Well… the man has finally arrived. Big Bud (Robin O’Reilly) has been in the production gauntlet for 10 years now, having released 70+ tunes on prestigious labels such as Creative Source, Moving Shadow, Nuphonic, Vibez and of course Good Looking. He has now released a total of 4 albums and has been included on LTJ Bukem’s famous Progression Sessions mixes countless times.  He has been hailed as one of the early pioneers in the “atmospheric drum & bass” sound and as a DJ and producer has collaborated with everyone from MC Conrad through to the 70s soul fusion icon, Weldon Irvine. Mr. Nice, as he’s known amongst close acquaintances, is coming down under to showcase new tunes off his fresh album Fear of Flying, which is on the new label his running with DJ Element, Soundtrax. B.Hopps took a ride with him to see if the man really is… ready to take off.

This is your first tour of Australia, what prompted you to start touring? Other than the constant phone calls from overseas promoters!

To be honest I’m just someone who likes to do my own thing, at my own pace. I don’t like being told what to do and in the past it wasn’t something I was up for but now I just feel ready to venture out into the big wide world and travel, DJ, meet the headz and recruit Soundtrax soldiers from around the globe.

Your new album Fear of Flying is due out very soon in Australia (hassle your local record store punters . . . it’s distributed through Inertia). The 2nd disc consists of recent drum & bass productions. Signature Big Bud tunes like the deep and dubby Rice ‘n’ Beans, the techy beats of Red Snapper, the emotive Miracle and the amen roller Budapest. You’ve also ventured into Latin territory with Dirty Mr Kurti and the (obvious) dubby influence of Children of Jah. Has your recent travels injected some fresh inspiration in your production? And if so, how?

I’d say it’s injected fresh inspiration into my whole life rather than just my music… It’s just so good for the mind to visit other countries and get a taste of what’s going on in the rest of the world in music. DnB is totally a global music style, and so it’s wicked to go to places and get the vibe on their scene, hook up with local producers, promoters and headz and make connections.

On the 2nd disc you’ve collaborated with some vocalists from the island of Belize, near the Carribean. Other than your love of dub, what attracted you to Belize? What was it like working in such company? You’ve obviously unearthed some talent there; surely there are some stories to tell.

Basically, after a chance meeting with a Belizean in the UK, I did a remix of a Belizean artist and that found its way into the hands of the Belize national dance company who used it on their world tour as part of their show. They invited me over to write some more music for them and so I went, done their thing and then spent a month in the ghetto of Belize city, working with the guys I met. And from that the album was born really… It was the most amazing, exciting and scary month of my life… made some good friends there and plan to return later this year to pay the guys and hopefully to make a video. I love the vibe of that part of the world… some of the poorest yet friendliest headz I ever met, it sounds corny but the way music opens doors and makes friends is what buzzes me.

You’ve also just started up another label called Super8sound, What have you got lined up for us on the label? Whispers are abounding that there are some tunes from NZ? True? Have you experienced their rich dub/reggae scene?

We actually launched super8 a few years ago originally to release other styles, with only 1 release so far… but we’ve decided to start putting out dnb on there too, mainly because of the amount of quality music we’re getting right now that has to get out. Soundtrax is pretty much locked down for the rest of the year with tracks we’ve signed so its time for super8 to step forward and release some of the killer tunes we’ve signed from around the globe.

You obviously enjoy doing collaborations and I’ve always wanted to ask, what was it like collaborating with the late, great Weldon Irvine on your previous album, Late Night Blues? It must’ve been quite the honor. How did he affect you as a person and as an artist? It must be quite a moving subject considering he passed away only 2 years after the release.

Working with my man Weldon was almost unreal… Being in the studio with a guy who spent his life working with the all-time greats of jazz was a dream come true for me. Listening to his stories of Nina Simone and Malcolm X was like being in a movie. He was the kindest, most humble human being I ever met… his passing was a terrible shock and I really miss him… we’d planned to hook up again but it wasn’t to be… the best thing though about spending time with him was the fact that he insisted that I was a musician just as much as he was, regardless of how I made my music and that it was the finished result that was important and not how it was put together.

You have manufactured a sound that is definitely “Big Bud”, a deep emotive and almost beautifully haunting sound. You have been quoted as saying, “I think of it as music you’d hear in a dream – sounds spinning round your head and floating in and out”. Is this what you plan to transfer over to your own label Soundtrax?

For real, but I would say that Soundtrax is a label that isn’t about one style of dnb, it’s about good dnb full stop… already if you look back through the releases you can see the diversity and with what we’ve got lined up for the future you will see it even more. The next four 12”s ready to drop are all different… Motive’s dub wise 12 flipped with a liquid rollerm TGM from Germany steps up with some real deep tech vibes, Basic Ops from USA come with a killer tune that I’ve been starting my sets with on the tour, and watch out for a compilation CD later this year as well as the ‘Fear of Flying’ remix project – 10 top producers remixing tracks from the album, including Blame, Nookie, DJ Red, Basic Ops, Motive, Zero Tolerance, TGM, Ill Logic + Raf, Amaning and Greg Packer.

There seems to be a lot of artists going back to using predominantly heavy reggae/dub samples at the moment – skanking guitars, vocal samples, delays, etc. Do you think this is a case of taking 1 step backwards to go 2 steps forward for drum & bass? I’m sure you’re really enjoying it, but what are you thoughts on the whole movement?

Right now I think it’s all good… dnb always has trends that come and go but I personally think the dub influence has always been there, it has with my music anyway… maybe it’s just even more so these days. I’m lovin’ it although I’m sure there’ll be a backlash before long, there always is. But who cares, good music stands trends and the test of time! To me though dnb has never been better and there’s good tunes coming from all over the world which has got to be a good thing.

What have you got in-store for your D&B sets down under? How about your downbeat set in Sydney too . . .     What have you got planned for that?! I’m sure it will go down an absolute treat considering there has been quite a few memorable dancehall & reggae sets by local crews done in the same courtyard that your playing in.

My dnb sets will be mainly Soundtrax dubs, and a bunch of hot tracks that I grabbed off other headz just before I left. For the downbeat set I’ve brought some of my all time fave dub bits, some of my Belize tracks and various downbeat gems I’ve picked up from my travels, looking forward to it as I don’t get the chance to play these sets too often.

You can catch Big Bud playing in Byron Bay this Friday, May 13th, and then in Sydney at the Abercrombie Hotel on Saturday May 14th. His album ‘Fear of Flying’ is out now through Soundtrax.