Contributing Writer
We sit down with UK 303 experts Acid Cats to celebrate their latest release on Mr. C’s Superfreq ‘Descending Into Chaos’. We find out more about the men behind the music as we talk about their history, their pirate radio days, essential records and more…
How was your New Years Eve / Day? What did you get up to?
Richie: Had a quiet one with the family this year. Played “Grab The Mic” in the studio…no rock’n’roll story here…lol.
James: I stayed up working on some new material. Oh the sacrifices we make for the dancefloor ha ha.
Any resolutions, aims or goals for this year?
James: Our aims for 2025 are to maintain the quality of releases and to try and up our profile with some releases on bigger labels. Hopefully the Superfreq release will open up a few doors for us. We have a stack of tracks in the pipeline including tracks with Robert Owens and K Alexi.
What were the highlights of your 2024?
Richie: Really happy with last year, 2024 was the year of the Cat without doubt, we had an EP out every month (two in a couple of months)…looking forward to 2025 and keeping the momentum going with releases on Bosh and Superfreq in January and more lined up on Acid Works, Aquamelon and RF.
James: Definitely getting the nod for the Superfreq release. For me there have always been two labels to be on for proper UK Tech House – Wiggle and whichever label Mr C is running at the time. I’d have loved a track on Plink Plonk but I just wasn’t good enough for it. I ticked off the Wiggle release a few years back under my Scientific Funk persona. Now I have Superfreq under that belt two. Not many have releases on both labels.
How did you two meet? What’s the story behind Acid Cats?
Richie: We met around 1992 when I was co-promoting a club night called Sunday Sessions and we had James in as a guest DJ. We were acquaintances for many years. Bumping in to each other around clubland. We did an ep together on Nathan Coles label Is This and that’s what started things off.
James: Almost 3 years ago now, Richie rang me up wanting some help finishing tracks. I’d kind of said goodbye to the scene and wasn’t overly interested. He was persistent and before long we were hooking up every weekend to make tracks. I managed to get Richie off Ableton and onto Reason and that made working remotely much easier. The name comes from a friend of ours saying “That’s terrible it sounds like cats on acid…” and we both thought…hmmm that’s sounds like a cool name and Acid Cats was born.
Who have been your biggest influences musically?
Richie: Derrick Carter, Mr. C, Terry Francis, Nathan Coles, Eddie Richards, Colin Dale and Bushwacka to name a few. Frequenting Lost (in London) and seeing the likes of Armando, Richie Hawtin, Jeff Mills, Juan Atkins, all originators of House and Techno. We were both lucky enough to be there at the start of Tech House religiously going to Wiggle and Subterrain at The End for our weekly helping of underground grooves. Swag records in Croydon was also a massive influence on both of us where we shaped what was to become our musical legacy…
James: I was drawn to the unrestricted sounds that synthesis had to offer from an early age. Luckily my dad had wide musical tastes and I was exposed to everything from Bach to Jean Michel Jarre. I was heavily in to hip hop as a teen and that lead to hip house and then house and techno music. Radio One had Jeff Young’s Big Beat Show on a Friday night and he was playing a lot of early house and techno. John Peel followed and he’d always have some techno on his show. Once I discovered proper record shops I was away. It didn’t matter to me who it was by – I’d buy anything I thought was good.
What drew you to that squelching 303 sound?
Richie: It didn’t take long for both of us to become hooked on the distinctive sound of the Roland TB303…it’s such a versatile unit really and can be used in so many different ways. Sometimes it doesn’t even sound like a 303. For me it was Armando’s track Confusions Revenge that first drew me to it.
James: I think the 303 is the techno equivalent of the guitar. It’s so expressive. Ever since I got my hands on the first Acid Tracks albums that were released I was hooked. DJ Pierre, Lidell Townsall, Phuture and those early artists have a lot to answer for.
How did you come to land on Superfreq? What’s your guys relationship with Mr. C?
Richie: Funny story…constant badgering…”have you listened to our tracks yet?” etc…lol. But seriously what can you say about Mr. C. He has helped shape underground music for the last 30 years, the man is a bit of a legend. I had him play at Sunday Sessions a few times and also on my radio shows over the years, plus attending many events he’s headlined.
James: TBH Richie has been the way in. I’m not one to force friendships, so my relationship with Mr C has been a slow burner. I’d say we adopted ‘tactical badgering’. Doing a track with his girlfriend Chloe (Miss C) also gave us an excuse to be in contact. That track, “Intrusive Thoughts” got played a lot.
What’s your studio set up like to get your distinct sound? Any favourite toys?
You wont believe it but we purely use Reason to write, mix and master everything. No one can believe the sound we get out of it. I’ve working with it since Reason 1 was first released having started on Cubase for the Atari. We have a fantastic TB303 emulation in it – ABL3, along with classic drum machine emulations of the 707, 808 and 909.
Having the same software we can fire ideas and tracks backwards and forwards. Richie often comes up with multiple ideas a week which I then finish. We’re not precious about how much of us is in each track. Sometimes it’s more Richie, others it’s more me.
Tell us about your pirate radio days? How did you get into that?
Richie: Ooh they were the good old days. I used to love doing the radio and did a weekly show for 15 years or so on Pointblank FM, Green Apple FM (before Pointblank) and Release in London. I had both James and Mr.C on as guests over the years along with too many others to mention. I wasn’t the one on the rooftops with a transmitter but did enjoy the whole vibe of pirate radio, despite the moving the studio (for safety) quite frequently.
James: Pirate was always good fun. I’ve only ever been a guest and you never knew what you were turning up to. The front room of someone’s random flat, a gypsy camp, a boarded up shop, a shipping container…… We’ve just started a new weekly show on Release Radio DAB. It’s funny as we’ve kind of swapped roles radio wise. Now I do the Release show and Richie comes and guests as it’s a bit of a trek for him.
Also, you’re from Portsmouth. What’s the scene like there? Has it changed and if so for the better or worse?
Richie: It’s got worse sadly. Although recently we both went to Southern Exposure who had Colin Dale and Mr. C as guests, but there aren’t really any nights worth talking about any more. Years ago Portsmouth had a thriving night life with many clubs and many club nights, there was always something going on.
James: When the dance scene kicked off in the late 80s Portsmouth had some of the best nights in the country. The pier was regularly packed with the biggest names around at nights like Bang, Guesky and Pure Sex. Then you had smaller venues doing more underground nights like The Drum Club. Not too far away was the legendary Sterns with massive line ups. Then there was Empire down in Bognor Regis and events like white Sugar. Now there’s virtually nothing. There aren’t as many venues any more. The whole pier area that had 5 clubs in the space of a couple of hundred yards has vanished and is now all luxury flats and retirement homes.
Three current essential records to play out?
James: When we play out we tend to just play our own material but I still buy new material for our radio show. Although the radio sets can be anything from the last 40 years. I’m still discovering tracks from years ago. But if you push me my top 3 (non Acid Cats) tracks currently are:
Tangie Groove – Dustin Zahn – Rekids
The Night of the Living Acid – Timid Boy – Frucht
Emerge – Random Factor – 20/20 Vision
What do you guys listen to outside of the electronic spectrum?
Richie: Dub Reggae and the odd Pink Floyd classic. I grew up with Dub and it’s never lost it’s appeal. I quite like the Arctic Monkeys as well…
James: I have BBC Radio 2 on most of the time in the day which is mainly 70s, 80s and 90s. I even listen to Elaine Page’s Show Tunes programme every Sunday. I find it’s good to clean the audio pallette with ready to get in to writing some new Acid Cats material.
Last record that blew you away?
Richie: Terry Francis – Love Me feat. Miss C, HIVE71. The original mix is wicked and the Mr. C mix is also a killer.
James: Tangie Groove – Dustin Zahn – Rekids. It’s a couple of years old but it’s just wicked. Really simple with great sounds and use of a vocal sample.
Buy ‘Descending Into Chaos’ HERE.