NEWS
EVENTS
Waifs and Strays
House | Thursday 17th November 2011 | Osh
With Heidi labelling their track 'Yeah Yeah' as "the dirtiest house track she has heard in a very long time," this Bristol house duo have definitely been making some waves on the scene right now.
Tell us a bit about Waifs & Strays for those who don’t know...
We are Amos Nelson and Rich Beanland.
You both met in Bristol, it’s a cool scene, how was it starting off there?
I have been living in Bristol for the last twelve years and working within the club scene, either DJing or promoting, for eleven of those years. So I had already had a lot of friends and had worked with a good number of people within the city's dance music scene. But, like anywhere, I had to cut my teeth and so have done my fair share of handing out flyers over the years! The scene in Bristol is really vibrant right now but that also means more competition, so sometimes it’s harder when a city is really growing fast!
Rich, you started with dubstep, is there any link with what you’re doing now?
The production in dubstep is very technical and so it gave me a really good grounding in production skills. Also, making bass driven music has definitely given me a bias towards big basslines and so I guess that comes through in some of our productions.
Your debut release 3am was massive, did you ever anticipate such success?
It was a bit of a surprise but a very welcome one! There is so much music being made today and so for us to get success was amazing. We were very fortunate that a great label like Leftroom picked it up and we are really grateful to all the support they gave us.
You have had acclaim from huge names like Heidi and Matt Tolfrey and now Body Shiver features on Jamie Jones’s Fabric59. How does this feel?
Again, amazing. I have been collecting the fabric mixes for years now so to finally be a part of one of the most important CD series in dance music is a huge honour. When Jamie Jones said he was including it I was literally jumping around the room!
What is it like working with established artists Deepgroove?
Lee and Grayson are old friends of mine, so I have known their productions for years. The fact that we have started working with them has been great and a lot of fun so far.
Eats Everything’s 'Entrance Song' is a massive hit, what’s your connection with him?
Dan is one of my best friends, I’ve known him for the whole time I’ve been in Bristol. We actually used to DJ together. We are working with him on a few projects right now and are looking to bring them out later in the year. His productions are so amazing right now and it’s brilliant that after all these years we are both having some form of success. He is definitely one to watch in the next year.
This type of music is so popular now, tell us what makes you different.
I guess that the fact we come from different backgrounds, me being from dubstep and Amos from house, maybe gives us a different edge. At the end of the day though we just try to make music that we like, and hope that people will be into it as well.
What can we expect from Waifs & Strays in the future?
We have releases coming over the next couple of months on Futureboogie and Hot Creations. Apart from that, we are working hard on more productions and playing out as much as we can!
If you could have a swimming pool full of anything what would it be?
Analogue synthesizers - that would probably hurt a bit though - or fizzy water. I reckon it would feel really weird!
Are you a waifer or a strayer?
Both!
Find out more about the duo at www.waifsandstraysmusic.com
Tell us a bit about Waifs & Strays for those who don’t know...
We are Amos Nelson and Rich Beanland.
You both met in Bristol, it’s a cool scene, how was it starting off there?
I have been living in Bristol for the last twelve years and working within the club scene, either DJing or promoting, for eleven of those years. So I had already had a lot of friends and had worked with a good number of people within the city's dance music scene. But, like anywhere, I had to cut my teeth and so have done my fair share of handing out flyers over the years! The scene in Bristol is really vibrant right now but that also means more competition, so sometimes it’s harder when a city is really growing fast!
Rich, you started with dubstep, is there any link with what you’re doing now?
The production in dubstep is very technical and so it gave me a really good grounding in production skills. Also, making bass driven music has definitely given me a bias towards big basslines and so I guess that comes through in some of our productions.
Your debut release 3am was massive, did you ever anticipate such success?
It was a bit of a surprise but a very welcome one! There is so much music being made today and so for us to get success was amazing. We were very fortunate that a great label like Leftroom picked it up and we are really grateful to all the support they gave us.
You have had acclaim from huge names like Heidi and Matt Tolfrey and now Body Shiver features on Jamie Jones’s Fabric59. How does this feel?
Again, amazing. I have been collecting the fabric mixes for years now so to finally be a part of one of the most important CD series in dance music is a huge honour. When Jamie Jones said he was including it I was literally jumping around the room!
What is it like working with established artists Deepgroove?
Lee and Grayson are old friends of mine, so I have known their productions for years. The fact that we have started working with them has been great and a lot of fun so far.
Eats Everything’s 'Entrance Song' is a massive hit, what’s your connection with him?
Dan is one of my best friends, I’ve known him for the whole time I’ve been in Bristol. We actually used to DJ together. We are working with him on a few projects right now and are looking to bring them out later in the year. His productions are so amazing right now and it’s brilliant that after all these years we are both having some form of success. He is definitely one to watch in the next year.
This type of music is so popular now, tell us what makes you different.
I guess that the fact we come from different backgrounds, me being from dubstep and Amos from house, maybe gives us a different edge. At the end of the day though we just try to make music that we like, and hope that people will be into it as well.
What can we expect from Waifs & Strays in the future?
We have releases coming over the next couple of months on Futureboogie and Hot Creations. Apart from that, we are working hard on more productions and playing out as much as we can!
If you could have a swimming pool full of anything what would it be?
Analogue synthesizers - that would probably hurt a bit though - or fizzy water. I reckon it would feel really weird!
Are you a waifer or a strayer?
Both!
Find out more about the duo at www.waifsandstraysmusic.com
