Luke’s Anger is a producer that has featured on this blog a number of times. Since first hearing his track Love Hack (one of my all time favorite songs) years ago, I’ve been soaking up his releases ever since and I can’t get enough of him. With running the Bonus Round label and releases on Tiger Beat and Jerome Hill’s Don’t Records, he’s part of an ever growing collection of producers that are taking a different approach to techno and are helping to keep things interesting.I sent him a few questions and he was nice enough to let me pick his brain.
What first got you interested in making tunes?
I started writing tracks from a DJ perspective. I ran a soundsystem with some friends called ‘Molotov‘. This resulted in playing at a lot of parties and underground clubs and I simply just wanted to make my own music I could play out on these wicked big sound systems.
I guess at the time I was influenced by crews like BWPT, Hedfuk, Hekate, Uglyfunk, Fear Teachers mainly due to the fact they all ran record labels, played live PA and basically did their own thing, which felt a lot more real to me than much of the stuff I had previously experienced.
The only thing that I know about Norwich is Alan Partridge and Colmans mustard . How is the music scene there?
Ahaaaa, OK I wont go into a speil on Norwich’s fascinating history… Norwich actually has very diverse talent and strong DIY ethic in it’s music scene, the area spat out some great artists, peeps like Ed Chamberlain and Al Tourettes are from around here and the electronic music juggernaut that is Bloc Weekender grew it’s roots in the area.
Current locally based artists I would recommend checking:
Luke Abbott
Magic Panda
Death of Discoteque
Inspector Spectre
Hedflux
How do you think the electronic music scene these days compares to years ago in terms of producers and gigs?
There’s a lot more crossover at nights etc. People are much more open to ‘underground’ sounds as they are present in most pop music these days. In general the standard of electronic music is really high, I really like a lot of this really funky synth driven stuff that seems to be about at the moment.
One thing that unfortunately remains the same, is the electronic music press/radio/media etc still largely ignore the really decent stuff out there, instead going for stuff that is easily labelled into a neat little box (ie ‘dubstep’, ‘minimal’, ‘drum n bass’) An example of this is a various artists record I recently released was sent to a ‘major’ magazine, the reviewer first said he loved it, then said “umm, but I don’t know what section of the reviews it should go in” so it never ended up in the publication! Pretty lame 😉
So I tend to send records for review to specialist blogs and online radio shows and such, instead of wasting my time with the old dinosaurs!
You’ve played Ireland a good number of times. I’ve heard many people that play here say that the crowd response is different to anywhere else. Would you agree with that?
Yes, I would agree the Irish crowd are well up for it! Tekno Warfare were the first guys to get me over back in 2007 and I was well impressed with the atmosphere, I played in an awesome grotty club (Mc.Gruders?) and sweat was literally dripping off the walls. Since then Surge seemed to have taken the torch and run with it, I’ve done a few gigs and festivals with them and the crowd is always fucking brilliant!
What producers inspire you at the moment?
I saw Subhead (Jason Leach) play live at the weekend and he still is pushing that envelope hard. I love Norwich-based Luke Abbott‘s recent album ‘Holkham Drones‘.
Producers like Ben Pest, Al Tourettes and Michael Forshaw are def worth checking live if they are playing at a festival near you this summer!
I know that your a big fan of hardware. How do you rate it to software? Which would you write more predominantly on?
I find uses in both, personally I find working exclusively ‘in the box’ can be a bit tiring and uninspiring, so the main reason I like synths etc. is I find it more fun and immediate than clicking a mouse. I arrange everything on a computer, so I would say software is the most important part of my setup.
Any tips for upcoming producers out there?
As it is ever easier for anyone to make, release and promote their own music these days, it is also harder to get noticed, so what are you going to do to stick out from the crowd? Save up and cut a record, take some risks, make some noiz!!!
What does the future hold for ya?
I’ve got 2 vinyl EPs cut and coming out on my label Bonus Round and another track coming out later this year on German label Kitty Corner. I’ve also finished an exciting mega-collab project with reggae superstar Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, I’m waiting for Al Tourettes to finish his remix then I will be putting that out on wax later this year too.
I’m also in talks about touring Australia later this year…
A big thanks to Lukes Anger for doing the interview. Make sure and check the links below for more info. Stay updated here.
Lukes Anger plays the following gigs over the next few months, get on it!
Knowhere Bar – ’94-’96 Jungle set – Norwich
Sat, 25/06/2011 – 22:00
Shambala Festival
Fri, 26/08/2011 – 13:00
Indecent Bass – Yarmouth Arena
Sat, 01/10/2011 – 23:00
Banjax – Glasgow
Fri, 28/10/2011 – 20:15