DOA: We've heard your name (and your bangers) over the last three years, but don't know much about you. We see you're from Germany. Take us back to when you first started getting into DnB - what tunes/producers were big for you at the time, and why?
Neonlight: It was in the late '90s when we both got in touch with Drum & Bass. Jakob was the first of us who started buying DnB records to mix them at a friend's house. He was really into the sound by artists like Konflict, Dom & Roland, Total Science and Bad Company. I personally really got infected with the music a little later. My first tunes I bought on vinyl were by Aquasky, Ed Rush & Optical and J.Majik. The energy of the basslines, the tempo of the drums and the deep atmospheric soundscapes were the most remarkable things for both of us. And these are the things in music that still fascinate us nowadays.
DOA: When did you start making your own tunes, and what made you want to start producing?
Neonlight: We started producing at various times. Jakob was first, who started to work on some Techno and Happy Hardcore tunes with a simple tracker program. It was in 2000 when he showed me his first productions. After that I jumped on the same bandwagon and was mainly producing Breakbeat and Hip-Hop beats. A bit later we were both working separately more and more on Drum & Bass tunes. Our first co-production was a bootleg remix of the German dance anthem "Hard Core Vibes" by Dune.
The reason why we started producing music is quite the same, why we still produce music. Apart from "wasting" loads of hours of your lives we can express ourselves and share it later on with other people.
DOA: You've had releases on Redlight, Bad Taste, Lifted, State of Mind, Trust In Music and more labels since you started establishing yourself. Is there on tune of yours that you’d say either defines what you’re about as a producer or a track that was truly one that got the people into your sound?
Neonlight: I think there exist a couple of tunes, which show the "Neonlight-vibe". Our singles, which were released on Bad Taste Recordings last spring,"Contraire" / "Ultraviolet", definitely belong to our unmistakable tunes. One tune is based on a melodic theme surrounded by punchy beats and a massive Reece synthline. The breakdown in the middle of the track is up with a different shuffled rhythm and splashy drums which let you dive into a new groove for some seconds before getting back to the powerful drop. "Ultraviolet" on the flip is a non-stop banger. It is full with switches and wired sounds that are constantly floating around. It is a perfect tune to open or end a set. A third one is [urlhttp://downloads.dogsonacid.com/track/neonlight/frozen-tape/drum_and_bass/3827307.html]"The Frozen Tape"[/url] we brought out on Trust In Music. The structure and special musical vibe of this track reflect a different facet of us. The track also has an ultra-long second breakdown with an epic build-up of a melody and synthline. Some label owners who got the track said things like "great track... but that breakdown in the middle is toooo long... that might not work on the floor". At the end of the day we did not change it and most of the guys who weren't sure about that breakdown, however, still play that tune.
DOA: We got wind of your remix of Cause 4 Concern's "Never Acid Again", and it's definitely a banger. How did this opportunity come about – were you approached, did you approach C4C?
Neonlight: After we got in touch with Optiv in 2010 we came up with a single on his label Redlight ("Run It Red (ft. Ryme Tyme) (Neonlight Remix)" /"Hammerhead" with Hedj [RIP]). Once this release was really successful, I asked him if it would be possible to work on a remix of a C4C tune one day. We were really surprised when we received an email with the stems of "Never Acid Again" about one year later. That was a good day, knowing we can work on that remix for the legendary C4C.
DOA: Talk to us about your take on it – you really went for more of a "drumstep" vibe, with the meatier drums. Did anything in particular make you pursue this bit in that vein?
Neonlight: Well, the Drumstep version we did came up with after we had finished the original remix. In an early version we sent out to Optiv we had a Drumstep part before the second breakdown. They liked it a lot but eventually we kicked that part out of the remix. Later on we decided to go for another version with that half-time or Drumstep groove in the drums. Now the track also appears as release, as the "Drumstep VIP", you can exclusively buy on C4C's web shop.
DOA: Around the time we got wind of this remix, we also saw that you've got a few placements on the next Bad Taste compilation. What's it like getting the constant nod of approval from legends like Vegas?
Neonlight: It was a major step in our career to get the chance to release our music on Bad Taste. It is also great to work with a guy who was part of the great Bad Company project. They are still heroes for us. Apart from being a groupie of Bad Company *smile* we had no boundaries, neither got any guidelines how the tune had to work to be good enough for Bad Taste. That is something we always really appreciated. We've looked forward to the Bad Taste Volume 5 release and hope that the whole album becomes a great and successful release.
DOA: A number of the tunes we see from you, be it the forthcoming cuts with Aeph and others on Bad Taste 5, or the tune with InsideInfo on his GrowEP, or even your work with Hedj (RIP), you do a lot of collaborative work. Is there any particular draw for you, working with other like-minded producers? Does that work help you when you go to create tunes on your own?
Neonlight: That is right, in the past two years we have been working a lot with other artists. We are always interested in working together with other producers who create music we are really fond of. We also try to work on-site in the studio with the guys on a track. That brings the certain vibe it needs to become something remarkable compared to your work you do usually alone. In addition, it definitely helps to be more creative when you have three crazy brains sitting there instead of two. After every collab we have finished over the last months we became a bit "wiser". From guys like Mefjus, Aeph or InsideInfo you can definitely learn something new every session. And we do really hope that we showed them some helpful things as well.
DOA: We mentioned Hedj, and remember that you were featured on the Hedj & Friends release on Bad Taste. You guys had done a number of tunes in the past, and with this being the last release of his after his untimely death, talk to us about how it felt to have that honor bestowed on you.
Neonlight: To work with Hedj was really cool. He was such a nice guy and also a top producer with striking technical abilities. He was the first person we worked with in close collaborations. The reason for that was quite simple as he was also from Germany and I met him a couple of times when playing gigs. He showed me lots of helpful things we still use in our approach to produce tunes.
One week before he died we finished the tune for the Redlight release I had mentioned before. We had already started off the next project, which eventually came out on the Hedj & Friends release. It is still a special moment when we play the tunes we worked on together and we really hope he would have agreed on how we finished our last co-production "Joker". Rest in peace Andy!!!
DOA: What's lined up for you, release-wise, for the rest of 2012? Any details you can spill?
Neonlight: We have two tracks on Bad Taste Volume 5 with two features of us. One is the collab with Aeph ("Space Truckers") and the second tune is a collab with our friends from Leipzig, sH1 & Wintermute ("Reminiscence"), which is also a part of that wicked selection. Our remix we did for the mightyBlack Sun Empire will be out on a remix EP that is a part of their new album, which will be released in September. Moreover, we did another collab with the Russian guy Receptor that is going to be released on Chris Renegade's label Lifted Music.
After all these collabos and remixes, we will come up with a four-track EP we are working on at the moment. The EP will be named Computer Music and will be out after the summer on Lifted Music as well. Apart from the Neonlight projects, our friend Wintermute and the two of us are writing the music and create the sound-design for an independent computer game which will be released around Christmas 2012.
Tracklist:
01 Neonlight – The Frozen Tape [Rregula & Dementia Remix] (TRIM Dub)
02 Neonlight – Ultraviolet (Bad Taste)
03 Black Sun Empire – Eraser [Neonlight Remix] (BSE Dub)
04 Noisia – Charger (Free Download)
05 Task Horizon – Da Vibe ft. MC Spyda & Rina (Evolution Chamber Dub)
06 Metrik – Drift (Viper Dub)
07 Aeph & Neonlight – Space Truckers (Bad Taste Vol. 5)
>> Hamilton – Deep In My Heart (Ram)
08 Black Sun Empire – Inpeak [Telekinesis Remix] (BSE Dub)
09 Fourward – Steady State (Audioporn Dub)
10 Mefjus – Dogs And Frogs (TRIM Dub)
11 Neonlight & Mefjus – Puppet Masters (Eatbrain)
12 Mefjus & Neonlight – Hot Glue (Eatbrain)
13 The Upbeats & Gridlok – Krypto (Non Vouge)
14 Neonlight , sH1 & Wintermute – Perpetuum Mobile (C4C)
15 Noisia – Traction Control (Free Download)
16 Blokhe4d & Receptor – Bass Dust (Bat Taste Vol. 5)
17 Smooth – Virgo Cluster (Viper Dub)
18 Cause4Concern – Never Acid Again [Neonlight Remix] (C4C)
>> Birdy Nam Nam – Goin' In [Skrillex Goin' Hard Mix] (Savoir Faire)
19 Cause4Concern – Never Acid Again [Neonlight Drumstep VIP] (C4C)
:: DOWNLOAD ::
www.neonlightmusic.com | soundcloud.com/neonlightmusic | facebook.com/Cause4Concern
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