Frantic welcomes back London’s biggest and longest running filth brand, Convergence with an epic night of dirt and grime! It’s Convergence’s 11th Birthday so to help celebrate in style we have 16 of the best DJs in the UK playing 8 Hours of your favourite Hard House Filth! We caught up with Pickup & Rise to chat about all things filthy!

1) Where did you meet?

Matt – I would love to say somewhere glamorous but it was far from that.

Andy – We met on the coach on the way to Global Gathering 2002, but it wasn’t till a few months later that we started speaking properly, then in 2003 when we were both running nights around the same time in Blackpool and Blackburn we both religiously attended and then started playing at each others events.

Matt – Did you mention we were both wearing cyber?

Andy – I was going to keep my mouth shut about the cyber incident but now that you mention it, yeah we were both in cyber. It’s a shame there’s not any pictures of us both for the album.

2) Why the double act?

Matt – The double act just happened really. We were both playing at a lot of nights up and down the country, and when myself or Andy was not playing we were still there to support each other and to hand out mix cds to try and get repeat bookings etc. I managed to blow up two cd writers on my pc from burning mix cd’s. We both have a lot of energy and passion for the music and like to show it in our sets; we found that when we had opportunities to play back to back we were both pushing each other for something a bit extra hence Pickup & Rise being born.

Andy – Yeah we do like to egg each other on to do a better or longer mix than the last one when we are swapping earphones. Also with four hands on deck (excuse the pun) rather than two it gives us chance to do things with the mixer that we couldn’t physically do on our own, like me scratching while matt is messing with the fx unit on the mixer or playing with the eq’s on one of the channels. Or more chance to interact with the crowd, as you know matt and I do get a bit carried away dancing and jumping about when we are playing.

3) Vinyl or CDs?

Andy – CDs all the way id have to say. I know you don’t get the same feel as mixing with vinyl but cds have so many plus points over vinyl in my opinion. When I used to play vinyl out I would take about 50 out with me, where as with my cd wallet I take a full wallet every time off 200+ cds with 9 or 10 tracks on each disk so it gives me a lot wider range of things to play. I would choose 2000 tracks over 100 any day. Saying that I did manage to get my hands on a load of old vinyl of Discogs.com market place a few weeks ago, but that’s not enough to sway me so I go with the dark side and choose cds.

Matt – You’re just lazy and can’t be arsed carrying vinyl ………….. Don’t think Andy told you that even though he has no vinyl in his bag he still has the biggest record bag ever made!!!!!

Unfortunately I am going to have to agree with Andy though, cd’s are just more accessible, and these days not many labels press vinyl anymore and a lot of the upfront tracks are on download sites or MP3 and never even make it to vinyl. It’s a crying shame though really kind of takes away a bit of the shine, record shopping on your pc. There was nothing better than spending all your days in record shops, listening to new tracks and spending all your wages. The new generation is missing out.

4) North or South?

Andy – What do you think? :-p I love playing in London, everything about the clubs and nightlife does it for me. It’s definitely my favourite place to play but its all about the north. People are much friendlier as you get further up north.

Matt – Is the pope catholic? The North Definitely!!!!!!!! I love playing everywhere and ive met some brilliant people over the years but its all about the north for me.

5) What are your ambitions as a DJ?

Matt – To build on what we have achieved over the past couple of years and to play in more and more different places on larger scales to help build more of our profile. Recently we got back from a tour of Northern Ireland which was wicked. Really good to experience different types of club scenes other than in England, Scotland and Wales. And I would love over the next few years to expand even further throughout Europe and get given the chance to play our type of energetic and fun hard house to new clubbers to help build our fan base.

Andy – Just to keep enjoying myself with everything I do musically. Ive set myself a few ambitions before, some ive tried for and some have been dreams that have come true at a time when I wasn’t expecting it to. But as long as I am having fun that’s the main thing.

6) Who are your favourite DJs and why?

Andy – The Scratch Perverts without a shadow of a doubt, they are playing at Glastonbury the weekend before Convergence so I’ll be all over that like a rash! Ive only seen them once (twice actually but didn’t realise it was them until a couple of days later so technically only once lol). Hard Dance dj’s usually the harder the better when im in a club. Karim, Farley, Adam M, Lucy Fur and Dave Curtis to name a few I don’t like to miss.

Matt – It’s got to be the king of hard house himself Andy Farley. Andy has been around for a fair few years now and he is still constantly producing quality stuff. I can’t remember ever seeing Andy play a bad set to be honest whether it’s on cd or on vinyl. Id like to think that myself and Andy will be playing with the same passion and consistency that Farley has in years to come. I also have a lot of respect for other dj’s outside the hard house scene for example Carl Cox. He can still pull in crowds of tens of thousands; you have to admire the effort and fan base over the years. He must be doing something right.

7) Who are your favourite Producers and why?

Matt – For me Ben Stevens is making some really good stuff, im really liking his ideas. You can tell he has put a lot of hard work in to produce his own style and put his own stamp on his tracks and it is really paying off now.

Andy – At the moment it’ has got to be Dom Sweeton, everything that’s coming out of his studio at the moment is top notch whether it’s on his own or engineering work. I can’t get enough of it. Really looking forward to getting in the studio with him and matt in the near future.

8) How do you approach producing a track?

Andy – It depends on my mood or who im working with. If im going into the studio with someone who’s engineering then ive usually got a good idea of what I want to be made. Recently ive been engineering all my own tracks, some times I’ll have an idea I want to put down, then other times I’ll just have a play around in Fruityloops and see what comes out of it.

Matt – I usually listen too loads of different styles of music before going in the studio, making a mental note of different sounds etc. Once in the studio its always trial and error, sometimes it can come easy with all sounds fitting perfectly together and other times you can spend hours just on one simple loop. Most of my tracks are made with an offbeat baseline because I find it produces more energy in the track. I’ve found over the years working with different producers you pick up a lot of different ways to produce the sound you want.

9) When is your next release out?

Matt – In the next few weeks myself and Andy will be launching a new digital label called RISEUP DIGITAL. The first release will be by Myself, Dave The Elf & Riggsy – “Feels Like Monday” which is our toughened up remake of the 80’s classic by New Order – Blue Monday. I’ve also got another track due too be released on Riseup later in the summer called “ Northern Soul” and I’ve got a collaboration with Riggsy & lefty called “Vendetta” due for release on CDR soon too so its all good on the production front.

Andy – Ive got quite a few releases due out over the next few months. Ive 2 forthcoming tracks on Riseup Digital, one called Feels Much Better which is a beefed up remake of the classic track Sharkboy – Night Time and the second is called Natures Plan which is full on nasty Nrg. I also have 2 ep’s coming out on Raw Power Recordings & Inertia Digital. The Raw Power Ep has 4 original tracks, and ive also done a remix of Steve Hewitt & Riggsy – Finally for them as well. The Inertia Ep is 3 original tracks of mine, and one of them has a Ben Stevens Remix with it, so there will be plenty of stuff out soon, watch this space.

10) If you could build a club, where would you build it and what would it include?

Matt – I know this a bit predictable but IBIZA. I love the place. I would build it right on the sea front. You can’t beat the sunset’s in Ibiza its probably the most chilled out place ive ever been. I would have it laid out and chilled with cocktails etc until the sun goes down then by night it would be the craziest, maddest place in the world. Would defiantly have to have a free standing moving dj box that changes colour but looks like a space ship and fly’s over the dance floor and the best Function 1 sound system and lighting system oh and lets not forget the 50 foot waterfall …………………….. Oh I could go on forever lol.

Andy – It’s all about the festivals at the moment with it being summer and all. Give me a huge tent, a generator and a set of decks and id be happier than a pig in s%&t.

11) What does Convergence mean to you?

Andy – Convergence means a few things to me . . . . . . . . . . . .

Convergence (noun)

1. The act, condition, quality, or fact of converging.
2. Mathematics - The property or manner of approaching a limit, such as a point, line, function, or value.
3. The point of converging; a meeting place: a town at the convergence of two rivers.
4. Physiology - The coordinated turning of the eyes inward to focus on an object at close range.
5. Biology - The adaptive evolution of superficially similar structures, such as the wings of birds and insects, in unrelated species subjected to similar environments. Also called convergent evolution.

Convergence also means a jolly good knees up with the best Filth dj’s in the industry, get your hard hats ready everyone because it’s going to be a nasty ride.

Matt – The first time I got to play for Frantic was in the Convergence room in the foyer at Brixton academy so convergence means a lot to me, many moons ago lol. Convergence being the harder end of hard house, the music is right up my street.

12) What other music styles do you like?

Andy – A bit of everything really depending on my mood. I have been listening to a lot of Hip Hop over the past few months but im very much into my Punk and Rock music too. I even push the boat out and listen to some really cheesy 90s pop and euro dance to relive my childhood once in a while. Anything but Minimal and Electro please, House Music isn’t really my thing, it’s not fast enough.

Matt – I love most types of dance music to be honest. Tech House, Electro, Minimal and even trance. As long as it has a decent beat and it goes somewhere and does not go on for a week I like it. Lol

Pickup & Rise June 2009 Top Ten

1) Matt Morris & Riggsy – P.T.S.D
2) Defective Audio – Bad Guy Smoked
3) Dixie & Riggsy – Give It The Tramp
4) Gem Stone & Steve Hewitt – Well Done Pablo
5) Matt Pickup, Dave The Elf & Riggsy – Feels Like Monday
6) Karl Davies & Defective Audio – Electric Bee
7) Steve Hewitt & Riggsy – Finally (Andy Rise Remix)
8) Andy Rise – I Got This Feelin’ (Ben Stevens Remix)
9) Andy Farley – Let It Be
10) Leon Allen & Ben Townsend – Face 2 Face

£5 Early Bird Tickets SOLD OUT in 7 Days
£8 Standard Tickets SELLING FAST
MOTD

Click HERE for the full line up and ticket outlets.