FACTOR X
How did you get involved in making music?
”Factor X is myself, Jennifer Byrne and Louise Noonan; myself and Louise have known each other for years and we’ve always loved dance music and clubbing. When I went to college I got to know someone who produced their own music, so I persuaded him to let me go to his studio and learn the basics. For about two years I leant how to use his studio and then I invested in my own studio. Myself and Louise, who had been studying as well, started working on music together. We also have a vocalist who works with us.” |
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Why did you enter Sonarstate?
”I think it’s the biggest thing that’s happened for unsigned dance music artists. We’d finished a demo and by chance saw something about Sonarstate, thought it was a fantastic opportunity and entered. I wouldn’t have though that they would got so many quality entries shows that there are so many promising producers out there.”
How would you describe your sound?
”It’s quite difficult to nail down into one particular area, we’re very influenced by various producers. Our older material is more techno oriented, but the music we’re making at the moment is house music with an experimental edge. At the same time, we don’t want to limit ourselves to any one sound.”
What producers do you rate?
”For me, the biggest and most significant dance act is Orbital. They were the reason I got into dance music in the first place. I also love producers like Richie Hawtin. There’s no particular style that I’d favour over another.”
Unfortunately, it’s still quite rare to see women producing dance music. Do you think there’s still too few female producers?
”Yeah, there’s still very few women making dance music. Having said that, it’s changing; you’re seeing more and more women producers and DJs. If you look at the recent 100 Top DJs poll in DJ Magazine there are eight women in the Top 100 this year as opposed to two in 1999. There’s definitely more women doing it and this in turn will encourage and give more women the confidence to get involved.”
Do either of you DJ?
”We have turntables and, in the past we’ve played warm up slots because we ran a few club nights. If you make music it’s also important to see it from a DJ’s perspective too.”
Are you nervous about playing live?
”A little bit! It’ll be a bit nerve wrecking but it’s also something we’re looking forward to doing. It’s a great chance for people to hear our music and we’ll be using live musicians - a drummer, a percussionist and our vocalist, so it should sound good!”
Will you be happy if you win?
”We’ll be delighted! At the moment we both have day jobs, so it’s something we can only do in the evenings and at the weekend, so to be able to do something we love twenty four hours a day will be fantastic. It’s a great opportunity.”
Will you be pissed off if you don’t win?
”No, we’ll just keep doing what we’ve been doing for the last five years. We really want to get our material released; if this doesn’t work out we’ll just go somewhere else to get it released. Failing that, we’ll just put it out ourselves!”
