Music
Chase & Status: still flying the flag for Britain
New album Tribe finds the drum’n’bass trailblazers returning on epic form. The group’s Saul Milton talks collaboration and Culture Clash – and shares an exclusive 30-minute mix of new material.
It’s not that Chase & Status have been quiet, exactly. In the four years that have passed since 2013’s Brand New Machine, they’ve headlined a stack of festivals, released a suite of grime tracks collected under the EP London Bars, and won 2014’s Red Bull Culture Clash as part of soundsystem supergroup Rebel Sound.
But as adept as they are at crafting dancefloor bangers, Saul Milton and Will Kennard have always been adept at crafting albums that feel like heavyweight statements. There's a lot at stake here. So as Tribe, the pair’s fourth album finally drops, there are a few butterflies. “Like Larry David,” laughs Saul, “I'm anxious and neurotic about everything.”
It's great to see what's going on with UK music as a whole – especially rap and grime
Luckily Tribe sounds pretty much exactly how you’d imagine a Chase & Status album ought to sound in 2017. Harking back to the duo’s bedrock sound, drum’n’bass, it also branches out to adjoining genres through a stash of well-selected collaborations with Kano, Novelist, Section Boyz, Slaves, Emeli Sandé and more. Of course you should listen to the lot, but the pair have built Red Bull an exclusive 30 minute mix – “a little look into Tribe, with a couple of little dubplate mashups in there, and a track from one of our favourite drum'n'bass artists, Dimension,” says Saul.
Listen to the mix above, and then read on for a full interview with Saul, touching on collaboration, studiocraft, and whether they’d ever defend their Culture Clash title.
Hi Saul. Tribe has been a few years in the works and finally dropped last week. How does it feel to get it out there?
Saul: There’s a lot of anxiety, lots of feeling neurotic, a lot of uncertainty. Because it's been such a long time. The first album we did in 2008, we had no expectations – there was no pressure. We happened to have a successful first album, which changed our lives, no question. Then we had second album syndrome writing No More Idols – we were questioning everything. “You're shit, you’re finished, you're killing yourself, you're over.” And then it was a really big success. The third album, we were a little bit calmer. But this feels like the second album all over again.
The industry is completely different to how it was four years ago - you've got Apple Music, Spotify has taken over, it's all a very different place out there. But it's great to see what's going on with UK music as a whole – especially rap and grime and more vocal-based music. It's always exciting making an album and hooking up with the best of British, trying to make something magical.
You mention UK music – is it still important to focus on UK voices?
100 per cent. All four of our albums have been UK-centric, we've always been flying the flag for Britain. We've said the same thing in interview since 2004: the UK has the best music in the world, in our opinion. The most exciting, most innovative dance music is created here – jungle, drum'n'bass, garage, grime. We don't always have to look abroad for those high flyers for those hits. Look at 2017: we've got Giggs, Stormzy and Skepta travelling the world, and that's incredible to see. And we love pushing new talent: Bugzy Malone, Section Boyz, Kiko Bun. We love having – we need to have – those sorts of names on our record.
You’ve covered a lot of ground in your career, from producing for Rihanna to performing at Download. As you start a new record, how do you decide what you’re going to make?
Tribe started as a working title, and it changed while we were writing the record, but we went back to it. It started off being quite a tribal-sounding album – rhythms, grooves, conga drums, lots of percussion. Over time that changed, but the title stayed. What with everything going on in the world, everything getting so segregated, it felt like something important: we're one tribe here in the UK, everyone coming together – let's try to keep that sense of unity and positivity, rather than angst.
The most exciting dance music is created here in the UK – jungle, drum'n'bass, garage, grime
Also what we wanted to do with this album was to nod to, and be inspired by our past. There are tracks here that could easily have fit onto our first album. Jungle drum'n'bass is where we're from. We have such a big passion for that music, and it's still growing by the day.
When you're writing, are you like: ‘This is going to be a track for Craig David, this is going to be a track for Slaves…’ Or do you build the track first, and then be like, who suits this?
It varies... Slaves came in and we wrote a track there and then – we both got our guitars out, Isaac got on vocals and we wrote it organically. Craig David was one of the best sessions of our lives. We'd never met the guy before, just spoken a little on WhatsApp. He came down to the studio session in Metropolis, and walked in while we were playing a beat we'd been working on. In about 15 seconds, no joke, he’d picked up a mic and was singing ideas. It’s definitely always different. Section Boyz, there was a beat they liked [Know About We], and they jumped on it. But when we wrote Love Me More, the Emeli Sandé feature – yes, we bloody hoped Emeli would be on it. And thankfully she liked it, and had something quite poignant she wanted to say.
One of our favourite tracks was Know Your Name, with Seinabo Sey. It's straight dancefloor drum'n'bass with a really deep vocal. But that beat would be a pretty fucking weird to write a song to – and of course she didn't. We actually built a beautiful song for her, guitars and everything. It was genuinely lovely. But then we thought, what business does this have being on a Chase & Status album? So we took the vocal, and crafted new music around it. The proof is in the pudding.
Rebel Sound celebrate Culture Clash victory
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As Culture Clash champions as part of Rebel Sound, it can’t have escaped your attention that Culture Clash Atlanta is this weekend…
I know Disturbing London are going out there – I’ve know them for a long time, and they’ve asked me a couple of tips. Should be interesting, Atlanta, eh? I know if we went as Rebel Sound, we would destroy anyone without question – any American sound, any Jamaican sound, any Japanese sound... we would body them. We could do it no problem.
Any American sound, any Jamaican sound, any Japanese sound... we would body them
One thing about clashing that you need to remember: there’s a lot more to clash than people getting on the mic and getting too loud. In that scenario it's all about the dubplates. Let the dubplates do the talking, let the host do the hosting, don't get the two confused. When you're on the mic in front of 30,000 people and you're trying to be clear and specific, it's very difficult. That's why you cut a dubplate in the first place, to get that clear enunciation, to get what you're trying to say across. Also something that worked well for us is humour and comedy – be fun with it. Don't take yourself too seriously. It's all about being clever, being funny –not taking the bait and getting rude. Take the high road and keep it cool.
Would you return to defend your title?
We never say never – I would like to represent the UK, take it somewhere proper. Take it to the yard, do it against Mighty Crown, or against one of the big Jamaican sounds. I would rather do that and take it internationally than clash more UK sounds, people I know well.
Culture Clash is long and deep and it can get quite crazy. It was an amazing time, one of the best experiences of our lives, no question. In terms of UK Culture Clash, that night was unparalleled. So rather than compete with that, I'd like to take it abroad. I've not spoken to the guys, we're just talking here. But if the offer came our way... we'd always be up for conversation.
Any other vocalists coming up you admire?
There are lots of people we'd love to work with. There are two groups from America who aren’t up-and-comers, but I'd love to do something with The Black Keys and I'd love to do something with Alabama Shakes. I'd love to do something with Anderson Paak, Kendrick Lamar. And as ever, there’s so much homegrown talent. I love CASISDEAD, he's one of the best out there, his visuals are amazing, his 80s concepts really cool. He's a very nice guy, a hard worker - a real star of the future for me. I really like 67, coming out of south London, Brixton Hill. As you can tell at the moment, I'm really fixated on rap and grime artists.
Sounds like you're ready to get started on the next record...
Who knows man - we've got so many left over bits and bobs from the last one, so after the campaign in a few months I think there will be a flurry of new releases, and more drum'n'bass, no doubt. It definitely won't be four years this time!
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