Interview with The Freestylers

Dave: Thanks for tuning in today to Joe's Blue Plate Special. I'm here today with Aston and soon-to-be Navigator, but right now Little Tim, of the Freestylers.

Aston: Hello, hello.

Dave: Combining everything from old school hip hop and funk with break beat, regga jungle and dance hall, the Freestylers are touring with, how many, you guys have a scaled-down version right now?

Aston: It's not even a scaled-down version. All I'm doing at the moment is a DJ set, but Navigator's kind of MCing over the set. I've got Tim doing some break dance, but essentially it's a DJ set.

Dave: With Aston, one of the founding members, doing a DJ set...

Aston: A DJ set. Dave: ...with an MC and a break dancer, and they're touring after their U.S. debut on Mammoth Records, the aptly-named We Rock Hard. Thanks a lot for coming, you guys.

Aston: Thank you very much. Thank you.

Tim: That's okay.

Dave: Let's see, to start it off, I just wanted to kind of get some background on how you guys came together, what processes you guys have gone through to get to where you are right now with everyone.

Aston: Well, essentially, the Freestylers started off with myself and my partner, Matt, and we were working on separate projects but in the same studios and by record company. We met up and started talking about old school and break beats and break dancing, and curries and shit like that, and we got friendly and we decided, he had this idea to do this electro track, which happened to be Drop the Boom eventually, and we just put it out on a white label and got some interest. Actually, because it was kind of electro vibe, it kind of sold well on export. And then we just started doing more and more releases and kind of what changed it was having a hit in England. We did an album. And this was before we had a band. We never had a band. It was just two producers in a studio just making the tunes.

Dave: And when was this going on?

Aston: About three years ago now, two and a half years ago. And then, as a suggestion of the guy who owns the record company, he said, why don't you put a band together. So we thought, well, whatever go. We didn't know. It's kind of electronic-based and you don't have like proper bands doing electronic kind of music. We just thought, how are we going to put it together, and eventually it kind of came together. Tenor Fly was involved from the start because we had the hit, B-Boy Stance, back in England, and then Navigator came along because we needed someone to kind of just generally hype up the show. And the breakers Matt knew and like the band were just friends of friends. I mean, this is like the whole nine-piece band we're talking about here.

Dave: So that's how many you guys have going together now, nine?

Aston: Yeah, that's how, like, with the touring band, yeah, we have nine people.

Dave: Okay. And as far as when that's going on, how do you operate in that when there's the full nine-piece going on? I mean, you got DJ's and...

Aston: Yeah. Me personally, I just do like the programming on the keyboards and start the sequences and sound effects and jump around and stuff. Try to hold it together.

Dave: As far as putting together the band and everything like that, recently in a big upsurge in popularity with bands like the Roots doing hip hop live...has that kind of influenced you guys at all?

Aston: Not really. We just thought of doing our own thing. Although it's sort of hip hop, really our sound isn't really hip hop. You know, it doesn't sound like hip hop.

Tim: London thing.

Aston: It's a very English sound to it, but it does have elements of hip hop in it, by the breaks, but the breaks are faster and you got some hip hop noises and some scratching, you know what I mean? I've forgotten what the question was.

Dave: How would you describe your music to someone that's never heard it?

Aston: It's just a mishmash of everything, like reggae, hip hop, drum and bass, electro, just dance music, black music, just a fusion of black music in a 90's sort of style and fashion.

Dave: Cool. Let's see. I had another question along that line, but I can't remember what it was.

Aston: I guess this is edited, yeah?

Dave: Oh yeah, we edit it plenty. We're probably just going to take like three sections out of it, so, just kind of chop them together, whatever the best part is. As far as American versus English music, you just said it's kind of an English-type of thing, how do you see the difference? I mean, over there is more reggae and stuff like that.

Aston: Well, coming over here is so big a difference. In England, we're very open minded about....I'm just talking from dance music, for example...we're very open minded, because over the years we've had so many different styles of music from mid-80's...early 80's to now, yeah? You've (we've?) had electro, hip hop, rave, house, drummer, you know what I mean? In America, it's just been hip hop, R&B, that's it, and it just seems to be like very staged, you know what I mean? It hasn't moved. I mean, the good thing is you've got rock groups now like Limp Biskit and fusing hip hop, and it's quite rap-based, and that's kind of the new sound I suppose of rock music in America really, but as far as dance, club music, it hasn't really kind of moved on from hip hop and R&B really. I mean, obviously the sound is developed, but it hasn't changed much, and it's still down tempo, nod your head sort of thing. But mind you, old school hip hop music used to be a bit more party and a bit more up, whereas now it is very down temp stuff. Dave: Well it depends also on where you go in the United States.

Aston: Yeah. You've got Florida and that Miami-based _____________.

Dave: That was an example I was going to use. Golden stuff that it is. As far as audiences go, do you find that people in the United States are nonetheless open to you guys and to British music?

Aston: Speaking to other people, in America, I know they don't have a proper club scene like we have in England or Europe. I know English DJ's have been trying to come over here over the years. The only ones that sort of kind of got a scene going really I think are like Paulo Confold and Sashinetrance thing, but as far as, we have other like kind of more what you call handbag house DJ's like Judge Jewels, these are names, that hasn't happened at all here, and you don't get that many DJ's regularly coming to America like you do going to Europe or Australia or Japan. So, and coming over here now and seeing for myself, I mean apart from, I have toured with the band and now I'm touring as a DJ, and the DJ thing I thought would be a bit easier than touring with nine people. It's still proven quite hard trying to work out what people are into. The clubs I've been playing, I think Washington D.C. kind of understood what I was doing. Played in this club there called Nation. They kind of had the best kind of idea so far of what I was doing, do you know what I mean?

Dave: Even in New York, they didn't really get it?

Aston: New York, it went off in there, but I think it was just because it was like kind of suits and very trendy, do you know what I mean? Actually, to get those people going is the hardest kind of crowd, but they were really enjoying it. But to me, that's what I prefer, a Freestylers crowd is like a bit more of a ravier sort of crowd, you know what I mean? In England, it's like a more, well, it's across the board really. You can't really pinpoint it. But it is hard, and the only way you can come over and try and spread the word of the music, is by coming over. I know a lot of drum and bass DJ's come and play over here, and there's a bit of an underground scene. I was told there was a bit of a break scene going on in America, but I haven't really seen it properly yet. Dave: More at raves, probably. Aston: Yeah, probably, yeah. Dave: Have you guys thought about playing at raves? Aston: I don't mind playing at raves, I don't mind playing anywhere, you know what I mean, as long as the crowd is good and they're enjoying the music and they can appreciate what's going on, so.

Dave: Have you done a rave tour at all in the United States?

Aston: No, we haven't done a rave tour. Nah, that's Canada. That's not America.

Dave: It's still America. It's not the United States, but...

Aston: Okay. Well, I don't know, it was weird. It was like 3,000 kids in there, but it was really odd. It was just like, I don't know, I couldn't work out if they liked it or not.

Dave: Oh, Canadians are really strange people.

Aston: But the weird thing is, I know for a fact they do have a good club scene in Canada. They have an innate kind of....you know, I said, there's 3,000 kids in this place and it was just like weird because it didn't seem to be much of an atmosphere, although they were all in there, about six people in front were showing the We Rock Hard vinyl copy, you know, the album, so....

Dave: They must have been into it.

Aston: Yeah, but it's interesting. But, you know, the only way to kind of spread the word of the music is come and do it, you know what I mean? It's like watching a seed grow. You have to come put the seed in first, and then slowly, sometimes they grow bigger than others.

Dave: Piss on the seed at midnight on a moonless night two hours before the crow. Right. What kind of rituals do you guys do before you go out on a show? I mean, do you something like you wear the same underwear every night?

Aston: No.

Tim: Aston does. He's only got one pair.

Aston: We were doing some radio show, LFO, the other night, and they were doing the Madonna thing all huddled together, praise the Lord and all that business. But, nah, normally if we're doing a show with a band we just like respect, you know?

Tim: No, no, you go, "Fuck off Stylers, Fuck off Stylers."

Aston: Oh, yeah, we go, "Fuck Off Stylers, Fuck Off Stylers," that's what Navigate does anyway.

Tim: Hey, the man himself is coming. Here he come. Here he comes.

Aston: But apart from that, we don't really do much.

Dave: Alright. This is the man. Navigator. Nav: Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo. It's the __________.

Aston: Jamie! So the coke's coming.

Nav: Yeah. Is there any coke? Yeah, keep the coke coming, man.

Dave: Open up the party atmosphere here already. What's up? I'm Dave.

Nav: What's up Dave?

Dave: It's good to meet you.

Olga: I'm Olga.

Nav: Olga. How are we, darling? Yeah, I'll have some orange juice, man. Yeah.

Dave: Let's see. Navigator, I actually had a question specifically for you. You used to be with the Metalheads, is that right?

Nav: No.

Dave: Never mind then.

Nav: No, I never was with Metalheads at all. Metalheads is more of, the stuff that they play is more hard, and I was more into the more ragga-orientated jungle, yeah? And when drum and bass was kind of born, which I would say was around '95, and Goldie kind of blew up, that's when Metalheads sort of came about. Really, they were right against what we were about, which is ragga. They sort of wanted to get away from that element because they felt as though it wasn't portraying the right thing for the scene. No, I was never involved with Metalheads.

Dave: Alright. Totally my mistake. I was entirely misinformed.

Aston: No, never. I never, ever worked with Metalheads.

Dave: Well, the American press would say otherwise.

Aston: Maybe. You know, they might do that. Yeah, it's a lot of scrod. Bustin scrod. Scrod. Scrodula.

Dave: You mentioned that the stuff that Metalheads were doing and things like that was totally against what you guys were about. As far as a message overall, other than get your booty out on the floor and shake it, what do you guys feel is your message?

Nav: Musically I think a lot of producers on the jungle scene were more about trying to take different influences from different styles of music and putting it into what we call junglor, that break beat, that whole break beat thing, because break beat was originally taken from the hip hop beat, yeah? And people like Aston, who's doing the Freestylers stuff and that, they're more on a production team. Me as an MC, I've always been lyrical before. I got into production when I got into the scene, which is the dance music scene. I started off doing production. That's how I got into the scene. But the whole Navigator thing is more about the vocals, yeah? And if you listen to the Freestylers' CD, you hear a track on it called Warning, which is more, like, you know, 'cause I fear God. I fear God. I believe that there's a creator, and I've also got children, and I think it's important for me as a person. As a matter of fact, I think going into 2000, the whole future of the younger generation is going to depend upon what vocalists are saying in their music, yeah? If you're putting over a positive message, then you're going to breed positivity. If you put over negativity, then obviously that's going to be the main influence. I mean, you look at hip hop at the moment, you know, there's a lot of guys out there making a shit load of money, but what are they saying? What are they really saying? I love it. I'm not going to disrespect it because I still love it, you know what I mean? I'll always blaze 'em up, you know, hit the boot in several different positions or what have you and blaze up some skunk and what have you, and all of that. Yeah, that's cool. But what I'm saying is is that the kids need role models to look up to. You can't just go up there and be shoutin' and....it depends on the person anyway, because people who haven't got children haven't had that responsibility in their lives, are not really looking at, oh, I need to influence these kids in a certain way. If you're not a vocalist and you don't write lyrics, you're not going to be sort of saying, well, I'm trying to portray this message with my music, because you're not really trying to say anything with your music if you're a producer. You're just trying to make a fat beat. And if you get somebody saying it doesn't matter what you say as long as it sounds right, and it fits your beat, you're gonna be like, yo, yeah, that's the shit, you know what I'm saying? And you're gonna put it out. So, you know, it depends on who you are and what your aim or your mission is in the music business, you know what I'm saying?

Dave: So you're basically saying that you're more about positivity than anything else?

Nav: That's what Navigator is about, and I've been a reality...I've been doing this thing for 20 years. I started off from sound systems, and it was always, in those days, it was all about, it was like Dennis Brown, Bob Marley, and all these people used to sing like freedom songs, redemption songs, talking about slavery days, talking about oppression, talking about the downpression of black people, talking about the minority poor people, people that have had a hard life. And they're talking mentality that we have to adopt to overcome that, yeah. That is where I come from. So therefore that has been the main influence in my life h as been all of that, the roots music and all that positivity. I know Aston doesn't really want to hear what I'm saying, you know. He be looking around and scratching his face.

Aston: No, I'm listening.

Nav: But that's what I'm about, you know what I'm saying? But musically, yeah, I love what everybody does. I have got no discrimination against Metalheads and Jungle Man or hip hop men or this man, 'cause I love a fat beat. It's just all about what I'm trying to say over it and what I'm trying to portray, you know what I'm saying? And the main reason why, at this stage of my life, why I feel it is very important to have a positive message to say is because the kids are the future of the world, and if we tell them to shoot, kill, rape, and selling drugs, then that's the type of world we're going to be living in, you know? And it's like that already. So, you know, it's only going to get worse if we continually ramming that down people's necks, you know what I'm saying?

Dave: So do you think you're partially reacting to what has come before you, what the message of...hip artists before?

Nav: I just think that what was originally indoctrinated into me, the blueprint of what Navigator is about, came from roots music, roots reggae music, you know? What it turned into or what's going on now, I didn't disassociate myself from it, but I wasn't feeling it like I was feeling it before when it was people like John Holts and Dennis Brown, who died recently, and all those guys, you know what I'm saying? That was when I was feeling it 100%, because there was a lot of positivity there, and there was definitely a message in the music, and I thought that people should be trying to portray some form of message in their music.

Dave: Okay. That's another question I had. As far as techno music goes, in general, it doesn't seem to have much of a meaning, I mean particularly since there are no lyrics in it a lot of the time.

Nav: 'Cause it's drug-enforced (?), that's why. The majority of people that listen to techno or make techno, they're in there off their face on something. ???

Dave: And do you think that that's a positive influence? I mean, is that good, is it bad, because it's just escapism? How do you guys feel about where that lies, what that does for society?

Nav: I don't know. Drugs can be used positively and negatively. If you're gonna use drugs, you know, I mean, I smoke a little green, you know, but I use it more to mellow out, more to think about, you know, not to get buckwhiling crazy, you know? But other people don't use it for that. It's like some people use, say cocaine, and a doctor will use cocaine to deaden a muscle or your face to do some work on you or whatever, other people use it because they sort of feel numb, they don't want to feel anything, so they just take it just because they want to feel like that. Some people, they smoke a joint, take _________ little ________ and put it down, and some people, they have to smoke the whole pound, that's just how it is. It just depends on the person.

Dave: And do you think that that's positive or negative? How do you think that is?

Nav: It's whatever you want to....what do you want to get out of it, you know? People use things. It's like, what do you want to get out of it? You can either use it for a positive influence you can use it negatively. It's just down to the individual, you know.

Dave: Understood. Also, I know you guys use a lot of, well, I've heard a lot of Public Enemy references and things like that, or Samples. Public Enemy is a pretty politically-charged band. Do you guys subscribe to any of that stuff that they're talking about?

Aston: You know, the funniest thing is, in England, I'd say the majority of Public Enemy audience were kind of more white-based, but I don't want to break it down...

Dave: Hey, I love them.

Aston: ...but the thing is like, you go to bricks and academy, and they say, put your hand up for black power, and everyone would be up, you know what I mean? I think groups like Public Enemy, America needed a group like Public Enemy, you know what I mean? If Public Enemy never would have come along, I don't think there would have been....rap, I don't think it would have moved on, you know what I mean? 'Cause they were the first group. Before that there was groups that were kind of saying the little thing, but it didn't have a real kind of militant stand...you know what I mean?

Nav: Don't push me, was a sort of a breakthrough record as well. Was that Grandma's the Flash, then Melimeldem.

Aston: Medimel, yeah, but not like....

Nav: Furious Five.

Aston: Not like...

Nav: No, I'm saying, like, that tune did to me was one of the bigger ones as well, and then Public Enemy obviously had more of a political statement to make, yeah.

Aston: Yeah, they had a more kind of militant stand on everything. But the thing is, it was, their music was amazing as well. I mean, it was the two together, it was their lyrics and the music that kind of drove Public Enemy. It's just the sound, really.

Dave: As far as what you guys do in your spare time aside from playing pool, what do you do when you're not out on the road or in the production studio?

Aston: I don't know, just watch films, go to nice restaurants.

Dave: Which films do you watch?

Aston: Anything. Senseless, violence films. No.

Dave: More European films, or do you like Armageddon?

Aston: No. It's all American. It's all Hollywood films, isn't it?

Nav: I'm not really a big fan of T.V.

Aston: Whatever. Try and get some sleep. You know, go out with your friends, you know, the usual shit. Try and just get away from music, 'cause music is 24-7, you know what I mean, when you're doing it hard, you know? And especially touring, 'cause you're proper living it at the same time, you're just trying to step back for a bit. You gotta try and just do other things. I've taken up golf, I mean, so.

Dave: You play on the courses in the States? There's some good stuff in Colorado.

Aston: Yeah, we played, me and Jamie, our tour manager, played in Miami the other day. We only played nine holes, 'cause it like starts to get dark. We're both pretty shit, but it's good fun.

Dave: Well, you guys live right near Scotland. You ever take a trip up there?

Aston: Yeah, I've toured up in there. Our first U.K. tour we did like Aberdeen, and that's like far, far north. And we did Glasgow. But we don't really get to Scotland that much.

Dave: No hitting the links courses up there, St. Andrews or anything?

Aston: Oh, no. I'll have to do that in my spare time.

Dave: One other thing that I'm going to mention is if you guys are interested, we've got Doc Martins' shoes, or the radio show sponsored by Doctor Martins, and...

Aston: You know, talking with Doctor Martins, we did a show in Baltimore for ___________ Festival, and about three days before, we were in New York, I bought the sandals I'm wearing now, right? And it turned out the stage was sponsored by Doctor Martins, so they gave everyone a free pair...

Nav: Apart from Navigator.

Aston: ...apart from Navigator...

Dave: What, you didn't want any, or they just didn't like you?

Aston: , and mind you, they didn't give me a pair, so they still owe me another pair as well, so if you're offering some, they'll come as a nice Christmas present.

Dave: We're offering indeed. So if you guys want to give me your shoe sizes, and also if you want to say anything nice about Doctor Martins, then they'd....

Aston: I've been wearing my Doctor Martins since come rain, sun, shine or snow, and I bought these in April.

Dave: And we just had a thumbs up from the man who break dances in 'em.

Aston: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So stupid. When you employ me.

Dave: I noticed you guys are drinking orange juice and coca cola there.

Aston: Yeah, nothing heavy.

Dave: How do you guys stay healthy when you're out on the road, or do you?

Nav: I work out, man. Press ups. Get in an exercise room. Run. Jump. Whatever, man, just try and keep healthy. I don't know about Aston so much, but I know I do.

Aston: I try, but....

Nav: That's what I do in my spare time, really. I'll go to the gym...keep away from T.V. as much as possible, man. It seems a very negative thing in a lot of ways. There's some good things. I like Discovery channel over here. That's cool. We should have that in England, man. I think we got it, but you got to subscribe to a satellite or something to get it. You don't get it on regular T.V. out here. But, yeah, we have to do a lot of energy. I mean, touring, for me, is really hard, 'cause I'm like front man, ____________ stage, running up and down, screaming and shouting at the crowd, and then right at the end of the show, have to do two vocal tracks, full-on vocalism, my lyrics are pretty rapid, you know, they're quite fast over the rhythms, so you got to be pretty fit. Otherwise you go out there and run out of breath, and it's embarrassing. Yeah. Yeah, you know.

Dave: How 'bout you, Aston?

Aston: Well, I try to keep fit.

Nav: Aston has just taken up smoking. That's how fit Aston is.

Aston: It's really weird, you know. I gave up smoking like five years ago, because I've been touring so much and I've got to fly everywhere, and I've become really bad at flying, yeah? I've just got really stressed out. But actually, flying all these days we've been doing just kind of chilled me out a bit, so I'm getting a bit better. But two weeks of smoking is not going to harm me. Probably in the long run it will, but fuck it.

Dave: A few gin and tonics on the airplane...

Aston: It's just been a stressful, yeah.

Nav: We normally brandy and coke. If we're gonna do the alcohol thing, it's normally brandy and coke.

Aston: Yeah, brandy...

Nav: Or champagne and orange juice. That's if we're going to do the alcohol thing.

Dave: Classy. Classy.

Nav: Somebody said I was a classy MC. Hey, Navigator, you're a classy MC. Yeah, with the cigar and the champagne and that. We was chillin, you know me.

Aston: I don't take the smoke down. I just puff on it.

Dave: I don't think you're supposed to breathe those things in, are you? It'll kill you.

Aston: But the thing is, we try and stay from all the McDonalds and all that shit.

Nav: We try. We try, but sometimes it's just...

Aston: Well, I don't. I refuse to eat it. But America is like....

Nav: He forgets he eats it, 'cause he was eating. He was like, did I? I don't remember that.

Aston: Apparently I got off a plane, I was drunk I think, and I can't remember much, and apparently I ate at McDonalds, but I don't remember it, so.

Nav: Yeah, he did.

Aston: But, you know, try and eat some Japanese or some Italian, you know, something decent, you know what I mean?

Dave: Is that your favorite kind, Japanese?

Aston: I wouldn't say it's my favorite, but I do like it a lot, you know what I mean, it's nice.

Dave: I asked Aston this earlier, but I wanted to know, especially since you said that you do have somewhat of a religious background or a spiritual background, do you have anything that you do regularly before you go out on stage, some kind of a ritual or anything like that?

Nav: No, but Tenor Fly does. Tenor Fly does some things like when he gets on planes, he'd be saying some stuff, man, I don't know exactly what he says, but he says some stuff and he'd be going like this, you know what I mean? So I know Tenor Fly definitely be a spiritual guy. He's the other vocalist in the group, you know. I think we're all spiritual. We've all got our religious beliefs and spiritual in our own ways, you know. It's just interpreted differently through, we all different human beings, and everybody's different, right? So I think there's definitely a spirituality, and I think when Freestylers....I mean, every single person in Freestylers is just so different, but when we're on the stage together, it's just something else, something else happens, and it's just like, I don't know, man. It's chemistry, man.

Aston: I told him we go, "Fuck off Stylers, fuck off Stylers."

Nav: Before we get out, yeah. Before we get out there. Yeah, that's the only thing we do.

Aston: That started on the Lenny Kravitz tour.

Nav: No, it was before that one.

Aston: Was it? Oh, right, okay.

Nav: Yeah, it was before that.

Dave: That sounds good. Maybe you guys should stick with that. Seems to working real well.

Nav: There's definitely a chemistry on stage when we all get out there, though, man. Everybody's just feeling it. Everybody comes out of their shell, even Aston. He comes out of his avarice jumpsuit.

Dave: Part of what this show is about is basically, we're trying to put out independent and unsigned artists, and you guys, like I said, are the lead band, and you're gonna be the person we're doing an interview with, and then we'll have some stuff about you guys, but pretty much everyone else on the show is going to be unsigned or independent bands that for the most part people haven't heard of. How do you guys feel about unsigned and independent bands versus....

Nav: That's where it comes from, man.

Aston: Everyone starts off unsigned, you know what I mean?

Nav: It's the bedroom DJ's, the bedroom producers, the MC's standing in front of the mirror with the hairbrush doing it to themself in the mirror. You know, we've all been there, man, you know? And I don't know. For me personally, I like to keep it like it's still a dream, even though I achieve a lot of height, I still like to think I still ain't made it, you know even if I got a number one record.

Aston: You gotta keep your fear, definitely.

Nav: Yeah, so you keep that passion there, you know.

Aston: Otherwise you lose it. If you just start thinking, you get lost in your own height, that's the worst thing that can happen to you.

Nav: Yeah. Don't believe the height, man.

Aston: You know, you're just the same as everyone else. I mean, the thing that's different, 'cause I'll just sit in the studio, and it's different from being a front man or whatever, 'cause they're perceived as like the star. I just make music, and it's like, big deal. I have a brilliant job and I thank God that I can make music and travel the world from making music...

Nav: No doubt.

Aston: ...but it's like, you know, you're just the same as the next person, you know what I mean?

Nav: But, yeah, I mean, we just want to say, yeah, we just want to say to all those guys out there who ain't signed, that we feeling you, even if we ain't heard your music, we feeling you just because you had that desire to want to make music, put it onto a tape and say something, put your vibe down, record it, put it out there, let people feel it, you know what I'm saying? And eventually it does become about the money, because you cannot survive in the music business without paying the bills, right? So if you're going to do music and you want to take it seriously and professionally, it has to be about the money to a certain degree, but your creativity, you should never, ever let the hype overcome you, never let that happen, because then you lose the passion, you lose that certain junesayqua.

Dave: And even before that, what advice do you guys have for people that are just starting out, that are in their bedroom right now. You guys had a lot of success putting stuff out.

Nav: More banging, baby. Keep banging, man.

Aston: Just like kind of develop your own style.

Nav: Be original.

Aston: That's the hardest thing, actually, when you're making music is to, a certain group is synonymous with a particular sound, and that is the thing that is the trick, trying to get that. God knows how you get it, but you develop it.

Nav: You develop it. I mean, I think everybody starts off copying people. Everybody.

Aston: Yeah, everyone does, yeah.

Nav: And you take little bits of what somebody else does and you add your own bits, and then eventually you start developing something that's quite unique and original. You've got to innovate to stand out.

Aston: I remember, just like being at college, I remember when I was doing my studies, I'd copy something like from another book, yeah, just do my work, but then I'd add my own couple of words, and that's the sort of thing, you add your own little lick to it, you know what I mean. So that's what we'd sort of say.

Nav: Or just keep doing it, you know, even when you get slapped down, get up, try again. Never say die. Never say die, man. Never say die, because the hardest time is when you're down there on the floor and it seems like your whole world has caved in. When you pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and get back up there and achieve something better than you did before, that's when you know. You know that you've got what it takes, you know? And everybody's got what it takes. It's just, you know, you gotta realize that yourself and apply yourself to it and make it happen.

Dave: What was the time that was hardest for you, for either of you, to keep going?

Aston: I had a couple of years, about four years ago, in between I was doing some production under the name of Uno Cleo, which is like, we have a car, Fia Uno and a Reno Cleo in England, yeah. Anyway, cut a long story short, I was in between of doing producing under that name and this other sort of Freestylers in a way, and I had __________ about a year, and I was thinking, oh, am I gonna make it in music, I'm going to make money from music and this, that and the other, and it's just like......