Ministry of Sound Blog » Blog Archive » Roni Size: 5pm Interview

When Roni Size and Reprazent dropped New Forms in 1997 it turned the music world on its head. Not only was it almost immediately regarded as one of the most seminal albums from within its own genre, it also opened Drum n Bass up to an entirely new audience, winning the coveted Mercury Music Prize that same year. This was something of a shock when standing against the likes of the more established Prodigy and Chemical Brothers, as well as the usual glut of guitar led bands like Radiohead and Primal Scream, but for the first time Drum n Bass was truly being taken seriously by the entire industry.

With the 10 year anniversary of New Forms just passed, Roni has taken the original masters into the studio for a serious reworking, as he attempts to update the sound and bring undeniable classics such as the era-defining Brown Paper Bag to a whole new generation of listeners. It seemed like a good time to speak to the man himself, so Gavin Leversuch had a quick chat with him for today’s 5pm Interview…

What do you think it was about the original 1997 New Forms that caused such a stir, not just in Drum n Bass, but in dance music overall?

“The main boost the campaign had was being nominated for the Mercury. Before that we created a stir, tried to kick down doors, and tried to convince people that it wasn’t just bedroom music, but people found it hard to see it as a live element. It wasn’t until they saw the drummer drumming, the bass player playing and all that alongside the technology that people were finally convinced it was real. All of this gained the respect of the Mercury judging panel.”

When you were making it, did you have any feeling that you were part of something that would turn out to be truly groundbreaking, or did its runaway success take you by surprise?

“Absolutely not, when making the record I was still making music for the jungle scene alongside the album. We were all in a bubble due to the success of Goldie’s ‘Timeless’ and the progression of where the music was going. There were key figures making long players at that time, including Photek, DJ Rap, Adam F, Boymerang, and Peshay. We were all on the verge of something happening.”

What kind of work have you done with the anniversary edition to bring the sound up to date?

“I gave the record a 2008 coat of armour so hopefully it sounds like a record which could have been made today. I’ve also added 4 new tracks and added some of the original 12’s that never made the original album. It was great to go back into the archives and use the original recordings to the best of their ability.”

“The 4 new tracks then joined all the dots between the old and new and gave the album some movement through the different tempos. They came quite naturally once I started listening to the original album again.”

Check out the video to Roni’s New Forms classic ‘Brown Paper Bag’:

Do you think more classic dance albums would benefit from a modern reworking by the original producers? If so, which other album do you think really deserves freshening up?

“Not really, I always said that New Forms was a skeleton of ideas. So first and foremost I did this for me. The record company came to me and said they were going to release a deluxe edition of the album to celebrate the ten year anniversary so I decided that I wanted to finish the project the way it was originally intended.”

Overall, do you think drum n bass is in a better or worse place than when you released the original album?

“D&B is in a much better place for the simple reason that it has now spread to the four corners of the globe. A generation of worldwide DJs and producers; Brazilian, European, Southern Hemisphere etc, have all developed their sound and it’s all identifiable. The genre is definitely more mature with people having distinctive tastes.”

Roni’s Current Top 5:

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