Fri, 03 Dec 2010 / Post a comment
Silicone Soul is the name of the duo composed by Craig Morrison and Graeme Reedie, two scottish guys who knows each others since school time. Until theri first appearances on Soma Records in 1998 the two guys lived in a special spot of the electronic music scenery demonstrating all their skills about producing music and beeing able to enfuse all their feeling and emotions in their work. Silicone Soul is a dynamic combination that prefer their passion instead of fashon or stuff like that. In 2001 they became famous climbing the Top Of The Pops Chart with their single “Right On”, and from that moment they never look back. A thing they have in common is the strong effort for Detroit Punk Rock like MC5 and the Stooges and they have an idea of music like a process that begins so far, they look at the mythical personality of the music not like unreachable heroes, like a starting point. After their great time on Soma Records they set up their own label, the Darkroom Dubs.
You know each other since time of school, how your musical connection was born?
Through a mutual love of Hanoi Rocks & The Stooges, marijuana and not going to school in the afternoon! Then being in Punky – Rock n Roll bands together.
Late 80s early 90s, a special period for you.Primal Scream, The Screamadelica…what can you tell us about it?
Primal Scream and The Orb changed our lives – Screamadelica (and the production of Andrew Weatherall) was a musical awakening – For me, hearing “Loaded” for the first time was just mind blowing, I just hadn’t heard anything like it and it certainly cultivated that young fertile imagination. It was the first dance record I heard. I suppose it’s the same feeling when people that grew up in the 60’s heard ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’ for the first time.
And from that moment what’s happened?
Well basically we starting clubbing – I went to the opening night of Slam at the Arches and was just like “Fuck me, the music is amazing” and that was before the acid and the E’s!
There was a new energy and movement and we were inspired by it. So the transition from rock n’roll to house music began. Graeme already had a few bits of basic gear, Med 3 sequencer for the Amiga, a Roland drum machine… that sort of thing. I swapped a really nice classical guitar that I had (not that I was a mariachi by any stretch of the imagination) for an Akai S20 sample, I think you could have a maximum of 5 secs of sample time or something like that, crazy! Things didn’t really start rolling till we got an MPC, which the first album was produced on.
Continuing to talk about special poeriod the 2001 was a great year for you. The single “Right On” rises on the Top Of The Pop. Did you expect that?
We had a feeling it was a special record and on reflection we are just really proud to have a house ‘classic’ that people still really love today. Soma are re-releasing the original “Right On, Right On” next year for Soma20 (years) with loads of great new remixes but I’d better not say anymore or I’ll get into trouble!
We talked about your past and maybe is in the past where your music born. What’s the meaning of the past for you, musically talking.
The way I see it – I can’t be bothered with all this “tech house minimal” micro – genre shit. Music is music, I mean we have almost 80 years history of recorded music to enjoy and inspire, so the past is very important – where would we be without an “Electric Ladyland”, a Muddy Waters, a Marvin Gaye, a King Tubby – I could go on forever!
Inspiration and the talent are two important factor for an artist. What did you inspire you most?
Anything can inspire – a book, a film, a record. There is such a delicate balance between inspiration and replication/ repetition. Inspiration is like a snowflake in the sky – you have to grab it before it melts.
Listening to your music we can hear different element coming from different generes, house, underground, a little bit of techno…how can you describe your music, and how is it changed during the time?
Being Dj’s I think there is always going to be some amount of influence from the music you play. As that changes so does your music. But from day one we had our own blueprint of what we wanted to do and sound like, so that the most important thing. Our music sounds like us, essentially.
Your sound is very refined and it soon gained the appreciation of an important label like Soma Records, how was your experience with this label and what this experience gave to you?
Soma were not only massively archetypal in the early UK electronic scene in 1990 & 1991 but they are known and respected worldwide and have inspired many all over the world. The strengths of any indie label are measured not only on conviction, dedication and belief but in the quality of the releases and artists, so the Soma back catalogue speaks for itself.
For example, it was probably the first European label to release tech house and minimal music which of-course has had a massive impact all over. Also they have brought acts like Daft Punk, Funk D’Void and Ewan Pearson to the worlds’ attention. Soma are now the longest running independent electronic label ever and have had the most consecutive 12? releases, which is a fantastic achievement considering the myriad of changes in the scene over the years. Also, you don´t reach that position without great music and at the heart of this are Glenn, Dave, Stuart & Orde. As this original name for the label says, ‘Soma Quality Recordings” and this legacy and continued endeavour will stand the test of time.
For us personally, the first techno records we both bought were from Soma and i am sure there are many producers, Dj’s and music lovers all over in the same position.
Soma really know how to develop and nurture talent and they’ve allowed us to grow as artists and now we are in a fortunate position now to have an artistic ‘carte blanche’ with our musical direction and decision and also what other label would have waited five years for an album! Most importantly though we are all close friends and share the same love and desire for music.
Besides Soma you wanted to create an your own place for your music, i’m talking about your label, the Darkroom Dubs. Can you talk us about this project?
Darkroom Dubs is doing brilliantly – it’s a real passion and it’s great to work with and support like – minded artists. We have had some great releases this year “Darkroom Dubs Vol.2 “, Extrawelt, Feygin, Jairo Catelo, Simon Stokes, Timid Boy, Sei A, Alex Niggemann & Marc Poppcke & Of Norway.
We actually started the label in 2003 but it’s only really in the last two years that we’ve been giving it ‘both barrels’ Next year’s going to be even more enjoyable I hope – we have the Darkroom Dubs 50th release which will be an exclusive Silicone Soul track and Kiki’s remix of Time Mariner’s Mirrour (our summer single on Darkroom Dubs). Also we’ll continue with the Limited Edition Vinyl Series with Robag Wruhme & John Selway remixes of Extrawelt & Italian duo Filippo Mancinelli & Allen May. And speaking of the Italian Connection, we have just signed a new act from Genoa called Concrete Jungle. Their “Motel Luv” track will be out in Jan 201I on the “Darkroom Dubs Winterdeep” release.
Nowadays how much is important for an artist to have an own label?
Any outlet for your music is important – it’s good to have complete control so to speak but releasing music on other labels is cool too!
We know that you are active both in production and in the remix activity, can you tell us about your future projects?
Aside from all the Darkroom Dubs shenanigans – Soma 20 is the big thing, there will be loads of remixes of our back catalogue, new Silicone Soul tracks and Dj mix compilations. As I say the label are keeping everything under wraps at the moment! Also right now were just getting some vibes and ideas together for our 5th album too.
Thanks for the time. Good luck for the future.
It’s a pleasure – you too!
