The Evol Intent Interview

What you won’t find in Bassline Magazine

www.BassLineMagazine.com

Lets start off by having you guys tell a little about yourselves for those who do not know about Evol Intent because, as you know living under rocks is the new affordable real estate.

Why drum and bass? What and who turned you onto this genre of music?

We all grew up playing in bands and into the punk & hardcore side of things. Once we discovered electronic music, we were drawn to the aggressive high tempo of jungle and the glitchy experimental weirdness of IDM and Triphop. For me personally, my band at the time and I went to a NYE rave after one of our shows and pretty much just camped out in the jungle room the whole night as the main room was a little too silly for us just coming from a punk show.

When did all of you get into the production side of things?

I got into it around 98 after finding 'magix music maker studio' (i think was the title?) at a Borders. *Fun fact* I actually wrote 'the reign' (ei003) with that software. As the years progressed I moved on to better programs and picked up a few hardware pieces. We joined up around 2001 and started producing tracks together after a few remix trades.

How many times, if any, did any of you say, “Fuck this shit, this isn’t going anywhere”, as far as DJing and producing Drum and Bass goes, and if you did say that what was going on around that time?

We've never gotten that discouraged I don't think. It has always been an uphill thing, but constant signs of progress kept us motivated.

When did everything begin to come into place, is there anyone responsible for the Evol Intent of today?

Most of the big dominoes started falling once we remixed 'Where's the Score' by DJ Hidden and Slacknote (ei005). That caught the attention of the big players in the scene and worldwide fans via internet/message boards and helped us make some really good connections. Barcode 002 – Corrupt Cops remix / 7 Angels with 7 Plagues was another big milestone. That led to signing with Renegade Hardware and then working with Human Imprint and so on.

Release after release seems to be the reality of Evol Intent. You do not only have releases out but your releases are powerful and popular releases. What is in the formula, where can producers get this jungle juice that you drink down to get on the labels you are on?

Personally when I go into making a track, I'm not looking for a 'filler' or a B-side. My approach is to make something that someone who isn't into drum'n'bass would find interesting and be into. Something that would make your uncle or grandma go “oh, that's hot”. Sadly there is no jungle juice, just make what you love, keep it interesting, different and perfect your mixdowns. If you've got an incredible track from a creative writing standpoint, but it sounds horrible, no one will ever hear it. Same goes for the opposite, a technically perfect engineered track that lacks on the creative production side is not a good thing, although some of those tracks tend to sell well ;)

Tell us about Evol Intent the label, how has everything been going?

We are bringing on some newer names, trying to break them in and get a 'family' oriented community started with our artists. We've got a lot of big things planned with steady solid releases. Ewun is also wrapping up an EP for us that is ridiculous, definately watch out for that.

How can up coming producers get their tracks to you?

Email links to info@evolintent.com, and we will also set up a dedicated AIM name soon to auto-accept mp3s. You can also snail-mail a cd if you want to keep it real. Contact info is on the website- www.evolintent.com

What do you look for in a track and in the producer to become part of the label?

Something different that stands out AND still rocks the crowd.

In general, how is the sale of records going since the popularity peak of the CDJ? Are record labels in trouble?

There was definitely a scare and the numbers are not what they used to be in the late 90s/early 00s, but I think with the right marketing and solid tunes, it's still possible to be profitable with vinyl releases. This could change over the next few years, but I don't see that being an issue as it's just as easy if not easier to release CDs and MP3s.

So DieselBoy’s “The Human Resource” just dropped this past June of 2006. Tell us how you got involved doing Disc Two of that release “Evol Intent Assemble the Monster”, and just how monstrous is it?

We have been working closely with Dieselboy over the last couple years, doing some tunes and remixes for Human Imprint. I'm not sure why or how he got the idea to ask us to mix the second disc, but we were very excited when he asked us to come on board for the project. We actually had to put the monster down after we assembled it. It just had really bad behavior problems and none of us wanted to deal with it. Luckily we caught the assembly of it on tape so we can cherish those loving moments forever.

Are there any up coming projects involving Evol Intent that can be disclosed?

A full length album that will be released on 4x12” vinyl and 2xCD, all new material. Nonstop worldwide touring: hitting Europe about every 2 months, Australia/NZ again in the next year and of course a steady rotation here in the states.

Thanks for giving me this time to sit down with you guys! Any final words for the readers of Bassline?

We're launching our new site and online shop very soon. Www.evolintent.com