Early 2000’s saw the rise of something fresh for Brisbane, flying the Drum and Bass / Jungle Flag. Seventeen years on and now placed at Rumpus Room – Westend, ‘Junkyard Sessions’ has showcased a wide range of local, interstate and International DJ’s / Producers. Presented by De La Haye and Kosha D; De La Haye orchestrating seminal nights, Junglettes and Rukus, whilst Kosha D was part of the Moon Bar rinsing Phat alBeats crew.
Thomas Mondel and Mathias Rauter, better known as Roygreen & Protone, are two individually acknowledged drum & bass producers from Austria. In 2010 they teamed up after meeting at Vienna’s infamous ‘Flex Club’. With forthcoming releases on CIA Deepkut, Demand Records, Intrigue and many more to follow.
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Mix of the Week - Stanton WarriorsYou got into DNB around 2007, how much longer after that were you producing and can you describe the change in your sound from when you first started?
I was actually a DJ for quite a while before I started producing music. It must have been around 2010 when I opened Logic (production software) for the first time and I kept going for the following years. The major change in our music is that it just sounds a bit more grown up in comparison to when we started, taking time to search for samples and pick them carefully, use the knowledge which we have collected over the years as well as new equipment or software leads to improvement of the overall product. Quality control is definitely a term that can be used which we have and still are developing in our productions and DJ sets.
What is the Liquid DNB scene like in Austria?, Clubs to visit or acts to follow if you love Liquid DNB?
There are people like Paul SG with his label Jazzsticks as well as Jay Rome with Blu Saphir, but also crews like Contrast or Vollkontakt and they often invite producers who support the melodic or deeper side of drum and bass. In general the DnB scene in Austria is thriving and very much alive, lots of parties, festivals and radios support the music on a weekly basis but not only Liquid rather a very diverse range of the spectrum. Therefore almost everybody can go out and listen to his favourite sub genre of DnB in clubs like Grelle Forelle, Flex, Fluc, Roxy, Prime or Arena and the list goes on.
Other Liquid DNB artists you are vibin’ and the readers should be listening out for?
Oh there are quite a few, I really dig what “Joakuim” is doing at the moment, he is a french producer living in Mexico and his stuff is truly astonishing. He delivers a lot of diversity in his music but always soulful and soothing. Same goes for Paul SG and his label Jazzsticks with artists like Flowrian or Decon. On another note Paul is playing mostly with MC Conrad right now so watch out, maybe they might be near you soon!
There are plenty more though like Redeyes who is back in the game with quite a lot of gems reminding me of his old days when he was one of my favourite producers. Lurch, Ill Truth, Kasper, Fluidity, Phaction, Electrosoul System, The Vanguard Project or Alibi are just a few names that come to my mind at the moment but the list goes on.
Tell us something about your Australian tour so far.
I had my first gig on the 9th of June in Sydney playing for Haunted Science & Breakneck Entertainment with Melbourne’s finest “Future Engineers”. We had a great sound system and a very enthusiastic crowd there, thanks to Fez and Bill for the good times.
On the 30th of June the second stop is in Melbourne playing in a club called Grumpy’s and then I am heading north towards the warm weather to showcase in Brisbane on the 8th of July. So it is rather a small tour but hopefully I will be back at some point to visit this beautiful country and all the good people again.
You have mentioned that you are also studying medicine, how does this and Protone living in a different city effect how you guys collaborate?
That is correct, I am almost finished now and will start working soon (hopefully). It certainly had an impact on our output because I just had less time to start or work on something since I was not living in Vienna for over a year. When working in hospitals around Europe I only had my laptop with me and I am not a big fan on producing on such environment. Protone was/is very busy with his studies and is living in Graz for a few years now, so the distance and the lack of time certainly held us a bit back in the recent past to work on a lot of music. Rest assured though that there is some material lined up and we are looking forward to share the new music with our followers hopefully soon.
What bit of studio kit do you use and love the most?
I don’t own a lot of hardware in my studio but my Neumann TLM 103 microphone and my Access Indigo 2 synthesiser definitely have served me with a lot of good samples and thus ideas for the creativity process. When looking at software I really like to work with Spectrasonics Trilian to create some thick and interesting basses or the FabFilter plug ins for limiting or EQing. Same goes for the Abbey Road plug ins from Waves, I pretty much use them in every project and I really like their subtle sound that surely makes a difference though in the final product.
Can you tell us about some exclusive tracks that you guys will be releasing soon?
At the moment we have an LP lined up for Demand Recordings, which will involve a 3-4 track vinyl and an artwork from an artist from Vienna, more details about this project will be out there soon, but a quick heads up, the release date should be around December 2017.
Apart from that I am happy to say that we are releasing a digital EP on CIA Deepkut with colabs from the likes of Electrosoul System, Joakuim and Pennygiles, which we are very excited about. There is an FD and a Bladerunner Remix of one of our tracks each coming and more colabs and solo projects. But keep your eyes and ears open and follow us on facebook or soundcloud to receive all the updates on our music, performances and banter.
Catch Roygreen and Protone this Saturday 8th July at Brisbane’s Junkyard Sessions with support from Junkyard residents De La Haye & Kosha D, as well as guest artist Operon (Fokuz Recordings). 3D projection mapping & visuals provided by Mental Image. If you love Bass, this is where you need to be! Free entry, no dress code, warm vibes.
