PROTOKOL Radio bagged an interview with Grimey after his guest mix with our one and only Nameless!! We like to put people on the spot here at PROTOKOL!

You are well known for winning the ‘1xtra Bass Breaking New Talent Competition’ 2007 – what made you enter and did you ever think you could get to the finals, let alone win it?
Purely on a whim, to be honest, there’s no glamour behind it! I appreciate there is an inevitable degree of luck in getting selected for the finals given how many entries the 1Xtra judges had to sift through, but I’d worked really hard on my mixing game for so long by that stage and I guess you do make your own luck after all.

You come from quite a musical background, was it natural progression that made you want to start mixing?
Yeah, perhaps. I played the cello and piano to grade 7-8 standard but lost heart with both when I was about 16, and it was only months later that I’d bagged my first 1210; I suppose I needed something new to focus my energies on musically speaking, so definitely in that sense. I do think a classical training can go a very long way to helping when mixing (or producing) a genre like Drum’n’Bass and I value it highly.

What has been your biggest booking to date?
Probably going on tour & broadcasting live with 1Xtra at Birmingham’s Custard Factory given the exposure and scale of the event, failing that doing the SE1 main room set before Andy C was a buzz I’d always wanted to realise and achieved recently. I’ve only got the one foreign booking to my name so far but in terms of crowd vibes it was probably the most fun I’ve ever had playing out, so it has to be mentioned.

It seems that everyone is starting their own label at the moment – what kind of effect do you think this will have on the scene?
Well I’m no label owner or producer, but given the ease with which the music is disseminated these days thanks to online / digital technology it has to be a healthy thing. The scene is such a worldwide movement these days, you gotta be able to get the tunes out there as quickly as possible! No longer do minor labels have to suffer from prohibitive distribution costs or get shunted to the back row of a record store given you can find everything on Beatport, Trackitdown, etc... It feels like the playing field has levelled out a lot. On a more traditional note, I can fully understand why artists launch their own labels to get more of their own material out there given how long it takes to get a tune out on vinyl; it must be infuriating waiting for your tune to go through the painstaking process of mastering to pressing plant to shop, and even more so if you’re exclusively signed to one label alone.

Do you think Andy C will ever be knocked off the no 1 DJ Slot and if so by who?
Haha... I know most people moan about how Drum’n’Bass clings to its past too much but conversely, I don’t think the majority could ever accept Andy C as anything but number one either! Technically speaking he does seem to have a gift that literally noone else can touch, but that’s only really half his appeal, isn’t it? For sheer deck presence he’s out on his own, while for the typical raver I guess he embodies everything that is positive about DNB and that sort of iconic status isn’t something that disappears easily. As long as he’s around I’m sure he’ll be top of the pile.

What is you opinion on the whole idea of ‘forum fannies’ – G Dub made a tune about it and it seems to be everyone who is ever slated uses the term to dismiss what people are saying. Is it not the people on the forums we should be listening to or do they just like to winge about everything?
That’s a wasps’ nest of a question if ever there was one! I think the middle ground is a good place to be with regard to forums; in theory they are important points of mass communication that the industry should do well to take heed of, but as ever it’s the minority ruining it for the majority that have given them this image. I certainly don’t think it’s right to go calling G Dub a pair of w*nkers on Dogsonacid for making wobble, but I didn’t find it that hilariously tongue in cheek to make a consciously poor tune suggesting internet users have nothing useful to say either. Ultimately people have always had opinions, innit? I can fully understand why meaningless negativity gets artists down, but that god-awful ‘it’s all good!’ counter-argument is every bit as bad; diminishing quality control is to blame for a lot of what’s wrong with DNB if you ask me. Rant!

What question do you most hate in interviews? Have I asked you it?
I feel the worst is yet to come ;-)

If you had to name one goal for the next 5 years what would it be?
At present it still seems quite a distant one, but making some beats is something I’ve harboured dreams of for years; it’s become such a bloody cliché these days that I’d prefer to get on with it quietly on my own than go shouting about my progress. At present I’m working 9-5 in Drum’n’Bass in a job I most definitely have to take home with me and the spare time just isn’t there yet. Pushing the DJing as far as possible in the meantime is a more realistic aim that I’m working hard for. I’d also like to go skydiving, if anyone cares.

What tune could you listen to over and over again without it getting old?
Personally I don’t think any tune’s above that unfortunately, is that a really soulless answer? For this reason I try my hardest not to rinse tunes I love too hard, it’s best to keep things special if at all possible.

MC’s - are they necessary or jarring? If you had to work with one for the rest of your Djing career who would it be?
Of course MC’s are necessary, they’re part of the music’s history man! I’d go on record as saying very few are my cup of tea but I’ve experienced a few MC-less nights of late and have to say the lack of even just a host did kill the vibe slightly for me. I’d like to name Stamina for my chosen MC but history dictates I’d probably get distracted listening to his flow and start clanging all over the shop, so on that basis we’ll go for SP.

Did anyone of the 1xtra lot give you any tips for success? Fancy sharing?
Well… The one link I have with 1Xtra now is the lovely DJ Flight who of course was let go by the station along with a load of other quality DJ’s in a pretty nonsensical schedule reshuffle last summer. She keeps a watchful eye on me yeah, so you could say that…

Finally, would you like to tell us about any events that you are playing at in the future? Or any residencies you hold?
At present I’m resident for the mighty Innovation brand, for whom you can catch me playing at Innovation In The Sun in Lloret De Mar, Barcelona this coming June, and SE1 for the Reunion two months later. I’m also resident on London’s finest, Rude FM 88.2 where I play a show every Sunday from 2-4, and will be hosting a bi-weekly show on Ministry Of Sound radio for Innovation as of next month. Londoners can also catch me playing at Synthesis at the Rhythm Factory in August, and Bar Knowledge later that month