Source : The Sun
RHYTHM Masters are back.
The production duo of Steve Mac and Rob Bruce enjoyed huge success remixing the likes of Todd Terry, Michael Jackson, INXS, David Morales and Roger Sanchez and a conveyor belt of quality releases (on vinyl) in the 90’s and early 00’s with the album ‘Disconnect Your Head’ landing on the revered Tommy Boy Recordings in 2001.
They disbanded in 2005 to concentrate on solo projects.
Both producers enjoyed success in equal measure since going solo with Steve putting out a variety of quality material on his first label post Rhythm Masters, sMACk Records, then a critically acclaimed album ‘Roots’ on Nic Fanciulli’s Saved imprint and now concentrating on running the excellent Black Rock for the last two years with good friend Mark Lawrence.
Rob on the other hand moved away from house music to concentrate on working as part of the band South Central releasing two albums and string of EPs plus touring with the likes of The Prodigy and Pendulum.
Now the duo are back working together again as Rhythm Masters and have just released their first single together for 10 years.
Entitled ’20 Year Cycle’, it’s a delicious dance floor romp which perfectly defines their intent as they return to a scene craving the kind of quality production the guys were know for around the globe.
We caught up with them this week to find out more.
So ’20 Year Cycle’ is your first Rhythm Masters release for over 10 years and you have the album on the horizon too.
What prompted you to rejuvenate the Rhythm Masters moniker?
STEVE: Rob and I were hanging out a lot with our mutual friends and we been talking about it for years.
Now felt like the right time to do it.
The thing is if we were going to come back, we wanted to do it properly.
We have been in the studio for just over a year messing around and have made quite a lot of tracks.
We wanted the first record to be right and we both felt ’20 Year Cycle’ was the one .
ROB: House has never left me, it’s always been there.
I remember Steve, after our first Rhythm Masters studio session shook my hand and said “you haven’t lost the groove man”!
It’s pretty exciting that we can continue our Rhythm Masters story, we both feel very psyched about the whole thing.
Cant wait for everyone to listen to our new music!
The vocal sample in ’20 Year Cycle’ sounds like it was made to describe Rhythm Masters.
Was this the intention?
STEVE: Well to be honest i was messing around on my drum machine and I had a Kenny Dope interview playing in the background (yep it’s Kenny on vocals) and the beat just dropped at the right time and I was like ‘wow’!
So I sent a rough demo to Rob saying I think this has something, let’s jump in the studio and do it and that’s what happened.
The vocal just explained what we were about and was like it was meant to happen.
When we finished the track we sent it to Kenny and he loved it, the rest is history .
ROB: The words on the record exactly say and explain why we’re back.
It explains our story, influences and how people did loved what we did before and are looking forward to the future releases.
The scene did a 20 year cycle!
The only difference is that it is now produced better with the aid of digital equipment.
We do tend to use both analogue and digital together though.
It’s important to use the best of both worlds.
The track is aimed firmly at the dance floor and pushes all the right buttons.
Can you tell us a bit more about the long player in terms of what we can expect?
STEVE: Yes we wanted to do a record for the clubs as that’s where we came from .
The album is a long way away, for now we are going to concentrate on singles.
I think the reason we talked about an album is because some of the stuff we have done is a bit out there and would not work on dance floors plus there are a few vocal tracks.
Let’s see what the future brings.
ROB: We have been producing and writing a lot of music and we are happy that it’s coming out on our own label Dis-funktional, we are aiming to probably have nights of our own (Dis-funktional nights) and have other artists on the label too, but musically we have a lot to release.
There is a lot of variation in our music, it’s always been like that with us.
We always aim our records to the dance floor, some will be purely aimed at the clubs like ’20 Year Cycle’, some will be clubby-song based, some more experimental.
It will be more clear when the music is heard.
How has the working dynamic between you guys changed compared to a decade ago?
STEVE: It’s still quite the same to be honest, I do the beats and Rob does the keys as he is a shit hot keys player.
I think the only difference is we have both learnt so much in the last 10 years that when we bring it together again we just come with some special magic that happens between us.
I must say its been so much fun working together again.
We do have a good crack in the studio.
ROB: There is a lot of excitement in the studio.
We’re both like “what about this” and “what about that”, we’re showing each other a lot of new tricks we learnt separately, it’s great really.
It’s a different positive dynamic.
Before we were together all the time, so we did exactly the same things together.
Now we both have different ideas and we merge them into one.
Steve, I know you are big fan of your outboard gear but have also embraced the soft synths.
In terms of the production can you tell us a bit about the gear you used to produce the new Rhythm Masters music.
Must be very different to how you were producing as Rhythm Masters in those halycon days?
STEVE: Yeah I still use my outboard gear, I’m not really a fan of soft synths but I do use them for more digital sounds and really out there stuff but I like the big full sound which the analog synths give you.
As far as mixing tracks I’m using the best of both worlds, mixing in the box but with a hybrid system.
I have all my compressors, equalisers connected to the computer, it’s a great way of working, I love it.
When we were producing back in the day, we were using an Atari ST, a 909 an SP1200 emu and AKAI samplers with synths connected via midi.
There was no audio, it was fun but time consuming.
Was tough doing vocal remixes as we had to sample each line of vocal from the DAT into the sampler.
It took forever, now you can just drop it in, but hey it’s swings and roundabouts.
’20 Year Cycle’ was programmed on the SP1200 as we wanted to capture that Rhythm Master sound.
The scene has certainly changed a lot as well.
Having been pioneers of UK house back in the day and set the bench mark then how has the music evolved to stay relevant in a very saturated digital world?
STEVE: Very much so.
I think the problem is out of the 35,000 tracks released a week on Beatport, probably 10% of those are records, you get what i mean?
Records that are made properly, not just loops in Ableton.
Everybody is a DJ / producer now.
I love the fact that technology has given everybody an opportunity to get involved with music and don’t have to pay out fortunes on studio gear but the problem is it’s being abused.
A lot of DJ’s out there now are just making the tracks quickly to get them out to get them gigs.
We need quality control.
As Rhythm Masters you will be reviving Dis-Funktional Recordings to release the new material on.
Will you be digitising a lot of the old stuff too?
STEVE: Yes we will for sure all in good time, we will digitally remaster it as well.
It’s a big job so for now we just want to concentrate on the new stuff.
But I best get to the storage place and get the boxes of DAT tapes out.
Ouch!
ROB: We are excited about reviving our label again, the support has already been amazing!
As I said before, we have big, long term plans for the label.
Our third member, our manager Jonathan Waller is taking care of the label and he’s got some clever ideas up his sleeve.
All will be revealed soon.
Regarding old stuff being released digitally I would say yes!
Maybe we will get some new artists we like to remix the originals?
Steve, your label Black Rock which you run with the CEO of the Association For Electronic Music, Mark Lawrence, has been enjoying a slew of fine releases.
What’s it like working with Mark on that project as he is an inspiring figure in the dance music industry who is trying to make a difference.
STEVE: Mark is a great man and a great friend.
We started the Black Rock Music Group to help artists.
We set up the label, a publishing company and PPL collection.
The company is 2 years old and we are looking after some fresh new talent along side some of the big players in the scene.
So far everyone has been very happy with what we are doing to help them.
Mark and I were meeting up on a regular basis putting the world to rights, sharing our stories and thoughts and one day it just clicked that we should set up the Black Rock Music Group and so we did.
Our deals are set up firmly in favour of the artist with no complicated tie ins – it’s something we are both very proud of.
Some of the horror stories i have heard go on in this industry are just shocking.
I have also had a couple of my own which I won’t go into detail with as you will need the whole paper to read it!
We are trying to make a change, a difference and I think we are winning.
Has Black Rock had to take a bit of a back seat with yourself and Mark super busy on different projects?
STEVE: Absolutely not.
We have a full schedule lined up with tracks from myself, Josh Butler, Paul Woolford, Mat Playford, Harry Choo Choo Romero and Dead Celebrities.
A full album from ISkreene and another full album from Thomas Gandey’s alter ego Caged Baby are coming too.
Also there will be a Rhythm Masters remix.
We have some amazing music lined up and are so excited to get it out soon.
Steve, coming from Brighton I know you are involved with and big supporter of the Brighton Music Conference which takes place next month.
With this being the second edition after a successful launch last year what are you most looking forward to this year?
STEVE: To seeing you Mark of course hahaha! We did have fun last year didn’t we?
Jokes aside I’m most looking forward to my talk with Robert Owens and DJ Pierre, two people I really respect in the house scene, amazing pioneers.
I have worked with Robert before and he is such a lovely guy and of course the voice of house music.
I’m hoping to pull Pierre out after the talk and drag him to my studio!
Rhythm Masters ’20 Year Cycle is out now on Dis-Funktional Recordings, buy your copy here.
For more information on Rhythm Masters like their facebook page.