Feeling Loved

10 October 2012 | 7:15 am | Troy Mutton

"Yeah, the album is coming to completion, just getting into the synching of the tracks on there so I think it’s going to be really special. I’m really excited about it."

More Rudimental More Rudimental

You'd be hard-pressed to find a bigger crossover hit in 2012 than Rudimental's good time drum'n'bass banger Feel The Love, featuring the vocals of a Cee Lo Green-esque John Newman. It's been smashed on all kinds of airwaves, debuting at #1 in the UK and #3 here, and before you know it they're a household name.

However it's not like the quartet from Hackney, London just one day decided to make a track and there it was; Piers Agget, Kesi Dryden, Amir Amor and DJ Locksmith have been at it for a couple of years now, although share a much longer history. “Yeah it has been a really big year, there has been a few pretty difficult times but the good times definitely outweigh them,” begins Locksmith on another busy day of interviewing. “I mean directly we've grown up with each other since we were very, very young, so we kinda know each other inside out, we know our weaknesses we know our strengths.”

Locksmith recognises the opportunities Feel The Love has now given the group, and is excited at the prospect of taking their sound outside of London. “The international stage is something we have always wanted to take on. Now we've got an opportunity…” One you sense they're not going to pass up on.

The duo's second release in Australia, Spoons, took a markedly different turn from the anthemic first single, and while it's obviously not been embraced with mass sing-alongs on the dancefloor, its chilled vibes have been no-less appreciated. “When we get to the studio we never ever sit down and say we need to make a drum'n'bass beat today or we need to come up with a house beat today. We come from a sort of eclectic listening music background.

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“For example four members of us, we all listen to different types of music so you got myself who listens to old school garage, you got Kesi who is into hip hop, Amir was into hip hop and R&B, Piers used to love his jungle… Mix all those together once you get to the studio we come up with different vibes, different flavours, that's pretty much how we go about it.” Their latest single, Not Giving In – again featuring Newman and also Alex Clare - has ramped it back up with a chorus line and big brass section.

Of course this sharp increase in attention has led to them needing to get their shit together when it comes to Rudimental live – almost a necessity in the current age of dance music festivals. It's had a few run throughs, but remains a work in progress. “We are definitely thinking about our live shows. We actually just did a live show in Hackney in East London where we're actually from, so that was something special. So we are looking to build off that, building some more tracks into our live show so we can show everyone that,” he tells.

“On a programming level we will be using Ableton and then working through – Kesi and Piers on keyboard and Amir on bass. We was thinking of implementing a lot of brass into it but don't know quite how it's going to happen and obviously we don't have a finished product yet. If we was going to go off the back of our last live performance, we had three brass players there, we had trumpet, saxophone and trombone so that was pretty cool.”

Until they sort that out for Future Music Festival next year, there's their current DJ tour of Australia, and then finalising what will be their debut album. “Yeah, the album is coming to completion, just getting into the synching of the tracks on there so I think it's going to be really special. I'm really excited about it. As you've witnessed with Spoons and Feel The Love, two completely different genres, it's going to be like that across the board of the album, it's going to be something for everyone we hope. The vibe of it is pretty cool.”

Rudimental will be playing the following shows:

Thursday 11 October - Ambar, Perth WA
Friday 12 October - Brown Alley, Melbourne VIC
Saturday 13 October - Chinese Laundry, Sydney NSW
Sunday 14 October - Oh Hello, Brisbane QLD
Saturday 2 March - Future Music Festival, Brisbane QLD
Sunday 3 March - Future Music Festival, Perth WA
Saturday 9 March - Future Music Festival, Sydney NSW
Sunday 10 March - Future Music Festival, Melborune VIC
Monday 11 March - Future Music Festival, Adelaide SA