Merrix Interview with Dope Ammo

Merrix chats to Dope Ammo.

What were your first Musical influences as a young teenager?

I would have to say I was influenced as an early teenager by 80’s music as my sister would always play loud music round the house from the likes of Michael Jackson, Madonna, Duran Duran to New Order, Depeche Mode and Spandau Balllet !! Without knowing it this sound has influenced me so much and i still have a big love for 80’s classics, especially  80’s soul….tracks like Chaka Khan “Aint no body”, Odyssey “Going Back To My Roots” and Luther Vandros “Never Too Much”

As a later teenager I was played a rave tape by a friend at school in the early nineties and as soon as i herd the energy from this music i was hooked for life !!

The tape was Ellis Dee @ Fantazia, Matchams Park, Bournemouth

How did you get into DJ’ing and Production and when was the artist DOPE AMMO formed?

I was sat in Tesco Car park with my bro listening to a rave tape I think it was Carl Cox at the Edge, Coventry and I was like “I wanna DJ and produce this kind of  music bro” So I got couple of turntable’s one from our home and one from my aunty and bought a KAM made to Fade 2 channel mixer and it all started from there !!

I started producing when i went to University and I spent my student loan on an Akai sampler which back then cost £2000 and started to learn from there!!

We formed Dope Ammo records between the years of 1998 and 2000 !! It was an outlet for our own produced music which we produced under the artist name Drunken Masters as there was 4 of us at the time

Over the years the other guys kinda had other things going on so slowly I just started putting tracks out as Dope Ammo on Dope Ammo Records and here we are now …..

What inspired you to start the label DOPE AMMO?

like I said it was really an outlet for our own music but our sound was inspired by the likes of artists like Mickey Finn and Aphrodite, Andy C Shimon & Ant Miles (Ram Records), Nicky Blackmarket, Swan-e and Zinc! it was these kind of DJ’s and their productions which inspired us to write music and get it out on our own label.

Where can we find the full back catalogue of DOPE AMMO music?

Here is link to our complete back cat at Juno !! Although some of early stuff is missing but we plan to re-master at some point and get it out there

http://www.junodownload.com/labels/Dope+Ammo/releases

We are currently working on our new website and this should be ready from Sept this year!

You will be able to purchase everything from here including un-released material and brand new T-Shirts designed exclusively for us by www.dsyfa.com

What has been your greatest memory as a DJ?

I think playing in Austin, Texas during Halloween has got to be one of the highlights along with Boomtown, Lions Den Stage last year was also pretty epic !!

The Music you make these days, is it drum n bass or jungle? (describe the unique sound)

Basically our sounds is a cross between Ragga, Jungle and Jump Up !! I love the energy of Jump up and also the beats and baselines in Jungle. Mix this with Reggae and dancehall vibes and your onto a winner!  When I play out I love to bring this energy to the dance floor as for me sometimes Jungle can lack energy when you play it out so DJ ing this cross fusion stuff really works well and keeps both the Jump up heads and Jungle heads happy 🙂

Who has been the best artist you have worked/ collaborated with?

Working with Benny Page I reckon !! He’s really good in the studio, no messing about and works really quick.  Also he will do and try something that I would never even think about doing and it works so we always come up with something quite different in the studio!

Also working with Wooz (Joe) of Sigma when we were working on DJ hero for Activision was pretty special too !!

He’s a really talented geeza man and we had a good laugh too! Would love to work on a DnB track with him sometime in the future maybe…

I’ve heard about the 15 years of DOPE AMMO album due for release in 2015, who can we expect to find on the album? How many tracks and where will we be able to find it?

There are gona be lots of new tracks on there plus lots of collabs and Vip mixes from the likes of Serial Killaz, Macky Gee, Levela, Turno, Marvellous Cain, Benny Page, Run Tingz Cru, Aries & Kelvin 373 and more plus a whole host of nu skull MC’s and vocalists to Include our very own Shaddy MC & Gigante MC, Yemi Bolatiwa, Amiah, Virgo Don, Biga Ranx and Carasel too

DOPE AMMO has a very distinctive sound with a very lively feel, producers will soon be able to purchase your new loopmasters sample pack, can you tell us a bit about it?

This sample pack for me really showcases our unique Dope Ammo original DnB sound that everyones got to know now worldwide.

For those that are no so familiar…. we produce tracks which are a fusion of Jump up, reggae and Jungle that have explosive energy and are produced to cause maximum dance floor damage

Collaborating with Marvellous Cain on this pack was essential has he has bought the reggae dancehall vibe as well as his jungle roots to really take this  pack to the next level

The pack encompasses a similar sound to some of the huge tracks we have circulating at the moment worldwide.

So If your feeling the new unique sound from Dope Ammo and Marvellous Cain then your gonna love this pack and is a must buy for you!

People can use this sample pack as a great base for starting a brand new DnB track. It has  all the possible elements you would need, clean punchy drums, exciting fx and some fresh bass sounds and loops to really get ya teeth stuck into.

For an extra bonus we’ve added vocal hooks from the combined record labels of Dope Ammo and Yardrock throwing Shaddy MC & Gigante into the mix

What does the  future hold for DOPE AMMO, 2014 and beyond?

To complete this album and get it out there and market it as much as possible and keep building our worldwide fanbase,

Upon release we are already working on a full live show with live vocalists and MC’s which we can take on the road next year in UK and Europe.

I would like to give a big big shout to everyone who has helped us out along this 15 years epic journey of Jungle and DnB but most importantly a huge thanks to everyone who has bought, purchased, downloaded our music and supported our sound so we can keep doing what we love doing !

One Love

Dope Ammo Links:

Soundcloud – Here

Facebook – Here

Website – Here

Twitter – Here

Youtube – Here

Video:

Check out the latest video from Dope Ammo & Marvellous Cain

“Junglist Villain” – Watch Here

Mix:

Dope Ammo @ Boomtown, Lions Den 2013 – Listen Here