Hobzee Interview | Drum and Bass

hobzee-dnb

So many producers out there are simply doing that, trying to be “out there” making club bangers by overloading tracks with novelty to ensure plays. Hobzee is a different breed of producer taking things back to basics, keeping his music simple but deep; he has an honesty to his sound. Check out what Hobzee has to say in our Q&A, plus we’ve got some sound clips of current and forthcoming releases for you to get excited about!

So Hobzee, where does this alias come from?

When I first started making tunes I didn’t have a name so when it came to actually sending out tunes I needed to come up with something! My surname is Hobbs so I just took Hob and stuck Zee on it. I’ve never liked it but it’s just stuck now!

Tell us about your production set up, are you rolling with just software?

Yep just software for me… I don’t think a Midi keyboard counts! I’ve never really used hardware so for me software is completely natural and I’ve stuck with Fruity since the very first version I think so I pretty much know it inside out now. It seems to get a lot of flack but its come a long way over the years and if you use it conjunction with a few quality plugins the sound quality is as good as anything else. Myself and Zyon Base tend to work mostly with audio rather than synths so it’s great for getting ideas down instantly!

As a DJ what has been your most memorable set?

I really enjoyed playing in Dublin, really good crowd that appreciated most styles and there was even a slight stage invasion at the end which was a little surreal… I felt like a rock star!

Which producers and DJ’s do you look out for and get excited about?

Production wise its mostly people that started getting music signed at the same time as myself such as Eveson, Notion, Saburuko, Brother and of course Zyon Base. Outside of those names though I don’t think D Bridge or Calibre could ever do any wrong!

As DJ’s go I still tend to get excited about the names I grew up listening and going out to even if they don’t always play the music I love anymore.

As we enter a new year, what are your plans? What are you going to be releasing on what labels?

“Sad Song” is up next on a newish label called Influenza who put out their first 12’s by Atlantic Connection & Mutt towards the end of last year so it’s shaping up quite nicely!

After that we have “Ways of the World” and “Knife in the Water” on Red Mist Recordings which is actually mine and Zyon’s first full 12” together.

“Sad Song”, where did you draw inspiration from for this one?

Inspiration on that one mostly came from listening to the track it samples, which I’m not going to name! But it’s quite a sad song. It all came together quite quickly after we got the vocal samples down and that sort of melancholy vibe has almost become our signature now. Emo ‘n’ bass!

It is in collaboration with Zyon Base? You’ve worked together quite a lot, how did you meet each other?

I can’t exactly remember how but I think I remember hearing “Nightingale” by Zyon and I wanted it for free, so I contacted him! The strange thing was we spoke for a while but neither of us revealed that we used Fruity so the collabs took a while!

Do you have any other collaborative work in the pipeline? Who do you most want to collaborate with?

Well Zyon and myself will be working together a lot more but there are tons of people I’d like to work with, it’s not up to me though! I’m into a lot of music outside of Drum & Bass so I’d love to be able to work on producing a band or more of a live set up but that’s very likely to remain a dream!

How do you feel about the growing influence of Dubstep within D&B?

I think it’s good, I’m not really into Dubstep but I’m a massive Burial fan and I think he’s definitely been an influence lately. I think any influence outside of Drum & Bass can only be a good thing.

Have you produced any Dubstep or tracks which aren’t Drum and Bass? Did they get released?

No dubstep but I’ve worked on a few other slower tempo tracks but without an instant outlet for music it’s difficult to motivate yourself to finish tunes.

We’ve got a gun to your head choose your top three albums of all time!

1. Definitely Maybe – Oasis
2. Illmatic – Nas
3. The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses

How would you describe yourself in ten words?

Ten??? I couldn’t even think of ten adjectives!

Tell us some other talents you hold that may surprise us.

I do a good karaoke rendition of Mambo No.5 by Lou Bega.