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Night Movements Interview
Drum and Bass | Monday 15th July 2013 | Matt
INTERVIEW: NIGHT MOVEMENTS
Over the weekend I was fortunate enough conduct an interview via Facebook with up and coming Midlands based hip-hop collective 'Night Movements'.
Check it out below. (unless stated otherwise the answers were on behalf of the entire group through their group Facebook account)
Hey guys, how’s it going?
We're good, its hot and we just got back from filming shots for our next video 'Waste Of Space' which will be out soon!
For the people who aren’t familiar with Night Movements could you give us a quick low-down on what you are about and what it is you do?
We are a hip hop/drum n bass collective consisting of 11 core members, the members of the group have changed over the years (since 2007) but now we have made a solid foundation in the Midlands scene, on both drum n bass and hip hop, we are confident that our current team will continue to progress through the UK scene and further.
Our Hip Hop team consists of:
Exa (Exacist), Hyksos, Kams, Wize One & Atmos T (Tim Page)
Our Drum n Bass team consists of:
Darka, Exa, Hyksos, Drillz, Total Recall, Dialogue & Mutiny.
Has living in Birmingham had any impact on your musical output?
Without a doubt. We think its impossible to not be influenced by your surroundings in anything you do. Its not exactly a nice place to live all of the time and I think that’s definitely reflected in our sound.
I know you dabble in both the hip hop and the drum n bass side of things? Is there a particular genre you prefer doing or would like to be associated with?
Exa: That's a tricky question, I cant narrow it down to just one but when it comes to writing lyrics, I can express myself a lot more with hip hop...no one wants to hear how depressed you are while skanking in a rave!
Hyksos: I feel exactly the same as Exa on this one, I'm new to the drum n bass but it does give me a chance to advance in my craft and try something new. Drum n Bass offers something Hip Hop cant, but that works the same the other way round for me too.
Darka: I'm known as a drum&bass MC, but I draw a lot of inspiration from hip hop music. DNB has took me out to shows in Europe & most weekends you can catch hurting up a rave across the country. But watch out for some hip hop projects that are in the pipeline.
You state that your influences include people like Esham and the Gravediggaz, in what way do these particularly dark artists directly influence your music? And do you ever worry these elements could potentially alienate a more mainstream audience?
This is a good question! To be totally honest, we never had the intention of ever appealing to anyone who would be listening through a mainstream platform. Exa and Hyksos have always been fans of underground hip hop so it was natural for us to be influenced by this kind of sound. We don’t think we would sound like we do now, it wasn’t for Wize & Kams. Its a good balance, kind of breaks it down evenly...we would like to say it was all intentional, but it wasn’t. As for the mainstream audience - we were surprised ourselves when we received support from BBC Introducing, getting played twice in 2 weeks was a huge achievement for us considering we never thought we get listened to never mind a response! We don’t feel that influences such as Esham, have had enough of a influence nice to alienate us from the mainstream, but if it does - we don’t really care! We make our music for people like us, if mainstream fans appreciate it then that’s good with us, but we never want to intentionally make music to appeal to that type of audience.
So far what would you say is the highlight of your career?
Exa: I can't narrow it down to just one but being able to perform at big events such as Raveology, Innovation in The Sun / Dam and performing on the Valve Sound System.
Hyksos: For me personally, being asked to support Danny Brown in May. We fuck with Danny Brown so we was hyped about that one! Also getting 200 downloads of our album 'NMS' on the day we first got radio play was a definite highlight!
Wize: There's been a few highlights in the last 6 months but for me, getting radio play on BBC introducing has gotta be the main one for me. We never made our tracks for the radio and just the fact that we got a response and played twice made me realise we was on to something.
Kams: So far its the response from the album 'NMS' that we dropped in February. So far its had 500 downloads and there's a good few hundred CD's out there too, so for such new artists..I'm proud of that shit!
I like this question, what is the craziest thing you have ever experienced in your career in the music industry?
We ain’t saying NUTTIN ;)
Ha Ha fair enough. I know this is a kind of a clichéd questioned but do you recall what it was that originally inspired you to get involved in the music industry?
Exa: Ever since I was a kid I've always wanted to be in music...my uncles used to spin reggae and Motown and shit so I've been around music all my life, I used to chill with the older mans and all they used to play was Cypress Hill and Wu tang and Jungle/DnB and since then I just new I wanted to do it as a career.
Hyksos: I can honestly say if you told me I'd be doing what I'd be doing now in music I would of laughed in your face. I always had a thing about writing but if you read my bars from when I first started you would slap me yourself! But I always have been and always will be a huge Hip Hop fan, so when the time was right I picked the pen back up and here we are. I love this shit and couldn’t imagine life without the Night Movements family!
Wize: Ever since I was young I've always been a fan of rap music and started writing bars when I was 18, but never really saw a way for me making it on the scene until I saw other UK artists like Morrish Delta breaking through then I realised there was a scene for UK hip hop. Also since linking up with Exa and the Night Movements team they gave me the encouragement I needed to take things to the next level and actually break through as an artist.
Kams: Since I can remember I was always listening to hip hop, but I always thought that it was just a American thing and UK peeps couldn't jump on it. But when I was about 12 my cousin was engineering for Moorish Delta 7 where I met Cipher and from there I knew I wanted to rap. Few years later I met up with my NightMovements family and that was it,I knew it had to be done.
Darka: Music was my first love. I started writing lyrics as a way of expressing myself. Its like music helps you escape & deal with things that are going on in your life.
Out of everyone in the world who would you most like to do a collaboration with?
Exa: I can't narrow it down to one but for me it would have to be RZA, Esham or DJ Muggs.
Hyksos: That's a tough question man, from the UK it would have to be Jam Baxter..From US its gotta be R.A the Rugged Man.
Wize: Throughout my time in music I saw working with Eminem as one of my main goals but a more realistic artist I have always wanted to work with was Akala.
Kams: If I had to put it down to just one, it would have to be Method Man.
You are responsible for putting on the ‘Highgrade' drum n bass nights in Birmingham. How did that come about and what can we expect from one of these nights?
Highgrade began in 2008, the idea was to find a place where me & the team could showcase our skills & get our name on the circuit. The past 5 years we've gone from strength to strength & are now known as one of the favourite events in the city. If you attend a highgrade party you should expect nothing but mad vibes with exciting new artists.
Do you ever come into London and can we expect to see you in the capital any time soon?
We are there soon as we are booked there! At the moment we are focusing on building on the foundations we laid in the Midlands, but we are definitely down to hit the capital when the demand is there!
What does the future have in-store for Night Movements?
This year we got a few new videos dropping, 2 more free projects and we are already working on our 2nd official album which we are looking to drop at the end of the year/start of 2014! Hopefully many more live shows around the country and if things go to plan, a USA tour next year doing both Hip Hop & Drum n Bass shows across the country.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to do this interview and best of luck in the future from us here at Guestlist Network.
Thanks. We just wanna say big ups for reaching out to us and asking us to do this interview, and a huge shout out to all our listeners (the Night Movers) for the support we been shown the last year! We feel BLESSED! NM
FOR MORE INFORMATION BE SURE TO 'LIKE' THEIR FACEBOOK PAGE https://www.facebook.com/NightMovementS
Interview Conducted by Matt Watkins
