Beatportal interviews Danny Byrd

Beatportal interviews Danny Byrd

13 June, 2008 | 1.45AM

• Written by: Dan Cole
• Filed under: Music News: danny byrd, hospital records

Danny Byrd has the been the backbone of drum & bass since the mid-nineties, and has been quoted as being one of the forefathers of liquid, soulful drum & bass.

Yet after being in the game for so long it’s only this year that he’s actually released his first debut album, Supersized.

The album, released on Hospital, is a sheer masterpiece of production, featuring collaborations with the Brookes Brothers and MC Loxy, as well as spawning the jungle hit ‘Shock Out’.

Tired of doing conventional interviews about the release of ‘Supersized’, when approached by Beatportal Danny expressed the desire to stray away from the norm in regards to questions.

It actually turned out to a real eye-opening experience for us, as Beatportal discovered what Danny Byrd would be doing if he wasn’t a DJ, how we react to being a giant, and who’s played in Bath recently.

Word has it you’re a soul man. Do you ever get chance to play sets based around this?

Well, I certainly like my music to have some feeling in it, but as for playing some alternative sets I think I will leave that to the pros in that field!

I have done a few bar-type gigs, and I always thought of lounge/bar sets as easy work, but I couldn’t be more wrong!

Its hard to get that balance where you don’t offend the people by blasting out anything too aggressive, but at the same time you want to create a kind of party atmosphere.

If you weren’t making drum & bass, what do you think you’d be doing at the moment?

Probably making computer games, as that was what I was interested in before making music.

Although I was never amazing at it, I loved the feeling of creating a product from scratch. 

I guess that DIY ethos rubbed off in music.

When I was a struggling musician with no gigs I also worked in a café washing the dishes! 

I didn’t mind too much as I used to listen all day long to my mini discs of the Fabio & Grooverider show.

You’re originally from Bath – where the association is more with tourists and horse racing than drum & bass. What was it that took you down that path?

Urrrrrr you can blame my parents for being located there! Bath is nice place, and has a pretty healthy music scene as it goes.

Tears for Fears, Peter Gabriel, Van Morrison and Goldfrapp are all from Bath, so it can’t be all bad.

Bristol is just a 20-minute drive away so I go over there if I am getting a bit bored with the niceness of Bath!

One of your profile shots involves you being a giant walking around a replica miniature town. Would you like to be a giant someday, and what would you do?

Yes, I would like to be a giant for the day, if it were for longer than that I would get a sore neck.

I’d like to march over to my old work, and throw a few cars around etc., show em who’s boss now, before the army tried to take me out like they did in King Kong.

On a serious note, what is your standpoint on the vinyl vs. digital debate ravaging the drum & bass community?

Ooooh, haven’t heard this question before!! Heheeh!

Well, I look at it like this: On a club gig vinyl always sounds best—those ultra bright tops from an mp3 are too much for my ears at great volume.

However, I buy a lot of mp3s—mainly hip-hop, but really any music that’s not D&B.

Its really encouraging to see people buying D&B mp3s in large numbers now, not everybody is DJing and just wants to check out the tunes, like you used to be able to with all the old rave tunes on tape singles.

It’s a tricky one and am likely to offend people either way, but my take is vinyl for the clubs, and digital for everything else!

And finally describe your new album in ten words….

Retro…Jungle…Electro…Hip Hop…Vocal...Liquid...Progressive…Uplifting D&B.

Thanks, Danny

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