Interview: Riskotheque

You’ve got a tune coming out on Skream’s label soon – that must be pretty amazing?
Yeah it’s on his Disfigured Dubz label and its called Like A Bird. It’s a collaboration with a French producer called Von D, who’s a really friendly chap and I’d heard his stuff all over the place and then met him in Warsaw when we were both on the bill. It was done all over the Internet and samples some Barbara Streisand.

Is it easy to collaborate with someone just using the Internet?
Well I started a tune, like thirty seconds and sent him those sixteen bars which he really liked so I sent him all the separate parts and he did his bit and replied with his stuff and it all flowed quite effortlessly over a couple of months.

With that project finished what else have you got in the pipe line?
There’s lots of releases. On Boka Records there’s Guillitine Growl, which is a collaboration with Matt U from Hungry, then a tune called Elephant Man coming out on Sequence Records. Erm, a track called Monster on 3.5 Records, Dad Bwoy on Excess Dubs then also remixes coming out on the labels Artz of War and Glass Half Full.

You’re pretty busy then. When you’re not making music, whose work are you loving at the moment, dubstep wise?
Lots of people, there’s Triage who are from Portland Oregon I think, their stuff’s quite aggressive and in your face. Emalkay, who’s all round amazing and Planas with their minimal deep tunes.  And watch out for March Mellow who’s an awesome producer and we’ve got some collaborations coming out soon.

So you’ve just come back from playing in Poland again – good times?
Yeah, I played Krakow over the weekend at a night called Dubstep Ahead which was wicked. They treated me really well and I got to check out a bit of the city, which is rare. 

So you don’t get much chance to check out the cities you play in?
Not as much as I’d like. This time most recently in Krakow I was lucky and got two or three hours with the people who live there to show me around the place, I checked out the big beautiful Wawel castle and sampled some quality Polish vodka. Honey vodka is definitely the best vodka.

It strikes us that there’s not many female dubstep DJs out there?
There’s a few – Kito’s very good, she’s on Skream’s label. I think drum’n’bass is quite masculine but dubstep not as much. 

You sound different every time I’ve heard a mix or seen you live, do you strive to keep things fresh and interesting?
Yeah I want to keep the crowd interested and myself interested. Sometimes I think I should have one ‘sound’, to try and pin it down so people will recognise my tunes but I like to be varied otherwise it would get boring.

What do you cite as your influences?
Working at Rounder Records is a massive influence. As for other artists, I like loads from Lee Hazlewood’s psychedelic country, Nancy Sinatra, Daniel Johnstone, The Field.

Seeing as we’re in the laundrette do you have a preferred washing detergent?
I dunno, I’m definitely a liquitabs man, it’s not about the powder.