Dan Gresham might not stir many thoughts for most drum and bass fans. But if we were to talk about Nu:Tone, then there’s no doubt cogs would begin to whir, because the man’s been at the top of his game for nearly 15 years now. After sending a CD to DnB powerhouse Hospital back in 2003, Nu:Tone quickly established himself as a heavy hitter, with some outrageous releases that have spanned the whole spectrum of drum and bass.
So with an appearance at Hospitality In:Motion, alongside his brother Logistics, looming near, we caught up with Dan for a quick chat about where it all started. Check it out below!
“I knew that D&B was the one for me the first time I heard it in a club on a massive system. There’s nothing else that comes close for me!”
WWD: Hi Dan, Olly here from When We Dip, I hope you’re good mate! Would just like to say first that I’ve been a big fan of yours for a few years now, when I first came across your FABRICLIVE promo mix in 2013. It was that that really got me into your sound, so it’s a pleasure to have a chat with you now!
NT: Hey Olly – many thanks! My pleasure 😉
WWD: So just to give our readers a bit of background you’re no stranger to the scene, having signed to DnB’s powerhouse label Hospital Records nearly 14 years ago now back in 2003! How did that signing come about? Because the method of sending tracks to labels and getting “on the books” as it were was surely very different to how it works now?
NT: Yeah things have definitely changed on that front… I had released a few singles on labels like Soul:R, Beta, New Identity, and had given CDs to a lot of the DJs and label owners I respected. I sent a CD to Hospital, and that weekend, also gave one to High Contrast. He spoke to the guys at the office after checking it, and they checked it in the Hospital Studio. The next weekend, Radio 1 broadcast a live set by Fabio from Sonar Festival on Radio 1 and played 9 of my tracks in his 1 hour mix. I was invited in for a meeting, and the rest is history!
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/340142574″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”300″ iframe=”true” /]
WWD: Excellent stuff! Now then fast forward a year and it was 2004 that saw the collaborative partnership between you and your brother Matt (Logistics) first crop up, with the release of ‘On and On’ on Hospital. It may have been a while ago now but it still does damage! So what was it that made the two of you get into producing? And at what point did you feel that drum and bass was the thing that really got you going?
NT: We’d been collecting, DJing and trying to produce for a long time. We both got into D&B in 1995, but as many people will know, it takes quite a while before your production reaches an acceptable standard. Back then, that was even truer, as there weren’t any video tutorials or websites with guides. You really had to just get stuck in and learn through trial and error, attempting to reverse engineer other people’s tunes whilst not having a clue how your tools really work. It was a slow process, but I think it really added to producers’ individuality and musical identity. I knew that D&B was the one for me the first time I heard it in a club on a massive system. There’s nothing else that comes close for me!
WWD: Okay so bringing things up to the present, you and Matt will be joining forces behind the decks at Motion Bristol on October 14th for a Hospitality showcase, alongside a heavyweight lineup of High Contrast, London Elektricity and Danny Byrd to name a few! Of course the two of you have been playing together as Nu:Logic for a while now, so would you say that helps when it comes to delivering a killer set?
NT: It certainly makes a huge difference when you’re putting together a B2B set. We don’t really pre-plan our sets – although there are combinations of individual tunes that we have done before, we generally freestyle our sets. Knowing each others’ record bags makes a big difference, but more than anything, having a similar approach to building a set.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/335117734″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”300″ iframe=”true” /]
WWD: And obviously it was a few months ago that you and Matt released your ‘Somewhere between the light’ album, and every single tune delivers! ‘Sun goes down’ was our particular favourite, that second drop is an absolute goosebumps moment. We wanted to ask, have the pair of you got any plans to make some slightly darker, roller-ish sort of tracks? Because your ‘Start Again’ collaboration with S.P.Y was outrageous!
NT: No doubt. We both love to make a wide range of D&B, for this last album, we really set out to make something a bit more emotive and soulful. Who knows what will come next!
WWD: Alright Dan final question to finish off on, and to leave our audiences on their toes: If you could be sat round the dinner table with five DJs, deceased or alive and from any genre, who would you go for?
NT: Gilles Peterson, Larry Levan, Kenny Dope, MJ Cole, Marcus Intalex
WWD: Wicked stuff Dan thanks for chatting to us today!
NT: No worries!
Catch Nu:Logic (Nu:Tone and Logistics) at the sold out Hospitality In:Motion on the 14th of October. Register for resale info here