interview : Tallon - Breed 12 Inches

Created on 28/07/2010 by Kivex

Care to fill our uninformed readers in on what Breed 12 Inches is about and your involvement in the label?

Breed 12 Inches is the product of an industry which, we believe, caters loosely for the unsigned and emerging talent. We BREED up and coming talent onto 12 INCH vinyls. There are too many labels which apparently claim do this, but none stand out amongst the rest. When we created the concept of Breed, we wanted a label that was as progressive and had as much impact on the scene as Lifted did, but mainly provided the platform for undiscovered talent to shine on the main stage. I began on work experience with Chris around 3-4 years ago when I was 19, having previously encountered Lifted through a radio mix he had done out in Russia. As soon as I heard the content and quality of the music, I had to hit him up and get involved in any way possible. After a month staying with him and meeting the rest of the LFTD family, I began doing the most basic forms of work, for free, including forum posting, data collection etc in my own time. Then there was talk of a sister label starting, and it all kinda snowballed from there.

Being that the label is a subsidiary of Lifted Music, the child of Chris Renegade & Spor, tell us how you met the two and became involved in the grand scheme of things

As previously noted, I had stayed with Chris for a month some years ago on work experience whilst at University. It was only a matter of time before I met the other half of Lifted, Spor. Both work so well together, you can’t help but vibe off them and want to get involved as much as possible. I was adopted back then as Chris’ “prodigy”, and tried to emulate his approach to the industry as much as possible, all whilst trying to maintain my own views and opinions on the music and the appeal - kind of capturing the best of both worlds.  

What do you think is an important aspect of a labels success that is often overlooked?

The Backroom Crew, as I call it, are the basis of a labels success. All of the top labels had an incredibly business-driven ownership and management crew behind them; Ram, Hardware, Hospital - and this is the approach we have with Lifted and Breed. It’s all very well being able to pick good music to market, but how you market it, and the vision behind it - that all comes from the Backroom Crew. The visual and business concept of Lifted was one of the first attractions I had to the label, let alone the music, and that was reflected in the quality over quantity approach. Many seem to think “Drum and Bass” is a game, but there is serious potential to take it further than the underground, but that success depends on the people behind the machine.

Tell us more about what you do outside of this political world of electronic noise?

When I do get a life, its usually spent catching up with friends. You do become somewhat of a hermit, sitting in front of monitors 12+ hours a day or being away on a weekend. Plus, your ears can take a bit of a hammering along the way. Since I moved further outside of London, I usually doth venture back to the illusive ‘Cuckfield’ to engage in a beverage or 9 with my friends - just generally play catch up as much as possible. Guitar is a big portion of my life too, sitting and jamming kills many an hour. I’m a big film/tv series fan, and have just discovered ‘Snuff Box’ - so that box set needs to be completed alongside the ‘Father Ted’ one. Venturing out for a bike ride or run are daily events, but the most hardest part is leaving music behind at home, as you’re constantly connected via the phone. Switching off isn’t easy. You get out what you put in though, as they say.

Recently you have started doing club nights across Europe under the Breed 12 Inches brand name. Even if it has never been considered, do you think New Zealand can expect Breed parties to make their way down here eventually?

The Breed 12 Inches nights suddenly came out of nowhere. We had anticipated them coming, but the demand happened all of a sudden - which was fantastic. We just recently lined up Paris and Portugal (the former featuring myself, Gemini and Insideinfo - and the latter swapping InsideInfo for Telekinesis) which are looking to be good fun. The demand is now there, and we are always looking to expand the brand name - which is the main reason for the nights. New Zealand has always been a dream to take the brand out there, but who knows. We have an inkling it may happen one day, but until then - the main focus is moving Breed 12 Inches forward as a brand.

Rumour has it you've been producing music yourself under the name Tallon, with assistance from some big names in the scene. Care to provide any insight on this / whats forthcoming?

Aha, I thought this may pop up at some point. Production has always been a part of me, since teaching myself guitar some 14 years ago. I always wanted to develop musically, and with working with Lifted / Breed - it all kind of fell into place. The production side of me has always been for fun, with no real intention of taking it further. It wasn’t until around 2 years or so ago, that I would send clips off to fellow crew and friends, and they’d give me good reviews. I dabble more so now when I get the time, and the ‘Labyrinth’ project has received some fantastic feedback (http://lostlabyrinth.bandcamp.com/album/the-enigma-ep). I noticed Jacey using a couple of dubstep numbers, but I have no plans for them. At the moment, I’m focused on a couple of things; including a RMX’s of  Laroque of ‘The Push’, an old Unknown Error tune that (Robbo Apex gave me the parts for some time ago) and a couple of other ventures. Aside from that, anything else I do is kept for live shows, or thrown up on the Soundcloud page: www.soundcloud.com/tallon_brd

This is so stupidly irrelevant, but as I talk to you I'm lying down on a couch cranking the macbook , beer in hand, while the fireplace is blazing and chilled out drum and bass has its subtle place in the background.. chilled_as_can_be… so inspire me please ! tell me what your ideal visage of chilling out would involve, even if its completely hypothetical and unrealistic

Jesus, stupidly irrelevant isn’t halfway to being correct! Christ... Without too much thought, I would be perched on a rock on Tallon’s Hill - the derelict hill in Ireland which was lost by my great great Grandfather in a gambling venture. Late night, a warm summer’s evening (In Ireland...I can dream) with none other than my illusive Chillout Spotify Playlist, and a bottle of Jack and a few close amigos. Aside from that, chillout is something I rarely get to do, but if you give me a playlist of Elgar: Cello & Violin Concertos and a dark room, and I’m out. My thoughts do the rest.

Realistically (in your mind), where would you like to see yourself and your brand in 5 years?

In 5 years I see Breed becoming the one stop resource for the best up and coming talent around. The one stop shop for cutting edge, forward-thinking artists and the sharpest musical output since the early years of Hardware. I think all of the foundations are there, especially with the crew behind it, its just a case of immense hard work and a fair bit of dedication.

Introduce some of the artists who are really impressing you right now. Those who we can expect to see some epic forthcoming content from in future!

Telekinesis’ output at the moment is increasingly at a lightening speed, which is good news to me! Gemini has also matured over the last year, he’s developing a rapid output of solid material, all killer - no filler, as they say. There was even talk of a collab between us two, but we’ll see. There’s 2 relatively new up and comers called Task Horizon and LoudSound respectively - watch out for them both on Breed. Aside from the obvious A-list crew whose newest material is devastating (Vicious Circle, Audio, Concord Dawn and BTK/Optiv), there’s a host of other producers to namedrop; Falinox, Torqux and Twist - I could go on.

 

 

As your label has grown, and more up and coming talents have signed up, how do you feel the labels direction has changed since its launch (if at all)?

The direction has never changed, if it did, its only heading more vertical. The output quality is increasing more and more with each release, and the welcoming responses we are receiving are coming from all angles, including from the A-list crew. I would like the label to take a more broadened output one day though, but that opportunity comes with time and a solid release catalogue behind it. I get some incredible producers sending material that just doesn’t fit the ethos of Breed, which is such a shame. B-Complex’s ‘Beautiful Lies’ was sent to me before anyone, but it just didn’t fit Breed.  Shame really...

What other electronic music do you enjoy aside from drum & bass / dubstep?

I hate genre listings as such, so I’m just going to list artists...Burial, Amon Tobin, Moderat, Royksopp, Vangelis, Booka Shade, Klashnekoff, A Dancing Beggar, Daft Punk / Stardust, Prodigy - and so forth...

Your top 5 tunes at the moment?

1) Task Horizon - Kill The Pain
2) LoudSound - The Coloured Stars Show
3) Muse - Resistance (Spor Remix)
4) Blokhe4d - Kisses and Lies
5) Tallon - Stutterfunk (plug)