I was lucky enough to had a chance to speak with talented DnB duo Control Change about their forthcoming release called Club Mates Part 2, which is out now on BNCexpress label.
Hey guys, I’m really happy to meet you. Since your production collaboration is still pretty new, can you introduce yourself little bit?
We are Francesco and Giulio. Francesco aka dj Promenade and Giulio aka Trupak.
We have very different stories and ages. I (Francesco) am 10 years older than Giulio and we met because of DnB around 4 years ago. We were both resident djs in a weekly DnB event at Magazzini Generali in Milano and in this place we’ve started to share our ideas and vision around music production.
After not much time, we were in Francesco’s studio, cutting samples and arranging our first tune together. At the beginning we enjoyed a lot in producing bootlegs, turning really mainstream edm music into extreme liquid funk. These tunes have received such good feedback and quite a number of plays on our soundcloud page so after one year we decided to create a duo, we chose a name ….and here we are!
And I believe there is some connection between you and BNCexpress label, is it true? Can you say little bit more about this label? Who is behind the label?
BNCexpress is a project by Francesco and his wife, Ilaria. We’ve called it ‘a project’ on purpose: the idea was to push as much as we can upcoming producers from Italy and abroad, giving them the chance to be on the market for the first time. Now the label has grown but we continue to maintain our aim: to push good DnB music without forcing producers to be focus on a subgenre.
By the way Control Change works like an independent project. We have releases on others label as well: Liquid Flavour (BR), G High (USA) and on the brand new Italian label Singularity Audio.
Can you name biggest release of the label so far?
How can we name you the best BNC release? The best one is yet to come 🙂
OK. So you and label are from Italy, but I believe there is some relation with my homeland – Prague in Czech Republic, is that true?
Yes it is. Around one year ago Francesco and Ilaria moved to Prague for working reason. It is really sad not to meet every week to listen music and sharing ideas in the studio, but on the other hand we are having a more international overview of the scene from a place where DnB music is a really popular genre.
I know just few DnB producers from Italy, how big is the scene over there? Can you name some biggest names, except you of course?
Italian scene is not little at all. There are a lot of amazing producers doing a good job: come on mate, Maztek is Italian!
There are quite a number of djs and crews as well but their work is not easy at all: the club culture is fucked up from our administration’s rules. The club culture has been corrupted by politics. Administrations have favored a different type of business. For example, in Milan we don’t know how many clubs have closed to provide space for new residential buildings or empty offices.
Wow, that’s sad. Let’s go to the release. It’s fresh! Can you uncover little bit of background of this release? Where did you get inspiration and how long did it take to make it?
After we spent a lot of time producing bootleg from edm or pop/soul music, we’ve started to work around our own chords, writing the tunes applying harmonies rules. So now we use the sample like one of the elements and we are no more focused on it to start working.
It’s pretty rare to see DnB LP album, did you plan to have LP, or original plan was just to have EP and then you came up with so many ideas?
Yes, Club Mates was an album from the beginning. We work a lot and maybe being two people helped us to came up with many different ideas to develop.
I’m totally addicted to the track Show Me. So simple, but still so catchy! Who came with idea for this track and who is the vocalist?
“Show me” was born exactly like the others: we shared some chords and we’ve started working on them. We develop this tune thinking about our first album, in order to keep the line between these two works. The vocal is a sample we’ve cut and modified for the tune (please don’t ask more 😀 )
Ha ha, OK, no more questions about this. Another track Jungle Techno is huge as well, but almost like from different album, what’s behind so different sound?
When we play we watch the crowd and for this reason we use to play not only liquid funk. If you are in front of thousands people you need to smash the crowd: the atmosphere is not the same of a little club. So we love even the dark side of DnB and this album wants to be a summary of what we are and we like.
I can imagine to combine Italian vocals with your music, what about something like this?
We believe that English is the best language for music. It’s not only because it is an international way to communicate something but because English language got more musically syllabic scansion.
In the past we released a single with Bolla Trio’s samples where you can listen sample from Ginger Bender, aka Jeanne Hadley and Alessandra di Toma two talented Italian singers.
What about some festivals this year, have you been somewhere?
We have had the amazing opportunity to perform at Let it Roll Summer on the Hospital stage. It is incredible what Let it Roll crew can organize every time. We do hope to come back the next year as well!
Actually I think I heard part of your set. Cool, so what’s next? Can you tell us what we can expect from you in the close future?
We are already working on Club Mates part 3.
Good to know! Thanks so much for your time, I wish you all the best and I really looking forward for some new music from you. Cheers.
Thank you for your interest in our music! We love what you wrote in your “about” section 🙂
Support guys and buy their new album – http://www.junodownload.com/products/control-change-club-mates-part-2/3259376-02/.
