I love the idea of a whole load of people all piling in to a project and it actually working. Music should be a communal thing sometimes, it’s one of the best things about it, a sense of connection through music.
Rude Audio are a collective based in London who are about to release their album That Dirty Echo on November 14th. It’s a pretty interesting sounding recording, with some old school flavours mixed up with big dubby basslines, intriguing vocals and lovely atmospheres. I love the idea of a whole load of people all piling in to a project and it actually working. Music should be a communal thing sometimes, it’s one of the best things about it, a sense of connection through music. Not that individual production has any faults, sometimes it can produce the best results, but all too often electronic based music misses out on that shared ethos.
Anyway, the album is sounding great. Here is a little interview conducted via email with the crew to give us a bit of an idea of what goes on in those sweaty and claustrophobic multi – bodied studio sessions:
Igloo :: Well, firstly, who are you?
Rude Audio :: We are Mark Ratcliff – producing and arranging, Lamis Harper – piano and keys, Tony Shea – guitars, Alice Billerey and Amanda Greatorex – vocals, Owain Lloyd – mixing, Dave Brennan – engineering. At least that’s the core, there are others who float around or drop in to trade insults or help out on the DJ’ing front. Adam Whitaker and Amanda Wasielewski are pretty key too but they look after things like the website, album design, photography and that kind of stuff. Adam DJ’s with us as well.
Igloo :: And where do you all come from?
RA :: Well we now all live in London but various parties are originally from Newcastle, the bleakest county in the country (Lincolnshire), as well as London – primarily sarf (that’s South to any non UK readers)
Igloo :: There’s loads of you (13), how did you all get together? Did you all live in a crazy house or something?
RA :: Some of us did actually – there was a house in Kings Cross that quite a few of us were all connected with back in the day, we would all meet up before venturing forth to various sweaty raves and the like. And then others kind of got involved via friends of friends, work, DJ’ing and the like.
Igloo :: I love the idea of a collective. How does this work? Is there a core group who do quite a bit of leg work with other members coming in to do their bits, or is it a truly communal effort with songs being made by different people?
RA :: Yes, there is a sort of core revolving around Mark, Lamis, Dave and Owain – Mark and Lamis get the bare bones of the track together using keyboards, other equipment, samples and so forth and then Dave comes in, scoffs at our attempt at engineering and thinks about what effects we can utilise to really bring out the best elements in the track. And then Owain comes in, tells us that what we’re doing is completely wrong, turns everything down and makes us re-record it. Vocalists come in after we’ve laid the bare bones of the track down and improvise over our melodies. Mark and Lamis cannot write lyrics.
As far as we’re concerned there is an underlying ethos which pulls it all together and that is its Balearic, in the traditional sense of being open-minded, eclectic but committed to the use of electronics to explore where you can go with sound.
Igloo :: This album is really diverse, was that the intention, or is it just the result of having loads of members?
RA :: As far as we’re concerned there is an underlying ethos which pulls it all together and that is its Balearic, in the traditional sense of being open-minded, eclectic but committed to the use of electronics to explore where you can go with sound. And by Balearic we don’t mean whispy acoustic guitars and a chill-out sensibility, we mean chunky, dubby, riffy… more Andrew Weatherall than Alfredo. We also are suckers for a thunderous dub bassline.
Igloo :: What’s you’re set up? Do you have a studio somewhere?
RA :: Yep, in the wilds of South-East London… we initially started putting the LP together in Mark’s home studio but we’ve graduated to a proper-ish setup.
Igloo :: What about live performances? How do you go about it? I mean, it can be pretty tricky translating recorded productions into live performances both technically and conceptually…
RA :: Live performance, yes we’ve been thinking about that, Owain has been responsible for getting people like Lemon Jelly out of the studio and onto a live stage and we’ve asked him if could he do similar for us. He doesn’t think it’d be a problem. Tony is itching to cut some Jimmy Page shapes in horrible South London pub back rooms, Lamis is a classically trained pianist who is well up for live stuff, we’re just checking out some propositions at the moment.
Igloo :: What are you listening to at the moment?
RA :: All sorts. Weatherall is on fire at the moment with his remixes for people like Steve Mason, Toddla T and Soft Rocks… we’ve always got an eye open for a Subscape remix, that man knows how to apply leverage to a dramatic hook, been reacquainting ourselves with latter David Bowie, his 2003 LP Reality has got some of the best tunes of his career on it. Best band Mark’s heard all year is Big Black Delta, you have to check out I Fucking Love You, devastating. Recently dug out the old Dr John LP Gris Gris, nothing beats it for dread and atmosphere. Lamis is obsessed with Julio Bashmore – Battle For Middle Youat the moment, and generally likes deep and dark tech/house. Tony is on a big Tony Bennett jag at the moment.
Igloo :: Do you all hang out together, or is it just when you’re making music or doing band stuff?
RA :: Yeah, we do, some of us work together, we’re regularly to be found loitering at Flaxon Ptootch in Kentish Town on the 2nd Thursday of every month. Some of us have known each other since the mid-90s and we’ve hung out at pubs and clubs since then. Some of us were probably still at junior school at that time, it should be noted.
Igloo :: Who’s the best cook?
RA :: Mark or Tony. Mark’s a demon at interesting fish dishes and slow cooked hunks of animal. At the LP launch party on November 12th Mark is cooking 2 pigs. Tony is a genius at stews and soups.
Igloo :: Who is the most untidy/dirty member?
RA :: Owain’s flat is in an appalling state. There are more broken up synthesisers and old keyboard bits around his place than there are in the whole of Denmark Street. Lamis thinks her bedroom might have residual food stuffs in there dating back 18 months. Tobacco and rizlas have replaced carpet.
Igloo :: Who is the best drinker (important questions…)?
RA :: Dave B loves a pint or 10.
Igloo :: What next then after this album?
RA :: We’re going to be doing a regular monthly clubnight in Hoxton, looking to record an EP very early new year, gigs late spring. Lamis to tidy her bedroom.
That Dirty Echo is released on Rude Audio.
