This week we bring you a dope new mix from London badman A1 Bassline, who draws on his bass-driven influences to provide us with a romper stomper of a mix ahead of his appearance at NoFitState early next month! Yeah this mix is RUDE, and we’re sure you’ll have it in repeat for a long while to come. We also took a few minutes to grab A1 for a little chat about his history and what’s happening with his live set, elements of which he incorporated into this mixtape! What a legend…
How and when did you get into (dance) music?
I’ve always been surrounded by dance music seeing, as my old man used to manage Dem 2. But I guess it was more when I started secondary school, my friends and I got into garage and drum and bass. We grew up just outside of Croydon so at weekends we would go to Big Apple, Wax City and Swag Records to get our music.
At which point did you start making some yourself?
Music 2000 doesn’t really count ha, so i was around 15 when i first started to mess around with Reason which was installed on my older sister’s computer.
Your mix for us incorporates live elements; can you tell us more about using a drum machine in your DJ sets?
I mainly use the TR-8 with a few stomp boxes to make things a little more interesting for myself, mixing with USBs is so quick it left me slightly lost if I’m playing a track for six or seven minutes. It’s mainly for live edits of my own tracks. I don’t want it to come across as a live set – seeing the likes of Skudge and Octave One carrying around so much gear, their performances are fully live.
How often do you play in London?
I play in London a handful of times a year, I think it’s important to not overkill a city unless you’re a resident at a club there. But the next time I’m in London is on 3rd of May at Shapes for NoFitState, who I recently released an EP with.
What do you think of the scene there?
I moved out of London about four years ago. To be honest I’m not too aware of the scene there, I don’t really pay much attention to scenes as I’ve got older! But every time I play there it’s always good fun.
What’s your favourite record shop(s) in London?
Obviously Phonica and Honest Jons are great shops. Blackmarket Records is very nostalgic for me, seeing as it was my go-to place as a teen, but there are some great new shops like Kristina records and I recently did an in-store performance at Love Vinyl which had some great music in there as well.
When in London, where’s your favourite hang-out spot?
I tend to head East seeing that’s where my friends who live in London are based.
Who would you say was your biggest influence?
My rents, apart from my dad managing Dem 2 he also tour managed Curtis Mayfield and The James Brown Band. My Mum has some amazing records and got me into things like Shock Headed Peters and The Jesus And Mary Chain. Production-wise, my college friend Rahim from Lab Creation, he was a few years older than me and took me to Technicality which used to be at Herbal. This introduced me to the likes of Paradox, Fracture and Neptune, Macc. Basically the Drum Funk guys, early Metalheadz stuff and Reinforced which has shaped the way I make music to this day.
Do you have any forthcoming releases you can tell us about?
I have a few things lined up and something I’ve been working on for the past year or two. But can’t say anything just yet…
What do you have in store for your live sets for the future?
Most of the A1 stuff is made in the box but at some point I may introduce a few more things. But in the mean time I’ll probably just stick to this set up.
Catch A1 Bassline at NoFitState on 3rd May, tickets and info here.
