It’s been 10 years since Muzz’s first release and his debut album is finally ready for everyone to enjoy. From the full-on dancefloor track “Nemesis” to the powerful bass house track “Born For This” and the euphoric “Star Glide”, it’s a wide-reaching look into his definition of bass music. We sat down with him to discuss influences, his huge album release live stream and what we might see in the future, enjoy!
Q: You’ve been well known in the scene for a long time but this is your debut album. Why have you waited this long to put it out? Why was now the right time for release? How long has it been coming together for?
I just felt like it was the right time. Every release or body of work I try to make it larger and more elaborate than the release before it, and the overall concept I had for the next progression of MUZZ needed to be fleshed out with an album. It would have been difficult to express the diversity and detail conceptually if it was just an EP.
Q: A lot of the tracks are big departures from your usual drum & bass style, with glitch-hop and some techno influences. Was releasing all these tracks at once a good opportunity to branch out and try new things?
Definitely. Anyone who knows me knows I have a vast taste of music spanning across many genres and styles. I really want to expand from just being a drum & bass artist, because I was never about that from day one. The album was an opportunity to get people comfortable with MUZZ being a project of a multitude of styles and hybrid-music.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for your epic live stream launch the other day? What do you think a live show like the one you made brings to drum & bass that you can’t get from a DJ set?
The whole idea to do a live show was entirely by accident really. We had a limited time to come up with a cool way to launch the album, bring the visuals together and do something exciting for the fans. I wanted to present the album in a way where I could just play the album front to back and not have to sit there and think of weird ways to mash it up in a DJ set, but still perform it live, and this was the best way to do it! The album is very rock-inspired with loads of live drums, guitars and vocals, so translating it to a band setup wasn’t as hard as we thought it would be.
Q: How does a live set feel different for you personally when performing, vs a Dj set?
I mean, this is the first “live” show I’ve ever done, and we didn’t even have an audience in front of us. Inevitably it’s going to be harder to do this at a venue than just rocking up with a USB stick and a pair of headphones, but it’s also so much more fun and satisfying and gives a whole new dimension and attitude to my music that you just cannot get from simply DJing. I’d love to do it again.
Q: What was the process of making something like that come together?
Honestly? It was tough. REALLY tough. Deadlines are hard to meet for large scale projects like this and getting a lot of people to cooperate together in the same room is always going to be hard to manage. But thankfully, the people who worked on this are all extremely talented, focused and professional, and just generally really good folks. They made this performance come together really strongly.
Q: What setup did you use to produce the album?
Just my home studio, I work entirely in the box pretty much, with a few controllers and stuff like that, nothing too exciting. Some of the collabs were done remotely and some were studio sessions. COVID has made it harder to meet up in person, which I prefer doing over working over the internet but, hey ho.
Q: Is this a hint that we’ll be seeing a “MUZZ live” show in the future? In the same vein as Netsky live for example.
I’d love to do something like this again but, it’s really hard work, really expensive, and very time-consuming. There are other ways we can still do an epic live show, and visual experience without having a full band, but the charm of having a band is something that can never really be replaced, musicians on stage rocking the f out. It’s a case of if we can do it, we will.
Q: Are any segments recorded live directly into the projects by yourself or other musicians? i.e. did anyone else play some of the parts and record it directly into the projects?
Everything you heard on the live show was 100% live, no extra recordings or sound replacement. We used a digital console and sent those separate outputs and fx sends into a computer for recording. We then mixed it all in post with EQ and compression, and that’s pretty much what you’re hearing.
Once again a huge thanks to MUZZ for taking the time to talk with us, You can grab the album with the Beatport link here and listen to the exclusive mix he did for us here!