Concord Dawn

The name Concord Dawn is now known to practically every drum and bass fan. In August the New Zealand duo released a new album, Chaos By Design. On this occasion we got in touch with one half of the duo, Matt Harvey, to ask him a few tricky questions.

You were recently in Moscow. What do you think of Russia and Moscow in particular?

Moscow is a truly amazing city, and I know that by being there I caught a glimpse of one of the world’s most famous capitals. It really does seem unique, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to return and explore a little more of it.

Are you planning to visit Russia in the near future?

Yes, I’ll be in St Petersburg on October 14 at the party DJ's PARADE. I’ve heard that St Petersburg is also a beautiful city, so I can’t wait to visit!!! Hopefully I’ll have time to look around a little and be a “tourist.”

This is probably a somewhat standard question, but we’ve found that many people still don’t know where the name of your project came from. Our search on the Web ended with a planet from the Star Wars universe, the homeworld of Jango Fett. Does this mean you’re such big science-fiction fans that you chose that name?

Well, yes, I’m a big Star Wars fan, but our name is simply two words that look good together and make a new name that’s memorable and unique enough.

Let’s talk about the upcoming album. What will it be called? What formats will it be released on? Will you release it on your label, Uprising, or somewhere else?

It’s called "Chaos by Design" and will be released on our label. It will come out on CD, and as an EP on vinyl. Some of the tracks have already appeared both on vinyl on other labels, including RAM, Metalheadz and Hospital, and on our own label. Since people are reluctant to pay much for music these days, it’s difficult to release a five-record album, so we’ve distributed the tracks among different labels.

What can you say about the moods on the new album—what will predominate? On the album "Uprising" we see different sides of your creativity: there are vocal tracks, techno-oriented works and lighter moods. What can we expect from you going forward?

I think "Chaos by Design" was definitely a chance for us to experiment and try out some new ideas, but in the future we’ll try to make more dancefloor material, with added vocal anthems here and there, to keep pleasing the crowd hahaha.

What is it like when you work together? Do you work on a track simultaneously, or do you prefer to divide the work according to each other’s preferences?

We make an effort to work together for an hour or two, until one of us takes over and works alone; this gives us more opportunity to experiment and the freedom to create original and unique material. Now, since we live in different countries, we work together over the Internet (but Evan needs faster Internet because he lives on an island and uses dial-up!!)

Tell us a little about your studio. What hardware and software do you use? Explain your preferences a little.

We built a studio on Waiheke Island in New Zealand, with a decent control room, isolated floors, acoustic balancing and all that sort of thing. We use Cubase as our sequencer and all sorts of third-party VSTs, including Waves, drumkit from hell, EASTWEST symphonic collection, antares, ultrafunk, bluetubes, guitar rig and everything made by Native Instruments... The list of software could go on and on. This year we decided to buy all the software we use that costs money, which lets us sleep soundly. As for hardware, we have Genelec 1030s and Mackie 824 monitors, converters—Apogee Rosetta and MOTU 24io—a Mackie 24-8 console, and lots of other things like microphones and so on.

What do you think about the distribution of music in digital format? These days this is a fairly topical issue, but there is still no consensus on it. What is your position?

I think it’s the future, but people have to buy music! Otherwise, in 10 years there won’t be any underground music left—there will only be crappy pop, because more and more producers won’t be able to afford to keep making music for people for free. If people who can’t get to a good shop can buy an MP3 and have it on their computer in 10 minutes or less, that’s great, isn’t it? The only thing I think is bad is digital-only labels... If a track isn’t good enough to release on CD or vinyl, then is it worth releasing at all? What I mean is, these labels take 50% of the artist’s profit, but they don’t pay for cover design, pressing master discs, mastering, packaging and so on—they just upload the file to a server and post an advert on a few forums, and that’s practically it!

Tell us a little about what’s happening with your label, Uprising. Can you share any plans?

We’re releasing a State Of Mind single soon, and their album will also be released through Uprising/Universal in New Zealand in a few months. Besides that, we’ll release some of our own work and a few other things that we really like.

Speaking of genres within drum and bass, today we can see some new trends conquering the scene worldwide. For example, the rise of drumfunk, or the recent breakthrough of neurofunk into the mainstream. What do you think of contemporary drum and bass styles, and which styles do you consider the most promising?

I think many of these styles exist only on the Internet; on the dancefloor everything is completely different, and it seems to me that people like some variety. I really can’t imagine myself writing only one style of drum and bass and playing only one style of drum and bass. How boring would that be! Some DJs play only their own material or stick strictly to one style, but personally, I’d lose interest in that after 10 minutes—sometimes it all sounds like one track. I also think it depends on what style of mixing you prefer to work with.

What do you listen to besides drum and bass? Do you have any experience writing anything in other styles?

Well, actually, neither of us listens to much drum and bass. Evan listens to a lot of heavy metal and *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys and so on, while I listen to a lot of music by dead people and almost-dead people (like Steely Dan), and people who ought to be dead (Rush, for example).

And finally, a few quick questions—people love this sort of thing:

Your favourite film?

"The Empire Strikes Back"

Favourite book?

"Collapse" by Jared Diamond. Also "1984" and "A Clockwork Orange".

Favourite food?

Prawns.

Favourite drink?

Beer.

Favourite holiday destination?

Home!!!

Favourite city?

Vienna.

Favourite maxim?

The one with Adriana Lima on the cover;)

Thanks, and all the best!

Good luck.

Answers: Matt Harvey (aka Matty C), exclusively for DRUMANDBASS.RU. Questions and translation: r.dee.