Tone Idle are duo James Matlock and Marc Manning who along with their bass-filled synth-accented electro tunes featured on the blog a while back – they’ve been busy mixing and making new tunes lately so it’s ripe time for a for a quick chat.
The premise is simple, the band share their top three answers to three questions, so here goes!
Tone Idle’s three biggest influences and why?
1. It starts with groups from before our time such as Earth Wind and Fire, Kool and the Gang, Funkadelic, Gap Band, Prince, Tower of Power, the Brothers Johnson etc. They wrote some timeless songs, with great hooks, rhythms and melodies amongst many other things. These guys also supplied with some cool drum breaks, which are still popular today.
2. We’re both fans of metal, mainly for brutal guitar riffs and insane blast beats, stuff like Pantera and Testament, Early Killswitch, God Forbid etc. The stamina involved in performing this stuff live is incredible.
3. Anything that exploits rhythm and tone.
Three favourite remixes/songs of 2010 so far?
1. Zombies For Money – Numbra One (Foamo Remix)
It’s absolutely disgusting filth.
2. Noisia – Alpha Centauri
It’s all about the blend between quite hard-hitting synths and rich sounding 80s-esque pads.
3. A1 bassline – Close to me.
Tasty arpeggios that mix beautifully. Fat Distortion, cool drum patterns and melodic too. Love the way he takes one riff and keeps it exciting.