If you haven’t heard of Rudimental by name yet, you’ve almost certainly heard their tracks. Known for their encapsulating mix of fast-paced dance rhythms and soul-centric vocal and instrumental work, the London four piece have been churning out earworm after earworm, making them an easy inclusion in everything from video games to car commercials to sporting anthems. That said, for the past few years their status stateside has been on an awkward precipice; they have a strong following and their songs see plenty of use, but even after a series of dates supporting Ed Sheeran they have yet to truly break through.
The same can’t be said for the rest of world. Rudimental became national talk in the UK in 2012 when their stunning collaboration with John Newman, “Feel the Love,” hit #1 in the UK singles charts, only the second drum n’ bass track ever to do so. Since then they’ve enjoyed massive success worldwide, headlining festivals and selling out dates handily. Seriously, these guys get billed above Skrillex.
This year, Rudimental looks to take things to the next level. They’ve already finished their sophomore album, We the Generation, and will be supporting it with a whopping 23 festival appearances this summer, including US stops at Governors Ball and Bonnaroo. The group’s live set eschews the traditional kitsch of electronic shows in favor of a full band setup, which sees the four members joined by vocalists, brass and live drums. It’s a joyful, overwhelmingly tuneful affair with an appeal that reaches far beyond its electronic roots.
In anticipation of their set today at Governors Ball, we chatted with key jockey Piers Agget about the new album, collaborations and American Idol.
Allston Pudding: We’re a few months away from the second album. What, to you guys, sets it apart from the first?
Piers Agget: I think with the new album we found more soul and funk inside us! It’s an exclamation of us being on the road for two and a half years writing the album and doing the live shows. Moreso than the first, it’s got more live music in it. It’s still got the classic Rudimental sound, but our roots have come through a bit more with the strong soul, funk and reggae influence in there. It happened naturally I think.
AP: Has your approach to songwriting at all since you started?
PA: Well, we’ve become better musicians! Also I feel like we jam more in the studio now. It’s more about creating a groove whereas before we were throwing Logic projects across to each other; creating ideas on our own and then passing them on. Now we just like to get in, with the singer sometimes, or own our own, or with the drummer from the band. It kind of varies really; it’s been quite free. It’s definitely about creating a groove and playing together, because I think playing live on the road made us really lock in as a band.
AP: We the Generation is a very bold album title. How did you come up with it?
PA: Well it’s the title of a song on the album with Mahalia, who is a young, talented singer that we managed to find. It’s basically kind of a bold song. The lyrics we wrote were about standing up for what you believe in, not conforming to what you’re meant to do across the board, whether it be music or rights. It’s about being someone, being an individual and also using the team that you have around you, which kind of encompasses the message of Rudimental. It was one of those things, when we were thinking of album titles and it was sitting there right in front of our face shouting at us. We figured, “why don’t we just call it that? It makes so much sense!”
AP: You guys use a lot of different, really fantastic vocalists. What goes into picking one for a song?
PA: When it comes to picking vocalists, I’d say there’s not really a formula for us. We like to go to open mic nights, we like to go to bars, we like to go to venues and see people perform. We kind of do that still, even though we don’t get much time.
We’ve got a good team around us now, which kind of involved our new label Major Toms. We’ve got great people working for us who believe in the same things we do: having a great voice, some talent and a good spirit. That helps us get to the right people.
It’s also networking. Over the years you meet people in the music industry, you meet people at festivals. You bump into people like Ed Sheeran and Disclosure. All these people are kind of friends because you meet them at festivals. Also, we’re pretty good at just walking up to people and saying “we love your voice! Can you come in the studio with us? Please? Soon?” (laughs)
The album’s got new singers on it, obviously. There’s Will Heard, Mahalia, Anne-Marie; the class of 2015, I like to call it!
AP: Speaking of Ed Sheeran, you had the new song with him, “Bloodstream.” Did that spring out of your tour together last year?
PA: A little bit, yeah. We actually wrote it before that tour, madly, but we kind of finished it on that tour. That tour, we actually wrote some new stuff as well.
It was essentially in LA, originally, when we were working with Ed Sheeran. He’s actually been a mate for quite a few years now but that’s when we wrote the first version of that song. Our version was the original! A lot of people think it was the remix but it was the first version. Obviously he produced his version for his album, which is amazing. Then we have our version that we put on our album that we put out as a single this year. It was kind of a coming-together of his great songwriting and great voice and our production.
Anyway, we were in LA and The Game turned up to that studio session so we did some tracks with The Game. Ellie Goulding sort of passed through too. It was one of those LA moments where all these celebs around, which is a bit weird for us since we’re just some kids from London!
AP: When I saw your live set I was really pleasantly surprised at how well the production elements translated to the full band you had on stage. You talked about how much the live set has influenced the second album- when you’re writing songs do you think about how you’re going to transition them to the live band?
PA: You don’t really think about it actively when you’re writing it, but naturally I’ll imagine us onstage and how it’s going to come across. We write it with a lot of the quick-key instruments like keyboard, guitar, bass or synthbass. It kind of falls into place when we get in the rehearsal room; we kind of all know what parts we’re going to play without talking to each other and just go “right then, let’s give it a go!”
A couple hours later it all makes sense because we wrote it with that subconscious mindset. I’ll always be doing the keys- the organ and the piano parts- on most tracks. Kesi (Drydon) normally gets involved in the basslines, Amir (Amor) does production and guitar and Leon (Rolle, AKA DJ Locksmith) on production. It’s a healthy flow we’ve got going at the moment.
AP: You have quite a few different instruments onstage in the live show. Are you going to have to add any more to accommodate the new songs?
PA: Yes. Will Heard, who I mentioned earlier, is actually a saxophone player so we’ve added him. Now we’ve now got baritone sax, alto sax and trumpet! He’s actually not going to be here for Governor’s Ball, unfortunately, because we couldn’t get him a visa in time. He’ll be with us normally, though. We’ve got a bigger brass section now.
All in all we’ve got four vocalists: Anne-Marie, Tom (Jules) and Bridget (Amofah) and Will comes off from doing saxophone to doing live vocals as well.
It’s gotten a little bit more chaotic, as happens with more people. I don’t think making more money is our prerogative when it comes to a live show. (laughs) It’s quite a big team now, I think 11 of us onstage!
AP: You’ve got a very busy festival schedule this summer. Are there any that you’re particularly excited for?
PA: Well, Governors Ball! I’ve heard lots about it and I can’t wait to play that. There’s some great acts there as well.
Us and Disclosure have created our own festival in the South of England (Wildlife), so that’ll be Saturday. We’ve got to fly over for that, so I hope we don’t have any delays! Then on Sunday we’ve got another festival to headline up in the North of England (Parklife).So yeah, there’s loads of festivals like that!
I think Glastonbury in the UK is one of the biggest moments for us, this year. It’s a great festival, just huge and with great music everywhere; a city of music, sort of like your Coachella, though I think it’s a bit bigger!
Overall though, I we just can’t wait to play the songs off the new album. It’s really exciting for us, almost like starting again. The new album isn’t out until September so we’ve got to win the crowds over a little bit, so that’ll be fun and exciting for us!
AP: Is your experience playing festival sets particularly different from an indoor venue setting?
PA: Yeah, I think so, but I can’t work out which one’s better. You get this energy that you build up indoors that can be really unforgettable… and really sweaty. Then outdoors when the sun is up or it’s the nighttime it’s a whole different magical experience.
That’s a really hard one. I don’t know which one I prefer, I just love them both! Festivals in the sun might sway it though. Especially last year, we did so many summertime gigs and I think that really works well with our music.
AP: A lot of Americans heard your music for the first time when “Not Giving In” was used in some really ubiquitous American Idol commercials. Do you have any thoughts on that kind of televised singing competition?
PA: I’m not really against them, but I’m also not for them. I think that sometimes those programs take away the importance of an artist, the musicality and the writing side, and focus on just the personal story behind someone. It’s more important that they had a hard life or a good life on the program, and that can get confusing for me. I don’t really like watching them personally.
That said, they’ve found some really amazing talent and some great artists. It’s a hard one really. I think there’s a place for them, but it feels like the hype has gone now. Simon Cowell, is he still really loved out here? Is X Factor still happening?
AP: I think X Factor got canceled and now he’s trying to do a DJ show.
PA: (laughs) Yeah, that sums it up. I think it had its life and it peaked. I was never into it. I don’t think it massively helped the music industry. I think it’s better to put focus on real situations and people that are trying to build something organic that’s about nothing but the music. That’s what’s important to us.
Rudimental will be playing Governors Ball at 3:45pm today. They will also be appearing at Bonnaroo on Sunday, June 14. We the Generation will be available 9/18 on Big Beat Records.