Drum & Bass
J Majik: "Some Old Dishes Your Nan Made Were Wicked, But Some Were Awful!"
The new album ‘Crazy World’ looks set to smash hard onto the scene with some seriously heavy cuts included on there. What was the highlight of producing the album, and do you have a personal preference for any of the tracks on there?
It’s difficult to pick one track that we prefer, we have tried to cover so many styles on the album, and depending on what mood you are in, either chilled or having it in a club, there is something for everyone on there!
You’ve hooked up with Hype again on ‘Rollin’ It’, one of the album’s highlights and a track which has been played endlessly on Hype’s Kiss show for the past few weeks. How did this come about?
We worked with Hype on ‘Dubplate Killaz’ (the title track of his album on Ganja), so he returned the favour for ours. We got in the studio with Daddy Earl, and he came up with the hook for ‘Rollin’ It’. The three of us then got together over a period of months to put the finishing touches to it. ‘Cutie’ (the other side) is far more chilled and shows a different side to what the three of us normally do together. Both these tracks will be coming out on a limited edition picture disc at the end of August.
You’ve also rubbed down the classic ‘Spaced Invader’ again for the album. What prompted the reworking?
We had been experimenting with the Space Invaders loop, then at roughly the same time (about a year ago) we heard that Andy C had been dropping the original again in every set. Bryan G and SS had been on at us for ages to do a revamp and the time just felt right. We had real problems with the mixdown actually as we had to re-sample the parts from the original, but we did a prototype and gave it to Andy and he gave us the thumbs up. From there, we probably mixed it down another 15 times but we’re now happy with it!
The single ‘Crazy World’ has been given extensive Radio 1 airplay from Annie Mac and Zane Lowe, who both made it their Single Of The Week. What do you think of the current commercial interest in drum & bass again? Do you think it’s having a positive effect on the scene?
We think it’s great that DJs like Zane Lowe and Annie Mac are playing the single and for me it just gives a chance for a wide variety of listeners to hear drum & bass and let them make up their own minds if they like it or not. As far as having a positive effect on the scene there are always two mindsets, one is to keep it underground and the other is to push the music to as many people as possible, and we respect both opinions.
You also took over Fabio & Grooverider’s Radio 1 show recently and also put together a mini-mix for Annie Mac’s popular Friday night show. With the commercial interest in acts like yourselves and the likes of Pendulum, do you ever think D&B could cross over into the mainstream and stay there?
We don’t think D&B will ever be mainstream; its cutting edge music that musically and technically pushes the limits of today’s dance music. There will always be tunes that ‘cross over’, but predominantly D&B is a club movement that belongs in the clubs.
In the past Infrared has collaborated with House giant Defected. There are some obvious disco influences on the new album as well with some of the licks sounding like Daft Punk or Full Intention tracks of old. Do you draw much inspiration from the house scene when creating your music?
I guess subconsciously both Andy (Wickaman) and I are influenced by all kinds of music including the names you mention. I have always been into the more funky house and we’re both into some of the electro house stuff that’s been surfacing over the last year or so, and working with Defected on various house projects under different names gave us some good contacts like Kathy Brown.
You’ve balanced the tear-out cuts on the album (e.g. ‘Rollin’ It, ‘Fiddlers Elbow’) with some more soulful & musical tracks (‘Crazy World’). Do you have a particular preference within the many styles of D&B or do you like to keep your style and your music as varied as possible?
We love making all styles of D&B and for us it keeps it interesting and allows us to experiment more with our sound.
What do you think makes your partnership with Andy (Wickaman) so prolific?
I think the fact that we both enjoy all the different sounds of D&B always helps us keep coming up with new ideas and we have always worked on a few tracks at one time and swap between them when we feel uninspired or just can’t get any more out of our ears EQ wise. Also I think the fact that we both DJ helps, cause even after a good weekend DJing you feel inspired to create new music in the week, and play it after cutting it on dubplate.
Finally, after being in the scene since the mid 90’s you’ve experienced many of the various movements that have happened within it. Do you think nowadays people have enough respect for the scene’s history?
We don’t really expect people who were not there at the time to respect a music that has evolved to what it is today. To me, it’s like with jazz, the 80s, hip hop etc, you either like it or you don’t, but it’s a musical evolution. Like food, some old dishes your Nan made were wicked, but some were just awful!
Featured Tracks:
| Crazy World - Disc 1 - Album (67:29) | |||||
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Artist: Wickerman & J Majik Label: Infrared Records Genre: Drum & Bass Release Date: 2007-07-30 
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| Crazy World - Disc 2 - Album (56:17) | |||||
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Artist: Wickerman & J Majik Label: Infrared Records Genre: Drum & Bass Release Date: 2007-07-30
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