Can you tell us a little about your history? Where are you from / how did you get into music originally?
David: I’m from Blackburn, Lancashire whilst growing up there was a big movement in my area ‘The Blackburn Raves’. I just loved everything about it and that’s when I bought my first 1210’s!
Suddi: I grew up a few miles from the Hacienda and started going after I discovered House and Acid and also went to the Blackburn raves where I met Jonathon who I formed Together with and released Hardcore Uproar that was the big break for me and led to a life in music.
Who have been your main inspirations (both musical and in «life»)?
David: It might sound a little cliché but it has to be my father, he was a drummer! He supported and funded a lot of my musical quests when I was younger!
Suddi: Musically, DJ has been a huge inspiration having co-invented the genre Acid House and in life (and also musically) both Aphex Twin and The Future Sound of London who have both on more than one occasion managed to move the goal posts of where the scene is heading and are 2 of the the most prolific artists I know. Neither can do any wrong.
Setting up a label is a big step, how did «Hello World» get going?
David: Although I had known him for some time through the scene, I booked Suddi for a night in Todmorden where he played a live Acid set for me, We made so many connections that night, it was a truly memorable experience. We met a few people who gave us tracks that we both wanted to sign and Suddi and I ended up setting up a label to release the music. We weren’t sure how things would pan out at the time but since then we have signed many of our favourite artists which has been beyond a dream. We have massive plans for the next year with merchandise, events and physical releases on the cards.
How would you define the sound of your label?
We are both making a lot of music right now so we have defined the sound around what we are doing. It’s a mix of Acid, Electro, underground House, experimental electronic music and sounds that are from the future. We don’t really have any limits to what we are putting out. We even have some more commercial music on the cards with an indie band we produced and made dance floor ready. A diversion from what our main sound is about but an indication of our openness.
Do you have a specific visual style to go along with the music?
I’d describe it as futuristic and abstract. We are very lucky in that we work very closely with a very talented artist Chandon O’Leary. Check his Behance account out. He is incredible and we are very lucky that we have a very close connection to him as he loves what we do and we love what he does! It’s one of those beautiful symbiotic relationships.
If you could sign a record from any artist – who would be your dream signing?
Hard question because we’ve already signed so many of our heroes! Posthuman, Acidulant, Type-303, Justin Robertson!
Tell us about the new album just about to release, how did you find the artist?
Twitter! We commented on how much we loved their sound and they sent us an album to listen to, we loved it so much we just had to sign it!
How do you approach A&R for the label in general?
For most of our bigger names it has been pretty simple as they have presented us with tracks that any label would accept, they’ve been so good. For some of the newer acts we have had a fairly long and selective process. We have meetings with them (albeit remotely since covid!) and get to know them personally. We often sit on music for quite a long time and even though sometimes we feel fairly sure we want to sign an artist we sometimes let our professional friendships form and really get to know and understand them. We have been very lucky in that all the artists are doing what they do because of their deep passion for music and we try to connect with that so we can help nurture the sound. There are few people on our label that we saw massive potential in but we felt needed a little production polish and in those circumstances we stepped in either pointed them in a certain direction or gave their tracks a little once-over. We are careful never to be controlling, all of this is with their blessing of course. It has worked out massively so far and as a result we have a few very exciting projects from unknown artists coming up.
Can you let us know your all time top 5 tracks?
David: Josh Wink – Higher State of Consciousness, Sasha – Expander, Luke Vibert – Breakbeat Metal Music, Claude Von Stroke – Who’s Afraid of Detroit, Hocus Pocus – Hip Hop feat The Procussions.
Suddi: Phuture – Acid Tracks, Aphex Twin – Mini Pops 67, Sound Synthesis — Electric Flux, Hashim – Al Naafiysh (The Soul), Kraftwerk – Computer World.
What projects are you working on for the future?
Well we’re waiting for our vinyl releases which are very exciting! We have a couple of other things in the pipeline which we can’t really talk about but we will be announcing ‘Hello World’ events in Manchester & London very soon!
