Suv

In between a gruelling Reprazent tour schedule and a never-ending stream of DJ dates, those industrious Full Cycle peeps are still finding time to work on their solo projects, with the first fresh flava to hit the streets in 2001 coming from that maverick sound sculptor, Suv. Those days of him being known as the 'untapped talent' of the collective are now long-gone, with his '3-Beat' designs causing quite a stir throughout the drum & bass scene in the late 90s, while his recent outing as Reel Time further displayed Suv's desire to buck the (sound) system. The 'Desert Rose' album is something quite different though. A little sample was given through 'Alfombra Magica', as featured on his latest Full Cycle twelve and, as Suv points out, the Reel Time and this new project are, "totally separate things." "The Latin thing is me being experimental," he continues. "'Desert Rose' is an experimental, concept album, but it doesn't represent me to the fullest. The '3-Beat' thing was experimental and with this I'm just trying to open more doors again. I like to be different... I don't like to conform to one style. I like to say, why are we doing 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4? Why? Let's go 1-2-3, 1-2-3-1. Why can't we open this door? Why are we all staying in this room? That's me. That's what I'm about, and that's what I've done with this. "There's a tune on there called 'Alhambra' which means the desert, Sahara, and I've got a tune on there called 'Black Sombrero'; black - English, sombrero - Spanish, just trying to mix it up. I'm half-caste. I'm a mix up. A total mix up. So let's just mix it up. That's the only way to discover new shit... and, you know, music is a world language. English people are lazy because we don't have to speak another language. Everybody speaks English; but I'm learning to speak Spanish at the moment, and if you learn another language it can only open up doors for you. "I've also done two tunes with Surge, the new guy on Full Cycle, who is Indian, and I've tried to bring out a lot of his culture. I've used Hindu drums, his language is in there as well, and so I've gone from the Eastern side of the world, to Morocco and Spain. I've also got a bit of Salsa in there from South America, and I've tried to mix all that together with the drum & bass, or drum & bass techniques, if you like. 'Cos some of the tunes on there aren't even drum & bass; there's a couple with just Flamenco handclaps. "People are either gonna love it or hate it. It's not gonna be like, 'yeah, wicked Suv, wicked, that's the level, that's the standard, wicked dancefloor tunes, let's play 'em out'. There are a few on there that I'll release as DJ tunes, which are suitable for the kind of dance that I DJ, but there are other tunes on there, still drum & bass, but they're more... put a CD on and just listen." Suggesting that, perhaps, Suv is trying to reach a wider audience with this LP release? "Yeah," he confirms, "but not just a wider audience. I want to show the existing audience that it's endless what you can do. I think you can get stuck in just giving the people what they want all the time and not actually showing them that there is something else they might want. Now, with the time and the world that we're living in it's like our brains can adapt, we can look at fast images and we take it in, and that's the level of our generation. It's the same thing with music. We want it fast, but we need the other stuff as well, and it would be sad to forget that there are other things. There are normal things, normal parts of living that need to go in it, not just the computerised formats." The album is undeniably organic in nature, and though there aren't any featured vocalists on 'Desert Rose', it is something that Suv plans for the future; for, as he reveals, "I want to keep it going, and maybe further it to volume two. I don't know yet, but I'm already working on the next tunes, which I didn't have time to fit in. I'm getting some Moroccan guitar sounds together, I'm getting some Greek sounds together, some Chilean sounds. That's where I've just got back from and everywhere I go I get a vibe." And this travelling sample bank is effectively how the 'Desert Rose' album was put together, reminding me of that timeless credit on Roni Size's 'Daylight' twelve as 'sample finder'. "Before 'Desert Rose', I went to Spain and recorded sounds," recalls Suv. "I put loads of stuff on DAT and I've been working on it ever since, but in my own time, gradually. Some of those tunes I made about two years ago and some I only made last month, so there's a wide-ranging time element in it." And taking that loose link we wheel back round to the Reel Time project, which, "is still going on, but with everything else... You know, we're always making stuff, and in between touring with Reprazent we only get a bit of time in the studio, and we're also winding down. We've just come back from America and before that we were doing The Big Day Out in Australia. You come home for a week, keep the same bag, clean your underwear, and then you're off again. In between all that you're trying to do your solo project, so it's taking time. But I don't mind, I'm in no rush." "It's taken about 15 years to get to this position. It's taken playing out where it's cost me money, and I'm still not where I wanna be. If I wake up tomorrow with two legs and two arms I'm happy. 'Cos there are people out there who have got fuck all, and I'm a content person. That's happy for me. That's the thing. Life. If I wake up with life tomorrow morning that's the best thing, the rest of all this shit is bonus! What is all this shit? Sitting in the park, chatting to you - it's a bonus! You can get to a certain position and let it all go to your head, but at the end of the day I'm still a normal guy... I'm the nicest guy in the world," he exclaims with a smile. "I'm a Gemini. But get my back up and I'm the worst guy in the world!" References: FULL CYCLE, REPRAZENT