Contributing WriterFlows ‘Holding On’ is out now on Superfett Records
https://www.beatport.com/release/holding-on/3398861
How are you, what’s good and bad right now?
Dave: All is good thanks in the world of Flows. I would just say however that we are desperate for the clubs to reopen so all of the wonderful music out there right now can be heard by the masses.
Introduce yourselves and tell us how you got to where you are now?
Dave: I am David or Dave and I am the ginger of the duo. I currently live in London but I was born in Scotland and used to go to sound production college with Blair who is my musical partner in crime.
Blair: I’m Blair, that musical partner in crime. Since meeting at college, we’ve been making music ever since.
Why do you work as a duo? Are they opposites attract or are you very similar?
Dave: I think when we both started dabbling in electronic music production in 2011, certainly for myself, I would always find myself sending track ideas to Blair for feedback and one evening he said ‘shall we try working together’ and the rest is history.
Blair: For me, it’s the fact we’re actually friends, so we can speak freely and it’s never taken in a bad way, everything is constructive. Also helps that you like the person you’re working on music with, cause it can be one hell of a laugh.
How has the last year been for you? How have you survived?
Dave: For me, the key has been working hard and also exercising loads. Although I must admit I have truly ruined my knees running over 1300km between January and December last year.
Blair: Exercise helped, but for me it was understanding that, sometimes it’s ok not to feel ok. You’ll get through it, ask for help and don’t be afraid to. Music is a great mind clearer and I can lose hours making music when it feels like minutes.
Did you find yourself writing more music with more time on your hands or did it come less important without clubs?
Dave: I think the past year has been a great opportunity for us to take a step back and assess our sound. I think we are constantly learning and improving and you can really hear that in the writing and production on our new record (Holding On).
Tell us about your new EP for Superfett Records – what inspired or influenced it?
Dave: Both Blair and I were born in the 90’s, which was such a great era for house and electronic music in general. I guess we just really wanted to try and encapsulate that vibe and energy into a record and that turned out as Holding On.
Blair: Looking back within music can be amazing to find inspiration and we love a lot of the 90s sounds so we tried to make a nod to that time but for 2021.
What gear do you use – have you got an obsession with your tools at all?
Dave: In terms of the DAW, it’s got to be Ableton for me. Both Blair and I use Ableton Live 10 Suite. I’ve tried several different softwares over the years but just find Ableton so user friendly. In the last year I have got a Korg MS20 Mini and a Berhinger TD3 (which is a remake of the Roland TB-303 ) both are super fun to get the creative juices going!
Blair: I treated myself to a Behringer MonoPoly recently and I love it. It doesn’t feature on this record, but you will hear it in the future for sure. Otherwise, soft synths are amazing, a lot of great free ones out there. I do love the “geeky” plug-ins, ProQ3 is just the best EQ, Utility in Ableton is a must for control and tightening sounds. I could go on but I won’t bore people…
What changes and trends do you predict we will see next year when things get back to normal? Will parties focus more on local DJs and less international travelling guests?
Dave: I think definitely whilst there is limited international travel this will give a platform at clubs and events for local and up coming acts to shine.
Blair: I really hope we see the resurgence of smaller capacity places, the real sweat boxes. Those have been hit hardest and will likely be some of the last to come back but when they do, I’ll see you on the dancefloor.
What else have you got coming up/are you working on?
Dave: We have several exciting collaborations coming in the pipeline and also we are working with a vocalist and collectively we are writing some original compositions which we are doing excited for you all to hear!
What are you most looking forward to about the end of lockdown?
Dave: The biggest thing for me, and I know it’s cliche but it is to be able to dance and also travel freely.
Blair: Gigs! Dancing and having a great time with friends, and meeting some of the friends we’ve made virtually over the last year, actually in person
You can buy Flows – ‘Holding On’ here