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SIXTY MINUTE MAN INTERVIEW
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60 Minute Man, aka Darren Littlewood, has emerged over the last year as one of the hottest new talents on the scene. Raising eyebrows when he signed up to EZ Roller's imprint Intercom, he now has seven releases firmly under his belt, and over the next year, is looking to make that a much bigger and successful collection. The Bombsounds Kru, were keen to find out more, so we got in contact, to see the person behind the 60 Minute Man mask.
Making it within the scene can prove to be very difficult, and being brought up in a small town in the middle of nowhere where the scene is minimal, certainly doesn't help the cause! But when you DJ in different genres of music, then doors can sometimes open when you least expect them.
I was already Djing to dance music, before I got involved with drum and bass. And in about 1994, there was this club in Bath where anything goes, and I heard some of the early Full Cycle material being played down there, and once I heard that stuff I was hooked, it sounded a lot like the techno soundz being played in 89, things progressed from there really.
They certainly did, learning to mix Drum and Bass wasn't a problem for Darren, and he was soon holding down various regular nights at Drive By in Bristol, where he has had more memorable times on the other side of the decks rather than behind them, which we all know is true for most of us. Being involved in the scene for over seven years, he has recognised the ever growing international curiosity.
There is more international interest than the interest generated here in England, which is why I have no set residencies anywhere, I mean, I play regularly at Drive By in Bath, but I have more people paying me to go to Helsinki, Belgium and Canada. Which of course I love, and am not gonna complain about!
Helsinki? Belgium? Canada? Must be doing something right! Well he must be, its not everyday that EZ Rollers, one of the many dons within the scene, sign you up to their label, it is hard to believe that 60 Minute Man got there, just like we all wish we could.
I sent out a demo, which funnily enough wasn't finished due to the fact that the only equipment I had was an Atari and a sampler! I still had a few tracks that needed finishing, but the Rollers liked what they heard, and got back to me. It wasn't long before, I was working with them in the studio, and they were giving me some excellent advice.
Darren went on to tell us about the whole experience of being involved with the Intercom owners.
Obviously it is brilliant! I love all the EZ Rollers stuff, and so it was great that they were willing to help me out in the studio and sign me to their label. The Rollers wanna put something back into the scene, they want to be able to bring in some new talent, and so keeping the scene moving forward, and that is why they set up Intercom.
60 Minute Man, has so far been releasing some very promising material through the Intercom imprint, so will it be long before we get a taste of his first album release to go along with his ever increasing collection of hybrid sounding drum and bass singles?
An album will be a future project. Something to do in the background while I concentrate on making better singles. I have talked to EZ Rollers about it, and we agreed that it would be best to make some noticeable and good selling tunes first, and then when I feel the time is right, I'll do an album. So it will be more something I'll be looking to do in the future.
Doing all of this as well as touring across the continent mustn't be easy, but his love for the music is strong, so everybody's devotion must be inspired from somewhere, Darren's came from the techno gods of the past and the current Drum and Bass producers of today.
Back in the day I was into Techno, so you know guys like Atkins, Mr Fingers, Kevin Saunderson and Smith & Mighty, were all role models for me, at that time, it was very much a Bristol sounding sound, and they really influenced me by pushing me towards Djing. Now, and at the moment EZ Rollers, Marcus Intalex, Zinc and definitely Hospital Records, are doing it for me, I mean, I love what Hospital are doing at the moment, it is great.
This inspiration has certainly paid off, a hectic calendar for 60 Minute Man can only mean bigger and better things, which is of course is good for Intercom Recordings, a label that was set up by the Rollers to bring some new fresh faces to the scene, so with 60 Minute Man becoming a possible big name future drum and bass producer, what else can we expect from Intercom over the next year?
They're working on a compilation album, which will contain some back catalogue tracks, some new stuff and some remixes. The Rollers are still tied to Moving Shadow, so things are tight at the moment. Intercom have signed up a new artist called Sketch, who will be releasing stuff later this year, Tommy Knocker will be releasing some more singles, and of course lots of stuff from me. I am doing a RS2000 Remix which is going to be released on Moving Shadow, I also want to start and release some of the Latin sounding material that I am doing at the moment on the Intercom imprint. I am still learning myself, so I wanna send out some white label material to get some feedback on what people think. So this year is gonna all be about character building.
And so, as we wound up the end of the interview, we started to chat about the scene's current debates, and if you have been involved within the scene since the beginning of the Drum and Bass era, like Darren has, then you will be able to recognise the downfalls that d&b continues to encounter time and time again, and Darren was quick to point out the scene's biggest problems and it's positivities.
There is a definite need for labels to get tracks released a lot quicker than they do, that is why Intercom have set up a nice little ordering system that allows you to order the promo's 8 wks before a shop release. So when you are hearing the tracks being played by Fabio & Frost, you know you are able to get them yourself through our mail order system. There is also a need for better clubs in this country. The continent appears to be stealing that away from us, club owners need to start investing into making the systems better, and generally improving their clubs. Other than that, I am very positive about the scene, things are going really well, there is a lot more tracks that I am liking, rather than disliking, and people are getting more and more creative all of the time:)
60 MINUTE MAN WOULD ALSO LIKE TO THANK :
EZ Rollers, Gerrard, Drive By in Bath and to Fabio for when he plays some of his future tunes. He He :)
Click here for real audio of 60 Minute Man or more info:
http://www.60minuteman.co.uk or http://www.intercomrecordings.com
WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK 60 MINUTE MAN FOR TAKING THE TIME TO BE INTERVIEWED.
