Few D&B acts have reached such levels of commercial success as Chase & Status. With a back catalogue of smash hit singles, awards, accolades, and a star-studded status that has taken them from the dark depths of D&B into the limelight of the mainstream, the future’s looking pretty bright for this talented duo, who were one of our first interviewees back in February 2008. And how far they’ve come since then.
They’ve got the support of DJs across the board, from Andy C to Annie Mac. They’ve done D&B, they’ve done dubstep, they’re smashing out the remixes like there’s no tomorrow, and they’ve even been remixed themselves by none other than hip-hop hero, Snoop Dogg, in his cheeky re-working of their dubstep bruiser Eastern Jam - Snoop Dogg Millionaire. That refit represented the first major crossing over of dubstep into the global mainstream – a serious landmark in the genres evolution.
So what could possibly come next? A signing to Mercury Records, one the most prestigious major record labels in the music business, after achieving their initial success with D&B mammoths Ram Records. With no signs of slowing down, DT managed to catch up with Will from Chase & Status, as they flit between the studio, a string of UK tour dates, and some work with Rihanna…
Were you expecting your debut artist album to be received so well by the masses?
Not really, no. We didn’t really know what to expect. I guess we were worried how it would be received, as we’ve put different styles on there, like hip-hop, dubstep...especially coming from a predominantly D&B background, we were worried that having a mash-up might be a bit confusing. So, we were really surprised that it got accepted by that scene, and other scenes – it crosses quite a few genre boundaries.
Why do you think it has reached such a level of popularity – was it the exposure it got, the support, or the mash-up technique?
Probably a bit of both. I mean, ultimately support from the radio, especially Radio 1, helped the exposure. Essentially if people don’t know about you or your album then no-one’s going to buy it. Radio 1 were incredible really, especially with Against All Odds and the tune we did with Plan B - Pieces. Through that, I think we really got national coverage, got into people’s households, rather than just the underground following we had previously.
Can you tell us a bit more about why you chose the tracks you did for the album?
It really represents what we were most excited about in British music at the time. Kano, who comes from a grime background, which we’re big fans of. Then obviously the D&B stuff as well, which is obviously spawned from the UK. It was really just a collection of tracks we’d been making over the past few years that show what was good about British music at the time.
Remixing has been quite a big thing for you since the beginning – more recently you’ve been re-working the likes The Prodigy and Jay-Z. Can you tell us a little bit more about what you’re up to?
We were asked to do a remix for The Prodigy’s new album, Invaders Must Die, which obviously we weren’t going to turn down, as they were one of our biggest influences! So it was a real honour to be asked. Typically with a lot big projects, you get literally a few days to do it, so it was a bit of a mad one, but it was great to do. Jay-Z was a case of…we’re signed to a company called Roc Nation - which is something he actually owns - and we were in New York doing some work, producing and writing, and the track was just finished, and we had 6 hours to do a remix! So we bashed it out and yeah, it’s gone down really well. It was a bit daunting for us, but it worked out well in the end.
Jay Z in particular seems a far shout from your D&B roots?
We’ve always been massive, massive hip-hop fans. It’s probably been quite a strong influence in our music, so it was a no-brainer for us! In terms of the remix, we didn’t turn it into a D&B remix we kept as a hip-hop one, as we felt that was what it wanted.
We’ve also heard on the grapevine that you’ve been working with Rihanna. Can you tell us more about this?
We’ve spent a few weeks in London working with her one-on-one on her new album, which has been an incredible experience. She brought us in to give her album a certain sort of sound and generally help her out. It’s sounding great – she’s got such an amazing voice. It’s really, really inspiring. Everyone’s been great. It’s really exciting - we’re buzzing!
Your dubstep tunes, Eastern Jam and Running, have been causing a riot across both the dubstep and D&B scenes and in the wider world in general – where do you feel this is leading in terms of your own production?
We did those tracks without knowing what we were doing, or even thinking what we were trying to achieve; that’s often when you do the best stuff. I mean, our first release was with a label called Vehicle (which is part of a group called Ammunition, who were basically responsible for the first dubstep) and we were putting stuff out with them around 2001, and we had some early stuff on Bingo, so we’ve been involved in that scene since day one - so working at that tempo was something we were already doing. In terms of where we’re going in the future, we’re working on a second album at the moment, but we’re still working out the exact sound we want - if we’re going to go down the same route or change it up quite a lot. It’s a tricky one.
Snoop Dogg’s remix of Eastern Jam into has also brought you further into the public eye. How did this come about in the beginning?
It’s quite a funny story. I got a call from Saul [the other half of Chase & Status] one day, and he’d just checked the MySpace page and there was a message in the inbox from Snoop Dogg, (as you do!), saying: “Hey yo, I like that Eastern Jam track of yours. Can you send me a copy, I wanna stick some vocals on it?” We thought it was just our mates winding us up at first, but we checked it all out, it was an official page and we got a call from his manager, who’s a big fan of ours. So then, their production team re-jigged it a little bit to make it more suitable for him to rap on, and he did his thing. It was quite a big thing for us to have Snoop Dogg re-working our music - he was such a big influence to us growing up – so it was a real honour.
The tune fuses hip-hop, dubstep and D&B – how do you feel these genres fit together, in this tune, and in general for you?
Well, I guess it’s still got the sonics of D&B, quite gritty, grimey production, which are very much presence in dubstep, apart from the tempo change, so the tempo and pattern is very typical of dubstep, and then, hip-hop-wise, it’s got a bit of a b-boy attitude and rawness, which hip-hop is all about. A lot of hip-hop heads really like that track – the way we sample the vocal is very typical of hip-hop as well.
So can we expect more genre crossovers from you guys in the future, or do you want to stick to D&B at the core?
Yes, hopefully…we’re experimenting a lot in the studio at the moment; we’re literally thinking of the most bizarre types of music and trying to cross them with their complete opposites, stuff like folk music with tear out D&B! But yeah, we definitely want to push boundaries with the next album and keep people on their toes.
The move to Mercury Records was quite a controversial decision that has caused a split in opinion in D&B circles – some supporting you, others seeing it as selling out. How do you feel about this? How do you justify your decision?
I wouldn’t feel like I’d have to justify my decision to anyone! Anyone who thinks we’re selling out before even hearing the records…I mean, a label’s a label isn’t it? I can understand where people are coming from, as we move more towards the mainstream, but just listen to the records first before you make up your mind!
Do you think your decision will change the shape of D&B to come? How do you think it will affect you personally, as a production unit, and the music you make?
I think the shape of D&B is changing anyway. I think it always is. It needs to keep moving forward – it’s important it reaches the more mainstream press so it keeps going. I think this might contribute to it changing a bit, but there’s lots of new acts coming through, there’s loads and loads of talent out there, and we hope we contribute to hip hop and D&B and bring more people into it.
What expectations do you think Mercury will have of you? Will they support you in experimenting and pushing boundaries in your music?
Yeah, definitely - we didn’t sign the first deal that came along, we spent weeks and weeks over it, and we tuned down various offers and deals from a bunch of labels, who we felt didn’t quite get what we were about. Mercury took us on knowing that we’re not pop stars, and we’ve built up a following of people that know the music well, and that they very much wanted us to continue that. They’re up for progression and growing organically as artists, and, obviously, they want the next album to do better than the last one. The beauty of having a deal with a major record label is that we’ve got a better chance of doing that; there’s more money for press and advertising, they have more facilities to help you get out there in the world. They’ve been great, and really supportive, so we’re very comfortable at the moment.
The challenge for you now is: what next? You’ve done D&B, you’ve done dubstep, you’ve released numerous smash hit singles and got the ‘Best D&B Album’ Award for More Than A Lot, you’re on the remix duties and being remixed yourselves. What are the next steps going to be? And how do you plan to keep expectations high?
I imagine expectations are already pretty high without us doing anything really. We’ve been really busy in the studio recently, and the next step is our live tour in October, around the UK and a bit of Europe with a full band and the whole team with us. Before, and after that, it’s just muscling down and getting this album done, really trying to get something new and a different sound. We should have a large chunk done by the end of the year, so watch out for the album sometime in 2010!
Chase & Status play the Clash Mag Arena in association with Data Transmission at Get Loaded In The Park in London on Bank Holiday Sunday 30th August – full details and tickets at www.getloadedinthepark.com