We nailed down Dr Meaker for a quick phone chat about their new smash single Freaks, and their forthcoming soul-filled album on Circus Records.
The Bristol-based group are thoroughly launching into the limelight now with over 600,000 plays on their latest single. Alongside success with recent remixes such as their rework of Preditah’s Selecta, the fivesome look set for a huge summer. Check the original cut of Freaks below plus tasty remixes from Low Steppa and MyDon whilst you read on!
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How did you all meet?
We all met through university and then word of mouth in Bristol & Bath, it was a natural process.
How old were you when you started playing music?
Growing up I was listening to the music that my parents were listening to and then began to find my own influences and sounds from the collection. I started tinkling on the Piano from as early as I can remember.
What first got you into Dnb and what made you decide to start making it yourselves?
There are many factors that got us into Dnb. Fabio & Grooverider were massively influencial with their DJ sets and Radio shows. In Bristol Roni Size / Reprazent were an influence. Dance acts with the live energy like The Prodigy. Dnb has that energy and release that we love.
How do you work together on the production of a new track?
Clive Meaker usually comes up with the main ideas and sometimes gets in different people for different roles. Sometimes other people write the songs and Clive produces them. Every tune is different. It really depends on the track but it’s always a team effort in feeding back in ideas and arrangements.
Obviously your live show is a key part of your music. How would you say this translates into your records?
Yes definitely. We always make sure we try and get the same energy into out records as we do when we play live. Things like adding horn lines, live bass, live synths and live drum sounds help to show people what we do live.
Your new single Freaks has already had over 600k plays! We understand its received the most amount of SoundCloud plays to date for you as a group, how does that make you feel?
Yeh we are loving the amazing response to this record. Being on a label like Circus records has enabled us to get our music out to a larger audience. With this track it really kicked off on soundcloud and it was being shared everywhere. It has been great to get exposure and gain fans in many countries.
It’s a sick tune, how did you go about producing it? I saw somewhere that it was originally meant to be a remix?
Thanks. It actually came about when I was snowed under with the new album and needed to turn over a quick remix for someone so I got producer Cappo D to come in on it with me to speed things up. At the end of the session it sounded way too good to give away as a remix so we decided to keep it for ourselves and put some soul vocals on it and make it a collaboration single.
And we understand it’s going to be on the new album, forthcoming on Circus! How did you end up linking up with them?
Yeh we are buzzin about how the album is coming along with Circus. It got hooked up through a remix we did for Submotion Orchestra who did an EP with the label. Paths (managers) crossed and we met up with the circus crew and were impressed with their ethic and they digged what we do.
Tell us more about the new LP, is it all going to be on such an uplifting vibe as Freaks?
The new album will be full of soul. It is heading in the direction of being a deeper sound. It will take you on a musical journey including ups and downs but always with emotion and soul. Each track has its own flavour but definitely has a strong them running through the album.
What emotions do you think it’s important to try and convey through your music?
I think if you can convey the message of the song to the listener that is the key. We always try to achieve this with each track we do.
The most important thing to convey is the feeling of song. Its a magic thing that you ant put your finger on.
What do you listen to outside the studio?
We all listen to all different styles of music within the band. We all have different musical influences. We currently are listening to Kwabs, Alt J, Jack Garrett, Years & Years plus lots more older and newer stuff.
What underground artists are you rating right now that we need to know about?
IYES sound great at the moment especially their track Simmer and also Kwabs who is now crossing over.
We’ve been to see him play a couple times and he’s got it.
Have you got any other projects you’re working on, either as a group or individually?
We do have something in the pipeline but we will keep that under wraps for now 🙂
Where can we catch you this summer?
We will be playing Glastonbury festival, Love Saves The Day, Godney Gathering with UB40, Oyster Festival and more.
Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. Any final shout outs before you go?
Big up to all of our fans. All the crew at Circus Records and to all the Bristol crew who support us.
Keep up with more from Dr Meaker through their Facebook and Twitter pages.
