Rudimental are on the brink of finishing their next album and after producing one of the finest debut full lengths of 2013 its set to make a huge impact across the world.
The foursome recently wowed their beloved audience with a mesmerizing duet with Bastille. Now they set their sites in Asia with a huge show with Future Music Festival in Kuala Lumpur. Here Flavour chat with Amir Amor from the band about their fans, he gives an exclusive insight to a Rudimental festival and their trip to the future…
Hey Amir, so what’s new… What do you have on the horizon for us this year? I hear you’re back in the studio?
We have just been in Amsterdam finishing off our European tour, we had a studio over here so we have been locking down some fresh tracks for the next album. Now we are back doing a full tour in the UK. Down the line the will looking at co-ordinating our new festival but for now its just about throwing ideas around.
Really? Will this be in London?
We have a few options but something will be happening in London we think for sure. Right now its an idea, but it will definitely be happening at some point later in they year, so look out for a huge announcement.
What are your current top tracks and why?
1. Erick Serman featuring Marvin Gaye – ‘Turn On Some Music’ – I think this came out around 2000 or something but it feels like it was from the 90’s and really does make you feel hopeful about hip-hop again. Not just that, but he is using a sample from one of my favourite artists of all time, Marvin Gaye. Marvins album Midnight Love is such a great album.
2. Marvin Gaye – ‘Third World Girl’ – This a reggae track from the same album, I believe it actually never really got completed. After Marvins death they decided to release it. The tracks has so much emotion within it and you can tell its actually not finished because the ideas are not fully realised. Its just nice to get an idea of his mentality within his music.
3. Kleer – Tonight – I’m a funk and soul boy at heart, which is why I love it and this track was made in around 1979. However if you listen to it, it sounds like it was released only recently on a really cool label like Blackbutter. We still play it in our DJ sets and get great reviews from it.
4. Funkadelic – Knee Deep – We usually listen to this track to get hyped up before we go on stage. We actually listen to a lot of Funkadelic from the 70s. Knee Deep really does gets us going and ready to party on stage. We actually met George Clinton last week and we are going to work on two records which we could not be more happy with. For us its like working with Prince!
5. George Clinton – Atomic Dog – Again, I’m such a fan and he’s so inspiring. He’s been touring for years and when we were playing this, he was explaining how to keep our feet on the ground when on tour and to stay strong. Not to mention this is one of the funkiest tracks ever.
6. Feist – Limit to Your Love – Its such a beautiful track. Obviously everyone will have heard the James Blake version which is also great but I do prefer listening to this version. I think its from their 3rd album The Reminder. It sounds like it could be made back in 70s as the vocal is so amazing. I always play this when I’m flying so I can zone out it.
7. Queens Of The Stone Age – No One Knows – We actually got to meet them at a festival not so long ago which was amazing. I went through a phase of listening to them constantly. They are such a great live band and this track really stands out from the bunch. I would love to know how Josh from the band produces as their music is so on point.
8. Rudimental – Powerless – This is my favourite song from the record and the last one we released on the first album. I do actually listen to this a lot, its really emotional and always gets me. We actually recorded an orchestra in a church as well as we really wanted to go all out the production. What Rudimental is about is mixing the older live elements with the modern, its upbeat but emotional. We arranged the strings ourselves which we gave the orchestra to perform.
The Future Music Festival in Malaysia! You guys must looking forward to that?
Oh definitely, last time we played Future we never got to play the Asian leg, so we are really looking forward to playing the Far East. We get some serious fan mail from over that side of the world wishing for us to come and perform over there and we hear that the crowds are just so fanatical. So yes for sure, we are really looking forward to playing there. We love the culture over there so we are really into the idea of being involved.
I hear Pharell is now added to the line up as well now?
Well actually (not sure if this has been announced yet) performing with Pharrell at another festival so hopefully we will be meeting him a couple of times this year. Our good friend Ed Sheeran has recently just done a track with him so it kind of fits that we should meet him next and all the roads are leading that way. You know N.E.R.D and Rudimental had a big impact on us and we certainly share the same influences.
If you guys weren’t involved in music what would you be doing instead?
You know what before Rudimental, I was a producer, before that I was playing guitar and doing session music, before that I was performing in a band and before that I was working for a label and a management company. So since I left school I have been involved in music some way or another. I suppose if I wasn’t doing what I was doing now I would be someway giving something back in the community, probably still through music. I was brought up through the council scheme and youth clubs within my area so I guess I’d being involved there some how, helping young people out of the negativity and pushing them in the right direction.
Which has been your most memorable performance/show and why?
Wow, well I have two if that’s ok? Outside Lands festival in San Francisco i the first, that was just beautiful, one of our first tours in the US and we were a little unsure if people would come and see us, but they came out in thousands and it was just great and gave and extra buzz. Another would be the Hackney Weekender, we could actually see where we used to grow up from the stage. It was our first huge gig sp to do it where we used to grow up was just incredible.
Find out more about the Future Music Festival here.
