Exclusive 601 Interview + Free Mix + Track

The insanely good “We Do Bass” LP from breakbeat powerhouse’s 601 has dropped this week and what better time to catch up with the duo to find out whats what in their world. Check our review of the album HERE, check the youtube album mix below and read through the interview to grab your free VIP version of ‘Keep It Up’ ft Frilla.

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Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions, for those that don’t know, who are you, what do you do and what style(s) of music do you play?

No worries! We are 601, one northern codger and one Essex manchild, George and Nat who produce/play 140/future jungle/dubstep etc. etc.

The new album is massive! Tell us a bit about ‘We Do Bass’. Has it been a long time coming? Favourite track(s)?

It seems like forever since we started, at least 12 months. Favourite tracks have to be the vocal tracks, especially ‘Dutty Bass’. It was something we haven’t really done before and getting to work with legends like the Ragga Twins was amazing! I’d also say we’re particularly proud of the first single ‘Pixelate’ as that tune was really a step up in terms of production values and set the tone for the rest of the album.

The album sees you collaborating with some wicked MC’s and vocalists. Was it your intention to produce more on a vocal tip?

We’re always trying to push our sound and moving into vocal tunes was the logical progression, especially with the album format where every tune doesn’t have to be an absolute banger. It meant we could do tracks like Stars without worrying about destroying dancefloors!

‘We Do Bass’ features a lot of 140 Jungle Breaks or Future Jungle, how did you become drawn to this sound?

We’ve always been partial to dropping and chopping classic breaks into our tunes, so harking back to a style of music that was pivotal in our youth, whilst still using some modern sounds seemed an obvious move to us. We never made a decision to be Future Jungle it’s something we naturally started writing and you can hear it in our tunes as far back as 2009 on the track ‘Clay Davis’.

You also dabbled in a bit of 110 & DnB, can we expect to hear more multi genre, 601 bangers in the future?

I’d hope so, it’s easy to dabble in different genres when it’s wrapped up in the album format, it’s a bit trickier to break out of the pigeon hole when you are doing singles, but never say never!

It’s out through Passenger records right? Aquasky’s label. How did you hook up with them?

We always loved the label and wanted to be on it, so we got in contact with them to ask if the were interested in a track called ‘Brothers and Sisters’ and they jumped on it , which was amazing for us, Passenger has always been top of the tree for us in the breaks scene.

Did they have much input into the musical side of things?

The Aquasky guys are awesome at giving pointers and direction on how to push a track to the next level, advice that was always welcome, we also wouldn’t have got as many awesome vocals on the album if it hadn’t been for the label, so maximum respect to them!
Which other artists and producers are you feeling at the moment?

Ital Tek, Special Request, Audio, Jubei, Zomboy, Om Unit, The Bug, Neon Light, Icicle, Evol Intent, Scrufizzer, Virus Syndicate, Pyramid, Xilent, Pegboard Nerds, Yoof, Kanji Kenetic, Phace, Wizard, Eat Rave, Backdraft, Vinyl Junkie and Futurizm

What do you think it means to be a “successful” DJ or producer?

When you can travel the world and people know and respect your tunes and DJ sets

What can we expect from you for the remainder of 2013 and beyond?

We’re going to be doing plenty of gigs and we have an exclusive tune coming out on the upcoming Warehouse Wax compilation: ‘We’re Not Dead Yet Vol 3’.

https://www.facebook.com/601music

Exclusive 601 Interview + Free Mix + Track