Q&A with Bobby & Steve

We last caught up with you towards the end of 2017. How has life been treating you this past year?

Life has been great the last 12 months, there’s obviously been some lows but on the whole, the highs have definitely conquered, in life and buisness.

2019 promises to be a very exciting year for you with the release of your debut album set for early spring. How long have you thinking about making the album? Is it something you’ve been sat on for a long time?

We decided to do our first artiste album in late 2017 but actually started the production

8-months ago. We wanted the soundtrack to be a reflection of when we started buying music in 1978 to djing back in 1984, right up to now, which is a long time but amazingly not a lot of musical genres as our taste has always been on the soulful-disco tip.

Last time we spoke to you, you said that you were disco people at heart, having grown up listening to the likes of Temptations, Heaven & Earth, Leroy Burgess etc. Is this something that we’ll see come through in the album?

Most definitely. We’ve actually got Leroy Burgess featuring on one of the tracks called ‘Too Much’ which is filled with a disco sensation. There’s also disco inspired productions from the legendary Jean Carne, Barbara Tucker and a remake of Brenda & The Tabulationsdisco classic ‘Let’s Go All the Way Down’ which features Gwen Yvette on vocals.

Can you talk us through your creative process and how you guys work together. Does one of you take the lead in the studio or with the concept, or is it very much 50/50 all the way?

We’ll both collaborate on the concept 50/50, then Bobby will get the production going and be very much hands on with that, then we’ll have a listening meeting and work on things together through to the final mastering.

When it comes to recording, how focused are you on getting the sound right in your head before hitting the DAW? Or is it just a case of getting it in the DAW and experimenting after?

Them initial sounds / ideas you create in your head and then transfering them to reality can sometimes work straight away, or you have to work just that little bit harder to get there. We are very focused in getting that sound /production in the pocket.

Virtual instruments vs. real instruments?

You will never overcome the organic dynamics of a real instrument, especially when it’s played by a masterclass musician, it just gives you that extra musical advantage. But there are some amazing plug-ins out there that punch.

There are some massive names that appear on the album, from Jean Carne to Barbara Tucker. What qualities do you look for in a collaborator?

First & foremost we always look for inspiration from the artist, you need to be able to write their name down and get chills, and you just know it’s gonna work, that’s a pretty good starting point.

Both you and Barbara performed on the main stage for Groove Odyssey at the sold-out 51st State Festival back in August, for the third consecutive year in a row. What does it feel like playing at such a big event? Were you excited to be invited back?

We were very excited and excepted the invitation with a massive smile when askd to be part of 51st State Festival 2018. It atracted over 17,000 people and our Groove Odyssey main stage had a gathering of about 10,000 true house heads, who want to hear real house and disco, , so for us it was a dj & promoters dream.

Now rumour has it that you’ve also started penning your autobiography. What inspired you to write this?

We’ve been in the game as djs & promoters since 1984 and we’ll be celebrating 35 years in 2019. As djs we’ve travelled the world and promoted in over 20 countries. We’re one of few London boys who can say they went to the Paradise Garage and heard Larry Levan in 1987! We’ve stayed true to our soulfull roots and not jumped ship when the muscal trends changed. Amongst many other great things we’re still flying the flag as one of the pioneers for soulful house in the UK - we’ve got a big story to tell and now’s the time.

Can you share with us one funny or memorable experience that we can expect to make it into the book?

When we first started out in 1984 there was an unused warehouse in Forest Gate, East London close to where we lived and we broke in, changed the locks and our electrician friend turned the electrics back on. We cleaned it all up and it became our own weekend club. We put a great sound system in there, pop up bars and had all nighters every weekend for about 4months and it was amazing and funny at the same time as the police visited a few times and let us carry on as we said we were the owners (how things have changed) as I’m writing this now I’m laughing to myself as we were carrying the brooms-daytime down woodgrange road which was the main high st with not a care in the world knowing that we were doing something totally wrong but it was so right in our minds and heart and the rest is history. We even had Norman Jay (Goodtimes Sound System play at one of the events there alongside Linden C and a host of others.

And finally, can you name one other thing you’re looking forward to in the coming months?

Bobby:

I’m really looking forward to spending some valubale time with my family over Xmas, it’s been a very busy, productive and rewarding year but it’s important to know when to stop.

Steve:

Well It’s my wife’s 50th in December so I’m really looking forward to that, Christmas is always a great time for me and visiting my parents is something special which I appreciate everyday, celebrating our GO 9th Birthday and our “Bobby&Steve” birthday party in Madrid which is also in November