SmartShanghai | Interview: Addison Groove

Interview: Addison Groove

By Morgan Short, Jun 11th, 2011 | In Nightlife

Cool show on at The Shelter tonight -- Chicago-via-UK-via Pudong airport juuukkkeee -- and so we’ll slide in this last minute interview to hype, hype, hype it up: Sub-Culture presents Addison Groove. Stutter, stomp, shake, repeat.

Coming from drum n bass and dubstep terrain in Bristol, Addison Groove is the new moniker of Antony Williams, a guy who was born Headhunter, a producer with seven releases on Tempa since 2007. The Addison Groove name switch represents a change in direction for the UK producer to sounds inspired by Chicago juke, an offshoot genre of Chicago house, which sees dirtier, sped up, and more minimalist sounds, de la ghetto, jittering up the dancefloor.

Here’s a pretty solid mix Headhunter put up on his SoundCloud in 2009 of Chicago juke – perhaps that was an early bridge to his latest material as Addison Groove.

In the past year and a half, Groove has, as the say… blown right up… on the release of his 12” “Footcrab” on Swamp 81. Check that out.

And one last link: some companion reading. Here’s a little background on Chicago juke and footwork at Shanghai247.net. An interesting read, replete with sound samples and videos. Full service.

SmartShanghai harangued Addison Groove over emails to talk about his stuff.

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SmSh: I understand this is your first time to China. What sorts of things are you expecting? What have you heard about playing in China?

AG: I’ve heard nothing really. I’m just glad to be invited and see how things roll out there.

SmSh: The lion’s share of your work is associated with dubstep. Is that a genre label you embrace? What are your thoughts on the state of dubstep these days? Are you listening to new and interesting work being done in the genre?

AG: I still play the odd dubstep track, but the music has shifted a lot and there’s a lot more new and interesting music around that has even better responses on dancefloors than dubstep. It seems to me as if people are shifting their tastes accordingly too. Maybe three years ago I would have had people come up to me and asking for dubstep, but these days, that’s not really happening. People evolve and so does music.

SmSh: As a musician and DJ present for a large portion of the development of dubstep in the 00s, what are your thoughts on the increasing mainstream influence of the genre, vis a vis mainstream pop, hip hop and RnB? What are your thoughts when you encounter dubstep sounds in mainstream media?

AG: For me, it’s something I leave to other people to embrace. I, for one, is looking at new sounds as I just mentioned. A lot of it has become rather noisy and similar. Ad I hate to play, even in my DJ sets, a particular genre for too long let alone one that has very, very similar sounds like current mainstream dubstep.

SmSh: In general what sorts of stuff are you listening to these days? Anything new, very new, or old or very, very old inspiring your viewpoints?

AG: I listen to a lot of African tribal stuff from the 70's, a lot of 80's electro and some hip hop... but I like all music so even though I’m listing to this today, tomorrow I might put on some techno and jazz.

SmSh: Can you discuss the name change from Headhunter. Will you revisit your earlier work under that pseudonym or are you closing the book on that material and moniker?

AG: It was changed for a few reasons: one, was because I was exploring a new sound, and two, I wanted to prove to myself that as long as you make good music anyone can be successful.

I remember drum n bass was based on who you know, but nowadays if you have something fresh and exciting to hear it’s more about what you know, not who... I told no one I was Addison Groove for ages. The name blew up then it was later discovered it was also Headhunter... so from that perspective it was a bit more of an experiment.

SmSh: Coming away from Headhunter, what were your aesthetic motivations making music under the name Addison Groove? What sorts of inspirations and influences were informing this material?

AG: Mostly my drum machine, the 808. But the Chicago juke scene had a lot to do with it also... I took that sound palette, slowed it down, and made my own thing out of it.

SmSh: How did the track “Footcrab” come about? Did you expect it to make the impact it did?

AG: Was very surprising to have that much success. It’s just a track I made from messing around in my studio. Sometimes, these things come together really fast and before you know it, you have a tune everyone wants to hear in the club.

SmSh: In general what sorts of tool are you using to make your stuff these days?

AG: Just Ableton and Logic really… and the 808 drum machine

SmSh: What sorts of gear are you using in your sets?

AG: In my live set, a big mixing desk, 808, fx boxes, Ableton, Maschine, and some mini synthesizers.

SmSh: What’s next for Addison groove?

AG: Lots of DJ and live gigs until the end of the year. Many festivals -- Outlook, Sun and Bass, and Glastonbury -- and a few more releases towards the end of the year.

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Sub-Culture pres. Addison Groove at The Shelter. Starts 10pm. Cover: 60rmb. Line Up: Addison Groove, Heatwolves, Deville, Drunk Monk, ChaCha, Didje, Esia, Arminda.

Tagged: Sub-Culture The Shelter Event Previews