To celebrate the release of “Tonight” on the award winning Chopstick Dubplate, we interviewed them about Jungle, their inspiration and their recent award.
Buy the track online or listen to it on soundcloud and then buy it.
Junglist Network: You guys really sum up the phrase International Junglist. How did you come to team up?
Chopstick: Jungle Music brought us together. Jacky was operating a dubplate and mastering studio in Brooklyn, Tuffist came over to check the studio, and Jungle took over from there. A Few years later after exchanging some dubs over the internet, Jacky met Aries in his Birmingham studio, and they built a couple remixes that soon came out on Roots Recordings. A lil while after that Aries came to Barcelona to visit, met Tuffist at Jacky’s studio, and here we are now.
How does working on tracks and being in different countries work?
We used to travel a lot more to collaborate. We frequently build tunes either living in different countries, flying between Barcelona, New York, Birmingham, or on the road while touring together. For the past couple years we’ve been building the majority of the music in our London studios.
How much of your tracks are you in the studio together for?
Usually there’s at least two of us present for all of the production. We generally try and maintain unanimous agreement on major production decisions so that we’ll all happy with the result, while allowing each of us to specialise in the details of our work.We believe this mutual trust gives us a good level of quality control in our output.
Your work with vocalists gives your jungle a fresh live feel, how do you decide who to work with vocally?
There’s a few ways that people come into your life, and a few ways to look at how that works. We make the music because of a love for it and some kind of need to make it, and the people we meet, and work with, generally seem to be of similar disposition.
You’ve taken a completely fresh approach to your releases. From the concept and artwork to the musical content, each release seems to have more depth of story.Going from the comedic woes of Worldwide Traveller, the spaghetti-western flavour of Wanted, to the late-night talk show theme of Tonight. Is this a conscious Chopstick concept to make each track into a story of some kind?
We want to listen to good music and have fun. Part of the process of making good music is having fun while you do it, and these story concepts to portray it visually that come up along the way generally reflect that positive vibration.
How do certain members dubplate cutting skills effect your final sound?
Each of us brings the same love of music, and some different skills, to the studio and the stage. We all have our own different histories and preferences, however, over time the idea of the Chopstick Sound has been a common perception that we have done our best to reflect in the music.
Why is soundsystem culture so important to Jungle and your sound?
It’s simply the way that music should be presented. We love that. We love reggae, we love to dub, we love to party. Aries will play jump up sometimes, Tuffist likes a cheeky trap set, Jacky even plays Country and Western music or Funk Disco in a sound system style.
Certain herbal references feature quite heavily in your music. How does weed effect the productive process?
Although it’s not possible for us to comment on anything that might or might not be legal depending on local laws, customs, or other moral guidelines, we most certainly can remember hearing some lurid tales by individuals who are quite firm in their unending and eternal opinions on the subject, which we can state that we in certain instances have no choice but to concur, most wholeheartedly, upon the slightest examination of the matter at hand and the evidence supplied by the various positions, that it does, indeed, effect the creative process.
You recently won the very shiny looking We Love Jungle award for Best Jungle label, what did this mean to you?
It’s real nice, and makes us blush, so thanks!
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