Music
Future Cut’s surprising career – in 7 key tracks
From underground drum’n’bass for Goldie's Metalheadz to pop tracks for Lily Allen, Shakira and Sir Tom Jones – join us to chart the Manchester duo’s unique trajectory.
Breaking cover around 2000, Manchester drum’n’bass duo Future Cut had a profound effect on the UK drum’n’bass scene. In Red Bull’s recent rundown of the best d’n’b songs of the 21st Century, DJ Marky recalls hearing their track Whiplash in a Goldie DJ set for the first time: “In the middle it had this Amen break, an edit beat and the vocals saying ‘DROP!’ then ‘BAAANG!’ The whole crowd went crazy and there were three or four rewinds…”
At points in its history, drum’n’bass can sometimes appear an inward-looking scene, underground and catering for a dedicated band of acolytes. But Future Cut – aka Tunde Babalola and Darren Lewis – certainly weren’t stuck in their genre. After a string of finely tuned singles for labels like Renegade Hardware and Metalheadz, they took a voyage right to the centre of the pop world, producing hits for Lily Allen, Shakira and Sir Tom Jones. “At first it was all about the underground but as we became more successful within the scene our goals evolved,” explains Tunde of their voyage outside d’n’b. But drum’n’bass, explains Darren, “is a passion thing which we’ve never lost regardless of where our career has taken us.”
Live now is a brand new mix for Red Bull Radio, “a vinyl walk down memory lane” that finds the duo reaching for some of their favourite tracks from d’n’b’s heyday. Listen to it in the player above, then read on as the pair walk us through some of the highlights of their storied career.
1. Future Cut – Whiplash
One of your earliest released productions - what do you remember about the making of this?
Darren: We had been spending hours, if not days, trying to finesse the records we were making at the time and struggling with maybe being too precious and dealing with the minutiae rather than the bigger picture. We let go and the result was Whiplash which really kicked things off.
Where did it fit in the scene?
Tunde: It didn’t and that was the great thing, so DJs from Andy C to Goldie to the Bristol guys and Ed Rush & Optical were all hammering it on dubplate.
2. Future Cut – Obsession
There's a comment on YouTube that you drove down from Manchester and played this to Goldie, who signed it on the spot…
Darren: YEP! Well-documented and still one our best moments in music making.
A neat mix of washy atmospherics and heavy drums, very Metalheadz in its execution. What did the label mean to you?
Tunde: Recording for Metalheadz meant everything - from Goldie to the club nights to the infamous logo, it was a badge of honour that we desperately wanted to wear. If it hadn’t been for those early releases we may not be sat where we are now.
3. Un-Cut – Midnight ft Jenna G
A very musical track with loads of soul - you can feel you guys working to branch out your sound here. What kind of thing were you listening to, and what did Jenna bring to the table?
Darren: Everything from Lalo Schifrin to John Barry, and then of course Quincy Jones was a big influence. Jenna just came in and smashed out the vocal in minutes – she is incredibly talented in that way.
What was the reaction to this track when it dropped?
Tunde: We first dropped it at The End. It was our last song and knew we had something special. It took a minute for people to acclimatise to what was going on with the long intro but within minutes we knew we had something special.
4. Lily Allen - Smile
Can you tell the story of how you got introduced to Lily? What was she like to write with, and how did this song come together? It's got a very summery, rocksteady feel…
Darren: Actually it was due to the project we got signed to Warner under the name Un-cut – alongside Jenna G. When that didn’t take off, we decided that working outside of d’n’b was something we wanted to explore. An A&R friend of ours heard a song off the Un-cut album and thought Lily would be a good fit for us. She was unsigned and managed by a guy called George Lamb – who went on to do TV and radio. His brief was reggae. The first song we wrote was Smile – then LDN and Knock em Out that same week.
What was it like as the song took off in popularity? Were you suddenly very professionally in demand?
Tunde: It was an unreal experience. We came from a tiny little room in Manchester and all of a sudden, we were in LA with The Pussycat Dolls and Kanye West. Very surreal!
5. Shakira – Gypsy
You're part of the production team on this track, alongside Amanda Ghost and Lukas Burton - what role did you play on this track?
Darren: We produced this from scratch – Amanda and Lukas were executive producers on the album.
Are there tricks you learned making d'n'b that you can use on tracks such as this?
Tunde: Absolutely. Playing dubplates gave us a sense of what worked and didn’t arrangement wise. We still maintain that ethos to this day
6. Tom Jones – Give A Little Love
So you handled the bulk of production on 24 Hours - what's it like producing for a massive voice like Tom Jones? Any do's or don'ts, production wise?
Darren: Working with a legend like Sir Tom was an amazing experience. He was totally open to our ideas and other than being in the presence of a giant in the business it was no different to any other session – apart from being in LA and partying with him in Vegas!
Did he have a vision for the record you had to bring to life?
Tunde: For sure it was lyrically that he wanted to explore themes that he hadn’t before. Give A Little Love is still one of our biggest syncing songs.
7. Wretch 32 ft Example – Unorthodox
A big sample from Stone Roses’ Fools Gold in this. Being Mancunian, I guess you might have fond memories of this record?
Darren: Tunde in particular was hugely influenced by this record and it took some thought before we decided to go ahead and rework and re-record that record into our production. Wretch knew instantly that it was the right thing to do.
Did you have this beat in the bank for a while, or did you cook it up working with Wretch/Example?
Tunde: Nope, we did that especially with Wretch in mind – and we all felt that Example was the obvious choice to join him on the hook.
René LaVice & Future Cut's new EP is out now on Metalheadz. Buy it
