Mefjus & Emperor burst onto the Drum and bass scene few years back and have since delivered some brain rattling and high energy tunes, therefore cementing a major name in the Drum and bass circle. Having signed to one of UK’s finest and forward thinking labels, Critical Music, they have gone from strength to strength making them one of the most exciting acts at the moment.
2014 marked the inception of the ‘Hello World” series by Mefjus and Emperor, a four track EP featuring 2 remixes of each other’s tracks and 2 monstrous singles. Proper dance floor blooters.
The series returned with the same pattern in ‘Sanity Check’. Yet again, the duo whacked us with two monstrous co-labs and two remixes with Flashizm being our absolute favorite, reminding us why we are still huge suckers for Void Main Void. With this in mind, we lined up to learn a little bit more from the Austrian Powerhouse, Mefjus. Here’s what he had to say..
Sagar – How did you get into Drum and bass and tell us more about your transition from Hip-Hop to Drum and Bass?
Mefjus – My brother took me to my first dnb rave when I was 17 If I remember correctly. As soon as I heard the tempo and the beat structures I was immediately hooked. Never heard anything like it before. In Austria i’d say the Hip-Hop and Drum and Bass audience has quite a high intersection. So it wasn’t a transition really, it was more like falling in love with another form of music but not abandoning my first love, Hip-Hop.
Sagar – How did the idea of the series spring through?
Mefjus – I think it started off when me and Conor first met. We quickly realized that we have a similar taste in Drum and Bass but also don’t take everything too seriously. I think that’s why we enjoy putting funny little bits at the end of the songs of our EP’s
Originally our tune Disrupted was an Emperor solo song. I remember Conor playing it at Fabric and I instantly liked it. We talked about the song after his set and he said he was having troubles finishing it, or having troubles getting the mix right or sth like that. Kasra heard us talking about it and suggested that I should jump in on the song. We did that and everything came together nicely. Inspired by that we started another track, Void Main Void.
Sagar – Tell us more about making two co-labs and remixing each other’s work?
Mefjus – I am a big fan of Conor’s work and after having done the 2 collab tracks originally, I suggested why we don’t try a take on each others songs. With collaborations you make a lot of compromises, which ultimately make the song better, I hope. The idea of the two remixes as part of the EP package is a way of showing both sound palettes in a song without the compromises of a collab.
Sagar – Do you ever see yourself producing something really different from your signature style? If yes, would you like to release it under the same banner, Mefjus?
Mefjus – It really depends. If the music fits what ‘Mefjus’ is standing for I see no reason to limit myself to any genres. For my first album Emulation for instance, I made a few songs where I tried to show where I come from musically, which weren’t Drum and Bass or ‘my signature style’ at all but they still made sense within the bigger picture of the record (I hope :D )
If I make some more advertising stuff, like I did with InsideInfo a few years ago, I wouldn’t use my alias, as it stands for something completely different.
Sagar – What’s your favorite track from the EP?
Mefjus – My personal favourite is ‘Sanity Check’. With that song we tried to capture the ’05 vibe of Drum and Bass but put it into a 2016 outfit. Me and Conor started about 4 or 5 different tunes, which never got finished, until we realised that we didn’t want to make another Disrupted-ish song. Sanity Check is all about the vibe, SciFi vocals and the melancholic musical outro. Also we wanted to make a song without a classical second drop, that way we had more space to explore the already mentioned ’emotional’ transition in the outro. I think that’s the best moment on the whole EP.
Sagar – What genres do you listen to other than Drum and Bass?
Mefjus – All kinds of music really, but my personal favourite genre still is Hip-Hop. When you make music you tend to analyze music as soon as you hear it and that can get very tiring and exhausting. Especially with electronic music. For me Hip-Hop is one of the few genres I can listen to without experiencing that phenomenon.
Sagar – Do you think Drum and Bass can be huge and influential in other parts of the world as much as UK/Europe?
Mefjus – I wouldn’t say Drum and Bass is huge in Europe. It is happening and the scene is very very healthy but in comparison to other genres it is not huge. For me it still is an underground genre and I think it will always be. I’d love to see other places in the world growing a bigger scene and enjoying the variety of sound we are lucky to experience in Europe.
Sagar – Last question…Tell us more about your love for Skateboarding?
Mefjus – Well, funny enough the last time I was skateboarding was with Camo & Krooked and MC Daxta over a year ago. They were in town for some promo stuff and we met up. You must know that Reini – Camo used to be a professional skateboarder. Seeing him shredding that park made me super excited and I ollied into a concrete bank and bailed pretty hard, lol. You can see my taped hand in the picture I attached.
I still love skateboarding but I haven’t been since, I think it’s one of the greatest sports and has an awesome community.
I see myself as retired now :D
