※ This interview was recorded on January 1, 2013 ※
Sinister Souls
http://sinister-souls.com/
http://www.prspct.nl/
Adriaan de Koning and Fred Huurdeman are the working force behind Sinister Souls.
Based in Utrecht, The Netherlands, they create their own vision of bass-music with inspiration from dubstep, drum ‘n bass, rave, breakcore and industrial hardcore.
Sinister Souls gained some big achievements since they started in 2009. From being in the Beatport top 3 chart with their debut EP “Definition of Silence” on Rottun Recordings, to playing at festivals like Q-Base, Defqon1, Decibel and Qore 3.0 in the Heineken Music Hall Amsterdam.
With lots of gigs in their own little country, foreign bookings in countries like Germany, Italy, Portugal and the United States pave the way for their destructive sounds. Their greatly anticipated debut album "Beat The Drum Hard" released in September 2012 on PRSPCT Recordings. They always seek new ways to variate in their sound and collaborated with artists like The Outside Agency, Counterstrike, eRRe, Bratkilla, Dieselboy, Bong-Ra, Dub Elements and more.
Q1.Please tell me your age and hometown.
Our combined age is 52, so that’s 25+27, it’s math. We both live in the underworld of Utrecht, the centre of the Netherlands.
Q2.Please let me know birth of "Sinister Souls."
When and where did you meet? When did "Sinister Souls" start? What kind of music was made at the beginning?
We met each other in the Drum & Bass scene here in Holland, both local DJ’s and aspiring producers. Sinister Souls launched when we decided to do gigs together, back in 2008. We both loved the same subgenres of Drum & Bass, so it was a “perfect match made in hell”.
Q3.Please tell me about your musical background. Who is the affected artist?
We take our inspiration out of various musical genres like Drum & Bass, Dubstep, Breakcore, Tekno, Techno and Hardcore. Some of our inspirational artists are the likes of Black Sun Empire, Bong-Ra, Noisia, The Prodigy, Spor, Concord Dawn. Especially lots of nostalgic artists.
Q4.Your debut work is "Definition of Silence" from Rottun Recordings. How was the debut from Rottun Recordings decided?
One of the tunes from the EP got in the Beatport Top 5 when it was launched, it opened many doors to release a full EP on a big ass label as ROTTUN.
Q5.I think that Sinister Souls is also the "Dubstep" artist. What time is it that your met with Dubstep? Why do you used to "Gabber Kick" for Dubstep? How was this idea born?
We both thought that the Dubstep that was currently (2007) ruling the scene, was kind of lame. It was just a kick/clap/sub arrangement and not focused on going wild on the dancefloor. We decided to bring the balls of Drum & Bass/Hardcore/Breakcore into a 140bpm Dubstep setup, and make it filthy as fuck. Because we were the only ones doing that kind of music at that moment, it paved the way for additional Hardcore Dubstep tunes.
Q6.Your 1st album "Beat The Drum Hard Album" was released at September. How long did you take to complete album? Please let me know the theme of this album. How did the guest artist choose?
We worked on the album for a year and a half before it came out. Funny enough the “Beat The Drum Hard” tune was actually the first one to be made. At the same time we started making Drum & Bass again and a collection of tunes started to form. Allot of tunes didn’t make the cut for the final album, we kept going on until we were completely satisfied with the diversity of tunes.
We send a few tunes to the owner of the PRSPCT label, and he instantly loved the tunes, thus welcoming us into the PRSPCT family and giving us the chance to release a full album. As far as the collaborations go, “long live the internet generation”. We started contacting a few of our childhood hero’s and other collaborations just came to us. It was a real natural process.
Q7.You are also making the music of drum & bass from "In The Filth." How do you feel the reaction from the Drum and Bass scene?
The great thing is, our album is being played by artists in the Dubstep, Drum & Bass and Hardcore scene. Looking at those reactions we see that especially the Drum & Bass scene picked up on the album.
Q8.Your have various styles, such as Dubstep, DNB, and Crossbreed. All the music has originality. How is originality maintained? Please tell me about the concept of "Sinister Souls".
It’s simple: We just do whatever the fuck we want to do, and if we don’t think it goes wild on the dancefloor, we didn’t do our job right.
Q9.Please tell me about the process of music production. What kind of equipment is used?
You have been working a lot of Remix & Collaboration work. What is important at Remix & Collaboration work? How is originality poured in with Remix & Collaboration music?
"Gabber Kick" which Sinister Souls makes is very wonderful. If possible, Please teach me how to make your Gabber Kick.. What kind of effector is used?
We use Windows and Apple to produce music, our main production program is Ableton Live. In the studio we have 2 Adam-A7 Speakers with a separate sub, a TC Electronics Impact Twin external sound card and multiple headphones for reference. We primarily use software to produce, because our large Dutch hands break hardware. While doing Remix work, it’s important that you don’t stop until you completely fucked up the original tune. Collaboration tunes are interesting because you are working with different point of views and combined knowledge.
And we are now about to bring you one of the biggest secrets of Sinister Souls, our Hardcore/Gabber kicks. Here it comes, it’s called: The Hardcore Kicks VSTi 2. Combine that with proper compressing/sidechaining/layering and you’ve got yourself excellent samples. A must buy.
Q10.What do you think of the current scene of the Netherlands? Who is your favorite in Netherlands?
What changed in the music scene, ancient times and Kon? Will there is a scene of Crossbreed? Do you make a Crossbreed tune future?
The Netherlands have a wide variety of big influential electronic artists, it’s the number one export product of the Netherlands. Some Dutch artists that we admire are Bong-Ra, Black Sun Empire, PRSPCT labelboss Thrasher, Limewax, Deformer and Noisia.
The scene for the harder styles of Drum & Bass and Dubstep is quite big in the Netherlands. PRSPCT is pushing the boundaries and melting all the harder styles together into a missile of mass destruction. Crossbreed, or Hardcore Drum & Bass, how we like to name it, has a big fanbase overhere and quite some parties.
Q11.Please tell me about the plans for future releases. and Please give me a message to japanese Sinister Souls fans.
We’re doing a wide arrangement of collaborations and original material. Like a Drum & Bass EP on Algorythm recordings where we’re going back to the bass-reeses. Also there’s a Drumstep EP coming on Rottun recordings. And ofcourse we will do more hardcore stuff on PRSPCT recordings. We have a lot of plans and ideas to work on in 2013.
We’ve noticed that you Japanese people really like our sounds and we’re honoured to see that.
One of our dreams is to come over and doing a tour in Japan, hopefully that dream will become true in the future. Now here’s our message: WE LOVE JAPAN, INVITE US TO PLAY THERE AND WE WILL MAKE YOU KING OF THE NETHERLANDS!!
Interviewer : Ume (Murder Channel)
