Drum and bass duo Chase & Status graced Seattle with their presence on Thanksgiving with a fun-filled evening of live performance and bass music. Saul Milton (Chase) and Will Kennard (Status) formed the group back in 2003 in London, England. Having met some years prior to attending university the two men kept in touch and became fast friends.
Chase & Status was born during Saul’s and Will’s formative college years, where the two were not studying music. But once they got a taste for the creativity and self-expression that music provides, it was all hands on deck to make their musical dreams a reality.
Dance Music Northwest had the opportunity to talk with Chase & Status about how it all began, what their inspiration is behind their performances, and what goodies they have in store for their fans in the upcoming new year.
You guys met while attending university through a mutual friend, did you two have a close bond right off the bat or did it take a while for you to become this powerhouse duo?
C&S: We actually met & became friends in 1997 a good 2-3 years before University. Yeah we got on well from the off. When you have so many similarities and common interests it’s easy to click.
Neither of you really studied music as your major in school, what drew you towards music instead of what you were studying?
C&S: Music has been a huge part of both our lives from when we were young kids and university was really a stop gap which led to us dropping out of studying and pursuing the music full time.
Do you ever find it difficult to work together on music or are you really in tune with each other’s musical vibes and styles after so many years of working together?
C&S: The dynamics in which we produce music have changed and evolved over the years for sure but one of our best traits is that we’re very in sync and we don’t compromise when making music, we both have to love it. We have very similar tastes and there’s never really a case of one of us loving something and the other hating it.
How did you develop your unique drum n bass sound; did it come about organically or did it evolve over time through experimentation?
C&S: It’s difficult to say really; I think it all happens organically through experimentation and evolution. For a long time we couldn’t hear we had a sound despite people obviously thinking we did. Nowadays we can hear our sound for sure.
Where has been your favorite place to play so far? Anywhere you haven’t played yet but would like to?
C&S: We’re very lucky to have traveled all over the world for the last 15 years and to have headlined festivals in places we’d never have dreamed of but for us, nothing beats playing at home in London. The vibe is always electric and it’s where we grew and lived our lives dreaming to be able to do this for a living. There’s always something special about the hometown gigs.
Are you guys currently working on any new material or have any impending releases we should be on the lookout for?
C&S: This year marks 15 years of Chase & Status & we’ve been celebrating the occasion with our RTRN II JUNGLE campaign. The album ‘RTRN II JUNGLE’ will be out early 2019. The first single off the LP (Retreat 2018 Ft. Cutty Ranks; Heater Ft General Levy) was released in August; last week we released the second single (Delete Ft. Burro Banton; Big Man Skank VIP Ft. Mr Vegas). These songs are out now on all platforms. We also went to Jamaica in May to voice artists for the record and you can check out a documentary about it here.
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