Music, Style & Culture

Magnetic Man: ‘You Can’t Do Right By All Your Fans’

Joe O'Sullivan meets up with Magnetic Man trio Artwork, Skream and Benga.

A couple of weeks ago, Joe O'Sullivan met up with Magnetic Man trio Artwork, Skream and Benga to chat about their forthcoming debut album.

The self-titled record is due for release on 11th October, preceded by single 'Perfect Stranger', featuring impossible-to-avoid-at-the-moment Katy B.

Congratulations on your success with 'I Need Air', it was a noticeably more accessible track than anything you'd previously done in a solo capacity. Did you expect the popularity or was it something of a shock?
Artwork: I think that... well, we knew it was popular, through festival sets and whatnot. We were getting big crowds and the reaction there was, y'know, it's gotta be good! But to expect a Top 10 hit, no that was a shock.

So does the rest of the album continue in that more accessible vein or is it a lot more eclectic?
Skream: Very eclectic. The intro is like a Japanese piece of music, and then it goes right into a club banger with Miss Dynamite. It's different, yeah. All over the place really.

The album's out in October on a major label. Obviously, you and Benga have both done solo albums but there's a lot more expectation placed upon this. Does that make you nervous or are you looking forward to it?
Skream: Take it as it comes.
Artwork: I think the whole project has been upside down from the start. We got together, made a band and started doing live shows without putting out records. Then we got signed, had to make an album... everything's been upside down.

[Benga arrives.]

Benga: 'Sup homie?

[Introductions are made.]

So speaking of why you got together, what was the motivation behind it? Was it just that you enjoyed making music together or did you have a specific motivation in mind?
Artwork: At first it was just making music together, we just wanted to get together and make sort of, make sets, you know what I mean? Then we were talking about how we were going to do it, rather than DJing it, we could try and do it live. Make it a different experience.

With playing live, I know that one of you controls each aspect of the music - one takes the bass, another the beats, another melody etc. Was that undertaken to make it more of a challenge because you'd all been DJing for so long?
Skream: What, you mean how we split it up?

Yeah.
Skream: We just thought it would be the easiest way to... control it, live. So that we didn't have to go 'Right, choose this track and then this track and then this track'.

Do you think that it gives you a greater freedom?
Skream: ...Nah.

Are you worried by a potential backlash? Dubstep seems to have a quite tightknit community at it's core, with the dubstepforum etc. Rusko in particular seems to have come in for strong criticism...
Artwork: (sounding somewhat aggressive) Why?

Well... in the sense that a common accusation against him is that he's too obvious, he makes the bait 'wobble' tracks and that he has the one trick / sound that he pulls out over and over?
Artwork: You're always gonna get people who are critical of you if you try and branch out and do new things. People will always get pissed off if they care about you - if you don't experiment and push yourself they get pissed yet they get pissed off if you do exactly that too. You can't do right by all your fans.

So in a perverse sense you consider it a compliment, that they care enough to be angered by any move you may make?
Artwork: That's what I said, yeah.

Skream, you've just released your second solo album - how have you managed to cope with promo for that and Magnetic Man? Has it been a lot of stress?
Skream: A lot of hair dye... Nah it's been alright actually, you've just got to balance it out. I've been spending a lot of time on the phone with the interviews, rather than face to face like this to be honest.

So is Magnetic Man going to be your primary focus for the future?
Benga: I think it'll go hand in hand really. We've been doing the solo stuff for so long that it just kinda fits.

Benga - in other interviews you've talked about your issues with making tracks and a 'writers block' but now you've had a burst of creativity and activity. Was that inspired by this Magnetic Man project?
Benga: I think it's because I've had more time off, time to write music specifically. I'd been craving it for ages and then once the Magnetic Man album was done I still had a couple of weeks left so... I just sat there and cracked on! [Laughs.]

So what are your thoughts and hopes for the future of dubstep? It's getting more and more into the mainstreams consciousness, how do you see it progressing?
Benga: Wow, erm, I hope that... everyone takes a leaf out of our book. Not trying to be big headed but I hope that everyone just gets more creative, I mean, why not?

The sound itself seems to be veering off in a lot of directions - is that something you want to see happening?
Benga: Yeah I've always wanted to see people drag it off in different ways, go in completely random directions. It helps the music along.

Is there anyone that's particularly caught your eye, that you think is making good stuff and pushing boundaries?
Benga: Magnetic Man. Oh wait, that's us isn't it?! [Everyone laughs.] Do you mean in dubstep or just in general?

Either really?
Benga: Afrojack.
Skream: There's a girl called Keito, she's signed to my label.
Benga: She was bruv, not any more haha!
Skream: Oh yeah, Diplo came along and stole her - now she's on Mad Decent. Deadboy's pretty good too.