Warriors of Mettle - Mettle Music Interview

By Darran Nugent

Manchester’s Nic Conef and Mark Wadsworth, better known to you and me as Mettle Music, have been keeping a low profile of late. That’s only because they have been slaving away in the studio, finishing their eagerly awaited second album, Moodswings , to be released later this month on Bar De Lune. Having already made a name for themselves with releases on labels like Toko, Low Pressings, Nordic Trax and Afterhours, the duo impressed with their debut, “Honeycomb Lounge”, a solid and beautifully crafted album that showed that there was much more to house music than some might expect. With Moodswings however the pair have really, pardon the pun, shown their mettle. DHN sent fearless reporter Darran Nugent into the belly of Manchester to get the scoop.

DHN: Why do you call yourself Mettle Music? Are you not worried to being mistaken for a bunch of rockers?

Nic: Not worried exactly, it s done now, some people don t get it and it is a problem abroad or when you hear the word as opposed to seeing it written down but you ve got to give people a little credit, but if anyone is still in any doubt look it up in the dictionary I think it sums up what we do pretty well.

DHN: Your new album is quite a progression musically from your previous work on Toko and sees Mettle Music adopting a more mature sound. Would you agree?

Mark: Yeah, I think so. We tried to get as many performances from the musicians as we could. Because we re doing everything in the Mac it means we were able to record big chunks from the musicians and then take our time to choose the killer lines. On the production side we ve tried to ensure that all the tracks sound nice and warm for when you re relaxing at home; but if you want to play them out in a club or at a bar they ll stand up for themselves...

Nic: It s about pushing yourself as well, raising your game, constantly asking if things are hitting the mark and then trying to surpass that or improve upon what you ve done in the past. We act as good filters for each other I ve got to get my ideas past Mark into fruition and vice versa

DHN: Your new single Capture has a dark, edgy but unmistakably seductive side to it, an almost Wicker Man quality. Who came up with the lyrics? Have you seen the movie?

Nic: Virginia Barrett is the vocalist. It started out life as a folk song just her and her guitar, it s been hanging around for years and I always wanted to do something with it. I think it s lyrically very evocative and teamed up with the live strings and Rhodes it still sends a tingle down my spine. Sorry I ve not seen the film, are there any nude scenes in it? (Yes! – Ed)

DHN: The both of you have obviously got broader musical tastes that go far beyond house music. Who, if any, has been a big influence on you musically, and in the house scene?

Nic: My influences tend to come from the artists who ve got some sort of cross over, kind of house but no house, certainly not the very generic stuff anyway. The Salt City Orchestra & Attaboy stuff had a big effect on me and from the more organic side of things Faze Action, Ashley Beadle etc but to be brutally honest there s not much within the house scene that s really moving me at the moment, although maybe Rithma looks promising, I need to check out his album.

Mark: I grew up listening to the usual suspects - Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Miles Davis etc and bucketloads of Mowtown, ’cause my Mum s a big fan of all that stuff.
Recently I ve been listening to a lot of Bill Evans - He played with Miles Davis for years and is one of the most sensitive pianists I’ve heard - he just blows me away with his use of melody and the way he always finds that chord. I don t listen to Herbie Hancock that much anymore (’cause I know every track inside out) but he was and still is a massive influence on not only me but most of my peers as well... Where would we be without “Sextant”, “Head Hunters” and “Secrets”? I m listening to the older, darker and funkier side of Latin - Otto, Tenorio Jr, Airto Moreira etc.
Also for the first time in years I m buying loads of new stuff as well. Labels I m feeling include Freerange (obviously), Disorient, Ubiquity, Mr Bongo, Compost, Big Dada, Out of the Loop, Verve, Blue Note.... the list goes on...

DHN: Who else from Manchester has contributed to Moodswings ?

Nic: Well we ve got stacks of musicians playing on the album, most of whom also play with us live. Jason Brown is our guitarist, a totally outstanding talent, loads of energy and enthusiasm for his instrument which comes out when he s in the studio and on stage. He s from Northern Ireland but you can t have everything! Spanish vocalist Susanah Montero & flutist Roger Whickam, both from Malena do an outstanding job. Susana co-wrote “El Mar” with us as our Spanish is a bit ropey. Roger is a great flute player & also plays sax for us live - loads of feel, particularly for the more Latiney stuff - He s played with Rae and Christian, Nightmares on Wax and Badly Drawn Boy to name but a few and we ve also got the highly talented Matt Steele from Jersey St. flexing his incredibly nimble fingers on keys.

DHN: Why “Moodswings”? Which of you is the mad one?

Mark: The title doesn t really reflect our mental and emotional states particularly. “Moodswings” comes from the different styles and sounds on the album. That said, the album doesn t veer from style to style radically, we aren t schizophrenics or anything! It s just 11 tracks with different feels and without wanting to sound like to much of a hippy - like a good book, music lets you paint pictures in your mind - so you can make up your own decisions as to which mood you feel suits the track at a particular time.

Nic: Well, that s the official version anyway....

DHN: What is the scene in Manchester like these days? Was it hard finding enough local talent for the “Destination Manchester” compilation?

Nic: Quite the opposite really, squeezing everything on was the problem, we really wanted to try and represent everyone we felt was doing something relevant and worthwhile and to mix up some classic stuff with brand new stuff1 I m sure a few people were pissed off, but we got 17 tracks on their in the end and I think it s very representative and has a consistent flow about it. It s a good historical record of a particular style of music that actually gets little attention here, so from that point of view I think it s been very healthy.

DHN: Was the Hacienda a big part of growing up for either of you?

Nic: Well for me it shaped everything I do, certainly professionally. It s really like a road to Damascus experience and so many people have been affected in a similar way. It s strange though how everyone kinda starts off from the same point musically but develops in such different ways. Pickering & Park deserve all the respect and plaudits for creating a legendary underground club and yet they both end up in a much more commercial arena. I just read the other week that the Chemical Brothers have done a tribute track to the Hacienda, and guess what? So have we, you probably couldn t get more diversely different artists but you trace the lineage and influences right back to exactly the same place and time.

DHN: How will you translate the album onto a live setting?

Nic: We ve been doing the live thing for quite a while now and been all over Europe with it and I think we ve got a good set up that works really well in the club arena, basically the backbone of the thing comes from a DJing perspective in that all the music is mixed, so you get the flow from the backing tracks with the musicians doing their thang on top, this gives us the flexibility to improvise the set reacting to the crowd and one another as we go along. It always goes down really well and it s great to get that feedback on your music, it makes all the hard work really worthwhile.

DHN: Both of you have solo projects. Will these being taking a back seat for a while?

Mark: For the last couple of months I ve spent every day in the studio writing my second Square One album for Jamie Jimpster Odell’s Freerange label. Things are slowly taking shape and we re looking to get it out some time next year if all goes well, and a couple of 12 s with some nice fat remixes. I m also working with various friends of mine producing and recording a load of downtempo stuff. God knows what we re going to do with it but it s nice to take a little holiday from house music from time to time! Then once that s all done and dusted it s back in the studio with Nic to get cracking on the next chapter of the continuing Mettle Music saga.

DHN: Didn t one of you recently set up your own label?

Nic: Yeah, that s right. MettleTrax will be up and running in October, I m taking a bit of a break from the studio and production side of things to concentrate on this for a while. It s gonna be a US based label, this is mainly because we ve always had a stronger following in the states than at home and it s apparent that being a UK house label is not easy at the moment. The first release is by Malena with Spanish vocalist Susana Montero who also features on our album, there s also a great Faze Action remix and we ve done an M Trax dub for it too.

DHN: Any other exciting projects in the works?

Nic: You ll be hearing a lot more of the M Trax stuff which is our slightly more techy/electro house project. Our previous M Trax releases on Low pressings always got great response from DJ s and takes us and our productions to a different audience so we re looking forward to getting the tracks out there and on the dancefloor again.

First single from our upcoming album (with Chris Lum remix) released 15th Sept.
http://www.mettlemusic.co.uk/pages/streams/capture1.ram
http://www.mettlemusic.co.uk/pages/streams/capture2.ram
http://www.mettlemusic.co.uk/pages/streams/capturelum.ram

"Destination Manchester" mix compilation available now on Bar De Lune Records.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/music/2003/04/21/destination_manchester.shtml

Upcoming gigs:

September 26th Cargo, London
September 27th Babuska, Manchester
October 11th Moov@ Hendre Hall, Bangor
www.mettlemusic.co.uk