Page 35 - Zone Magazine Issue 011

ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 35
" The main reason we work with local MCs is because it’s easier to get a vibe going with friends in the studio rather than putting a track together over the internet with someone who lives at the other end of
the country. "
There seems to be an all out revolution going on up in Manchester musically these days. It's obviously always been a musical hotspot but more recently the hiphop, Grime acts are blowing up. From the outside looking in, it would appear that a lot the different acts, crews seem to be supportive of each other. Is this the case> Can you tell us a little bit about this and what the current climate in Manchester is for Hiphop, Reggae, Bass Music parties, shows and festivals?
Manchester’s music scene is more buoyant than it’s ever been since I’ve been living here. Not just in terms of main stream success but also when it comes to independent acts making an impact both nationally and internationally. We’ve just been at Boomtown where we were part of a Manchester takeover on the Poco Loco stage with DRS, Levelz, Jenna & The Gs and Red Eye Hi-Fi. It was pretty much at full capacity, 1 in 1 out all night. Manchester is big enough to be diverse but small enough that everybody knows everybody. Add that to the fact that some
musicians are in multiple groups and it makes total sense for us all to support the same scene. Other independent acts like Henge, Werkha, Age of Glass and Shunya have also been picking up gigs across Europe in the last 6 months. We’re hoping to get back out there at the start of 2017.
You guys have come a long way since the inception of The Mouse Outfit. Thousands of fans worldwide, a busy schedule and doing big shows and festivals. Whats the next step and have you any plans for new studio projects and tours for TMO?
We’re about to finalise a few dates in our biggest ever tour for Autumn / Winter 2016. At the moment it looks like there’ll be nearly 30 shows in the UK and Ireland. That will be timed shortly after the release of our remix album and then we’ll be cracking on straight away with new mouse outfit tracks. We’re working in the studio on the instrumentals at the moment and we’ve started on a few demos with vocals... the new album is still in the early stages but we’ll definitely be trying to move forward from the last two
albums with a wider range of styles both in terms of production and vocals.
You are coming to Ireland in Oct. Will this be your first time in Ireland? Can you tell us a little bit about this trip?
We’ve been wanting to come back to Ireland since our two festival shows at Body & Soul in 2015. That was loads of fun and we’ve been getting requests for gigs from fans ever since. It was looking like 2017 would be the year, but a late shout for a booking in Cork came in so we’re trying to organise a few shows to coincide with that. If this doesn’t happen then hopefully this show will lay the ground work for a more extensive tour in Ireland next year.
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themouseoutfit
Words By Bazza
Pic By Pippa Rankin