Vanadis Interview (aka Luca & Nightshade) circa May 2007

Firstly, how did the two of you link up?

Kristin (Woosh) was running SBK here in Dunedin and held an annual production competition a few years back. When I moved down here I entered a tune of mine into the competition and we basically meet through that. Later on we decided to make a tune. We found that we worked very well together so we decided to continue working together.

How does it work in the studio, do you each bring different skills to the table?

Yeah definitely, and I think that’s important. One of us will come up with an idea, such as an 8 bar loop, and then we will show each other and go from there. It’s great because both of us always seem to bring different ideas to the tune.

What effect, if any, has Dunedin had on your sound? Are you worried if you move, you'll lose that

I can’t say that Dunedin has had any impact on our sound. I think if we were to move it still wouldn’t change anything.

Congratulations on the news of your EP, what provoked the concept for that?

Well we had a bunch of tunes just sitting on my laptop. Kristin just mentioned the idea to me one day and we decided to go ahead and give it a shot. We thought our deeper tunes were our best so decided to keep this the focus of the EP. We also wanted to get our music out to a wider audience and thought that a CD would be the best way to do this.

What music, in or outside of dnb, inspires you?

Both of us are really into the Cinematic Orchestra, DJ Shadow, RJD2 etc. The way these guys use samples is pretty inspiring to us. In dnb we’re both really feeling Alex Perez, Sabre, Klute, Break, and Survival. All the New Zealand artists are also a big inspiration to us. Concord Dawn, Bulletproof, State Of Mind, Trei, Dose, CERN, Antiform, and Teknik, all showing that its possible to do big things from here in New Zealand.

Do you ever make non-dnb music?

Yeah at the moment I’m making a few hip-hop beats for a local MC. Kristin also writes hip-hop tunes at various tempos. I’m pretty keen to give dub-step a crack too, maybe even some house-wobble :D

What comes first for you: beats, a melody, a sample you want to work with?

I always start by cutting up a break and getting the tempo set. After that I’ll go look through samples or load up a VST and mess around on the keyboard. I always try and create the main melody or idea of the tune and then just add certain elements to it from there. More breaks, single drum hits, percussion, bass etc.

What does the rest of 2007 hold for Vanadis?

Now that the EP’s set we’re both taking a small break. We’re both however very keen to continue writing tunes and to play more gigs in Dunedin and around the country.

How about a May top 10 to finish things off?

1. Agent Alvin – Inside Out - ???
2. Klute – Property Is Theft – Commercial Suicide
3. Tiki – Tangaroa (Sambora Remix) - ???
4. Submorphics – Stray Bullets – Future Retro
5. The Funktastics – Lies & Paradise – Spin Recordings
6. Antiform – Crash feat. MC Twincam - ???
7. Klute – Never Never – Commercial Suicide
8. Commix – Be True – Metalheadz
9. Break – Enigma – Quarantine
10. Jazz Thieves – We Keep The Funk – Pushin Wax