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 For more check out ATM 60
