Interview: Dom Smart on quitting Far Too Loud and a bright future as Neurodriver (free tunes inside)

Anyone who's been loving their breaks over the past few years can't have failed to have come across the brilliant Far Too Loud, a youthful south coast duo whose techy, glitchy psychedelic sound placed them right at the top of their game with anthems like Play It Loud and their blistering remix of Hedflux's Music is My Weapon. So it was with some shock and disappointment that we heard that Dom Smart (above) is leaving the act to concentrate on his nascent Neurodriver project and new label Broken Robot.

The other half of the partnership, Oli Cash, will be continuing as Far Too Loud, with unconfirmed rumours suggesting an electro house direction is planned (though new track Dancefloor Destroyer on his MySpace suggests there is new breaks material too). Let's hope we'll be able to enjoy plenty more FTL breaks anthems in the future. In the meantime, Neurodriver is already shaping up nicely, with his debut release, Sidewider/Robofunk (out this week) having shocked quite a few people who never thought they would be a fan of electronic music dubbed "psychedelic". We grabbed Dom for a quick Q&A about his plans for the future, and the reasons for the split.

• Click here to download two wicked new Neurodriver tracks for free, courtesy of Broken Robot.

What lay behind the decision to set out on your own, just as Far Too Loud have achieved a new level of notoriety?

My tastes and influences had been diverging from Oli's for a while, and in the end the music I was coming out with just didn't fit in with where Oli and Funkatech wanted to take Far Too Loud, so really there was no other option.

Are you still good mates with Oli FTL?

Yeah we still get along fine

What will be different about the Neurodriver sound?

The Neurodriver sound represents a natural evolution of what I was doing with Far Too Loud, rather than a radical change in direction. The music which I'm releasing this year was in fact originally conceived as Far Too Loud, and if you ever heard Oli and I do a live PA the chances are you'll recognise some of them. Moving forward, I'll be developing the heady, techy sound that has been my trademark and weaving in some of my current influences: you're going to be hearing less in the way of big breakdowns and choppy edits, and more in the way of relentless heavy grooves that build over time.

Psychedelic breaks doesn't at first seem like the biggest money making enterprise? Are you bothered at all by commercial motivations?

Musically, I need to write what I'm feeling and I'm not really very good at adapting what I do to suit external considerations. That was the primary reason I couldn't continue to play a part in Far Too Loud and that's why I'm doing my own thing on my own label now.

Having said that, I'm pretty skint!

What artists from outside (and in?) the breaks scene have influenced your psy leanings?

I'm not sure I could mention any specific artists ... it was more the effect that hearing that music had on me when visiting events like the first Glade festival - where there was breaks, psy etc. all in the same field. I always liked the wacky sounds and high production values of psy-trance, but wasn't so keen on the repetitive basslines, so combining elements of the two was just part of the natural process of writing music for me.

Broken Robot is already doing incredibly well at a very early stage. Tell us a bit about how that came about and your plans for the future?

Broken Robot was first conceived towards the end of last year when I got chatting to Mart RMS and we decided to go into business together and start a new record label. From the start we decided that the label had to have a strong brand, with a consistently high quality of releases and a unique music policy. In this digital age, there are a lot new labels springing up with a "throw lots of shit at the wall and see what sticks" approach to releasing music, and it's made music shopping a real nightmare for the consumer because there are just too many new releases to wade through, many of them of questionable quality. We're hoping that by driving quality as well as offering a unique sound, people will sit up and take notice.

As for the future, we've got a good strong lineup of releases for the rest of the year, including the debut singles from RMS & Peak and Mr Snook, plus some more stuff from me in conjunction with Atomic Drop. We're also going to be doing some more giveaways as part of the newsletter - this month I'm going to be writing some tips for budding producers, and in the future we'll be giving away sample packs and some more free tunes. Sign up at www.broken-robot-records.com if you haven't already.

What's your take on the nascent "acid breaks" scene, which you've been labelled as part of?

Whether you could call it a scene yet I don't know, but I've always been a big fan of squelchy filtered noises and it's cool to see that these are creeping back into the breaks sound again. I think everybody needs to get over the acid = 303 thing though because that sound's been rinsed so much in the past. In fact, this question has inspired me as to the subject of the production tips article I'm going to write first: "Neurodriver's guide to good acid" Haha!

What do you think breaks needs to do to get back in the limelight, get more press attention etc?

I can't say I rightly know, but I do think that the prevalence of cheesy anthems and shit bootlegs has lost breakbeat a lot of the credibility that it once had, and sadly a lot of people turn their noses up at the whole genre now. Personally I'd like to hear a shift away from one dimensional bangers, back to tunes with some depth to them.

What are your plans for the future as Neurodriver?

I've just released my debut EP this week, and I'll be looking to follow that up with another release on Broken Robot in a few months' time. In addition to that, I have a breaks collaboration with Gaudi which will be coming out on his album "No Prisoners" very soon, and a techno release on the newly re-established Flying Rhino label. Gig-wise, I'm DJing a bunch of shows this autumn mostly around the UK, where I'll be road-testing some of the new sounds I've been working on. I'll also be developing a new live PA in time for next summer's festival season, and perhaps giving away a few more free tracks too. Stay tuned!

• Neurodriver's Sidewinder/Robofunk is out now from download stores.