Interview: Shut Up and Dance on two decades in the music business

Shut Up and Dance have been busting out booming breakbeats since 1989, and have just released a new compilation celebrating 20 years in the game, which they will launch at the Rhythm Factory in London's east end on Saturday night. We grabbed five minutes with PJ and Smiley to find out what's kept them at the top for so long

Twenty years is a huge achievement for being involved in music culture. You guys need no introduction, but can you give us a brief history of how you got started and how your careers have developed from ’89 to ‘09?

We were both crazy about hip-hop and lived the whole lifestyle, entering dance battles and competitions, buying the music and going to the gigs. We also had a sound system called Heatwave, which was owned by all of us, Smiley, PJ, Daddy Earl and Hype.

The label started because basically we couldn’t get a record deal. We didn’t intend to actually start a record label in the beginning, but we kept getting turned down when we approached other labels with our demo tape, so in the end we said, “Screw dis” or words to that effect and decided we were gonna do it ourselves. We‘ve just tried to steadily build our sound and style over the years, always trying to move forward with a positive vibe.

The new album How the East Was Won is a massively comprehensive collection of your productions set over three discs, and I’m sure it’s easy to be proud of each track. But if push came to shove, which tracks do you regard as your finest work?

There’s so many for different reasons, 5678 'cause that was our first release that started the whole Shut Up And Dance movement, The Green Man 'cause that was so ahead of it’s time, obviously Raving I'm Raving for the way that track simply took the country by storm, Reclaim The Streets 'cause we actually got to do a collaboration with our good friend Hype, Heaven on Earth - is a lyrical classic, the list goes on baby.

Over the 20 years of releases, the SUAD sound has defined as well as developed with the times. I hear an album of new material is due in 2010. What can we expect from this?

We’re working on a new sound, something to shake us up a bit musically, so watch this space, it’s sounding PHAT so far …

On your debut album Dance Before the Police Come you guys rapped about the lack of effort other artists were making to find new breaks. Two decades on and classic breaks have made a major comeback. Do you still have the same stance as back then, or are the newer generation managing to breathe new life into the beats? No one is thinking of leaving the country because the Funky Drummer is back in fashion this time, are they?

We still think peeps could and should spend more time perfecting their beats. The sign of a good track is when just the beat alone makes you wanna ‘shock out’ before you’ve even added anything else on top.

You guys were first on the scene when it came to MCing over the breakbeat rave sound back in the day, and this is something that has remained essential to the genres that have extended from that scene, such as jungle and garage. Mid-tempo breaks have less of a reliance on the MC at parties though. Why do you think this is? Can the scene benefit from that extra aspect at events?

That’s a very good question. We think it can - it's all about a balance, a good MC can bring most places to life. Back in the day (going back to the sound system days) MC’ing was about entertaining the crowd and getting em lively, getting em to feel the vibes you're trying to project. It wasn’t about just grabbing a mic and spitting lots of lyrics. The breaks scene as a whole didn’t really take to the MC thing, but when we’re out on the road DJing we’ve shown it’s a formula that works well.

SUAD were famous in the early 90s not just for their own productions, but also for delivering massive tunes for the likes of Nicolette, Peter Bouncer and the Ragga Twins. Can we expect to hear any more productions for other artists?

The way the whole music industry is at the moment, it's hard to invest in artists. If you aint on X-Factor, sales are slumping. This is a killer for independent labels like ourselves. But who knows? We may dabble with a few select artist in the future.

The music industry can be a tough business, and after the massive turmoil you guys faced with regards to the sample and copyright cases brought against you back in the 90s any lesser group would have called it a day. But you are still both going strong today with a massive cult following. Unofficial sampling and mash-ups are now common place, and it seems the industry is only just starting to accept this by allowing people to use words like “featuring” on underground tunes. Is this a good compromise, or should producers just carry on regardless?

Well the music business is just that, a business, if a track's been done and it's decent quality we think artists should grant permission for its use. As Tesco’s motto says, “Every Little Helps”. In these days of declining music sales, all heads should come together and strike a deal where all parties are happy.

The DIY attitude is very much in full swing thanks to the blueprints laid down by yourselves and other early pioneers of dance music, as well as having the internet available, making the whole business of getting your tracks heard, networking for gigs, or starting up a digital label a lot easier. Is there any advice you would give to people just starting out in the underground music business?

Make sure you truly enjoy it, cause there will be some testing times. Get clued up on the business side of things, marketing, etc. All the boring stuff really.

On November 21st 2009 you are celebrating the launch of the new album How the East Was Won at the Rhythm Factory in London. What can we expect to hear at this show?

Well you’re gonna hear us drop a lot of our material from down the years, much of the stuff from the “How The East Was Won” compilation, and Peter Bouncer’s gonna be joining us to perform “Raving, I'm Raving” plus some other Shut Up and Dance classics. On the bill we got people like Rennie Pilgrem, Swifty B, Soto, Ellis Dee, plus loads more, so it should be banging.

Smiley and PJ, can I just say thank you for spending time to answer these questions for thisisbreaks.com and are there any final messages, musings or acknowledgments you would like to mention for all the fans that have followed you over the years, new and old?

Yeah, it's been a pleasure. Come down to the album launch night party and say hello. Also don’t forget to buy your copy of our How The East Was Won compilation. Plus we've got a Shut Up And Dance artist album coming out sometime in 2010, so stay tuned for that. For further info check out our MySpace page and the official Shut Up And Dance website.

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