Is this on? (Tap, tap.) Yeah. Picture this: a black, fuzzy-smooth chaise longue in the middle of a vast desert surrounded by a mix of pomegranate trees and random shrubbery and butterflies. Though this is a desert, a peaceful stream winds its way through, providing the random shrubbery with its nourishment requirements. (The pomegranates thrive in a semi-arid climate.)
Yeah. And there are animals. It’s all harmonious, you just chilling there in your chaise longue as the hot sun gives way to the cool desert twilight, the stream winding and nourishing, the animals grazing and hopping about – but with a chill demeanour. Yeah. There’s just one detail missing: next to your chilled, cactus-based beverage, a volume knob embedded in the desert floor.
You turn it up…
…and hear crunchy vinyl beats mingling with a smooth soul vibe and swirling and swooping and it feels as if your chaise longue is levitating, but not too high. Yeah. George Evelyn, aka DJ E.A.S.E, founding member of Nightmares on Wax, brings you there if you’re not there already. Anything but a nightmare, the man lays down smooth beats over irresistible, tingly melodies.
Can you tell us a bit about the projects you’re working on at the moment?
The next Nightmares on Wax album. We’ve probably got about 1 more week of writing and mixing, basically the album is complete. Also, we’re about to launch our own record label as well. The new album is still coming out on WARP. But ‘Wax On’ is the name of the new label, it’s really a platform label to bring through young blood basically. The thing that annoys me the most in music is seeing talent wasted. That annoys me more than anything else. Now, whether that is people not being able to get their shit together when they’ve got the talent, or if their talent is being wasted on something silly.
What are the main advantages of technology and software in the kind of music you make?
The advantages are massive, just as far as the actual process. If we tried to record everything we recorded now, it would take forever, man. It’s so quick, that’s what technology is, it’s made it…it’s made a dimension of the music more accessible. Big productions don’t necessarily need to be done in big recording studios. I think that’s an advantage. Back in the day it was really hip-hop that got us into making music. And obviously that entails electro as well. Some synthesizers and some drum machines are always part of making music, it’s just that we got our recognition from making house records and that’s classed as electronica nowadays. Obviously since then we’ve gone on to make three more albums which are from a different angle. People get the idea that we’ve left it behind but I think it is sill evident, it’s just what you identify with club records and what you identify with elements you use in production.
Tell me a bit about the progression from DJing to forming Nightmares on Wax?
Nightmares on Wax and me DJing are two completely different things. I started out as a DJ, obviously the natural progression from that is to want to make your own records. Back in the day I just wanted to be a radio DJ. After pirate radio DJing came the clubs, so DJing will always be a big part of what I do. Nightmares on Wax, with the live band, is something completely different. It’s an experience, a spiritual experience, honest music, real soul. The energy is just too positive to deny
What kind of development would you like to see in your own music?
For me it’s production, its all about production, and knowing that any new idea or any new avenue is not impossible. That’s the most important thing in music for me. And always taking it that little bit further in the kind of musicians we use, in the kind of sounds we use. It has to sound organic as well, that’s very important. There is a lot of good music out there, but not organic music. It’s all sounding very polished and very watery to me at the moment. To me, organic music has got warmth, felling. There are loads of party tunes out there, but a lot of it is sounding too polished, and that is obviously a big part of the digital revolution in music. You can’t deny the old. So for me it’s about getting the combination right between using analogue music, using live musicians and using the digital side as well. There is nothing better than feeling someone on record.
I take my influence from my background. I’m a young British West-Indian, and that has many influences. Influences like reggae…England itself has so much diversity in it’s music and I also think that my music is a reflection of my life. However that is or however I feel, the music will reflect that. It’s not premeditated, I don’t go into the studio thinking I’m going to make this kind of record. I don’t know what I’m going to make when I go in there, by making music that way, that’s honest music.
On the new album you are collaborating with a lot of people (Chris Dawkins, Chyna B for example). What made you choose these particular artists to work with on the album?
One, they’re part of my environment. Two, they’ve been there before, they’ve been proven and tested with me. I guess that’s the way it is right now, I don’t really question it. You can’t just say out of the blue ‘do you want to hook up and make something’ with somebody, you do it because you know there is a vibe there, and that’s just in the personality or whatever. It’s interesting to see what comes from that and what kind of chemistry you can create. It’s not premeditated, it’s mostly all on vibe and instinct. The people who are on my album are there because they’re meant to be.
How do you think these particular artists influenced the sound of the album?
For the vocalists, that is evident in itself. Chyna B for example is an amazing lyricist as well. Some of the things she is coming with is just next level stuff. And Chris Dawkins is a guitarist, and I just don’t know a better guitarist myself. If I ask him to play something…and I can’t sing in tune…but he still knows what I’m on about. We just connect. That’s massively important. And there are certain people that understand where you’re coming from when you’re working and when you’re doing your production. There are certain people that this shit just clicks with. They’ll tell you the same, really.
You’ve obviously been in this game for a long time. What advice would you give to someone who is just starting up DJing today?
Stick to your guns. No matter what anyone says, if you believe what you’re doing is right…there’s nothing wrong with constructive criticism…if what you’re into is what you’re into, stick with it. Don’t change it because next man or a crowd is doing this or that. Just stick to your guns. Do what you like, that’s the most important thing. You have to be self-indulgent in music, because if you’re not, how can you really be yourself.
In your opinion, what makes a good tune?
Hmmm…that’s a good question. Rhythm. Definitely soul. It can be a rock tune or whatever, if it’s got soul you can never fail because you can connect with that. That’s why it’s called soul. I think growers, tunes that grow on you, often make good tunes, growers man. The new Roots Manuva album is a grower. Albums can just hit you straight away…but there are very few and far between that stay like that. The ones that grow on you, they stay like that forever.
