‘T In The Park sold out in three hours this year’ they tell us. ‘It’s the biggest festival in the UK next to Glastonbury, so that’s some going!’
Last month the pair played at the Free Your Mind festival in Holland as well as Thursday at the incredible Sonar weekend at Barcelona’s only open air venue La Terrazza with label mates Silicone Soul.
‘The Osgut Ton/Berghain sound is really doing it for us right now’, they say. ‘Ben Klock, Len Faki, Marcel Dettman - dark, deep, purist techno. Also on the housier tip - Itamar Sagi and the Be As One label. DJs like Cassy, Mathias Tanzmann.’
Slam's Paragraph label has been on fire recently, with powerful releases like their ‘We Doin’ This Again?’, ‘Variance’, and ‘One Note Samba’ gaining support worldwide. Pan-Pot, Len Faki, Adam Beyer & Jesper Dahlback, Gel Abril, Steve Lawler and Alan Fitzpatrick are all requesting to work with Scotland’s biggest techno export. Recent remixes include work for Josh Wink, Samuel L Session and Paul Ritch too. But it's not been an easy 12 months.
‘It's a real test to see who can survive right now', they explain. 'You definitely need to have more than one string to your bow and work twice as hard for much less reward! Making music alone can’t pay the bills - and promoting can be a risky business. The cottage industry approach can still work where you try and do as much as possible yourself – from promoting the music and the internet profile stuff, to booking your own tours and releasing your own music – it’s still good to find the right label in the beginning to garner some profile for your music and record releases.’
So what can we expect from Slam in the next few months? ‘Our remix of The Black Dog ‘CCTV Nation’ and a new Slam single for Adam Beyer’s Drumcode imprint called ‘Maffaking’/’Last Sonic Approach’ are just out. Then we’ve got a new single for our Paragraph label and a whole host of remixes for our releases on the label including some of our favourite producers like Pan-Pot, Adam Beyer, Julien Chaptal & Gel Abril. Up and coming EPs include a versus release where we remix the Black Dog and vice versa on their own Soma imprint as well as an EP on Adam Beyer’s Drumcode label.’ With such an incredible amount happen throughout the summer, the duo are as busy as they have ever been.
Yet when it comes to festivals, it seems they certainly like to soak up the atmosphere like everyone else: ‘Camping at T In The Park is always a laugh, having to take a piss in pants and wellies during the night and getting spotted by some ravers went down well last year, we’re still waiting for the photos to appear on Facebook!’
Slam will be appearing in the Slam Tent at T In The Park on July 10/11th (www.tinthepark.com)
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Words: Mark EG
