On a rainy San Francisco evening, I was able to see one of the most up and coming acts in the scene today, the boys of N.A.P.T. The guys, Tomek and Ashley, are dressed as dapper as two UK blokes can when travelling around the world spinning some of the hardest, beatiest, dirty break and house music imaginable. Tomek in a white t-shirt and light jacket, Ashley in one of the nicest charcoal peacoats I’ve ever seen. Quaffed and trimmed, offering up European double kisses to the ladies, I was hinted by my inner monologue to temper my brash American attitude.
Now, while most people will mistakenly call them Napt, as the word, technically they should be referred to as the acronym N.A.P.T. Why, do you ask? Well, let’s let the boys speak for themselves.
Bn:
Thanks so much for giving us some time to talk. Such an amazing show. We’ve been really watching you take off the last couple of years.
So everyone says 2008 is when you really hit it big, but when did you realize what you guys were doing? That it was getting noticed?
Ashley:
Around then. Well, a bit before. But around then is when the hype started getting bigger.
Tomek:
What it is, is we started doing it, basically because the label we were on.. well, we were kind of floating around. We started making records when we were in university, right? We were just kind of putting things out here and there. Didn’t really know what we were doing that well. Just making dance music. Then the label came on and said, ‘Listen, I want to develop you, I’m gonna do a series for you, and you’re gonna do really well out of it.’ And we were kind of like ‘Is this what we’re gonna do?’ ya know? I mean, we’d been doing some, like, other studio work for other people before that, and so forth, and we were like ok, yeah lets do it. So we did the EP series, with each one kind of getting more people on.
Bn:
Is this the idea where you were releasing everything in 4 parts? N-Funk and such?
Tomek:
Yeah, yeah, the one before N-funk, actually.
Bn:
The contr–
Tomek:
Contrast, yeah.
Ashley:
That was leading up to 2008, that’s what really kind of put us on the map.
Bn:
So it really was that time.
Ashley:
2006, 2007, is when we kind of built. And then 2008 is when it kind of took off.
Bn:
So you guys started in like 2003, just producing in your bedroom?
Tomek:
We went to school together.
Bn:
Did you meet in college?
Tomek:
High school. We’ve known each other since we were like 13. And we’re 30 now.
Bn:
And you guys still like each other. Amazing!
Tomek and Ashley laugh.
Tomek:
Yeah, we really started doing music seriously like 10, maybe 10 and a half years ago.
Ashley:
It’ll be 11 years in January.
Bn:
Well congratulations on that!
Tomek and Ashley both laugh, take a look at each other, seemingly realizing that yes, they still do get along and really do like each other. It’s like two gradeschool friends that never stopped hanging out. I eased up a little. The two of them, and their demeanor, relaxed me and really showed me that despite all the recent success, these two guys were just enjoying the ride.
Bn:
The Cee-Lo Green song. Big song, right? So where’d you get this from? It’s like ‘Oh, I like this YouTube video, I’m going to make a song out of it.’
Tomek:
Well, we started getting this idea that we wanted to, kind of, get the music out there to a few more people. Because, breaks is a bit of a ghetto. So you can do really well with breaks.. we sold a lot of records on Beatport. It was going into the top 20 of Beatport, and that’s cool, but no one really likes… well, other people just want to look in. They go ‘What the hell is a breaks records? Oh, cool, maybe I like this…’ but other than that, it’s hard to get it out to people. So we were looking to do some stuff that we really enjoyed and just give it a spin. But rather than do an edit, since there’s a lot of people who just do edits, we wanted to change a few things. So we were like ‘fuck that’ let’s just sample it..
Ashley:
And make gold records with it.
Tomek:
Yeah, exactly.
Bn:
The old style.
Tomek:
Yeah, as if we were sampling an old disco record. We’ll take a sample of it, we’ll use it in a section, build a whole tune around it, just to try and show people. And we’ve been giving it away for free, as well. Which, is a bit controversial. I mean, it’s other people’s work as well, so we can’t have people pay money for it. But the whole idea was to just get more people, who might be into the more wider variety of good music. You know, the ‘Hey, this is cool music, I’ll check it out, I like these guys.’
Bn:
Well, you get marketed strangely sometimes. The breaks kids know about this but the electro kids don’t. But I know a lot of electro kids that would love to come see you guys. And if it was marketed correctly…
Ashley:
Yeah that’s what we’re doing with these records.
Tomek:
We’re just trying to get the sounds to the moment, we’re doing some more. Releasing a bunch. Cee-Lo Green is like a four to the floor house record, essentially. It’s got loads of breaks in there. So the idea is we’re doing a lot more stuff. Like now, we’re doing like a pop single, at the moment, with a rapper named Bashy.
Bn:
So he laid his vocals over an already existing track? Like an MC?
Ashley:
Not quite the motive. There’s quite a load of that in Europe. And not always an MC. D. Ramirez did it.. No, no Bodyrox did it. You know that tune from 7 or 8 years ago, the electro-house remix that he did. About 2004? Well that went to the charts. Then they put the vocal on it. They do it all the time in Europe, quite a popular thing to do.
We take a moment to just talk, as some of the other artists wander into the interview and start chatting. The conversation flows from the breaks of the songs, to how everyone first heard of N.A.P.T. A good 10 minutes of laughing and enjoying the cool night air after a very hot sweaty night in the club.
Bn:
So where are you guys off to now?
Ashley:
Calgary. Then home. Then, Italy. Then where, fucking Rome? No, Sicily. It’s like 24 degrees.
Bn:
Do you have anything else coming out?
Ashley:
The Bashy track.
Bn:
Well, of course. But everyone has a crate of unreleased material. Anything new coming out you can talk about?
Tomek:
Yeah, the next release is going to be one called Emotion. We’re going to do a three part release. And it’s like two mixes.. one’s like a breaks, musical breaks, authentic KSH-tikata-KSH-tikata-tikata kind of thing. The other mix is more a four to the floor one. Then a dub bpm kind of one.. we play quite a lot of different genres in our stuff, so the idea is to kind of bring it all together, put our stamp on it.
Ashley:
We’ve done a remix for a band called 2000 Fast Women. Go check them out.
Tomek:
It’s a UK rap band that’s a bit scarry, a bit indie. Really cool. And we did their remix.
Bn:
Wow. We definitely will, guys. Thanks so much for taking time to talk to us. Have a safe trip!
For the next 20 minutes, all the artists from the evening got involved and spent the time geeking out on quantizing, the gear and musical production. It was a mess of discussion that happens late at night only between DJs. Tomek and Ashley said their goodbyes and got their ride back to the hotel, before their AM flight.
Just a bit ago, we highlighted the recently released Make My Day with Bashy. We also have the N.A.P.T. remix on there for you. And now, you can pre-order the actual release!
So what about something different from the breakmasters of N-Funk? How about a NAPT vs BASHY vs 2Pac track?
NAPT vs BASHY vs 2PAC - Make My Millionaire.
Also, N.A.P.T. recently released a free mix on their website. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
Make sure you check them out, see them live and take in the music they have coming up! You will thank us!
N.A.P.T. – website | myspace | facebook | twitter | beatport
