05 February 2015 (released)
05 February 2015
Drum n Bass DJ/Producers Legion (Hunter and Lee) and Logam (Thomas) caught up with Music News to fill us in on their latest release ‘The Warehouse EP’ on the infamous Playaz label, the US music scene and their secret passion for Royksopp.
Music News: Hi Guys, you hail from Atlanta, where are you right now?
Hunter: Well Logam (Thomas) and myself (Hunter) both live in Atlanta, Lee is living in Denver and active in the scene there as well, we do a lot of traveling back and forth so it works out.
MN: How does it feel to have your EP released on the Playaz label?
Lee: We have always been huge fans of Playaz. Their records were some of the first we owned and Hype has always been a huge inspiration to our DJ sets.
MN: Hunter, you've spent time in Nashville (home of country music) and Lee in Milton Keynes (home of many a rock concert!). How did you wind up making drum n bass?
Hunter: We’ve all come from different musical backgrounds but it was really drum n bass where we all found common ground. It has never been huge in America but it has had some good years here, I think we all were inspired by that in some way.
MN: How did the name 'Legion' come about?
Hunter / Lee: I believe the name ‘Legion’ came about as we were sending some early tracks out for DJ support, We were toying with a few names when an untitled collaboration (Philadelphia Experiment) with NC-17 got played by Ed Rush & Optical at their “Travel the Galaxy LP launch” on DnbArena TV. At the time we didn’t have a name, Ed Rush had jokingly mentioned “The Hunted” in an AIM conversation but the gang didn’t go for that – ha ha! I think we had already decided but when Peter (NC-17) said something to the effect of “legion is gangster, go with that” it was a done deal on the tracklist.
MN: Where did you meet Logam?
Hunter: We met Logam in Atlanta. He was already making and releasing really solid technical tracks on his own, I was instantly impressed by his grasp on engineering and sound design. We soon hit it off and ‘House of Cards’ was our first collaboration together, much later to be released on Program.
MN: Your collaborations showcase a breadth of styles; how do you work together?
Lee: Sometimes we start ideas and sometimes Logam does, it really depends, Logam is really good at making a track very interesting throughout and is great with automation.
Hunter: sometimes we will get a raw idea rolling and he makes it have really nice transitions or changes parts quite dynamically. I really like that when we give Logam a raw idea it quickly begins to sound more like “a record” if that makes sense.
MN: How did the hook up with NC17 come about?
Hunter : Peter NC-17 was a long time AIM buddy from back when we had a mutual friend in Sinthetix/Corrupt Souls (Josh Impulse). We were always sending each other tracks and he ended up collaborating on our debut ‘Signal of Design’ EP and helping get it in some good hands.
MN: What tracks are you loving right now?
Lee: We are really loving the Break release on Playaz, Also Frankee ‘All for One’ EP on Ram
Hunter: Releases from Wilkinson all the way to Mefjus. Also noting one of my favourite non-dnb artists at the moment is actually Royksopp. Really feeling those moody vocals would love to do remix work for him if he’s out there listening.
MN: Will you be in the UK anytime soon?
Lee: We actually just visited the UK over Christmas this year and played on Hype’s Kiss FM show. We also went to Ram at Fabric and had a blast at both!
Hunter: It was really great to play on Hype’s show, although it was a bit nerve racking with jungle legends like Hype, Potential Badboy and Stuart of Cause for Concern in the studio as the ‘X-factor panel’ judges! Haha! We will hopefully be back very soon for a UK/European tour, maybe this summer!
MN: And finally, do you have a favourite 'warehouse' to throw a party in...?
Hunter: There are loads of warehouses in Atlanta, I imagine we may need to find one for our new club night ‘Language’ and shoot a music video for the single. Thanks for the inspiration!
Pre-order ‘The Warehouse EP’ now from playaz.co.uk
