Interview With Anil Chawla And Dale Anderson As Global Underground Enters The Sampling World
Anil Chawla & Dale Anderson have become the standard bearers for GU Music. The duo form the label's frontline infantry, and their daring forays into worldwide dance culture have earned them plaudits aplenty and champions including Laurent Garnier, Nic Fancuilli, John Digweed, Adam Freeland, Paul Oakenfold, and Paul van Dyk.
With the boys releasing the first in a brand new Global Underground Loopmasters series, we catch up with Anil and Dale as they take the label into unchartered territory.
From your Myspace profile we can learn that you guys are rising DJ stars. So... what are you primarily? DJ's or producers?
We like to think we're a bit of both. In our eyes, it would be very hard to separate DJing from producing, because although you get a different kind of satisfaction from both experiences, they are both ultimately centered around "your" music. Although it's not an exact comparison, it would be like a band writing a bunch of tracks and then never playing those tracks at a gig. Or a cover band that only plays what others have written. So for us, taking an idea in our heads and turning it into a playable record is immensely satisfying, but so is playing that very same record to a club full of strangers in some remote corner of the world. These days, you can't really have one without the other.
How do you go about composing, arranging and producing your music? You probably split the jobs between the two of you, so - who does what?
Other than starting with a basic beat, there is no real method to how we work, it just seems to happen. We just keep trying ideas until something jumps out at us as the basis for a track, some kind of hook, which could be anything from a pad to a bleep to a percussive sound. it's not always easy, we have literally spent days and days getting absolutely nowhere, and then out of the blue we stumble across something that is magic and we build it up from there. Other times we have spent all day working on what we thought was a great track, only to scrap it 5 minutes before mix down becaue we realise "actually, it's crap." We're pretty ruthless that way. As for who does what, we're both pretty clued up on Logic, synths, filters etc. and somehow we manage to always see eye to eye on arrangement, so it works well!
What was the spark that led you to produce a sample library?
Well, we were quite honoured to be asked in the first place as we were fans of Loopmasters, and own a number of the series ourselves, so it all just built from there. We went through all of our old tracks, finished and unfinished (there were plenty!) and pulled out some of the best bits. Then we added a whole bunch of exclusive material especially for this project, and together we think it tuned out to be a really nice mixture of stuff. Hopefully everyone else will agree!
Do you think a sound design release (as opposed to an album release) is becoming a category in its own right? Or in other words, isn't it an album, only in de-composed form? What future is there for such a form of acoustic matter?
It's probably better to look at a sound design release like a tool kit, rather than an "de-constructed" album. Sure you could reassemble some of the tracks, and certainly you could capture some of the vibe, but if you think of it as giving two different painters the same brushes and the same paint, they would invariably paint different pictures. There is definitely a future for this kind of release, because people will always need some new inspiration from time to time, or to cure writer's block. Dance music has always been derivative as well, and that's part of the art of it - making something new from different components.
This sort of audio material (loop & sample libraries) has allowed a new breed of DJs to emerge in the last few years. How are the live performers affected by works like your sample library?
More and more DJs are incorporating loops, on the fly edits, tricks and effects to make tracks sound different to the original, in whatever way they see fit and whatever way works in their sets. We probably don't do as much of that as other DJs, as a lot of the stuff we play tends to have a melodic hook of some kind, which can make dropping loops in (other than percussive elements) a little tricky...but maybe we're just being lazy!
I have an impression there is much less bonding between an artist and his music today. In an interview (on YouTube.com) you did not readily respond to what is "your favorite track". Don't get me wrong, this is not an accusation. There seems to be a growing emphasis on collaboration, it is more "Who you work with" than "What you produce"; these collaborations earn their own trademarks, often under an umbrella of a Label, a Sound System, a Sound Collective or other "binding force". The industry is evolving, no doubt. What are your feelings towards this perspective?
As for the bond between the artist and his music, we think we are actually so tightly bonded to it, that asking "what is your favourite track" is like asking a parent who their favourite child is! Well, maybe not that extreme, but you see the point. Having said that, music has become much more of a commodity these days,much more disposable, so maybe it's more like your favourite cereal - once the box is done, you just go get another one!
With regards to collaborations, ultimately it's the finished product that matters most. It's nice to work with established people but if it doesn't sound good in the end, then it's a waste of time. For us, it's a great experience to work with new people and have a totally new perspective or input. One thing that we have realised though, is if you have some musical chemistry with a collaborator, it can take pressure off and really add to the music. It's certainly worked for us.
When I did a search on "Anil Chawla & Dale Anderson", most results were related to torrents. In this new cyberworld order can you go as far as treating that as a sign of popularity and success? Or should we just deal with it as with any other offence?
It's a tough issue, and an ongoing one which won't be easily resolved. Obviously we hope that people buy our music, but we realise that's not always the reality. In the end, we want people to listen to it and enjoy it, and I guess the level of interest via the torrent sites means people are doing that. We are fully aware that we are not going to get rich writing dance music, but that's never been the aim anyways. At the end of the day, good music is good music, and will find an audience, as it always has. So in that respect, nothing's changed.
Anil and Dale, thank you very much for your time and valuable input!
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