Lustral interview

Lustral interview

26 June, 2007 | 6.38AM

• Written by: Terry Church
• Filed under: Music News: baroque records, lustral

If you’re into trance, then it’s quite probable you have a Ricky Simmonds and Stephen Jones record in your collection. Go on have a look now. No, can’t find anything under Simmonds or Jones? Well how about The Space Brothers, Force Majeure, Chakra, Acension or Essence – just some of the pseudonyms the boys have released under in the past 15 years.

And finally, after 15 years of sticking their fingers in lots of different dance music pies the duo have released their debut album ‘Deeper Darker Secrets’ under their progressive house Lustral guise.

Beatportal met Jones and Simmonds and grilled them all about their first LP.

Why the hell has it taken so bloody long for you guys to release your debut album?

Ricky Simmonds: “Because we have around a dozen or so projects, we’ve spread out much of the material we have written over the years across all our pseudonyms.

“A couple of years ago, the time felt right to concentrate solely on making one great album, as opposed to many different singles.

So it took 15 years to release ‘Deeper Darker Secrets’ but how long did it actually take to put together?

Stephen Jones: “The writing and recording took place alongside other projects, so other ventures were getting in the way of our time - it took about an 18 month period from start to finish.

“The only difficulty was fitting in the time with vocalists, guitarists and the other musicians.

“If we could have had six months without any distractions, it would have been a much smoother process.”

Vocalists and guitarists? It sounds like an indie album.

RS: “It may sound bizarre, but because we started from a traditional songwriting approach, the influences on this album are more likely to be John Lennon than John Digweed.

“There are usually two types of songwriters/artists. One is the kind that says, “lets make a record that sounds a bit like The Chemical Brothers, but with a bit of Moby thrown in and the moodiness of Massive Attack underpinning it” - and then they set about trying to make that type of sound come to life.

“The other kind is the way we work - just writing and recording what comes from the heart, or producing instinctively without attempting to sound like any other artists.

“Then you just end up with all your subconscious influences coming to the party and creating either something that sounds wonderful or occasionally, something that sounds like shit.”

Do you think your music has changed much over the years?

RS: “When we were making records from 1992 onwards for labels such as Manifesto, MCA and Hooj, we had certain restrictions in our methods as we were trying to make the perfect club records - meaning you could not do certain things in songs, like having more than four or five chords.

“Echoing what I mentioned before, its about the song first now, and adapting it for the relevant structure needed afterwards.”

So ‘Deeper Darker Secrets’ is more for home-listening?

SJ: “Yes, it’s mainly for home listening. That’s why we are releasing two albums. The main LP is a song-driven album with electronic in influences, but only one club-orientated track out of the 12 songs.”

“Then there’s the remix album of 18 tracks [check it in the player below] which we wanted to put together for the clubs.

“Baroque have done an excellent job in assembling all the remixers/producers on our wish list to give their take on our songs.”

Finally, does trance still excite you, or are you now more into progressive house?

SJ: “Progressive house overall excites us more as a genre. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a classic track to do it for us. 

“But with trance music, unless it’s a fantastic song involved or something quite innovative production wise, it’s very difficult to listen to a lot of trance because it sticks to a rigid formula.”

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