James Talk & Ridney first brought themselves to the attention of the collective clubbing consciousness back in 2009 with ‘Sunshyne’; a track championed by Carl Cox and on that was eventually awarded the title of ‘Essential New Tune; by Pete Tong. Then last year they dropped the disco-sampling ‘Forever’ which was hammered by house jocks across the board and again won the coveted ‘Essential New Tune’ title. Now they’re back with a new record which may well be their biggest to date.
‘One for Me’ is the kind of guaranteed floor-filler that every house DJ needs in his collection, and with the addition of a vocalist that performed on one of the best-known house tracks of the last decade it’s almost guaranteed to blow up this summer. Here are the guys themselves to tell all…
How does the music you make together differ from your solo efforts?
James Talk: When we work together we have a higher standard I think, we both push each other to make the track bigger and better, we don’t settle for 2nd best. I think this is the reason all the James Talk & Ridney tracks have been so successful.
Ridney: We argue more in the studio when we're working on collabs! I guess it’s because we are both so passionate about producing the best possible track we can. Like James says, when we're in the studio together we'll never settle for 2nd best!
How long have each of you been making music, how did it start.
JT: I've been making music since around 2002 but didn't really achieve much until 2005. I first bought a PC with Reason 1.0. In 2008 I moved from Reason to Logic Pro on a Mac. It was simply a hobby when I began, I never thought it could be a career, or I would be any good at it.
R: I've been DJing since I was at primary school (1985) and decided to start properly making music in Reason 1.0 in 2000 (after messing about with tracker software as a teenager). I co-produced a bunch of records before consciously deciding to take my solo stuff much more seriously at the end of 2007/beginning of 2008.
Tell us about the vocalist on the track…
R: Both James and I are fans of Max C's voice - especially the great vocal he delivered on Axwell's "I Found U". He heard our original instrumental and loved the track. When James and I both heard his vocal we were immediately hooked and so, "One For Me" was born!
JT: We made contact, sent him the track and he delivered this amazing vocal back to us, we didn't need to make any changes.
Axwell & Max C
Who wrote the song?
JT: Ridney came to the studio with an initial idea and I wrote some chords to it, the track developed from there. We finished the instrumental and sent to Max who wrote all the lyrics.
R: The initial idea was from a demo I wrote in a hotel room during some DJ gigs in Ibiza last summer!
Were either of you guys out in Miami this year? If so, how was it?
R: Not this year, I personally think it’s too expensive for upcoming DJs/artists. I look forward more to the Ibiza season and ADE.
JT: I've only ever been to Miami once, and I didn't go this year. I suppose I don't feel it’s as relevant now as it was then. It's really just an opportunity to see friends and play some parties; I’d rather not waste the time and money. There’s no real networking there. I think MiDEM, IMS and ADE are far better for business.
How much time do you usually spend in the studio in an average week?
JT: We don't do 12 hour sessions. We work very quickly, so if it’s not happening one day we will just chat catch up on Extra Dry business and listen to records. On a good day we probs do 5 or so hours, usually 3 or 4 times a week.
R: In the past week we’ve been in the studio nearly every day finishing two remixes. It depends on our individual schedules too.
Who is the record aimed at and where do you think it will be played?
R: Personally, I always make records for my own DJ sets. If other DJs like the record and want to play it too, it’s a bonus!
JT: It's definitely aimed at the Ibiza clubber, we wanted it to be a good club track but also have a crossover appeal. I hope it will be played in all the clubs in Ibiza this summer. Tiesto is playing it, so it's already getting some good support.
James… Tell us something about Ridney he’d probably rather we didn’t know. Ridney – same question…
JT: Ooooh… I have some stories to tell! I probably shouldn't say anything too harsh though as he might get upset. He did once play ‘Drop The Pressure’ before Mylo in a warm up set. The ultimate DJ faux pas.
R: We were once at Ministry of Sound in London. James was DJing in the main bar and Pete Tong was in the main room. A number of people (who thought they were in the box) kept coming up to me in the bar thinking that James was Pete Tong!
Pete Tong seems to be picking up on a few of your tracks recently…why do you think your sounds appeals to him?
R: I really don’t know. I'm a huge fan of Pete's shows and have listened for the best part of 16 years, so it’s an honour for him to support my/our records.
JT: Agreed, I think we've been lucky to have quite a lot of music played on Pete's show. A real honour. If I had to guess I’d say it was the accessibility of the records and main room vibes.
Have you ever danced to your own records in public?
JT: I've heard a few other DJs play my records out when I've been in clubs. Do I dance? Don't think so.
R: I do! In the DJ booth when I'm playing them out!
Anything else you’d like to tell us about?
JT: We have just launched the Extra Dry Podcast, its weekly and will have some awesome guest mixes! You should check it out on iTunes now!
'One for Me' is out now on Azuli
