Vinicius Honorio aka BTK, who represents the much-talked-about IDENTITY project on the international drum & bass scene, answered a few questions from a correspondent of Drumandbass.Ru ahead of his visits to Saint Petersburg and Cherepovets. The Russian dates were organised by the TemperAudio collective together with Tamrecords as part of the Identity European Tour 2007.
When did you start producing electronic music, and when did you start playing at parties?
I became interested in drum and bass specifically after attending a party featuring Marky. The party took place in my hometown, Rio De Janeiro. After that, I really got into the sound. That was about seven years ago. Since then, I have built up my music collection and gradually started producing tracks myself.
What were your main musical influences when you were starting out, and what influences your work today?
When it comes to IDENTITY, we draw inspiration from techno sounds. We have always respected people such as Raiden, Cause 4 Concern and, of course, Kemal. Each of us brings something from our musical past to the project when we create tracks. Nevertheless, techno is the most significant part of our sound. By the way, I also produce straight techno tracks under the name Vinicius Honorio.
Tell us how the IDENTITY project came into being.
Jonny (CBX) and I tried to write a track together. To make beats us helped John (D Struct). Basically, this is how the project was born. Then another person joined us — Shawn (Korrosiv), a former housemate of Jonny (note Drumandbass.ru: Jonny CBX is a resident of the state of Puerto Rico, lived in the US for some time, where he met Shawn Korrosiv). Braindead was definitely our success and the first major release. Then Chris (ex-TOV) (note. Drumandbass.Ru: Chris Renegade, former A&R manager, Trouble On Vinyl Music Group) told us about AIM` that, he intended to sign this track to BARCODE records (ed. note Drumandbass.Ru: a sublabel of the then-existing Renegade Hardware, is part of TOV Group). Generally speaking, we could hardly believe it.
How many people have worked on IDENTITY tracks over the years, and who is in the project today?
At the moment, we already have released collaborations with Sunchase and Prode. In addition, we are currently working on other collaborative tracks with various producers. The IDENTITY lineup IDENTITY still consists of four people: John D Struct, Jonny CBX, Shawn Korrosiv and I — Vinicius BTK. Everyone is actively involved.
How do you divide the roles in IDENTITY when you all live in different countries?
Basically, there is no specific plan of action, but in most cases it works like this: Shawn and I start writing tracks with new ideas, Shawn start writing tracks with new ideas, Jonny records some vocal samples, while D Struct handles the engineering. Practically all of our work is done via the Internet. We use AIM for communication.
What is planned for release in the near future?
This year is very promising for us. Dylan recently signed our track Hell of Techno to Obscene, a sublabel Freak Recordings. This is a big step forward, and we are very happy about it. In addition, releases are scheduled very soon on Venom Inc Recordings, a new label specializing in a dark techno sound in dnb, and one of those I advise fans of the sound to keep an eye on this year. Also, our track Strong Bad will be released by the Puerto Rican label Darkitek, which has already managed to make a lot of noise on the global dnb scene. The company Flatline Recordings is going to release a CD long player, which I will also mix for them, among other things. I am really looking forward to this project!
What do you expect from your gigs in Russia? This is your first visit to the country…
Techno Drumandbass dancefloor! And yes, this will be my first visit, so I cannot wait for these famous Russian parties.
How is the IDENTITY European tour going? Is everything all right?
It is magnificent! I am currently hanging out temporarily in London, UK. And I have just returned from two performances over the weekend in Holland and Belgium. They were simply excellent parties. I cannot wait for Russia now!
