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In The Company Of...Slam

It’s possibly through years of hard work, passion and most definitely a lot of partying Glasgow style that techno duo Slam have achieved so much in their career to date. Made up of Stuart McMillan and Orde Meikle, Slam have been hugely influential in the story of electronic music. Their label Soma was a huge part of this and as one of the first DIY independents holds the accolade of breaking one of today’s biggest acts - the mighty Daft Punk. On the cusp of this landmark 20 year anniversary for Soma and Slam’s DJ set here on the 29th with MMM Live in Room Two, we look back at the rich history of the label and talk about how things have changed since that first release. Hey guys how’re you doing? We're really good thanks. What’ve you been up to so far this year? We've been in Australia touring around New Year, we just got back a few days ago. We had a great time and played 3 Different cities in 19 hours, going straight from one party to the next, to the airport and then on to the next party and so on. We played on a boat on New Years day for 900 people and the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera house was in the background, it was a great way to start of the year. We've also been in the studio putting the finishing touches to a new EP we've made for Drumcode called Crowded Room / Night Train and we’re just finishing a remix for Shlomi Aber’s Sketches. Can you give us a brief history of Soma, when it was established, how it came about? The label came about because we needed a vehicle to release our own material. There was no infrastructure or an independent movement at that time revolving around electronic music - it was all very punk rock at the beginning, sticking on the labels, even doing most of the distribution ourselves DIY style. Soon other people gravitated towards that spirit and before we knew it we were putting out records from American producers as well as people from Glasgow and the rest of the UK. The first record was Eterna, a very rough emotive Italo inspired techno record by ourselves that was released in 1991 followed by Falling by an indie band from Glasgow, One Dove. Both singles were a success and Soma was born. You can put one record out but you have to consolidate that only with a second and third release you will be able to call yourself a label. Back then, as now, there was a real scene around the clubs we were doing and the label, so you would meet someone at a club and they would give you some tracks and everybody would get to know each other. After that the label grew wings and really took off. Paragraph was established at a later date, why was that? We started Paragraph because we wanted a new challenge and like its name sake it marked a new beginning in our career with a new sound. With Soma we had a certain sound and almost every record we put out on Soma became a sort of classic track, we had Positive Education, so there was a lot of pressure to keep that up. Most people’s point of reference is only about what they see you have achieved in the past so it’s nice to draw a line under that and kind of start again. Soma is still really important in as much that, it has to be the right sound for a Slam track to make it on Soma, and in the last couple of years there's been a few that have. Our remix of Black Dog’s CCTV Nation and our remix of Samuel L Session’s Relate, to name just a couple, but this year we are hopefully recording a very special track for Soma. So I guess you can say Paragraph is less precious than Soma. Paragraph releases only Slam records so we have no concern for release schedules and such. What would be your advice to anyone who wants to start a label of their own? Strive to put out only the very best music. There are hundreds of people releasing just OK music, be a little bit fussy about what you put out the strength of a label is built on the reputation of the last release. Remember, owning a label in 2011 is not going to make anyone out there a millionaire. What have been your personal favourite releases on Soma and why? They’re all our favourites..... but I guess when the label is standing at 300 plus singles there’s bound to be a few memorable ones, here’s a few of them: 1. Skintrade is one of our special ones, only ever made 5 trax and then the band disappeared of the face of the planet – “Andomraxxes” is a stunning piece of electronic funkage. Positive Education of course, from the first play on acetate it seemed people liked it: 2. “Alive “and “Da Funk” from the Daft Punk guys, just watching them take off, it was incredible: 3. Silicone Soul’s “Right On” for its slow burn, it kind of came from nowhere and went on to be a global hit: 4.Funk D’Void’s “Diabla” - as soon as it arrived at the Soma office it was never off the CD player: 5. Eterna and IBO – our first record – 1000 vinyl and a telephone – we all took turns in numbering them , sold those 1000 and ordered another – and Soma Records was born: You’ve been making records since 1991, how was the production landscape changed in terms of both sound and technology? It’s almost unrecognisable, back in 1991 you needed so much hardware just to produce a simple drum track on DAT – desks, tape machines, samplers, drum machines, analogue synths (that sounded different every time you turned them on). And then there was the challenge of “sync”ing it all before something crashed. Today it’s all done “in the box” with plug-in simulations of some of the best analogue synths and outboard ever made at a fraction off the cost. Computer advances in music production software has been exponential, but in real terms the production values of today’s producers are exceptional. Having the ability to burn straight to WAV/MP3 – try out and tweak – is a bloody luxury. How do you think the label’s home town of Glasgow has influenced your sound? Glasgow has been our inspiration and our anchor - the city has always had a fantastic music scene – clubs, live venues, record shops, student unions and Soma/Slam is only a part of that history. For us the club scene, and especially the Sub Club, has always been really healthy and diverse – the crowds are very open minded, appreciative and hungry for fresh sounds, they’re totally up for it! Soma has always been a eclectic label, ignorant of genres – like our crowds. What’s in store for Slam, Soma and Paragraph for the coming year? 2011 marks our 20th anniversary at Soma, so we’re gearing up for a lot of activity on the release front - a box set, special vinyl only releases, some stunning remixes of the back catalogue, Soma 20 nights, remix sample giveaways, the list goes on! For Slam we have a new single (Soma 300) ready to go and a live set in the pipeline for some special gigs and festivals in the spring and summer. We’ll also be finishing a long list of remixes and writing some new Drumcode material. Plus Paragraph has some very tasty bits coming, but that’s under wraps - ”watch this space”. Fore more info and tickets go here.
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