The Influences Which Inspired SCAR’s Journey With Metalheadz

0
scar high fives & devil eyes

SCAR have just celebrated the release of their ‘High Fives & Devil Eyes’ LP on Metalheadz, as well as the signing of a three-album deal with the label.

The album is filled with an intrinsic musicality, as well as dancefloor slammers that would take command of any club space. And it also showcases the work of two historic producers, Survival and Script. ‘High Fives & Devil Eyes’ is an amalgamation of their history with Metalheadz and it highlights the direction they’ll be heading for when releasing more music on the imprint.

We recently asked them to give us a rundown of the tracks which have inspired this ascent, spanning across some of the most pivotal dance classics to drop throughout their journey as musicians…

Rhythm Is Rhythm – Strings of Life

This tune is one of the original corner stones and foundation of modern-day dance music and was actually made by the Techno legend that is Derrick May. Uplifting strings and piano melodies with plenty of energy in the 4×4 kick pattern. It has cool fun edits and drum rolls to keep the listener entertained and smiling throughout!

Frankie Knuckles – Your Love

A lot of people do not realise that this was the original version of this tune that later had a version that added the Candi Staton Vocal (You Got The Love) from an old gospel song, and in more recent years has been covered by Florence And The Machine to huge international success.

In fact a lot of people can recite the original lyrics from the original vocalist Jamie Principle too! The constant arp running through can send the listener into a trance and has those big splashy 80s snares to remind us all how long this record was actually made.

Frankie Knuckles Presents Satoshi Tomiie – Tears

Another hugely influential tune in dance music from the Godfather Frankie Knuckles. Gorgeous piano tinkles throughout with a soulful bouncy bassline. This time with Robert Owens provides sublime smooth lyrics that will be remembered forever.

Adamski – Killer

Killer came along just towards the end of the original ‘Acid’ period and hit the charts to huge acclaim. Focusing mainly on the pounding bassline and sublime vocals by newcomer ‘Seal’ at the time. This record launched Seal to Global success.

A Guy Called Gerald – Voodoo Ray

Pounding reverb-y kick drums and the ‘ahhh yeah’ female sample with Acid riffs was a slightly more aggressive record of the time. It showed that the music didn’t just have to be fun to be taken seriously.

Meat Beat Manifesto – Radio Babylon

This record reminds us of those ‘Spiral Tribe’ Raves. The free raves. Its heavily influenced by reggae and dub music, especially the bassline and the ‘Riddim’ Sample. Massively reverbed breakbeats. It was also a particularly ‘dark’ tune whilst most others released at the time were far more uplifting. A huge crossover track that encouraged other artists to come with a darker, head down vibe during Drum & Bass / Jungle’s very early years which was called ‘Hardcore’.

2Bad Mice – Bomb Scare

Original dons of our music. Every element of this tune is on point. It was a perfect storm for this tune to come out at that exact moment. If you love electronic music and don’t like this record, then there is something seriously wrong with you.

One word sums up this tune… RAVE!

4 Horsemen of The Apocalypse – Drowning In Her

From the blissed-out intro that makes you think you are sitting on a windy beach with a storm brewing to the luscious sample from Robert Owens (Tears), the ‘How’ sample from 4 Hero’s “Mr Kirk’s Nightmare” and the Amen breakbeat drop, this piece of music is designed to send tingles up your spine and make your hair stand on end. A proper rushy workout.

Goldie – Inner City Life

This was the tune that cemented drum and bass in music history by charting well all over the globe. This tune and the album (Timeless) that it came from showed the world that this was a serious form of music and it wasn’t going away anytime soon. Huge critical acclaim for this piece of music from every part of the music scene regardless of genre. It showcased Goldie’s creativity with the Apache breakbeat to make it almost ‘sing’. The strings, pads and vocals from the incredible late Diane Charlemagne touched parts of our souls that we will forever hold dear. When this is played in any club, the whole audience sings along. When people talk about ‘classics’ in DnB, this must be well up at the top of the pile.

Dillinja – The Angels Fell

Probably ours and many people’s favourite tune from our home label – Metalheadz. Dillinja was king. He couldn’t do anything wrong. His beat programming was genius and his basslines were murderous. His skill at finding the perfect sample for every tune was spot on. This record has 3 amazing tunes on it, each of which deserve to be in anybody’s top 10 of DnB but we chose this one for the reason of our love for Vangelis and the film Blade Runner which basically a huge inspiration for most DnB artists.

Grab the album here.

Hannah Helbert

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here