What’s going on in terms of future plans?
We did our first collaboration last summer with Kaluki on the terrace at Space. It was great to be asked and to get involved, I know those guys really well. We went up to Edinburgh at the end of last year, and we’ve had our first label showcase at Cuckoo Club in the West End, we thought we’d take it away from where we usually are – in east London, which is all warehouses and basements. We wanted something intimate.
The next release is Kreature, a really good friend of ours with a remix from Animal Trainer. It’s a different vibe again from the first two EPs. A full EP from myself and Wildkats, and Borrowed Time are all in the works. We’re still trying to get our head around the marketing side of it, using social media etc… to approach the right people. It’s easy to be cynical. I myself work in marketing three days a week so I’ve got my head around some of it. I’m quite a private man so I’m still sort of coming to terms with the openness of it all. We’re up to about 4,000 followers which is great for us.
What would you say so far is the most important lesson you’ve learned so far through all of this?
I think one of the hardest things is getting all four of us together. Stu was in Barcelona, Scott was in Scotland, I’ve been in London. We’ve learned to deal with the logisictis. The main thing is taking control of our own destiny, we spent a lot of time waiting for people to get back to us. It slowed us down. We decided to be a bit more militant with people and certain areas and it’s amazing how quickly everything became after that. We’ve learned to work with people who are hungry to work with us.
It’s a funny industry, an industry full of broken promises. But it works both ways and we’ve tried to be honest with other people. The idea of starting your own label is popular now, it’s a lot more accessible, you can manage a lot of the media channels yourself but I think that, when considering what you should put into a label in terms of your heart and soul, them music has to come before everything else.
What’s going on with you solo-wise?
I had a slow end of 2014 in terms of output, but I’ve got two releases out at the moment – one is on Dial Tone, a Mexican label which is a remix for a house act called Clouded Judgement. I’ve got the You Are We EP of course. I’ve also got an Ep coming up on a new house label called Clouds Above, which is a remix for our Californian friends Low Tide. I’ve got a load of stuff wrapped up, including another collaboration with Antonio and another collaboration with Adam Curtin who’s a friend form Nottingham, on more of a house vibe. I’m also in the process of learning Ableton Live now.
A lot of my stuff up til now has been quite key driven, quite a lot of minor chords quite a lot of emotion. I’ve certainly been inspired by a lot of Detroit music. I’m thinking about making new music in a different way now, “How can I play that live?”. I’ve got a couple of goals I’ve set myself. I’ve been using a lot more hardware, invested in a Moog Voyager last year. It’s really opened my eyes and ears to new areas I can work in. I now work three days a week, so I can balance that with music.
What about Burning Man, I know you’re a regular there…?
Every experience for me is deeply personal. I went for four years on the trot. There’s been years when it’s been a really crazy chaotic hedonistic party and years when it’s been a balance between that and finding a bit more about myself and bonding with friends from around the world. I’ve got a wedding in Ibiza this year, so logistically I’ve got to take a year out! I’m going to go to Dimensions this year though, which I’m really looking forward to. I want to be educated a bit more. Also, dare I say it, I’m approaching my 40th birthday.
Just to finish up – without house music I would…
To paraphrase Charlie Chaplin’s quote about laughing each day I will say that ‘ A day without music is a day wasted…’
Ashley Wild’s next release, ‘0.15’ is out this month on Dilate Records with Kiki and Geddes remixes.
And the next You Are We release is out end of July by Kreature – entitled ‘Transient Control’.