The Nocturnal Times Exclusive Interview: EC Twins

Having spent the past year writing, brothers and former club promoters from Manchester, U.K, Marc and Allister Blackham, better known as the EC Twins, are back in full force with a body of work lined up for release drawing on the many influences of their long-standing career and knowledge of the U.K. Dance music scene. Over the years the Twins have gone from becoming residents at some of the West Coast’s most revered clubs to sharing stages with acclaimed artists such as Justice, Kaskade, Mumford & Sons, Black Eyed Peas, The Cure, Skrillex, Erick Morillo and more.

With plenty of productions primed for 2017, fans won’t have to wait long as an arsenal of singles are primed to come out via Sony Music over the coming months. Combine that with several North American tour dates already announced and a full extensive world tour announcement to follow,  you’ve got the makings of what will surely be a very special year for the flourishing duo.

For the debut, they’ve harnessed topical influences to produce ‘Revolution’ in tandem with enlisting the soulful vocals of R&B vocalist Guordan Banks who has written songs for the likes of John Legend and Keyshia Cole. The duo describes their creative vision for “Revolution” below:

“In so many ways ‘Revolution’ is the start of a new chapter in our evolution, from collaborating with Billboard Chart topping vocalists, to using vintage synths and attaching a meaningful message to our music which has all lead to perhaps our proudest moment as producers to date in signing with Sony. We are so grateful to everyone who has helped us get here and we welcome everyone to continue this journey with us.”

The Nocturnal Times: Let’s start by learning some more about EC Twins. When and how did you begin your exploration of dance music? Why the name EC Twins?

 

EC Twins: We started at a young age, in Manchester, England, a fairly legendary City, Musically. Our dad actually bought us a few bootleg tapes from a local market and asked us to pick the the style we liked. There were a few rock music tapes, a couple of “wanky” pop music compilations and one tape that was called “Hip Hop and Rap in the House” the title speaks for itself, but for those who can’t fill in the blanks, it was Hip Hop, Rap and House Music. Pretty much as soon as we left school, we signed up for college and in the gap we visited Edinburgh, Scotland. The prospect of going back to a rough, crime ridden, violent neighborhood didn’t seem all that appealing after that Summer, so we never did go home to this day. The first time we walked in to a club playing real house music, was in fact a club called “Burger Queen”. We believe it was a gay/gay friendly club as most good clubs were about that time. It was the perfect way to keep the football hooligans out and provide an open environment for people to be themselves and, may we add, was packed with beautiful women. It wasn’t just that though, it was the music and the energy that house music creates. From that moment on we knew that the club scene would be our home. We ended up promoting for Burger Queen and later parlaying that in to our own club, called “Eye Candy”. Years later, In an effort to crack America, we lost everything. We tried to throw parties, but couldn’t afford DJ’s, so we just jumped on the decks ourselves. The only tangible history of us, at a time when club owners were openly googling our names during meetings, was running the club, and people often abbreviated the club to it’s initials “EC” and reffered to us as “EC Twins” so we stuck with it. As soon as we played our first track, it was obvious that DJing was going to be our career.

 

The Nocturnal Times: What are some of the biggest musical influences you draw on from the U.K. dance music scene? 

 

EC Twins: That’s a great question. Manchester was the global Birth Place of the rave. Honestly, we were babies at the time, but those influences must be in our DNA somewhere. There was an explosion of “French House” and “Funky House” that really impacted us, with obvious inclusions like Daft Punk and ED Banger Records, to more soulful stuff like Defected Records and Subliminal Records in their heyday. They were very formative years for us, in terms of shaping us as artists.

The Nocturnal Times: What made you guys decide to transition from being club promoters to producing your own music? 

 

EC Twins: Even when we ran the club, we’d produce mix compilations. They were live mixes, on vinyl, by the resident DJ’s and we’d record them in a studio and tidy up all the mixes ourselves. From then on we experimented with making our own music. When we think back to the first track we made, it still makes us cringe…, it was pretty bad. We picked it all up quite quickly though and actually had some chart success back then, with a few mates, under a pseudonym. The truth is, that we were producers before we were DJ’s. 

 

The Nocturnal Times: You describe your latest single “Revolution” as the start of your new musical “evolution”. Aside from signing with Sony, what kinds of changes should we be expecting from you guys in the months to come? 

 

EC Twins: We guess since the Electronic Music Boom calmed down a bit, it relieved us of the shackles of having to make a particular track, for a particular label, with a particular sound. We will always consider ourselves House Music producers, but the shift has just allowed us to evolve as artists and make the music we’ve always wanted to, without the pressure of having to please certain labels. We simply went in to the studio and made music that we love, without having to, first of all, do an internal equation about which label may pick it up. What came out was really genuine representation of our art, that’s more sophisticated and unique than the industry allowed us to release in the past. All the songs are unique, but have a common thread, mostly the addition of warm, retro synths. People are really responding to our new sound in a different way and starting to give us a lot of respect as artists. It’s exciting.

 

The Nocturnal Times: Who was the first major artist you got to perform with and what did that experience mean to you as artists?

 

EC Twins: It wasn’t really an artist as such, we’d seen everyone, as promoters already. We are fans of the art first, not the artist. Our fandom for the artist comes once we get to know them personally, up until then it’s all about the art. When we first came to the USA, we ended up homeless. In order to survive, along with DJing, we started throwing our own parties. We had an underground event called “Melodic” that had a small stage at EDC, in LA. We remember walking around to the main stage and seeing that…, the lights, the fireworks, helicopters and planes overhead, and hundreds of thousands of people going insane, all for Electronic Music. That was probably the point when any shadow of doubt about what we wanted to do with our lives was gone forever. 

 

The Nocturnal Times: How do you think the L.A. house music scene stands out from other cities and musical communities? 

 

EC Twins:  There are so many talented producers, songwriters, musicians from around the world and so much great Media in the City, that there is no where else on Earth more important than LA for the betterment of any music scene. It’s imperative that there are strong ambassadors living in LA and working hard to maintain a strong House Music scene, because if it dies down in LA, the aftershocks are felt on a global scale. That’s fine by us though, we are happy to accept that burden of responsibility. As long as there is breath in our bodies, House music will be safe and sound.

 

The Nocturnal Times: What have been some of your favorite moments while performing and why? 

 

EC Twins: There are too many to name. We did go back to do one last “Eye Candy” in Edinburgh a few years back. That was the first time we dj’d our own event and it was a great way to close out one chapter and start a fresh one. On another note, we got arrested for a “Noise Violation” in Arizona once and ended up in Jail, charged with a felony! That sucked, but it makes a good “rockstar” story, doesn’t it?

 

The Nocturnal Times: Have you ever thought about producing outside of the house music genre? If so, what genre? If not, what keeps your attachment to the genre so strong? 

 

EC Twins: I think we will always consider ourselves to be House Music producers. Anyone jumping the ship and heading off to do cheesy Hip Hop, or some other bollocks should not be allowed back on the ship when the next wave hits. We are enjoying, however, bringing new sounds and influences in to our genre. Working with a lot of great Soul Vocalists and using sounds and techniques developed by many of our favorite producers like Jam & Lewis, Nile Rodgers, Girogio Moroder etc. House music is a lifestyle, about unity and love, not just music. We won’t ever leave house music and house music will never leave you, as long as we are around. It’s not our definition of what genre we belong in that will change, but the sounds that define the genre of “House Music” that will evolve and we will be happy to play a big part in that evolution.

 

 

The Nocturnal Times: What brought you both to the dance music industry? 

 

EC Twins: The unity, the love, the lack of labels and judgement, the global appeal that dance music has across all races, religions, language barriers and cultures. No other musical genre represents that lifestyle in the same way.

 

The Nocturnal Times: What is your vision for the dance music industry as a whole over the next five to ten years? Is there anything in particular you hope to see change or grow stronger? 

 

EC Twins: The sky is the limit for electronic music.., introducing live elements in to DJ sets, whether thats vocalists, or live production techniques. Collaborations with artists from other genres and bringing them in to the movement. New technologies to improve the way that people listen to the music at home, or can even view a live performance, such as “hologram TV’ etc. Electronic music is the perfect vehicle for all of this. The boundaries are limitless.

 

The Nocturnal Times: Aside from tropical influences, what are some of the other inspirations you drew upon for your upcoming EP? Is there one specific sound or vibe you are aiming for?

 

EC Twins: Funny you should mention the tropical element, because that was kind of an accident and it’s come to somewhat define our latest track. The opening pad is made on a Yamaha CS-80 synth and we were heading in that direction. We’d just made another track and ripped a steel drum sample from the internet, so we used that to play a temporary melody to “Revolution” and it just worked. That was exclusive to “Revolution” though and just seemed to lighten the mood of the rather serious lyrical content. The upcoming releases concentrate more on the powerful sounds that these Retro Synths, matched with modern software, can create.

 

The Nocturnal Times: Where do you see yourselves five years from now? 

 

EC Twins: We never really think like that.., that may be a bad thing, or it may be a good thing. We just try to live in the moment and enjoy what we do every day. Who really has a rational answer to that question? Sane organized people perhaps.., but not us. Hopefully making Soundtracks, massive albums, winning awards, having hits, collaborating with talented artists.., that’s where we’d like to be. that’s an easier question for us to answer.