keeping it in this country. That’s
probably the only way of helping this scene survive;
if we branch out and go global.”
ATM: Over the last couple of years, Valve, and its offshoots;
Test and Beatz, have been steadily on the ascent, but
it’s been six years in the making. In the time
since releasing ‘Violent Killa’ and ‘12.01’
on Valve, and ‘The Acid Trak’ b/w ‘One
Out of Many’ on offshoot Pain, both back in 1997,
has the slow, gradual build up really been worth the
wait?
Dillinja: “I think so. Yeah, there was a long gap
between releases at first, but that was because we were
both putting out so much stuff on other labels, just
to be able to fund Valve. It was worth the wait, even
though it’s six years down the line, as the groundwork
is nearly done. Now we can start having fun and enjoying
ourselves as we’ve got full control over everything.
To be honest, I’d wish we’d done it sooner,
but then these things do take time; getting the label
together while we were building the soundsystem and
trying to find a place that we could use as a base.
It was hard work, but it looks like it might have paid
off. I’m starting to feel more relaxed now and
I’m not as stressed out as I was six months ago.”
ATM: There must have been a lot of pressure on both
of you!
Dillinja: “The pressure was ridiculous. I was trying
to make good music, build a decent soundsystem, raise
money to pay the builders who were doing the studios
and live my own life, all at the same time. None of
it came from bank loans or anything like that, it was
all drum and bass money, and that’s usually shit
money because, in the bigger picture, this is such a
small scene that we’re in.”
‘The Killa-Hertz’ is out this month on Valve
Check: www.valverecordings.com
Words by Swax McIver
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