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Shogun Audio celebrate their 50th release
Drum and Bass | Tuesday 20th September 2011 | Osh
Friction started Shogun Audio in 2005 and runs it jointly with K-Tee, the camp is home to Spectrasoul, Alix Perez, Icicle, Rockwell and SP:MC. October will mark their 50th release and the Way of the Warrior LP will include tracks from artists who have helped shape and develop the imprint into what it is today. We talked to K-Tee and Friction about the label! Enjoy.
K-Tee
Shogun started in 2005, how has the journey been since then?
It’s been a crazy ride from a small independent label to one of the largest drum and bass brands with an army of loyal supporters! The most exciting thing is that the journey has only just begun.
What’s the story behind the label, how did it all come about?
Friction started the label in 2005 as an outlet for our own releases, it’s as simple as that – we
had no idea it would come this far!
What was the driving force behind ‘The Militia’, what were you guys hoping to achieve?
The Militia was just a meeting of minds of local friends and producers consisting of myself, Friction, Stakka and an old friend call NuBalance. We just wanted to keep writing music following the unfortunate demise of the label we worked with, Underfire.
You are just back from Outlook, were you guys reppin’ it big out there? I heard your boat parties are pretty big!
Outlook was insane. We had Arena 2, the ‘Dock Stage’ on the Saturday night; all the artists
smashed it to pieces. I’m probably biased but I think that was probably the biggest crowd of the weekend on that stage. The boat party was amazing too although the boat was a bit top heavy and didn’t stop rolling throughout the entire journey!
What has been one of your highlights over the years?
There are so many highlights it’s difficult to isolate one, but Outlook at the weekend is definitely up there! It was certainly one of the best representations of the brand I have seen in recent months and Friction’s set on the main stage blew the place apart!
If you could have a swimming pool filled with anything what would it be?
Salami!
Can you give us an exclusive?
Yes – I’m going back into the studio next year! Watch this space.
Friction
You have your new album out, The Way of the Warrior, marking your 50th release. How did you go about choosing the tracks, it must have been a hard one?!
I wanted to get all the guys together and go back to the classic Shogun sound on one LP. Spoke to everyone about it and they were all up for it. I just sat, listened and said, “Yes, that is sick!”.
What makes your label stand out from others?
This is gonna sound a tad arrogant but I just think musically we’re covering a range like no-one else. We can go from releasing a deep, technical masterpiece like Icicle’s Under The Ice LP, that gets tech heads around the world scratching their head as to how bass can be produced to such a level, to The Protoypes festival-style anthem ‘Taking Me Over’ getting rewinds on Zane Lowe’s prime time Radio 1 show. I started the label in 2005 as a way of releasing music I liked that didn’t always get it necessary props. K-Tee got involved down the line and we took the label as far as we could just focusing on one style. The time was right this year to broaden the sound of the label, and we haven’t looked back.
Shogun is Japanese for something, right?
The Shoguns were basically hereditary military dictators of Japan from around early 1100 to the late 1800s. I liked the name and artwork-wise it gave me so many play-on-words type ideas. Contrary to popular belief our Shogun logo is just a made up logo or symbol in a Japanese style. So many people have hit us up asking what it means so I thought I’d get that out there!
You are always pushing new talent through your sub-label SGN. Is there any one that we should be keeping an eye out for?
I really like Technicolour and Komatic. We’ve done an SGN release with them before and we’re definitely gonna do another. Two guys who are coming with pure dancefloor soul.
If you were invisible for the day what trouble would you get up to?
Lots of stuff that I wouldn’t admit to on here but I’d definitely go and check out what goes on behind closed doors at various places!
What are your all time top 5 D&B tracks of all time?
1. PFM – The Western
2. Ed Rush & Oprical – To Shape The Future
3. Lemon D – I Can’t stop
4. Dillinja – Angels Fell
5. Origin Unknown – Truly One
You've just dropped your Someone EP. Tell us a bit about it?
‘Someone’ features McLean who’s voice is amazing. ‘Flip The Page’ is a typical dancefloor roller. Rockwell and The Prototypes came with amazing remixes of ‘Someone’ too. This was my second release since I’ve been back in the studio producing full time again. Loving every day of it!
What is next for Shogun Audio?
Keir and I have the same goal and that’s to take this label to legendary status. We just work very hard each day and hopefully go a little bit further to making that happen.
Way of the Warrior will be out 17th October, keep your eyes peeled at www.shogunaudio.co.uk for more information and releases
K-Tee
Shogun started in 2005, how has the journey been since then?
It’s been a crazy ride from a small independent label to one of the largest drum and bass brands with an army of loyal supporters! The most exciting thing is that the journey has only just begun.
What’s the story behind the label, how did it all come about?
Friction started the label in 2005 as an outlet for our own releases, it’s as simple as that – we
had no idea it would come this far!
What was the driving force behind ‘The Militia’, what were you guys hoping to achieve?
The Militia was just a meeting of minds of local friends and producers consisting of myself, Friction, Stakka and an old friend call NuBalance. We just wanted to keep writing music following the unfortunate demise of the label we worked with, Underfire.
You are just back from Outlook, were you guys reppin’ it big out there? I heard your boat parties are pretty big!
Outlook was insane. We had Arena 2, the ‘Dock Stage’ on the Saturday night; all the artists
smashed it to pieces. I’m probably biased but I think that was probably the biggest crowd of the weekend on that stage. The boat party was amazing too although the boat was a bit top heavy and didn’t stop rolling throughout the entire journey!
What has been one of your highlights over the years?
There are so many highlights it’s difficult to isolate one, but Outlook at the weekend is definitely up there! It was certainly one of the best representations of the brand I have seen in recent months and Friction’s set on the main stage blew the place apart!
If you could have a swimming pool filled with anything what would it be?
Salami!
Can you give us an exclusive?
Yes – I’m going back into the studio next year! Watch this space.
Friction
You have your new album out, The Way of the Warrior, marking your 50th release. How did you go about choosing the tracks, it must have been a hard one?!
I wanted to get all the guys together and go back to the classic Shogun sound on one LP. Spoke to everyone about it and they were all up for it. I just sat, listened and said, “Yes, that is sick!”.
What makes your label stand out from others?
This is gonna sound a tad arrogant but I just think musically we’re covering a range like no-one else. We can go from releasing a deep, technical masterpiece like Icicle’s Under The Ice LP, that gets tech heads around the world scratching their head as to how bass can be produced to such a level, to The Protoypes festival-style anthem ‘Taking Me Over’ getting rewinds on Zane Lowe’s prime time Radio 1 show. I started the label in 2005 as a way of releasing music I liked that didn’t always get it necessary props. K-Tee got involved down the line and we took the label as far as we could just focusing on one style. The time was right this year to broaden the sound of the label, and we haven’t looked back.
Shogun is Japanese for something, right?
The Shoguns were basically hereditary military dictators of Japan from around early 1100 to the late 1800s. I liked the name and artwork-wise it gave me so many play-on-words type ideas. Contrary to popular belief our Shogun logo is just a made up logo or symbol in a Japanese style. So many people have hit us up asking what it means so I thought I’d get that out there!
You are always pushing new talent through your sub-label SGN. Is there any one that we should be keeping an eye out for?
I really like Technicolour and Komatic. We’ve done an SGN release with them before and we’re definitely gonna do another. Two guys who are coming with pure dancefloor soul.
If you were invisible for the day what trouble would you get up to?
Lots of stuff that I wouldn’t admit to on here but I’d definitely go and check out what goes on behind closed doors at various places!
What are your all time top 5 D&B tracks of all time?
1. PFM – The Western
2. Ed Rush & Oprical – To Shape The Future
3. Lemon D – I Can’t stop
4. Dillinja – Angels Fell
5. Origin Unknown – Truly One
You've just dropped your Someone EP. Tell us a bit about it?
‘Someone’ features McLean who’s voice is amazing. ‘Flip The Page’ is a typical dancefloor roller. Rockwell and The Prototypes came with amazing remixes of ‘Someone’ too. This was my second release since I’ve been back in the studio producing full time again. Loving every day of it!
What is next for Shogun Audio?
Keir and I have the same goal and that’s to take this label to legendary status. We just work very hard each day and hopefully go a little bit further to making that happen.
Way of the Warrior will be out 17th October, keep your eyes peeled at www.shogunaudio.co.uk for more information and releases
