BEAT3 have had a stonking summer, rocking Uppercut, Glade and Secret Garden Party with their own three-way blend of glitch-hop, drumstep and funky bass flavours, plus some monster choons in the shape of Get the Money and Woo Ha. We caught up with the lads ahead of their latest Glitch.FM guest mix for UK Glitch Hop.
Please introduce yourselves….
We are a production & dj trio from South East England:
Arthur Tattersall aka. Kenny Keyskillz
Harry Tattersall aka. Unclebadtouch
Luke L-Biz Barton aka. Crunk Master Fucknutz
We have been making music & dj-ing individually for years and as BEAT3 since 2008.
How would you describe your particular style of bass music?
We try and forge our own path, but it’s based in part on the mid-range, synth-heavy sound of early glitch and modern dubstep, and everything between. We try to make tunes with a certain sound rather than of a certain genre, but we have a broad range of interests between the three of us, covering pretty much every genre out there. Hopefully that comes across.
What first turned you onto glitch music?
We’ve always been into Hip Hop, and we’ve always been into the broken beat sound from people like Tipper, Coldcut, DJ Food, Aphex, Amon Tobin etc etc. We’re pretty old-school, but we love to hear progression in Hip Hop, like El-P’s experimental stuff from the Company Flow days, leading into the Def Jux era. It seemed a natural progression to us when we first heard artists like the Glitch Mob combining huge Hip Hop beats with big synths and glitches.
What’s the scene like where you are?
Seems some of the local breaks nights are incorporating the glitchier sounds, which is good. There are a few Ghetto Funk/Glitch Hop nights popping up in the area. In London L-Biz has been playing a night called Love Filth on Thursdays in Camden Bar Vinyl. Its one of the few (if not only) nights we know of dedicated to all styles of the Glitch sound.
Where do you like to play the most?
Anywhere with a good sound team and lots of space, Uppercut nights & the Meteor Stage (at Glade this year) have set the bar pretty high! Festivals such as Glade & Secret Garden Party (The Drop) are always amazing and people are just so up for having a great time.
What’s the craziest gig you’ve ever played?
Probably the Lord Napier – it rained indoors, one of the generators backed up and filled the place with diesel fumes, and at several points there were speakers and cables partially submerged in water. With lots of laptops & controllers it wasn’t ideal but we still managed to throw down our set. At the other end of the scale Glade Meteor Stage was an amazing experience. A UFO rising from a crater, epic sound system, and laser mapping in the woods!
Who’s inspiring you most at the moment?
MC2 are ticking all the right boxes, definitely looking forward to their new remix ep which has DCarls on it as well. Then there is heRobust – straight up sick with a unique sound. Also couldn’t fail to mention DANk his latest release on Skanky Panky is obscene! Total Badman.
Who are you looking out for in 2012?
Shamanic Technology - he will be doing big things in 2012/13.
Skope - another producer with brilliant skills from our area, doing very well with big releases on Heavy Artillery.
What’s the next project in the pipeline?
Just finishing off a collaboration with the Swing & Bass monsters Dutty Moonshine & hopefully finishing off our own EP before the end of the year. Also getting some beats ready specifically for MCs that we have been tracking down.
Where are you playing over the winter?
We have a big Halloween Gig, ‘Alaween’ (facebook link later) where we are playing alongside Evil Nine, Kanji Kenetic, Dj Moneyshot and several others in Brixton on the 27th Oct with Wearealan.
L-Biz playing regularly at Love Filth with various guests on Thurdays in Camden at Bar Vinyl. Hopefully once everyone else is back from the Burn a few more things will be falling into place towards Christmas and the New Year.
http://www.beat3.co.uk/
http://soundcloud.com/beat3productions
http://www.facebook.com/pages/BEAT3-Productions/339689934839
http://twitter.com/beat3uk
Bookings Contact BEAT3@LIVE.COM
