Hi John! We’ve not caught up with you for a while, how the devil are you?
At the moment i’m a little bunged up, and hitting the Neurophen Cold & Flu tabs hard (the crack of cold medicine!) But generally speaking, life if great thanks!
You’ve just returned from your debut tour of the States. Where have you been and what mischief have you been causing over there?
Ah that was a trip and a half! I could write a novel on the shit that happened throughout that trip, but to keep it pointed it involved; haunted hotels, illegal warehouse raves, seafood in the middle of the Arizona dessert, chewing tobacco, mobility scooters in Vegas, a 6 foot crabs leg, an 80‘s cult death metal band, an adult website photographer and the definitive best cup of coffee in the world. A lot of alcohol was consumed on the trip, so you should be able to put together those fragments as well as I can!
I read on your Facebook page you nearly got shot! What the hell happened there?
Yeah that was close! I finished my set at a club in Seattle, but they had closed the bar, so me and Phil York when out to our mates car as he had some beers. We’re where just chilling and there were a few other groups of people around the car park, then out of nowhere all you heard was “blap, blap...” and everyone scattered!! I know I’m not the picture of sportsmanship, but I promise you no one would have got out of there quicker than I did! You wouldn’t have seen me for the dust!!
What is the hard dance scene like in the States and how does it differ from the UK or Europe?
They really do have their own thing going on out there! The general age of ravers seems to be a bit younger, anything from 14-21, but they are very clued up on their music. They have their own styles too, one was even new to me called ‘industrial’... kind of like a hard dance/gothic/schranz techno hybrid at about 140bpm.. Really cool!
Last time we interviewed you you’d just gained your Friday night Radio One show. You get a lot of love from your fans for the show, but how do you personally feel it has developed over the past year?
I think I’ve settled into the weekly routine nicely now. The show has a great following of extremely interactive listeners which makes the show so much more fun to do live. The number of texts, emails, twitter etc we get in on the show always surprises everyone at Radio 1! I also get a lot of feedback from people saying they didn’t think they liked hard dance and hardcore, but listening to the show they now love it! It seems to have got an older generation of ravers back into the music again which I think is a great thing too!
You also made your debut at Judgement Sundays in Ibiza this year. How did that go and how does it feel to be part of the Kiddfectious v Judgement debut at the Warehouse Project next month?
Yeah Judgement was awesome! I was a little dubious how I would go down as it’s a lot more commercial event than I usually play, but it worked a treat and I went down really well at the end of the night! I’m looking forward to getting involved again next year. It’s great to be involved in this event too! I am a big fan of both of the brands collaborating here, and the venue is one of the finest in the country so it’s an honour to be involved!
Have you ever taken the DJ hat off, replaced it for a punter poncho and headed down to the Warehouse Project for a night on the tiles?
I haven’t actually. Not through lack of want though, I just can’t remember the last time I had a weekend off to go! I think I parked in there in the day once though... does that count? Technically I did pay to get in?
If you were to play any genre other than hard dance and any night at this season’s Warehouse Project, which would it be and why?
Currently I’d like to play Thrasher or Hospitality, as I’m really into my dubstep and D’n’B at the moment! Can you hook that up or are you just asking out of interest?
The hardstyle scene continues to dominate hard dance here in the UK. How do you rate the scene here in the UK and do you think it can ever rival the scene in Europe or Australia?
I love travelling and playing those sick international gigs and festivals at exotic locations, but at the end of the day the UK will always be my favourite stomping ground. I play quite a lot of obscure stuff at times, and sometimes you can tell it confuses people a little when they don’t know a lot about you. But in the UK I totally understand the dancefloor, and people know what I’m all about so I still always have the best gigs here!
You’ve had a few releases out this year which seem to illustrate your musical palette pretty perfectly – from twisted hard dance to hardcore to out and out hardstyle, collaborating with influential figures from each. Do you prefer to collaborate rather than go it alone when it comes to production?
Yes and no... I have to collaborate with people that I’m very close to for it to work properly. People I share a good understanding of music with, and who know what I’m about. The advantage of working with others is that I spend 95% percent of my time working on the radio show, out DJ’ing, writing for magazines etc. It doesn’t leave a lot of time to be in the studio, and to be REALLY good in the studio you have to spend a lot of time in there to stay sharp and on top of all the latest techniques and software, so writing on my own can get to be a tedious process for me at the moment. Collaborating with studio whizz’s can speed the process up a lot which is cool when time is precious.
What has been the one standout, most memorable moment for you during 2009?
Probably getting a private Jet between Coloursfest (Scotland) and Planet Love (Ireland) with Alex Kidd! It was one of those moments when I was thinking “We are really just two scallies from the North West of England... How the FUCK are we on the same privet jet Hugh Grant was in last week?”
KIDDFECTIOUS QUICK FIRE ROUND
Best tune of 2009?
Tha Playah - “Mastah of Shock” (Angerfist Remix)
Weirdest gig to date?
Belgrade, in what was Yugoslavia! Great gig, but very surreal
Most prized gadget/tech toy of 2009?
Vestax’s controller for Serato Itch - Vestax VCi-300... but the Pioneer CDJ-2000 will be out before the end of the year ;)
Biggest celebrity crush?
Andy Whitby
Kutski’s one to watch for 2010?
Bioweapon
DJ Hero or Guitar Hero?
Close call, but probably still Guitar Hero
Kutski’s tip to win X Factor?
Genuinely not been watching it. Are them two lads that have the same hairstyle as Walt from Showtek still in it? If so, them!
Most underrated DJ?
Jordan Suckley, but he’s getting his props these days... will be the next superstar!
Biggest challenge so far?
Trying to sleep in the same room as my manager Barry Almond, with his big hooter snoring away all night!!!
Top of Kutski’s Xmas list?
A gun after going to America!
Bezzie mate at Radio One?
Nihal
Howdy to the Yofridiz!
You boys have been a partnership for some time now. Can you tell us briefly how it all began for you?
Yoz: We meet at a rave back in 2001 through a friend, our passion for the same music kind of developed into being buddies really which led on to us forming our own event Frequency. We played b2b a lot and we just never stopped playing as a duo then really.
Matt: I think we gel really well as a duo simply because we both share an absolute passion for hardstyle music! When we play out I think our enthusiasm for our music shines through to the ravers and we always get a good response from clubbers.
It’s no secret that you are out and out hardstyle fanatics! When do you first remember hearing hardstyle, where was it and what was it about it that appealed so much?
Yoz: I always listened to North tape packs etc and started hearing Mzone and Vortex dropping the odd harder hard trance track and got me thinking.... “is there a new genre we don’t know about?” I was always into hard trance and gabba, hardstyle is kinda inbetween both. Once the word spread that this new genre had been born in Holland I haven’t played any other music since! The book is still open on who invented the sound... Deepack, Uberdruck and Scot Project are a good start.
Matt: In 2000 I was vinyl shopping and started to hear this new sound coming through. Although it didn’t have a name yet, I became instantly hooked on the tougher kicks and fat basslines. The first producers I heard kicking out it out Scot Project, Deepack, Uberdruck and Vortex. I went to Amsterdam one weekend, went vinyl shopping and came across a little hardstyle section. A year later I went back to the same record shop and the hardstyle section was half the shop!
So now that hardstyle has become so much more wildly known in the UK, what is your opinion of the scene both here and internationally?
Yoz: The scene over here is on the up. The big events include hardstyle in their line ups now and more international big names are coming over here. The scene in Holland is huge - hardstyle over there is like hardcore over here. A couple of years ago people only knew Showtek, now ravers seem to be more clued up and now look forward to seeing the likes of Headhunterz and A-Lusion etc.
Matt: I think the majority of followers in the U.K mainly like the reverse bass style, but now the likes of Noisecontrollers, Alpha2 and Brennan Heart come to U.K which is a good thing in our eyes. Internationally i think the scene in doing really well. At the Q-dance events you see people with their flags from all over the world. Q-dance are making hardstyle events some of the best on the planet, this year taking Defqon One to Austrailia. This just shows how popular worldwide it is becoming...long may it continue.
We have an office hamster named Harry the Hardstyle Hamster. He can’t get enough of it and won’t tolerate listening to anything but hardstyle!! Would you consider yourselves hardstyle purists?
Yoz: I would like to buy the hamster off you...how much Laura? I have a guinea pig called Zatox and I reckon they’d get on great!! I’d say were are purists, not that we don’t like other styles but hardstyle is a religion to us. We plan to convert the doubters on the 12th, you have been warned!
Matt: We should breed it with Yozza’s Zatox and create a hardstyle hamgin pig…you’d sell loads in Holland!! We are definitely purists - we eat, sleep and breathe hardstyle but we still like to see what other producers are doing in their respective genres and gain ideas for our own productions.
Which artists would you say are your biggest inspiration?
Yoz: For me it’s Mzone, I followed him all over the country when I was a raver! Current artists that we get inspiration from are Headhunterz, Noisecontrollers, Wildstylez, Brenan Heart, Tatanka...I could go on!
Matt: We are both originally hardtrance heads and have been listening and travelling round to watch the legend Mzone for years. He has done so much for hardtrance over the past twenty years! He’s been label manager for countless labels, run events, released loads of tracks and gigs, all to please his loyal followers and is still busy now! He is also an awesome dude and always has a big grin on his face..Absolute leg-end! As for modern day inspiration, I’d say Technoboy, D-block & S-te-fan, Zatox and Activator.
I hear you’ve just returned from Qlimax! What was the highlight for you? Do you think the UK could ever come close to the hardstyle events over the water?
Yoz: I’m gutted you’ve mentioned this but I’ll be truthful. I recently moved house and in the move I lost my passport but didn’t realise til Friday night before our first dutch gig and Qlimax tour... one of the worst and saddest moment of my music journey!
Matt: Qlimax was absolutely without doubt the best event I’ve ever been to. I’d say the highlight for me was being up in the stands and looking down on 30000 hardstylers rocking to some of hardstyles finest on one of the best, if not the best stage and production shows on the planet. What a sight to behold! Q-dance have set a benchmark now for events around the world. I would love to see events on a similar scale in the UK, and hope it does happen in the near future.
You launched your own record label to accommodate your own production – OPM Recordings. What is your vision and general ethos for the label?Yoz: Our first release out on vinyl in April 2008 which shocked us all by topping the charts on Germantrance! Since that release the label has taken a back seat to DJing and event promotion, and of course the birth of my awesome baby girl. This year we’ve been back on the case and signed a new UK artist called Evasion (his track out in a few weeks). We have big plans next year with remixes from some well known hardstyle artists, talks of an album and much more. Im hoping OPM Recordings can fly the UK flag in the world of hardstyle.
Matt: This year our main focus is on the label and our releases. We’ve been dead busy in the studio recently getting tracks ready and working on remixes. Our vision is to be the no.1 UK hardstyle label and get our tracks heard on a global scale!
Summarise the Yofridiz production personality and tell us what makes it so special?Yoz: We started making tracks about 5 years ago and didn’t really have a particular sound, we just went down the oldstyle hardstyle sound, just full on non-stop reverse bass. In recent years hardstyle has evolved and all the djs/producers have adapt to the new sound. We’re working on our own sound and the our tracks are a mix of old style and nustyle. Pumping with elements of reverse bass, with our love for trance showing through with breaks and epic melodic climax’s.
Matt: We’ve been working hard in the studio recently and feel we are starting to make tracks that really show our style more. We like to produce tracks with an upbeat quirky sound, bags of reverse bass on the build up, always a trance break and big pounding climax kicks. Keep your ears peeled for our new releases next year!!!!
What’s your general set up and which bits of kit could you not live without?
Yoz: DJ setup is pretty standard – 2 x CDJ mk3 1000’s and Pioneer 600 mixer. My studio is my pride and joy to be honest! I have a phat PC, dual screens, Cubase 5, lots of VSTs and samples and my access virus Ti. Couldn’t live without...my whole studio! If I cant make tunes I’m an unhappy human...just ask my Mrs!!
Matt: The OPM studio is at Yozza’s gaff, where we do nearly all our production. I work on stuff on my laptop at home then work on projects/ideas together at the studio. DJ-wise, I have a pair of Technics 1210’s, 2x Pioneer CDJ1000 mk3’s and a Pioneer DJM800. We mix at my house and produce at Yozza’s, that’s the way its always been. One piece of equipment I couldn’t do without is defiantly my ears!
Where do you see the scene as a whole and the Yofridiz in five years time?Yoz: Once we get over the UK money madness I think the scene will improve as a whole…nights are struggling which means lineups aren’t as good, it’s a knock on effect. I see hardstyle playing a big part in the scene next year and beyond. As for us, I hope we’ll continue to play the big UK and hopefully we’ll start playing a lot more overseas and in 5 years to have played at Qdance!!!
Matt: In five years I’d say our aim is to be known as the best UK hardstyle act, and hopefully take our sound to Europe and beyond! As for the scene, it’s growing on a global scale and I think will ultimately be the most popular hard dance genre in the world, if it isn’t already!
Describe the gig you go to bed dreaming about!
Yoz: For me, playing the main stage at a Q event would be like nothing else. To get that chance would be better than a winning lottery ticket, it’s the dream I have most nights. Who knows, we’ll follow our dreams and see what happens..better to try and fail then to not try and never know! Also to play main room Kiddfectious!
Matt: 100% Qlimax! I’d say it’s definitely the pinnacle for any hardstyle artist. Obviously events like Defqon 1, Mysteryland and Q-Base too, but as Qlimax is just one giant arena that only has 9-10 artists on, being one of them chosen few means you have earned the right to be there.
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