The Plump DJs need no introduction. Pioneers of the scene, award winning DJs and producers, with a slew of killer releases under their belt, Andy Gardner and Lee Rous have straddled the great beast Breakbeat for a decade. With their latest album soon to drop, and with an eagerly anticipated back-to-back with the Stanton Warriors at the forthcoming Troublestock, I gave Lee a quick call to find out what’s going on in Plump World….
I believe congratulations are in order with regards to the new album?
Yeah, the album is all finished, we got the mix down done yesterday. It was a long haul in terms of work and production, but we’re both really glad to get to the end of a long project and get it finally sorted.
When can we expect it to be available, and more importantly, will there be any more singles to follow in the wake of Devils Torque/Take The Weight?
We’re looking for a release date of first week of June, with a launch party at Eargasm @ Fabric towards the end of May. Another single is a distinct possibility, though the album is a lot more diverse than what we’ve done before, there’s a much broader range of styles on it, so we may keep some tracks aside for radio play as opposed to releasing them.
Do you find the manner in which you approach your production has changed as your careers have progressed?
Definitely. We’ve been together for 10yrs now, and in that time we’ve travelled around the world, played to different crowds in different countries, watched different DJs play, basically we’ve been living in Plump World for the best part of a decade. As a result we’ve experienced more and gained more influences, in addition to expanding our studio.
You don’t seem to work with vocals as much as some acts, such as Slyde – is there any particular reason for this?
There are a lot more on the new album, it’s a lot more varied than what we’ve done before. We wanted to make it a ‘proper’ album, something that you can listen to at home, in a club, or in your car stereo. It’s much broader in terms of that, rather than just being a selection of club bangers.
What about remixes of your tracks? Other than the D.Ramirez remix of Electric Disco, there haven’t really been that many?
We’ve been asked for remixes for nearly every track we’ve ever done, but the Electric Disco remix is the only one we’ve ever allowed, and that was an absolute stormer. We like to keep it tight – we make club music, and like people to take it at it’s worth.
That being said, not all of the tracks on the new album are ‘dancefloor’, so we reckon it’ll be interesting to hear some dance remixes of non dance Plump tracks!
Breaks albums have become seemingly more commonplace over the last year. Were there any in particular you heard that really made you sit up and take notice?
Yeah, there have been lots of good bits. We have a really tight production schedule – we work pretty much 9-5 Monday to Friday in the studio, then at weekends we’re usually off somewhere DJing, so we don’t really have the time to sit down and listen to whole albums. There’s not a whole lot of money to be made from releasing records these days, so some producers seem to be expanding their styles with their albums, and keeping the pure breaks tracks closer to their chest.
What about outside of the breaks arena?
We’ve been getting into a lot of varied stuff. The Italian guys Crookers do a sort of house/crunk style, plus Fil OK, Tayo, Fonez……
Does DJing still give you the buzz it did back in the early days?
Totally. We wouldn’t still be doing what we do if it didn’t. We’re looking to expand the Plump DJs performance over the year. We’ve got a couple of festivals lined up where we’re going to do a 4 Decks 2 Mixers kind of thing, so we’d be both DJing at once, as opposed to just one of us playing tunes and the other getting pissed, hahaha.
Are you looking forward to playing b2b with the Stantons at Troublestock?
Very much so. I think a b2b set can work very well if you’re playing similar styles. If the stuff you’re playing is a bit more varied, then it generally works better in a smaller club, as a larger club is a larger body of people; it takes longer to react, so you’ve really got to plan what you’re doing and where you’re going to take things.
Have you got any special tunes that you give us a hint might be played?
Yee…………………..no! Hahaha. There are a couple, yeah. The new track from Fil OK called Wink Wink will definitely be played, plus we’ve got a load of new material off the album and remixes, plus some unreleased Finger Lickin’ stuff that will get an airing.
Why do you never seem to play America?
We’re hopefully going to be doing a tour of Canada and the US towards the end of the year. Watch this space!
Do either of you have habits that annoy the other?
Shitloads, hahaha. We spend a long time in each others company, but we get on both in terms of working together and being mates, though it does take a lot of maintenance. We’re still go out for drinks with each other after a day in the studio. I think we’ve both got annoying faults, and we properly get on each others nerves if we spend more than about 3-4 days together!
And finally, if the Plump DJs were a drink, what would they be?
Definitely a Pina Colada.
CHEW THE FAT! pres. Troublestock
@ THE END, LONDON
Wednesday 9th April, 9pm – 4am
www.thefatclub.com
www.endclub.com
MAIN ROOM
Plump DJs vs. Stanton Warriors
Krafty Kuts vs. Freestylers
Evil Nine vs. Elite Force
Atomic Hooligan vs. Soul Of Man
Tayo vs. Baobinga
Rennine Pilgrem vs. JDS
Kid Blue vs. Merka
Rogue Element vs. Tom Real
AKA
James Zabiela vs. Nic Faniculli
Paul Woolford vs. Yousef
Cuban Brothers LIVE
Rob Da Bank vs. Russi Cuban
Serge Santiago vs. Heidi
Will Saul vs. Jem Haynes
Phat Phil Cooper vs. Marcus Broadbent
BAR
Speaker Junk vs. Count Of Monte Cristo vs. Sinden
Kissy Sell Out vs. Loose Cannons
A Skillz vs. Dub Pistols vs. Drum Monkeys
Ali Tillet vs. Diesel vs. Toby Tobias
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