Total Science & Riya Tonight at ChinaDoll (3.3)

If you like drum & bass then you are in for a treat tonight, Total Science and Riya come to ChinaDoll to provide with you the best music to dance to. It costs RMB 60 and it's going to be big. Here's what DJ Spinback and Riya had to say to us before their show:

the Beijinger: Spinback, You've been going 15 years, how long is the ride going to continue?
Spinback: Well the last 15 years have flown past so hopefully there are another 15 to come. We still love it as much as we did back then so as long as we have that I don’t see it stopping!

tbj: What got you into drum & bass?
SB: We used to go to the early raves back in the ’90’s and got caught up with the whole rave scene and saw drum and bass develop from there, It was hearing breakbeats like Apache and Amen sped up which grabbed us at first as we were, and still are, big lovers of hip-hop and the breaks were always the thing we loved first. We get inspired from all sorts of music: hip-hop, house, lots of old music, still, and lots of fresh stuff.
tbj: What got you into drum and bass?
Riya: I have always loved drum and bass, ever since I can remember, but it wasn't until I went to Uni in London back in 2004 that I applied to work as an intern at Hospital Records that things really moved from me being a 'raver' to the next level. Cutting a long story short, from Hospital, I went to DogsOnAcid - one of the biggest dnb websites in the world and worked my way up from contributor to Assistant Editor, and alongside that, I had my own D&B PR company under which I would do freelance PR work for a number of labels. Off the back of this, I got to meet lots of dnb artists and of course, in conversation, the topic of singing came up...and this led to me working with them under the Laura Pacheco moniker. However, I have gone through such big personal changes recently, not to mention my singing style has grown up, and so it felt right to change my name to something else. So now I'm Riya.

tbj: Riya, has there ever been any confusion with your name being the same as a Bollywood star?
R: Ha. I wish I could say it had, but it never has! I was aware that Riya Sen is a bollywood star, but I only found that out after I had chosen the name and did the whole youtube searching biz. My original inspiration came from my dad, who was born in India. He lived there until he was 8 years old. So, I thought of him and his culture when looking for a name, and in a Hindu baby name direction I found Riya, which stands for 'singer', was the most appropriate for me.

tbj: What is it about drum & bass over other genres that you've pursued with it?
R: For me, I grew up with it. My brother introduced me to it, and we used to go raving all the time. So I had a relationship with it. A history. But drum and bass does make me feel something deep inside that I have never felt with any other genre of music. It's fast, and gets your heart and adrenalin going and the bass...When I feel a bassline resonate through my body, for instance at the Valve Soundsystem events, I feel elevated. I just want to go crazy! It's hard to put into words. I always think music should be felt...and expressed through the body. But I guess it's the culture too. Where it originated. I wrote my dissertation on underground cultures and dance music, and I got to learn the history of rave culture, it being an environment for working class people to go and dance, and get lost in themselves, to escape from the working world. It was all about living for the weekend! Because of its history, its always been that place to just go mental.

tbj: How did your collaboration come about?
SB: Well we worked with Riya when she was going by her real name, Laura Pacheco, so it’s been on going since there. We have just finished a track with S.P.Y. and Riya and that’s the next thing to come from us.
R: Well ever since I got into dnb, years and years ago, I have always respected and admired Total Science. They were a childhood idol of mine so to speak. So when I actually got to interview them back in 2005 for DOA, which was a dream come true. You know..you get chatting to people, and one things lead to another, and before you know it, you're best mates and working together al the time. It was a natural thing, we get on really well, and we love working together. Their sound fits me. I love Lenzman and SPY too...SPY is also one of my best mates. We are gonna be doing shows together shortly too...

tbj: Do you consider yourselves to be the Oxford Dons of the drum & bass scene?
SB: More like Oxford donuts. We are far to stupid to be considered Dons, which you can probably tell by reading this interview!

tbj: Where do you think the scene is most exciting at the moment?
SB: For me places like Vienna are, and always have been, exciting places to play. Russia has some amazing parties that have around 25,000 people attending them, which is insane. I’m looking forward to this tour of Asia and hope it’s up there with those places!
R: Brazil. Loved that place. It's crazy!

tbj: What artists would you really like to collaborate with?
SB: We would like to collaborate with vocalists outside of drum & bass like Dwele, Jill Scott or producers like 9th wonder, as they would teach you something completely new and fresh.
R: Well...D Bridge and Lynx are top of my list, but I am already working with them now...next down is Spectrasoul and Instra:mental. Outside of drum and bass, I want to work with big time house producers to make something catchy and commercial for radio...that's a big dream of mine coming from a background of performing in bands and doing pop music.

tbj: Which tunes would you like to remix?
SB: Mr. Fingers’ "Can you Feel It" would have to be top of the list.

tbj: What's been the biggest moment of your joint careers?
SB: It would have to be the remixes of “Wots My Code” by Dubplate and Q-Project's “Champion Sound” They were two of our biggest selling records and took our sound to a new level back in 2000.

tbj: If you could do it all again would you do anything different?
SB: The only thing we would do different is not leave it so long to come to Asia!

tbj: What's the worst thing that's ever happened at a gig of yours?
SB: Well its a pretty horrible and sad story but at one of our gigs in LA quite a while ago a young guy got shot dead outside of the club at the end. It was one of the worst experiences of our lives.

tbj: What's the oddest thing a fan/the media has ever said to you/about you?
R: The oddest thing that someone has done is create a collage of photos of me, found from my myspace, and post it on my myspace and then say..."For my girl, Riya, love you girl...". That was a little creepy...taking the time to make a collage of me?? Odd. I've had a lot of stalkers too...sending me weird messages that I won't repeat. But it's all good...part of the fun LOL.

tbj: What upcoming projects do you have?
SB: Right now we are working on a lot of tunes with S.P.Y. We have a 12-inch we need to finish, a b-side for Shogun Audio plus lots of fresh Total Science stuff.
R: Next for Riya? I've got so many plans...but...lots of collabs on the go, I'm working on vocals for tracks by Lenzman, Lenzman and Redeyes, D-Bridge, Lynx, 8 Bits, SPY, Q Project, and Total Science and SPY. I'm gonna be doing more and more live shows, and developing that, I'm working on monthly podcasts, monthly probably, and the next ones will be with Lenzman on DOA, DNB Arena, and BBC 1Xtra. I also plan to do some more radio shows. Outside of drum and bass, I'm moving in to the electro house scene and recording vocals for some artists there and have been doing vocals for dubstep producers too...I mean that's just a little snapshot of what I'm up to...but I love music so much, I'm plugging away all the time...production will be next on my list...

tbj: If your live set were a sport or sports team what would it be?
SB: It would be West Ham United and I’d sing "Were forever blowing bubbles" all night long. You would never have us back though so I’ll stay away from the mic!
R: Good analogy...I had to think about this one! But I guess if it were a sport, it would be doubles tennis. Doubles tennis involves lots of team work, a high level of understanding of each other and how the other person works/playing to your strengths, keeping an eye on the game and what's coming next [which is what I have to do when Paul is mixing...listen out for the music and what he is mixing in...] and aside from the attack part [attacking the job at hand], it's a rollercoaster of emotion for the players and the crowd as they interact with each other on this journey they call a match or in our case, a set.

tbj: How do you guys stay fit?
SB: I have recently bought a bike and go out on that a bit and Quiff goes running a lot. We need to do some exercise being stuck in a studio all day!
R: Eat lots of burgers and lounge in front of the TV? hehe I dont know...but seriously everything I do is geared towards keeping my voice in the best shape possible. It's very boring. Sometimes I don't stay at a club or go clubbing because the shouting over loud music ruins my voice. It also means hardly any alcohol, lots of water, exercise, healthy foods, voice rest, and sleep. It's an instrument, and so if you overwork it or abuse it, I could end up with nodules, which is my worst nightmare! So...I have to sit on my own at home...crying...hehehe