www.siliconesoul.net
BIOGRAPHIE
Self-confessed children of the night, Craig Morrison and Graeme Reedie are Scotland's premier sonic voodoo bandits of house. Their critically acclaimed debut album 'A Soul Thing' was released on leading Scots independent label 'Soma Recordings' in 2000 and they haven't looked back since.
We catch up with Craig in Barcelona, the day after a gig in Alicante. "We met in our first year at school," he reminisces, "it wasn't until we formed a rock 'n' roll band, that we really hit it off. After that we were round at each other's houses all the time, listening to records, vibing off each other." Graeme lists their influences as The Stooges, MC5 and Glasgow's own Primal Scream. "We're influenced by a lot of different styles of music" says Craig, "from that Jamaican Dance Hall vibe of the '70's, people like Lee Perry and Gregory Isaacs, to funk, soul and disco, people like Curtis Mayfield, Issac Hayes, the Temptations, right through to the Wild Pitch sound, DJ Pierre, Felix Da Housecat, the classic Chicago sound. I could go on forever."
Like most things, the turning point happened by accident. After reluctantly stumbling into the opening night of Slam at the Arches, Craig was surprised to hear his all time heroes Primal Scream bringing down the house. "We didn't really like the raves that were popular in Scotland in the early nineties, we weren't particularly into that sound. At Slam I thought wow, they were playing all sorts of cool Weatherall mixes from Screamadelica and stuff."
It wasn’t long before they swapped their guitars for turntables, donned their dancing shoes and scrimped and scraped for a set of soundlabs each. They travelled the length and breadth of the Scottish Highlands seeking parties and battling the elements with only their sunglasses and T-shirts for protection. Determined to mix and entertain, they ventured west to the infamous Scoraig festival armed with decks, a crate of wax and a rowing boat. After some soul searching they secured a residency at Jungle Palace in Inverness. Guest DJs included Sub Club resident Harri, Ralph Lawson and Slam's Stuart McMillan and Orde Meikle, who they formed lasting friendships with.
From punk to dance music, is that not a bit unusual? "We felt that house had the same energy, danger and intensity of punk, also back then, it was simplistic, it was all about the crowd, the vibe, the reaction - we liked that" enthuses Graeme. This punk attitude was prevalent when they headed for the studio and set up their own record label, "we just wanted to make records, get our vibe out there" says Craig. 'Depth Perception Recordings' was born at the end of 1996 with old school friends Peter Tagg and Chris Hodgins. A string of tracky house cuts followed, including 'Roy is the Teacher' and 'Seed/Yoni'. It was this fresh sound combined with a get up and get at 'em attitude that impressed Soma label boss Dave Clarke and one funk fuelled demo later, Silicone Soul was born.
The sublime Soma debut 'Climbing Walls' and the deep and dubby follow up 'All Nite Long' were soon hailed by heavyweights Pete Tong, Laurent Garnier and Andrew Weatherall, who featured 'All Nite Long' on his 'Heavenly Social mix'.
Their most acclaimed work at this stage was the monster 'Right on 4 the Darkness'. The year 2000 saw the boys release their own update of their classic, renamed 'Right On, Right On!' This turned into one of the biggest tracks of the year. 'Chic-o-Laa' also came out at the end of 2000 with a remix from their west coast compadres, the H-Foundation.
"'Right On, Right On!' was originally a dubplate we made for our 'Soul Thing' tour of France", says Craig, "we wanted to do something fresh with 'Right on 4 the Darkness', give it a more clubby feel. We finished our set with it every night. It went down so well that we decided to put it on the 'B' side of the 'The Answer'."
'Right On, Right On!' was also gathering prime time play elsewhere last summer too, "Pete Tong played it lots of times in his show" ,says Graeme, "and Tenaglia played it in Miami. Apparently he was finishing his sets with it too." Darren Emerson also became an early fan after he guested with them at the Arches in Glasgow.
Eventually Soma and Silicone Soul went with Virgin for the UK release of this epic, partly because of their French relationship with labels, but also because it looked as if they were going to do the best job in taking the record to the masses, whilst respecting the artistic integrity of the band.
We discussed vocalists", continues Graeme, "we wanted a classic soul vocal style, with real emotion, someone like Shara Nelson. Eventually we came across Louise Marshall. She was perfect". The boys wrote the lyrics together - it's a love song apparently.
As well as destroying dancefloors all over the world, wax wizards Silicone Soul are currently perfecting their magical live extravaganza as anarchic alchemists of aural manipulation. Meanwhile they have been kept busy remixing for some of the most respected UK labels. They have recently worked their magic for 20/20 Vision (Tuomas Salmela), Skint (Lo-fi Allstars), Skyline Records (Colours) and Wall of Sound (Royskopp), to name but a few. Also, they are about to start work on the new Roger Sanchez single.
Look out for their stunning remix of Slam's 'Lifetimes' and their Hypno-House and Darkroom Dubs remixes of Universal Principles' 'Latin Stroll' (both on Soma). "'Darkroom Dubs' is the name of our own label," says Craig, "we want to put out some dark, dubby, abstract atmospheric shit, much like the stuff that's been really happening when we DJ".
They have already secured the services of top underground producers Hipp-e (H-Foundation), Jordi Grav of Prozak Trax and DJ Kimo (Fire Music). "Basically we put their track on one side and we do a darkroom dub on the other - simple!"
Nothing more is revealed, they speak in terms of vibe, mood and feeling rather than anything distinct. "Underground is a feeling, an attitude", says Craig. Silicone Soul are willing to break the surface with 'Right On!' before returning to the depths where house music belongs - the darkness of the club.