Crack

Crack is sat in a shady Easton pub, nervously awaiting the Godfather of Bristol dubstep.

As the brains behind a label whose tag line is, ‘Music to make your chest rattle’, and a history of deep and menacing tunes, the swaggering gang-land of Stapleton Road seems a fitting place to meet Bristol’s most notorious producer for a pint. Since releasing his first album, Underwater Dancehall, in 2007, Pinch has become rightly known as a hallmark name amongst the dubstep heavyweights. As the label-boss of Tectonic Recordings, his influence over the scene has seen him simultaneously nurture Bristol’s wealth of homegrown talent, whilst pushing the genre as a whole to groundbreaking new levels. Simply put, without Pinch, the sound of dubstep as we know it today would be far, far, different.

We could be forgiven then, for being a little taken aback, when the unassuming figure of Rob Ellis drifts into the pub. Politely offering us a cigarette, we take a seat in one of the quieter back rooms, and Ellis looks as surprised as we are when he begins to explain how much work he has on at the moment. There is something incredibly modest about the figure sat hunched in a grey jumper, thoughtfully sipping his pint, but as Rob Ellis begins to talk, it’s clear that the love he has of the sound is as deep as it is reverent.

“From those first times of hearing weighty sound systems, I’ve always been drawn to the feeling you get from bass heavy music,” he says. “There really isn’t anything out there that pushes the low-end frequency the way that dubstep does. It’s a real physical form of music. And if you don’t hear it on a decent sound system, there’s a big gap in your experience.”

It’s clear that Ellis is a man who really feels the music that he makes. When he reels off a list of exotic place names featured in his upcoming tour, we wonder how he remains so level-headed. Between touring, producing, and managing Tectonic, he is also the promoter of Bristol-based dubstep mega night Subloaded, not to mention being involved with publishing wing Multiverse, setting up labels for the likes of Guido, Gemmy and Joker (see Kapsize) and revitalising his old label, Subtext, this year. When we mention his place on the Bristol scene, it becomes clear that it’s the city itself that keeps him grounded.

“As a young teenager living in Newport, I was always looking across the water, seeing what was going on over here. When I finally moved here, it just felt like home,” he smiles.

“There’s definitely a very strong Bristol scene. There’s a stronger sense of community amongst the producers in Bristol than I’ve seen anywhere else, and I think that’s something that’s fairly unique to this city. It’s not a negatively competitive place at all.”

It’s certainly true that the Bristol scene is responsible for some of the most exciting music to come out of the underground in recent times. The likes of Gemmy, Jakes and Peverelist, as Ellis says, all have their own take on the sound, but he believes that’s what makes Bristol different. “People talk about a Bristol sound, but I don’t think it’s anything like a ‘Bristol sound’,” he says. “I think it’s a Bristol attitude. The attitude that says, ‘I want my tunes to sound like me’. I think in a lot of other places people are quicker to try and conform, but here people have the confidence to try out different things. It reflects in the success they have.”

This no-compromise approach was one Ellis seems proud to have integrated into Tectonic. “I think that appealing to a commercial nature can make you compromise what you do,” he says. “For me, commercial success is secondary. Not every release might sell well, but I think it’s important to get that music out there. It’s important music, something that stands out,” he nods. “It needs to have a home.”

Ellis’s attitude to the label almost comes across as duty-bound. As we discuss his reasoning behind it, it’s clear that his love for the sound runs far deeper than simply releasing tunes. With a reputation for releasing tracks of a mind-bendingly high quality, and a catalogue spanning a soundscape of producers from Flying Lotus to Skream, Tectonic has grown from its birth in 2005 to become one of the most renowned bass-driven labels there is.

“I guess the ethos behind it was something based on my interpretation of dubstep at the time,” he says, when we ask where the inspiration came from? “Something experimental, sub-based and very heavy. Something that you could kind of immerse yourself in.”

The idea of immersion is one that Ellis refers to more than once in the conversation, and it seems as though it was this element that began his love affair with dubstep in the first place. “I was bored of drum ‘n’ bass,” he says, “it was starting to sound really stale and repetitive. The moment for me came when I went to FWD in London and saw Kode 9 play. I walked in and thought there was just lots of people standing around, but somehow an hour went by, and I realised I‘d completely lost myself in the music.” At the time, it was music that represented everything he was interested in. “There was the headspace you get from dancing to techno, the groundedness of jungle, the menacing attitude of that kind of sound, but the swingy percussive movements of garage.”

“It was an exciting time,” he adds, “the crowd was a real mix of people. They hadn’t come to stand around and pose, they hadn’t come because it was the cool place to go, they were just there for the music. When something is really new, it has a sort of other worldly context to it because it’s not something that you can hear on the radio. That tension and excitement was really a big part of it, I think.”

There is a definite note of nostalgia as Ellis refers to his roots. “Stuff was much more cinematic back in those days,” he says with a wistful smile. “I think that element has definitely been pushed to the side a lot in recent years.”

When asked how he feels about the commercial shift dubstep has undertaken, he says with resignation that although it is something completely natural, it’s not something he feels drawn to. “When something is successful it’s impossible to resist fine tuning it,” he shrugs, “but then it becomes something that can be interpreted as being a bit mechanical and functional. The more functional it is, the more instantly rewarded you are by the crowds. Then of course, as success builds, people get busier. When DJs might have had one gig in a month to look forward to, now they can have six or seven a week. Naturally it’s impossible for them to maintain that focus. “

Would Ellis consider himself to be one of these DJs? For the first time in our discussion, he thinks very hard before answering. “I don’t know...” he says, as his eyes wander for a moment. “I think my relationship changed. There’s a lot you can get from music when it’s something detached from the everyday. As soon as it becomes part of the everyday, it loses that magic edge. I’ve always tried to keep a certain degree of separation in my own head, and for me, running the label allows me that. I think it’s more important to enjoy making the music than to churn it out.”

Ironically, Ellis claims that whereas he started making tunes in order to have things to play out, he now enjoys the process of writing the music a lot more. “I enjoy piecing together sounds and making them all interact with each other,” he says. “A lot of music I write is quite self-indulgent. I sit there and play around with loops for a long time, then sometimes I just think, God, there’s only so much deep stuff people can take on the dance floor.”

His most recent release on Tectonic, Boxer, is one track where he experimented with injecting this ‘dance floor ammunition’. With rolling tribal percussion cut through with fierce mid-range bass and ethereal vocals, it’s an astounding reminder of how far the dubstep sound can still be pushed. The original dub influences, however, are obviously still a huge impact on his work.

“It’s the original bass-heavy, immersive music with an experimental edge,” he says. “When they first started rolling out dub versions of tunes in Jamaica, it wasn’t necessarily something that blew up a dance. It was strange, experimental. It was the same reaction when dubstep landed. “It’s sound system music,” he says. “It kind of changed the whole boundaries of what music is about.” His recent collaboration with Scientist saw a fresh approach to bringing the two genres together.

“It was by far the most demanding project I’ve involved myself in by a long way,” he says. ”The whole thing took about a year to put together. The concept was to take a bunch of original dubstep tracks, and to have them torn apart by dub. It was a concept that could have gone terribly wrong, but Scientist totally embraced it. It was amazing to see someone who was such an originator of the sound, connecting with the music that had been influenced by what he’d done.”

The principals between dub and dubstep, Elllis claims, are much the same, both in the innovative experimentation that famed Scientist, and the physicality of the sound. So with downloads and radio-coverage increasing, how does he maintain that all-important impact?

“I try to hold the majority of my sets on dubplate. It’s unreleased music,” he says. “I don’t often do radio shows, and generally avoid doing online mixes. What I play is upfront and I want to keep that for the dance. So, unless you come along, you aren’t going to hear them.”

Measures like this are just some of the ways producers and labels alike are trying to maintain their original integrity. Speaking as both, Ellis seems confident in the future of the industry. ”It’s power to the independent producer and labels; it’s never been easier to get music released.” He nods as he sips his pint. “Unfortunately, that means a lot more crap gets out there.” His love for the sound is humbling, and as our conversation turns to the future, Ellis’s answer is to the point. “I’m longing for a sense of being amazed by something,” he says. “And I want it to come from the lineage of UK-based rave music. I think we’re ready to see what comes next.”

As far as his own sound goes, Ellis is adamant that experimentation is key. “I’m interested in playing around with different tempos, things like Croydon House (a much lauded track from Pinch released at the turn of the year) came out from that. I’ve got this idea in my head for a kind of bass-heavy, dark, menacing form of house music. Something with a tribal vibe, something that makes me feel how I used to feel when I first heard dubstep.”

There is an optimistic tone as Ellis talks about the future of the sound he has played such a part in progressing. “This time next year, I’d like to have one foot in the world of dubstep and one foot in the world of wherever it is I want to go next. But I almost don’t want to know exactly. I think there’s always going to be these energy flash moments,” he smiles. “The energy flash of dubstep was around 2004-2005, and I think a lot of great music has come since.”

“I’m sure it will continue to,” he adds, “but right now, I feel as though I’m ready for the next one.” Ellis’s confidence in the future is infectious, and as he down the lasts of his pint he leaves us with a parting shot. “It’s time to shake things up a bit,” he nods, and we have no doubt he means it.



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Tune: Croydon House

Words: Claire Holmes

Photo: Liz Eve

http://www.myspace.com/tectonicrecordings

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