CELO Talks About New Music & More....
Thanks for taking time out to speak to us. Your first track uploaded on your SoundCloud is Tribal, BOX18. That was only 2 years ago? Was that when you started producing and can you tell us how that started?
It all started when I decided to feed this desire I'd had for years to start learning to make music. I think this desire actually started back in the late 90's/early 00's, when a good friend of mine was doing sound engineering at college, and started to produce DnB using Cubase. But it took me until November 16 to finally pull my finger out, and start learning. So yeah, Tribal was the first track I ever released back in August 17, where initially it was a free download. But then it got picked up by True Box Records some months later as part of my six track ‘Let Me Go’ EP.
So you bought your first 1210's when you were 18 and have been mixing since? Tell us about your raving experiences as a teenager and it leading into djing.
My first ever rave was a Helter Skelter at The Sanctuary in Milton Keynes back in early to mid 97 (I was 15). Before I went, I wasn't a huge DnB fan, but my girlfriend at the time convinced me to go, and I'm so glad I did as it changed everything! Then, slowly over the next couple of years more and more of my close friends started getting into DnB, and some bought some turntables, and that was when I decided to save up and buy some 1210's.
What are your earliest memories of music?
Some of my earliest memories are from listening to the radio with the family when I was really young in the late 80's. But it was in the early to mid 90's that I really started to fall in love with music when I discovered Metallica's black album. I loved the distortion and noise, and soon started getting into all sorts of rock and metal bands (and I'm still a huge fan of it to this day).
You fell out of love for the music for quite a while. What triggered that?
I just thought that DnB started to change, and took a direction I didn't really like. I of course still loved all the late 90's and early 00's stuff, but I noticed a lot of producers either started making bass lines with a lot of squeaky noise in them, or the music just didn't inspire me like it used to. So from roughly 2005 to 2013, I hardly listened to DnB.
What's the Denmark scene like? I've played in Copenhagen, there's quite a healthy scene right?
It's a lot quieter than it is in the UK (DnB is very underground over here), but I have been to, and played at some some great nights. I live in Aarhus, which is on the other side of Denmark to Copenhagen, so it's hard for me to comment about what exactly goes on over there. But there are a few events here and there, for example Drum & Bass Klubben, Distortion Festival and Culture Box all hold occasional DnB nights in Copenhagen. Plus there's a few things happening in Aalborg (Subhive and JUJU) and Aarhus every now and again.
You won the best DJ competition at Enzo's in 2000 and got gigs around Sailsbury, how did the competition and winning it help your music career?
That was a great night, and also a long time ago now! To be honest, I’m not sure how much it helped with my career, but it did make me realise how much I love playing to a crowd. I would say my career only really began about 2 years ago when my first release (Tribal) hit SoundCloud, which had a great response.
So you are in Denmark now, tell us about the cultural differences between the UK and there and why you moved.
Well luckily, the Danes love their beer and have just as much choice as there is the UK haha! I met my wife in the UK back in 2008, and after finding out she was from Denmark, I made the big decision to move over here in 2010 to be with her. Now we’re married with a baby. The cultures are quite similar, but dance music and the club scene is not quite as big over here as it is in the UK.
What's your DAW and what are your favourite plug ins?
I use Ableton, and have done since I started producing in 2016. My fav plugins, and ones I use in every track are FabFilter Pro Q (beautiful EQ, with such a great user interface), Trash 2 (so many distortion types, and a great tape saturation preset for warming up just about anything), and NI Transient Master (use on nearly all my drums to give them an extra bit of punch and snap).
Tell us about your biggest and most popular release to date. (soundcloud link please)
My most popular release (at least by Spotify standards), has to be Warm Up, released on Triplicate Audio. It’s actually the B side to a track called Tow 67 (weird name I know, I’ll explain on Instagram one day), but Warm Up seemed to get the attention of a lot of Spotify playlists, then about two weeks after release, it got placed on Spotify's huge Stepping Out DnB playlist, and now it’s racked up nearly 65,000 streams!
I think my favourite track is a recent one on Midnight Sun Recordings - Give You Love. Great drum work there. Tell us about Midnight Sun, the label and what inspired you to make the track.
Thanks! I’m really proud of that release, especially with how the drums turned out Give You Love. Initially, the idea for the track came from listening to a Calibre track called Jaboc from his Shelflife 5 album, and I intended it to be a bit darker than it is, but (as usually happens), the track took a slightly different direction, and it just felt right having more energy, and not being so dark. The track was finished sometime in early 2019, and soon after, I started chatting to Physics via messages on SoundCloud. I sent him the track, he loved it, and I was so happy when he said he wanted to release it on his label Midnight Sun. Really honoured, and still very thankful so big up Physics!
If I gave you £10,000 what would you do with it and why?
Wow, not that’s a tricky one… I would probably have to say something for my son (although he has enough toys lol), because he’s the priority now. I don’t need anything studio wise right now, I actually just grabbed a few Waves plugins during the Black Friday weekend, so learning them should keep me busy for a while.
You have a really smart website over at https://www.celodnb.com do you do it yourself, and do you think it's important for artists to have a website these days with so much social media?
Thanks! I did most of it myself, but I had some inspiration and guidance from my wife (she’s a graphic designer). I think it’s really important for artists to have a website, to act as a hub, plus build an email list. The great thing about a website, is that you own it. Remember what happened to MySpace. So many people were dependent on it for years, and suddenly when it lost popularity, so many artists lost their following. And by having an email list, you have a direct connection to your fans, which you also own and has much higher organic reach than Facebook or Instagram (isn’t it something like only 1% of your Facebook page fans see your post nowadays?).
As for social media, it’s still a necessity though. Nearly everyone and every brand/company in the world is on social media, and that’s because it’s a free advertising platform. But the tricky bit is to not be too ‘salesy’, but try and be more personal and connect with people/be a real human being.That’s what the Facebook and Instagram algorithms want, and encourage.
You have a very varied taste in music - what's your all time favourite track?
OK so I thought the £10,000 question was hard, but this is next level!! If I was forced at gun point to choose one track (and this is incredibly difficult), it would probably have to be Foo Fighters - Everlong.
If you were stuck on a desert island and could take only one piece of music with you, what would it be and why?
It might have to be Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape… But a very close second would be Leftfield - Leftism, or maybe Ed Rush & Optical - Wormhole… There’s just too much good music in the world!
Favourite all time dnb track?
Again, tough question! But I’ll say Ed Rush, Optical & Fierce - Alien Girl
Top 5 producers?
Ed Rush & Optical (can that count as one?)
I could choose so many more :-)
If you could collab with anyone person or band, who would it be and why?
I would love to do a track with someone like Arkaik or Amoss. I’m really feeling that dark, minimalist vibe at the moment, and their tracks are just some of the best in that sub genre right now.
What's next for you for the next year?
Next year’s gonna be big! I’ve been working on a project for a while now focused on the darker side of the genre, which was originally gonna be a 12 track album. But albums are not really what people listen to nowadays, so I decided to release a track a month independently throughout the year, which I’m calling the 20:20 project, and my track The Drop is the first track of the project. I’ve got lot’s lined up for social media, and have even bigger hopes for Spotify this year, and hopefully will try and focus a bit more on some of the other platforms like Bandcamp. I hope that anyone who does want to download my releases this year, would consider buying them from Bandcamp, as they pay more back to the musicians than the majority of other stores. And if possible, maybe I’ll reach out to Physics again as I’d love to release another liquid track.
But as a dad, I doubt I’ll be DJing so much, but I’m OK with that. As long as I can find a little time here and there to make music, and hopefully give back a bit to the community (make some more tutorials, help spread the work about other up and coming artists etc), then I’ll be happy.
You have played at some big nights, tell us about your biggest gigs.
One of the best was actually an event called Subhive in Aalborg, Denmark in 2018. The vibe was awesome, and I actually played a more mainstream set than I normally do, but it was such great fun! Here’s the live recorded set, if you’re interested https://www.mixcloud.com/celodnb/celo-24-live-subhive-safari-expedition/
Where would you love to play if you had the opportunity?
Somewhere in the UK again, as you just can’t beat the vibe of a UK crowd. Things have always been big in Bristol for DnB, but I’ve never played there, so I’d have to say there.
Lovely chatting to you, last couple of questions. What do you like best about jungledrumandbass.co.uk?
You to!! And I love so many things about your website, especially the way you cover the whole spectrum of DnB in its own categories. But one of the best things, is the interviews you have with artists. I always find it inspiring reading where others came from, why they love music and why particularly DnB.
Any shouts and thanks?
Big shout to HumaNature, BRK (Hyperactivity), Linear, Sceptre and Coop!!!
Many thanks and all the best for 2020 and beyond! Check Out his new release The Drop below.
Interview by Missrepresent January 2020
Carl Loader aka CELO
Web - www.celodnb.com
Soundcloud - www.soundcloud.com/celodnb
Spotify - www.bit.ly/CELO_Spotify
