By Guest Blogger Mike Sholly
The desire to do even the small things well (their graphic design for example) is obvious and as you know things like that appeal to us here at Breaks Of 10! Since its first night in Chelmsford in the summer of 09, Oscillate Wildly has gone on to established itself as one of the more respected underground nights in the UK, with its reputation known country wide. To date it has proudly presented a wide range of artists such as; Drop the Lime, Jack Beats, Roska, Riva Starr and formidable regulars Tomb Crew, all of whom have leant their talents to the Oscillate movement. Furthermore, we can reveal that there exists big plans for Oscillate Wildly over the next couple of months, so keep your eyes and ears peeled! Despite the following days Vodka Red Bull induced hangover, we at managed to find a few minutes to catch up with Oscillate Wildly stars Tomb Crew, to learn a bit about them and what they stand for.
Hi guys firstly for those who aren’t already familiar could you give us all your names and what are you roles in the group?
Jamie DJ/Producer
Nick DJ
Illaman – MC
How long have you guys been working together under the alias of Tomb Crew and how did it start? Where did the name Tomb Crew originate from?
Tomb Crew has existed in some form or another for around 3 years however we’ve been through some changes in lineup etc until we found a formula which seems to really work and its been over a year now since we scaled down to three.
Russell said that your first gig in Chelmsford on boxing day was one of the best Oscillates so far. How did you first gig with them come about?
We’d played the venue once before for a different promoter but it was a so so gig and maybe 6 months later russell approached to play Oscillate Wildly. We kinda expected a similar thing but it seems like the oscillate wildly guys really put a lot of effort into the promotion and organisation to make sure its an amazing party.
In the first half of your Oscillate Wildly podcast there is a real ‘future garage’ vibe in your song selection. Do you feel like your own sound is moving in that direction?
Ermm I wouldn’t say that really. I’m not that comfortable with the tag ‘future garage’, to me it sounds a bit stupid. Garage is garage whether it be 1999 or 2010. We don’t play too much of it in our sets even though we’re big fans of people making garage or garage influenced stuff now like C.R.S.T as it tends to be more on the chilled side and primarily we like to keep things pretty upbeat in our sets. We are playing a lot more housey stuff like French Fries, Danny T & MastikSoul, Douster.
Obviously you guys are better known for your DJing, but I heard a couple of your own tracks in your podcast that I really like. Are these coming out soon? Do you have plans to start producing more music?
I think every DJ has to. Very few DJs manage to carve out a good career with just their DJing alone, regardless of how good they are. For the last 6 months or so our productions have been going from strength to strength. We’ve had remixes released on Trouble & Bass, Greco Roman, Southern Fried and quite a few more but now we’re really trying to focus on the originals. We’re currently putting together tracks for our ep although it won’t surface for a few months yet I imagine but we’ll be giving away things in the mean time.
Where do you draw your inspirations from when producing a remix or working on your own material?
We’re all big fans of 90′s hip hop and old Jungle and I think that provides a lot of inspiration for us although listening to your peers is quite helpful too, either to see where you think they could have done better or what to try and emulate in your own style.
Which other artists are you feeling at the moment? Any tips for ones to watch over the next few months?
For us at the moment we’re really feeling French Fries, Manare, Mele, Baobinga, Roska, Breach, Doc Daneeka, Boogaloo Crew
What’s your secret weapon in your sets at the moment?
We’ve done a couple of sneaky bootlegs which are just for ourselves unless the original artists approves of them! So i won’t mention what they are, but you’ll definitly notice when you see us play. Also the VIP we’ve done of our remix of Devil’s Eyes by Drop The Lime gets reloaded everytime we play I think. We’re the only ones with it at the moment and it got 8 pull ups the first time we played it!
With two DJ’s and one mc, how do you choose who is playing the next song? Are there ever any disagreements?
I think over the years me and Jamie have known each other our brains have slowly become sync’d. It’s ridiculous the amount of times one of us will play the tune the other is about to play. Every DJ plays tunes they think will work but don’t and we’re no exception so of course the odd ‘don’t play that again, it’s shit’ will slip out but its few and far between and we’re not ones to hold grudges.
So far this year you guys seem to be getting bookings left, right and centre. Where can people catch you over the remaining summer?
We’re at Fabric this Friday for Drop the Lime’s CD launch and then Urban Nerds Carnival Party at the end of the month as well as trying to sort out going back out to american but the end of year so keep checking myspace.com/tombcrew !
And whats been the best gig of your careers so far?
Last Sunday at big chill! It’s the second time we’ve played big chill and both occasions have been incredible but this year’s was on a different planet. At least 3000 people going totally mental for our whole set.
Thanks and catch you soon!
