Crack

Luca Veniza is skipping back and forth from New York to Europe with regularity. His sound, is as much in demand on this side of the pond as his homeland.

Most commonly known as Drop The Lime, he is both producer and DJ in between running one of the most hyped dance music labels at the moment -Trouble and Bass. It’s fair to say that DTL’s music is pretty indefinable, an amalgamation of the best parts of dubstep, electronic and a bit of good old classic house music. One thing, however, remains consistent on both the label and his own output, Drop the Lime is a sucker for the bassline.

Having done remixes for the likes of Moby, Little Boots and even a brilliant remix of Scroobius Pip’s Thou Shalt Always Kill, September saw DTL pen the latest in the long running FABRICLIVE series. The FABRICLIVE series are varied and consistent in their output and DTL’s offering stays true to this mandate with a veritable rollercoaster of a mix that takes you through a high tempo, bass heavy wonderland of new records. He even finds space in the mix for a jaunt into his trademark rockabilly he often brings out when he DJs.

Crack calls DTL as he is just about to enter his New York apartment for the first time in four months and finds him in a refreshingly upbeat mood.

It's really clear that you have so many different influences when it comes to your music, so how exactly did the Trouble and Bass sound come about?

There were just a bunch of us who all shared the same love and passion for sound. We have a lot of UK influences as well as a lot of influences from European dance music. We just mixed that with the US hip-hop sound as well as incorporating a kind of punk rock attitude. Basically, over time, we started to make music that sounded like something that we could really mix together and release under a brand. In the end it sounded completely different from any established scene specifically techno or house.

When was it that you realized that you were onto something?

We did a lot of touring in the UK and I suppose that we realised our music was definitely something that was really accessible for people who enjoy the really bass heavy, dance culture you have. I find the UK audience different to the US audience; things are a lot faster and cutting edge in the UK. You’re always looking to the new and it’s really exciting. It keeps you on your toes when things are constantly changing. But right now I view the States as really strong musically especially in California and New York.

As we said, you really have a lot of different musical stings to your bow, have you found that both the house scene and the dubstep scene have embraced you?

Yeah, definitely. I started out liking house music and then I hated house music. I was also really into jungle in the ‘90s, but then in the late ‘90s into 2000 I really started getting back into house and techno again. I really have a love for that kind of music and I just naturally came back to it. Now I have just combined that love with elements of dubstep. It felt really natural.

In terms of location where is the most exciting place that you’ve been recently?

Well Australia has got to be up there, its unbelievable, one of my favorite places. I really like London and of course Bristol, I love the UK. But I have to say that the top place is definitely Tokyo, I’ve never seen kids so in touch with music. They knew all of the songs that we played and just got really involved. I’ve never seen anything so crazy!

What have you got lined up for Trouble and Bass?

Well just yesterday I got the mastered version of my album and that’s out on the 10th of November. I’m also doing this thing world wide with Trouble and Bass and Ministry of Sound in the UK. Besides my album, we’ve got a new AC Slater single out, this guy Mikix The Cat from Paris is also doing an EP that is coming out in November. There’s also a new Supra1 EP that’s coming out in 2011, so really we’re very busy. We kind of generated this international family and it was not at all what I had initially planned, Trouble and Bass just spread like wildfire.

I’ve got to ask about why you chose to include rockabilly records on the FABRICLIVE album.

Well that was the first music that I really got into as a child. My father was always playing rockabilly and so was my mother. I was playing the guitar by seven because I just wanted to be like the rockabilly legends. It is really just a big part of my life and I got really excited about putting it onto the FABRICLIVE album as it just has this raw energy that it shares with a lot of underground dance music. I know that they’re so far apart, especially on the Fabric mix. A lot of people were like; “why did you throw rock music in?” But it’s a mix that really showcases all the different types of music that I really love, it’s really organic and synthetic and really electronic. I guess rockabilly was the first real music that was like ‘lets go crazy and not listen to our parents!’

Words: Lucinda Bounsell

Tune: FABRICLIVE 53

http://www.myspace.com/dropthelime

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