Hi Rob, brilliant to catch up with you today :)
Hi Core, it's a pleasure. Thank you
Can you just introduce yourself for the Core Readers?
My name is Rob Noshad (N Defiance), 30 years old and I am from Cambridge, England. I Have been DJ'ing/Promoting Drum & Bass events for 15 years & producing/writing music on & off for about 7 years.
You run Urban Veteran Recordings - how did this come about?
A friend and I were making a lot of music together & out performing together at a lot of raves/events around the UK and we decided that a label would be a good avenue to help us push our music out there into the scene. It was to be our outlet. We did a lot of research and asked advice from other friends who also run dnb labels, then made a business/action plan and took all the necessary action we had to in the right steps and everything fell into place as planned really. We spent 6 months preparing the label before it's launch in Dec 2011. After a short time my business partner sought out other work and I have been running the label myself and am really enjoying it. I have also been learning as I've been going along and so far it has been an interesting and fulfilling experience. If there is anyone out there who wants to run a music label then just remember that it is all about good organisation and a good product.
You are heavily influenced by bass music, where did this come from?
When I was 11 (1992) I was listening to hip hop, hardcore rave & jungle. I started mixing when I was 15 years old. I first played out when I was 16 at the old Cellar Bar in Cambridge. My influence came from people around me at school really. Helter Skelter & Dreamscape tape packs. The first rave I went to outside Cambridge was United Dance when I was 15 in Stevenage & I watched Grooverider, Andy C, Slipmatt, Sy, Dougal, Demo, Vibes & MC Lively tear up the sound systems. It was one of my best experiences. I started going to Warning, Cambridge in 96-97 around the same time for about 5 years solid where I used to listen to the sounds and absorb every aspect of the rave and of course I was DJ'ing out at loads of small events/parties/outdoor raves around the Cambridge area.
This love for music & playing music led me to play out everywhere playing - garage, hip hop, breakbeat & drum & bass. Recently, I started making a few dubstep tracks for a bit of fun. Now I've started listening to dubstep I am really feeling it at the moment. I wasn't too sure about it at first but yeah, I feel it has opened up more avenues for me musically and that's what I like to do so I'm enjoying it as much as I do enjoy dnb at the moment. When I am in my car I listen to 2 Pac, Dr Dre, Snoop, Guns & Roses, Metallica, Bob Marley. For some reason these certain artists are idols to me and I take much influence from them too. A lot of tracks that I have made have been influenced heavily by these artists. I feel their energy and it makes me want to start writing.
What have been the highs and lows for you this year?
I am a family man and I have a daughter and just seeing her grow up and do so well at starting school and stuff has really been the biggest high for me this year so far. I am so proud of her.
In music, it's been pretty good and the artists on the label have supplied me with decent music and it's out there doing very well. I have played regularly at some really decent bookings - Random Concept, Hysteria, Warning, Sticky, Madness, Bass Sikk & quite a few others this year and also have been doing a lot of radio shows on various stations around the country, pushing the label's music with Simbad Fresh, Red I & Audio Cee. It has been a hard year too tho. But being organised with the label has helped me breeze through it really.
What are your thoughts on the scene and its popularity at the moment?
Yeah, I think the scene is very healthy at the moment and that there is a lot of good music out there - there is a lot of bad music too. I think music is an expression and that the best music is from the best expressions. Music that has no soul doesn't really have as much meaning to me when hearing it on a dancefloor. But, yeah I think that quite a lot of parties these days can be quite specialist - I think the scene needs more of a mix up in line ups. It's a good thing, even when the DJ's are from different genres. I guess it depends what you are looking for in a rave. But yeah it's good to see drum & bass still smashing it after all these years & I laugh back at the times in '99 when people where telling me dnb was going to die out and garage was going to take over. I always said to those DJ's and MC's back then : "No, drum & bass is like house music. It won't die out." "It's too good to die out." Like, nearly 20 years later from when it stemmed and it's still here. Big up dnb! Faithful dnb.
What, in your eyes, makes a good bass tune??
Well, in drum & bass the bassline is the drive and is almost like the melody at the same time. In other genres outside of dance music (in most cases), the melody of the vocals or guitar etc is the drive of the song and the bassline supports underneath in one form of structure or another. However, in a lot of dance music, especially dnb, the bassline is actually playing the melody but in a bigger way because the bass is the drive and the rest of the music fits around it.
I think a good track has to have a decent and catchy bassline with maximum energy and catchy synthesis - especially granular for me at the moment. Love that style! I reckon decent lyrics can really make a track too. Lyrics definitely lift a track's energy. Lots of musical elements can really create harmony and dimensions to a track as well which I really like. I'm into stuff like Loadstar, Mind Vortex, Tantrum Desire, Delta Heavy, Subfocus etc.... On the flip side, sometimes a great track can be just as sick when made from just a few musical elements but using really good sounds. Minimal style and tech work together really well I think. I love dnb tracks by Lomax, Shimon, Octane & DLR, Prolix, Rene LaVice, Dillinja, Calyx & Teebee, Aeph, Gridlock etc. at the moment..... Some of the stuff Prolix is releasing at the moment is crazy. I am heavily into that vibe.
Any forthcoming releases that we should know about?
Yeah, a few things lined up. Look out for a big surprise dnb remix to come out very soon....and also "Tap the Glass" by Roon with my track "D Low" on the B side (dubstep release) coming in Nov/Dec. Also, an album by MC Simbad Fresh & I will be coming out next year too (dubstep/drumstep/drum & bass).
Tracks which are out now in all the digital Download stores:
"Temperature EP" (DnB) released 22nd Oct is the latest release. "Temperature" the title track has dark, hypnotising basslines and naughty twisting synths with hip hop style lyrics. SubReflex has 2 tracks on this EP too which are moody, minimal, dancefloor bangers called "Point of Contact" & "The Optimist". There is also another track on there by me which is called "Dutty Gutter Funk".
Also check the label hits: - "Dragon Lord" & "Animal" by Illtaktix, "Method" by SubReflex & Corpz, "Rate Of Light" by N Defiance featuring Ragga Twins, "Show Me What you Got" N Defiance & Sam D featuring MC Yardie, "No Where to Run" N Defiance featuring MC Lnden D & "Cha Cha Cha" by Oddboy.
What does the future hold for Urban Veteran Recordings?
The future looks good and busy I guess. Lot's of ideas for the label - it would be great to get some more artists involved. We want to push different styles in different genres. We are about the music and are open minded to new things and also the current styles out there now. We are not just looking for a particular style of music. Just original decent tracks whether they are liquid/jump up/darkstep/tech and even dubstep/drumstep too. Next year is going to see some very different things from us. We are going to be pushing a very unique and new sound. We are carving our new product currently........
Where can we keep posted with all your latest news?
Youtube: - http://www.youtube.com/user/UrbanVeteranRecs
Soundcloud: - http://soundcloud.com/noshadd
Facebook : - Urban Veteran Records Fan Page
Twitter: - (Urban Veteran Recordings) or (N Defiance)
E-mail us an we will add you to our news mailing list.
Also DJ's looking for promo's ? E-mail us with a Biography......
Thanks Rob, been great chatting to you! For any of our readers who'd like to take a listen...here ya go!
