Today we’re coming straight from the bass filled highlands of Scotland, bringing you the finest in jump up electronic music there is to offer. Eisandnose is proud to present, the first of many to come exclusive mixtape and interview’s and what better way to start than with a solid, pumped up mixtape from the the almighty Hostage. From the heart of Edinburgh, Hostage continually produces a series of hard hitting tracks that are drenched in energy, badman riddims, techno and forward thinking creativity. Having toured the world on a mission to destroy dancefloors, we’ve managed to bag the man for an Exclusive Eisandnose Mixtape, and a cheeky interview too, to see how he’s been getting on. The mixtape is a full Hostage smashup of released, unreleased and remixed tracks. Hit the ‘read more’ button for tracklisting. Enjoy.
Where are you and what are you up to right now?
I am sitting on the sofa next to my girlfriend watching Simply Red – For The Last Time, a televised final concert featuring ginger lothario Mick Hucknall. I am a huge fan of Simply Red, seriously.
Where did Hostage come from? What inspired you to start making music, and to start djing?
Hostage came from wanting to be the prodigy when I was a youngun. A combination things made me want to make music and play it out very loudly: I went to a large rave in 1993 which really cemented it for me – here is a flyer from it
What’s your mindset when you get into the studio, how do you start writing a track, and what are your influences?
I have many different methods I used when I start writing a track. I can reveal one of them I sometimes use for random fun. I set myself a budget of £5 and send myself off to the charity shops of the Edinburgh subburb of Morningside and I dig about for stuff from disco to classical to jazz: whatever takes my fancy. I’ll then pick track 1,3,5,7,9 etc from each cd and rip them. I’ll then take a snare drum from 1 track, say a kick drum from the next track, and whatever sound pleases me from track 5. 1 out of 10 times it’ll inspire me to follow a musical path, the rest of the times they get deleted, but at least a wee bit of money goes to charity.
How has your sound progressed since you first started making music, and how would you describe it?
Let’s do a chronological timeline of the styles of music I have written and when I made them
1989: Hip House made using a Yamaha VSS200
1992: Rave Music
1994: Hip Hop (I was really into Cypress Hill and stuff at the time)
1995: Rave and Techno
1996-2000: Hardcore, Gabber, Techno, Jungle
2000 > House, Bass, Dnb and everything inbetween…but no Hardcore or Gabber…not nowadays, not for a long time.
Who else is pushing a similar hostage style, and are there any DJ’s or characters that you aspire to?
I dunno who has a similar style. I like a lot of the other DJs and Artists on the same roster as me TFA Bookings, and many of them inspire, and I admire.
What’s in a Hostage DJ set? Do you have particular artillery of tunes, or is it all on the fly?
from House to hard electro rounding off with a taste of dubstep speeding up to some hard drum and bass at the end. Many of my own currently unreleased tracks and a selection of tracks by other producers, many of which are also at the time demos or unrleased which are currently floating my boat.
Most memorable gigs? Any live disasters?
I’ve had a lot of great gigs this year. I particularly enjoyed doing the Essential Mix live on BBC Radio 1 with Annie Mac earlier in the year. No, no disasters, the usual drinks getting chucked about due to high jinx and created a couple of rather frightening fightpits due to playing some rather agressive dnb and electro at a few parties, but all in the name of good fun and energetic release.
Any big future plans, collabs or cheeky exclusives we should look out for?
I have my next EP out on Nightshifters, which is all finished, it’s called the Witches EP and has Witches, Alright, Fire and Evrybdyrdy on it, noones really heard these yet, they range from ravey house stuff to dnb to steppy garage. There’s remixes on it from Calvertron amonst others.
An absolutely perfect day, start till finish in the life of Hostage?
I wake up in a house made of crisps and I have to attempt to eat my way out of it to freedom. I might intentionally try and fail.
Favourite savoury snack?
Cheetos (Crunchy NOT cheesepuffs!).
Thanks Hostage, all the best for 2011. Keep him locked on facebook, soundcloud, myspace, and twitter
Hostage – Eisandnose Exclusive Mixtape
1 Last Japan – Reach Out (Hostage Remix)
2 Hostage – Valhalla (Momma’s Boy Remix)
3 Figure – Torture (Hostage Remix)
4 Jaimie Fanatic – This Beat Is Ill (Hostage Remix)
5 Blaze Tripp – Vertigo (Hostage Remix)
6 Hostage – Otis
7 Hostage – Follow Mi
8 Hostage – Dubtch
9 Hostage – Roll
