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1. so, volume 3 of outpatients
is out (nice one!). has the series and it's aim changed at all over
the years?
The first comp was probably the broadest musically, as it included
a number of d+b tracks. I believe that was a conscious decision to try
and bring our junglist audience with us on the debut freestyle excursion.
Since then it has seemed wise to establish OP as a non-drum+bass series,
compilmented by the Plastic Surgery series which is only drum+bass.
2. do you have any kind of
criteria when selecting tracks for outpatients?
This 3rd installment has been pretty much my own project. Between
the 3 of us in the office, I guess I'm the one that is most driven by
a 'freestyle' ethic; tho both Tony and Tom have a genuinely broad taste
in music. I had to be careful not to let the album be too genre/tempo
specific - I think it could have been quite easy to put together a broken/breakstep
type of thing, but it's important to me that this series can be as flexible
as any home mixtape would want to be.
The initial priority is that all the tracks are brand
new - most are commissioned just for the compilation. That of course,
can make for some awkward situations if the track that arrives is just
not doing it... (And that happened a number of times). But this is essential,
since from a label perspective we don't believe in releasing tracks
that are readily available elsewhere... how else can you establish a
unique and valuable back-catalogue? So basically I always compile a
'wish-list' of artists and producers and see who wants to get involved.
3. was it always your intention
for hospital to be so musically wide ranging?
In the longterm, yes. But we knew we'd have to be (ahem...pieman)
patient building up the musical profile of what we were doing. One of
the reasons we came up with the name 'Hospital' was probably inspired
by labels like Warp, or XL - companies that have a reputation for quality
music that can be of pretty much any style. And labels whose name doesn't
tie them down to particular genres or fashions.
4. were there ever any raised
eyebrows when you started to put out music other than drum and bass?
I don't think so. For sure there were going to be folk in the
d+b scene that would prefer a more purist agenda... but that just drives
us to our own direction. The early Hospital releases might have been
drum+bass, but they were very musical and reflected our very particular
attitude to making breakbeat music. So when we started to mess things
up with the advent of young Landslide and the debut Out Patients there
were some clear threads already in place. (or at least, that's how I
saw it!)
5. has the popularity of the
outpatients increased as people seem to be becoming more receptive to
the music that these comps have been pushing?
difficult to say; as the label's profile has grown people have
become more interested in the music we're releasing.
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" ...But it's true to say that most people
tend to see us as a drum+bass label still, so it continues to
be a longterm objective to get people's heads turned onto the
other side of Hospital."
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6. tell us a bit about hospital's
non drum and bass projects for the rest of this year?
well it's all about the debut album from Phuturistix - this
is Zed Bias and Injekta, who had 2 EPs with Locked On 3 or 4 years ago.
It was Landslide that played me a couple of their new tracks and let
slip that they might be looking for a new home. I was blown away by
what I heard, and we managed to sign them last summer. I've been working
closely with them to nail the perfect album from these guys. They've
written some awesome vocal tracks with people like Jenna G (from UnCut),
Nicky Prince, Mr J (a long-term project member) and Inspirit's Amma.
It's a superb album, that we're very proud of... our job now is trying
to get it heard.
7. the future's bright, the
future's...?
Phuturistix! (and London Elektricity, High Contrast, Landslide,
Nu:Tone, Cyantific) sorry; can't help myself.
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