Chase & Status Ibiza Rocks Interview

They may have played the gig of their lives yesterday at Ibiza Rocks but we sat down with headliners Will and Saul, or Chase & Status as they are better known before their set to talk Ibiza, Dizzee Rascal and how they felt when Snoop Dogg asked to sample one of their tracks...

Q.  You have played many UK festivals, how does performing in Ibiza compare?

A: (Will) Because we’re sitting on a balcony next to a hot tub with lots of sun and beautiful people. At home we’d be at a festival wearing wellies in a tent in some mud.

(Saul) It has been lovely weather in England lately to be fair.

(Will) It has yeah. Yeah it’s just really the location that’s incredible and everyone’s just on the summer party vibe really. It’s wicked.

Q. Do you think the crowd for tonight’s gig will be different from those back in the UK?

A: (Will) Ummm, not really actually I mean for the festivals it’s been pretty amazing, just everywhere we’ve played the crowds have been, I don’t know everyone’s surpassed the last one almost. Ummm.. There’s obviously a really good atmosphere here, you know everyone’s on holiday, everyone’s catching loads of sun, but I wouldn’t say they’re more wild.

Q: What can we expect from your performance at Ibiza Rocks tonight?

A: (Saul) Well just carnage really, we’ve hot some guest vocalists with us. We’ve got Tempah T, Delilah who’s another talented singer and Mali who’s featuring on our new single Let You Go and yeah just going to be us performing live with the bands in the sun so yeah it’s gonna be good.

Q: Tinie Tempah is supporting you tonight, are you fans?

A: (Will) Yeah we’ve done a whole heap of shows with Tinie this year really. He’s a great artist, love his stuff, love what he’s doing. He’s really put the UK on the map again, getting a lot of love from the States. Snoop’s really into him, so is Diddy. He’s a great guy and we wish him all the best.

Q: Team UK is taking over at the moment, are there any new acts that we should keep an eye out for?

A: (Will) Yeah there’s loads of exciting people, we’re lucky to have come across quite a few new upcoming vocalists like Delilah, Mali in particular, Tempah T, a guy called Maverick Sabor – incredible talent as well. There’s so much you know unsigned talent. Yeah there’s Nero as well, incredible producers that we work alongside. It’s just sort of testament to how strong the music scene is and how much is going on in and out of the club land.

Q: What can you tell us about your new album? Are you going for a different sound compared to your last release?

A: (Saul) Not so much really, just I guess an extension. You’ve got to bare in mind it was two years ago that we released that album so we’re not going to release that exact same album again you know we’re two years further on creatively, musically and I like to think production levels you know so it’s going to be higher production level, higher standards, more songs, we’ve got some really great vocalists that we’re working with. It’s just I guess updated of what we were into then really. It’s still drum n bass, dub debs and hip hop on there and just 2010 really.

Q: You have been making music since 2003, do you think the music industry has changed much?

A: (Will) Yeah I think so, I think people are now a bit more open minded when it comes to music, a bit more open-minded. When we started making music we were from the drum n bass world, which was quite cliquey and we were really big bands of UK garage and hip hop, but all those scenes just kept to themselves really and we’d play at big nights with just one particular type of music for the whole six or seven hours and now we rarely play at nights like that it’s always a really mixed sort of bunch of DJ’s and acts and I think that’s just the way the music industry’s going you know more access to music because of the internet obviously and it’s nice seeing the target audience a bit more open-minded. It lets us do a bit more and write different styles of music.

Q: You have worked on a track with Dizzee Rascal called Heavy, how did the collaboration come about and are there any plans to release it as a single?

A: (Saul) I don’t know about the single, I can’t comment on that really, but it was great working with Diz. We’ve been trying to get together for ages but he’s pretty busy and we’re quite busy as well and just haven’t really had the time to get in the studio together. Then one evening he just called me up – we’d been out heavy drinking the night before and I was pretty much just lounging in bed and he goes “Yo, what’re you up to? What’s going on?” and I go “not much” and he said “I’m in town. "Wanna go studio?” and I said “yeah great – see you in half hour”. I had to call Will, tell him to get up, which he wasn’t too pleased about. And yeah went into the studio and Dizzy said “look I’m not really the kind of guy to just jump in the booth straight away and record” and I said “cool, it’s more of a linking up session time, to feel each other out. Within about 20 minutes we had the beat round the studio, round the booth, recorded the vocals and the track was pretty much done basically.

Q: Plan B is doing amazingly well at the moment, seeing as you have worked with him do you prefer his rapping or singing ability?

A: (Will) Well it’s hard to say because he is a product of both and without both he wouldn’t be Plan B so I love a lot of his rapping but I mean obviously his singing just takes him to a next level and the tracks we’ve done with him he’s sung and I mean he’s incredible, the talent he has with his singing especially and song writing skills and being able to rap on top of that just makes him a complete package and it’s great to see him do well this year.

Q: Kano is about to make his comeback to music, considering grime and UK music is booming at the moment do you think he was ahead of his time?

A: (Will) It’s hard to say really. I think he did a lot of getting to where it is you know. His last not single but kind of post single Get Wild was wicked. It was one of my favourite single of the year without a doubt. I’ve heard his album Method To Madness and it sounded pretty cool man. We’ve always loved Kane. I’m glad to see he’s doing well and I think he’s pivotal to the scene really. Definitely.

Q: Snoop Dogg asked to sample one of your tracks, how did that feel and do you think he did a good job?

A:  (Will) Yeah it was an incredible moment for us, working with Snoop. When we got the call that he wanted to do something that was like a real sort of like life changing moment and it just all happened within like 2 days. They recorded it sent it back, that was done, no real sort of room to change it, so it was disappointing not to go out there and record it with him. But with people like Snoop Dogg you just sort of get what you’re given and yeah it was wicked and it did a lot for getting our name out there. Over there and here. And yeah wouldn’t have changed a thing actually.