Lachie Gordon takes time out from talking about carpet with Chase and Status to actually ask some questions of the reigning heavweights of the over/underground.
Comparing carpet samples with Will Kennard and Saul Milton, aka Chase & Status, in their decked out studio in Waterloo was not how I expected my week to end. This London duo have doggedly worked their way into dance music royalty, and by all accounts, they are about to go supernova. Their début album, ‘More Than Alot’, featured dubstep and hip hop as well as their usual dnb output and was a tentative toe into the murky water of crossover hits. In January their second album, ‘No More Idols’, is released. It is essentially an extension of the fist, but this time is a full blown attempt to bring the grimy beats of the UK underground scene to the masses.
There has been a clear musical progression through Will and Saul’s seven year career, beginning with instrumentals or tunes with the odd sample and culminating with ‘No More Idols’ which has almost across the board collaboration. Saul calls the style that they now aim for, ‘songs with edge’ and of the fifteen tracks on the album, fourteen have feature artists. Will told me, “we had a list of acts that we wanted to work with and we were lucky enough to get most of them on board”. This list reads like a who’s who of quality UK vocalists and ranges from Plan B to Dizzee Rascal, sticking this album very much in the limelight.
Although the pair have done some song writing in the past, this project has been much more about bringing in singer song writers that they respect to “add their flavour” to the duo's grimy beats. Working with other artists sometimes throws up difficulties and Will told me that there are “lots of collaborations still in the pipeline and plenty of other songs which didn’t turn out right.” He explains, however, that this sort of waste is generally minimised as they are very careful about who they work with. “You realise quite early on in the studio if the chemistry isn’t there.”
Chase & Status recently became one of the few dance acts to be signed to a major label when they were scooped up by Mercury records. I asked if they were happy with their move from a small independent label to their new larger, more corporate family. Will explains, “yeah, we had a lot of freedom on Ram Records and I think that we have retained that since we signed to Mercury, they haven’t tried to push us in any direction or ever asked for a top ten record.” And the advantages? “ There is a much bigger budget which has allowed us to make some really cool music videos.” They have not, however, forgotten their roots and as well as all their vinyl coming out on Ram, Saul tells me that Andy C is “one of the few people who we turn to for stylistic advice.”
One of the reasons that C&S have managed to achieve such success (apart from their obvious talent) is that their music transfers beautifully into a live format. Their shows have been causing carnage at festivals and venues all summer. So what are they actually doing up there behind all the flashing lights? “Emails,” apparently. With Saul on the guitars and keys and Will controlling a bank of synths and samplers, they have progressed from underground DJs to being in a full on rock band. This is helped by having one of the worlds most famous drummers, Andy Gangadeen, supporting them with a custom made drum kit, which plays a combination of acoustic drums and their pre-programed, lovingly crafted beats.
It doesn’t always go right though. Saul laughs, “once 90% of the stuff on the stage stopped working. I got on the guitars and the MC started rapping something while Will played a siren, which was the only synth left working. Someone came up to me after and said, “I fucking loved that new bit that you did.”
I wonder if they ever expected to be up on a stage like that when they started as underground dnb DJs. Saul tells me, “nah, it’s really surreal. I started playing the guitar when I was 12 and one of my dreams was always to be able to play to 30,000 people with a Gibson Les Paul, so realising that dream is very strange! But it's a lovely feeling, especially when your family come to a live show and you see how proud they are, its quite a different thing to my mum coming to Fabric!”
Chase and Status's new album, No More Idols, comes out on the 31st of Jan and they will be touring from the 9th to the 19th of March.
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