Boymerang

Rip It Up, Issue 241, 1 September 1997, Page 27

Boymerang

It’s halfway through 1997, AND DRUM ‘n’ BASt FINDS ITSELF FIRMLY ROOTED IN THE MAINSTREAM — SOMETHING NOT MANY PEOPLE WOULD HAVE PREDICTED EVEN A YEAR AGO. AS BREAKBEAT MUSIC MOVES FURTHER INTO THE MAINSTREAM, MAJOR RECORD LABELS ARE TAKING A SOLID INTEREST IN THE MUSIC. ONE OF THE LATEST signing’s is Englishman Graham Sutton, WHO RECORDS UNDER THE NAME, BOYMERANG.

| £ you’ve kept any sort of I I ear tuned to drum ‘n’ bass for past 12 months, you’re bound to have heard Sutton’s work. His touch can be heard on a ton of remixes, everyone from Collapsed Lung to Ed Rush; the Boymerang sound is everywhere. Last month, Sutton released his debut album, Balance of the Force, on EMI, and I’ve got the

opportunity for a brief chat. While I’m waking up, and trying to cope with the realities of an Bam interview, for Boymerang, it’s just after nine at night, and he’s chilling at home, somewhere on the outskirts of London. Graham, how are you? “I’m alright mate, good to hear from you.” Cool, now I don’t know a

lot about guitar music, but I hear you used to be in a band called Bark Psychosis! How did you go from that to being one of the freshest new producers on the breakbeat scene? “It’s just life isn’t it, nobody is ever static, life is a journey and this is just where I’m at at the moment. I’ve always been mucking around in studios and experimenting with stuff, it wasn’t like one day I totally changed or anything. I just keep doing what I do, and this is where I’ve ended up.” How’s the reaction to the . new album been? “It’s been good. It’s quite a varied album and I did that on purpose because I wanted toshow the full spectrum of drum ‘n’ bass. There’s some full-on dancefloor smashes on their as well as more chilled out pieces.” You’ve also been keeping busy on the remix tip. The remix of ‘Technology’ by Ed Rush and Nico is really doing

the damage. “Yeah, I like the ‘Technology’ one, and people seem to be into that which is cool. The next remix I’m doing is the next Goldie single ‘Digital’. It’s a collaboration between Goldie and KRS-i, it should be out in a couple of months, it’s pretty cool actually. And Grooverider’s got some crazy ideas for some tracks he wants to do with me playing guitar, which will be interesting.” You’ve definitely got a distinctive sound, who else are you listening to in drum ‘n’ bass? “Oh, I like it all, there’s good music and bad music in all areas. I like some of what

people like Bukem are doing, I like some of what the No-U

Turn camp are doing, and I like the Bristol sound. I like different sounds for different moods, and that’s why my

album has different moods, because I wanted people to be able to listen to it in different environments, like the car, the bedroom, or playing to a dancefloor.”

How about the music itself, is it healthy? Where’s it heading? “It’s definitely healthy. Right now there’s two strands developing strongly; there’s the techno influenced 2-step sound, and the playing live

thing — neither of which I’m that into by the way!” Can you see yourself

playing live? “Not really. For my sound, the production is such a big part of the track, that playing live just wouldn’t represent what I’m about. I generally spend about six weeks on a track, creating a sound that I want, and to try and create that live, I just couldn’t do it.” At the moment there’s a big debate in dance music about major labels vs. independents. With yourself signing to EMI, what are your thoughts? “Basically I think it’s all a crock of shit. All a record label is trying to do is make money, whether it be an independent or a major. What it comes down to is people, if you have good people working for you who believe in what you’re doing, then you’ve got a good chance. For me, over the years I’ve had a lot more grief from independents than majors. As for the EMI deal, it’s a one off deal, non-exclusive, and I can still do singles for whoever I like — I’m not stupid.”

ANDY PICKERING