Since being snapped up by dubstep heavyweights Never Say Die last year, DJ and producer LAXX has had a whirlwind few months. Upon releasing his iconic ‘Step One’, which saw heavy support from Flux Pavilion), he subsequently released three EPs, including the recent free download series ‘Step Free.’ With his unique approach to production and eye for a killer hook, his gig schedule is beginning to pick up, as his booking increase. We got speaking to LAXX to discover more about working with the Never Say Die team, future releases and where he sees this future heading.
TMN: Firstly, how did you come up with the name LAXX?
I’m not really sure how I came up with it, but it had a sound to it I instantly loved. Its kind of ironic too, because its slang for being lazy and I’m in the studio basically 7 days a week when I’m not travelling and playing shows.
TMN: Big ups on the hilarious teaser for ‘Step Free’ that you put out with SKisM, is he usually like that?
Thank you. We were both laughing constantly while putting that together. The original version was like 5 minutes long, so we decided to use the “directors cut”, but it still cracks me up when I see it. SKisM isn’t really like that, it’s a shame, but I think his alter ego will come out at some point! Especially if I tell him I want to do any more free downloads. He’s a top guy in all seriousness, he works ridiculously hard and knows instantly if a track is going to ignite. I think the last thing I sent over his only words were “shut up” and “ridiculous” That’s meant in a good sense, by the way.
TMN: Why did you decide to give away the EP for free and will there be a ‘Step Three’ release any time soon?
‘Step Free’ was a project I had in mind for a while, I love giving something back to the people supporting my music, and this was the best way to do it. Every track on the EP was hand picked and some of them took nearly a year to finish, so this was a project I had planned out for a long time. I think I spent about two months deciding what tracks would go on there and making sure they were as perfect as I wanted them to be. There was a lot of blood sweat and tears that went into it. With regards to my next release, you’ll just have to wait and see… You’ll find out very soon.
TMN: For me the biggest track from the free series is ‘Untouchable’. Can you tell us the creative process for writing the track and how long it took to write this banger?
‘Untouchable’ was one of the tracks which took nearly a year to finish. I’d written part of the idea, and kept coming back to it, and then had a mad studio bender of about 3 weeks and worked on it nearly every day. I had an idea in my head and just started piecing it together, I think put down some drums, and then made a basic version of the lead and resampled it an insane amount of times. Its strange, when you get a vibe off a track, its kind of like you lose yourself and focus so intently on the track that nothing else matters, then you kind of take a step back and think fuck, what happened?
TMN: Who has been your biggest inspiration for your career and your most recently releases on Never Say Die?
I really like every artist on the label. Zomboy is smashing it, I like the direction he’s gone in, where he’s kind of tried out every genre and put his stamp on it. Eptic is a monster too, I get sent a lot of versions of tracks he’s working on, some deeper stuff recently and it keeps me inspired. MUST DIE! is insane also – the remix he did for me has been crushing it worldwide. So yeah, everyone on NSD is doing things I like.
TMN: Do you have any plans to play state side soon? And what are your top 3 tracks to play out live at the moment?
I’m coming for you baby! America is one of my favourite places in the world, and you guys have always been some of the most dedicated fans. Long story short, I’m coming to take over! I’ve been playing out a lot of my new sounds and its been crazy seeing the reaction, but aside from that I love double dropping Flosstradamus – ‘Mosh Pit’, Yellow Claw – ‘Lick Dat’ and Gent and Jawns – ‘Turnup’ – (Kill The Noise Remix). Biggup!
Be sure to nab LAXX’s ‘Step Free’ here.
Untouchable
