Slyde: Vibrating to this at Parklife

One of Finger Lickin’ Records’ finest, UK duo Slyde have been throwing down crunchy breaks anthems since Laidback and Robin 12Tree hooked up and began producing broken beats back in 2002. If you’ve been to a Fuzzy festival or two over the past few years then you would’ve rocked out to We Love It, That’s It or of course, the ubiquitous wobbly acid and sinister vibes of Vibrate To This. A track that Slyde have suitably chosen to resurrect for their debut album Everybody’s Entitled To Our Opinion, which was unveiled to the general public not long ago.

And if you’re a fan of the Slyde style of slickly-produced breakbeat, then you’ll have the chance to catch ‘em doing their thing again very soon indeed – they’ve just been announced as one of the acts for the Parklife festival tour later this year, which is the biggest event on the festival calendar for more than a few ITMers out there. To give you an early sneak peek, ITM talks to Slyde.

So you’ve finally got your new album out to the public. How are you feeling about it now that it’s in the can?

We are really pleased with the way it’s turned out, it’s eclectic but still has a fat breaks edge to it all and the press has been excellent for us, we wanted to show what we’re into musically on this album and then get some cool club remixes done for the future singles. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Sex n Drugs go down great when we’re DJing so its good to see that a lot of the LP works on the dancfloor too.

Tell us about the process of putting it together.

It took about a year and a half of experimenting with different vocalists, thinking of concepts, writing lyrics with them and then sometimes changing the backing track to suit the vocal more. It was an exciting time getting lots of tunes written and then tweaking them for months because we knew we wanted to get it just right.

A lot of the inclusions on the album definitely have very much of a ‘song’ feel to them. What was your vision for the album?

Songs with interesting or weird lyrics over electro and breaks that felt like they belonged on the track was the vision throughout the writing process. It wasn’t easy to achieve but we felt like it was worth persevering with after hearing the way the first few tracks turned out.

Slyde are one of the big stars of the Finger Lickin’ label. What’s it like working with that crew?

It’s a great label with a strong identity and everybody there is totally behind us. The freedom to make diverse sounding tracks is something we’re really thankful for them supporting. The artworks always wicked and the video to Sex & Drugs was brilliant and put together by the label too. If you haven’t already experienced the freaky side of what goes on at Fingerlickin’ towers, check out the video below…

So I’m assuming your surnames are pseudonyms. Are 12Tree and Laidback portrayals of your real selves?

They’re just kind of names we’ve picked up along the way, though Rob’s surname is actually Twelftree so it wasn’t actually such a leap of imagination for him. And I spend a lot of time horizontal.

How long have you guys been sparring in the studio together?

We’ve been tryin’ to knock each other out for years! No, it’s a good blend of different talents we have and the 4 or 5 years has flown by. Rob’s great on guitar, we both play keys and I’m from more of a hip hop background so it’s a good mix.

Slyde has become known for using some tasty artwork. Who designs what we see on your singles and albums, and do you think it’s important from a marketing angle?

Jem at the label does the artwork for our singles which is always very cool and for the album we kept a flavour of that and just wanted it to look a bit different to show it was an artist album, and include things like lyrics on the inner sleeve as we spent a lot of time on those. What’s marketing?

What is the governing element in breaks, that you think is vital and makes it rock?

The different rhythms make breaks really special and I just think it’s better if people keep an open mind about the scene and then it will continue to grow and develop. Messing with different structures is always a gamble as you want other DJs to play your stuff, but like with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang we tried to get a hooky vocal over a strong breaks tune and a lot of people gave us props for that.

Who do hail as the forefront innovators of the breakbeat scene?

We love what the Plump DJs are doing, they always push it further, and all the new bassline driven stuff that Bassbin Twins do is going down a storm

Your top 5 are all tunes from your brethren at Finger Lickin (Plump DJs, Drummatic Twins). Is there an element of sibling endorsment here?

Well, we’re definitely in good company!

What kind of production equipment and software do you guys employ in the studio?

A lot of stuff we play in live, off an old SH101 and a K Station and then mess with in Logic, the guitar stuff Rob plays in (badly) and then we try and make ourselves sound good with editing. But we can’t really tell you how its done, because then we’d have to kill you..

Do you prefer to play the vaster festivals, or the intimate clubs?

Depends how many birds are there really… No, its funny some of the best gigs have been the small ones, because the enthusiasm is there, but of course playing at festivals is always a great buzz

What quiets you guys down?

Valium usually does the trick.

And finally, when will you guys be coming back to Australia?

Can’t wait to be back out in September doing the Parklife tour, should be a lot of fun!

Slyde’s Everybody’s Entitled To Our Opinion is out now through Fingerlickin’/Inertia, catch em at the following Parklife dates…

Adelaide – Saturday 27th September
Melbourne – Sunday 28th September
Perth – Monday 29th September
Brisbane – Saturday 4th October
Sydney – Sunday 5th October

In 2008 inthemix is a proud supporter of the Parklife tour. Keep your eyes glued to our festival page at www.inthemix.com.au/parklife in the lead-up as we’ll have all the latest news, interviews, DJ mixes, videos and a whole lot more! And check out the epic clip for Sex n Drugs...