They’ve mixed some of our biggest compilation releases, sold over 1 million copies and certified themselves as household names - The Wideboys return with the biggest bass collection to date, Addicted to Bass 2013!   

 We caught up with the guys to talk bass, bass and a bit more bass!

Hello there Wideboys! Where are you in the world right now and what are you up to? 

Right now we are in the Southcoast of England in the studio working on some fresh material. It has been snowing outside so we have been warming up the speakers inside :)

We are looking forward to a hot summer! 

 After selling 1 million compilation albums with Ministry of Sound, what can we expect from the latest Addicted To Bass instalment?

We have given the latest instalment a completely new twist with a new disc arrangement and have evolved musically and sonically since the last release.

We have brought in whole barrage of warm bass tracks and skippy beats for the Spring and Summer to put a smile on people’s faces.

 What do you think of Bass music in 2013?  

It is so diverse and refreshing. Scenes are constantly evolving and new producers, artist and djs are coming up through the ranks quicker than ever. 2013 is the biggest  year we have ever had for Bass music and most wide spread in terms of international development and recognition.

  How do you think it will continue to evolve in the future?  

 Production and Bass music will become increasingly more diverse and interesting. With the availability of amazing music programs like Cubase and Serato and high powered computers, plug ins and laptops becoming much more wide spread and easily obtainable, the future is looking very bright for music, video and also design. When we started you needed a huge investment of thousands to start a studio, you can now obtain similar results for hundreds.

 How was it selecting tracks for Addicted To Bass 2013? Did you want to try something different this time around?

 We have formed a great relationship with MOS and this time round the team has been extremely strong, with the 4 main contributors being real music lovers. We always want to reflect what we

are doing in the clubs and on our radio show and bring that to the masses and with the huge inclusion of Deep House and Garage esque beats alongside the best EDM and Drum & Bass that have been in our sets of late, this is reflected in the album. 

This is your 9^th Addicted To Bass compilation album you’ve mixed, you’ve fully cemented yourself on the dance scene - what’s your highlight so far?

 There have been many for many different reasons but these are highlights - hitting 1 million sales with Ministry of Sound, joining Kiss Fm, producing for some of the world's biggest artists and appearing on Top of the Pops.

How has your own sound evolved since you started out producing/DJing?  

We started back on Atari St's with Akai Samplers, and belt driven turntables with extremely heavy record boxes.  What took us literally days to do in the 90's we can doing in seconds these days. Keeping up with technology is a real benefit and enjoyable part of what we do. Our sound has and continues to evolve month in month out and this is what spurs us on to remain fresh.

What tracks are you most excited about right now?

We are most excited about tracks by these artist at the moment - Disclosure, Majestic, Tantrum Desire, Nick Thayer, Zedd and Lazy Rich.

Finally, what 3 words would you use to describe Addicted To Bass 2013?

 Amazingly Delicious Bass

Addicted To Bass is out now. Available from

3CD & Digital Download - click here

iTunes - click here

Google Play - click here

On 23rd February, Dutch dynamite Fedde le Grand returns to Ministry of Sound for his first London Takeover of 2013. And not content with taking over London, Fedde is also taking over the world with his label Flamingo Recordings, which he co-founded with fellow Dutch DJ Funkerman and super-producer Raf Jansen. Since its inception in 2004, Flamingo has risen to become one of the top dance music labels in the world; and with smash hits like Put Your Hands Up For Detroit, Let Me Think About It, The One, Remember and 3 Minutes To Explain all flying from the Flamingo nest and a music policy of quality over quantity, it's no wonder.

Focusing on his label manager rather than DJing talents, we caught up with Fedde for an exclusive interview to delve deep into the origins of Flamingo, how it has become so successful, the challenges and advantages of running a record label in the digital age and much more. Over to you, Fedde...

Hi Fedde! First off, can you tell us more about the idea behind Flamingo Recordings? Where did it all begin and what inspired you to create the label?

Flamingo Recordings was born out of a desire to break the ‘formula’ mould that dance music - particularly in the Netherlands - seemed to be in the grip of. There was a lot of music coming being released in our country at that time and it was making a lot of money, so there came to be this formula that the record execs and A&R guys wanted everyone to stick to because they knew that it worked as far as selling records went. But for me, Raf and Ardie (Funkerman), that wasn’t what we were all about, and it wasn’t the sound that we were making. We wanted to gain absolute freedom - that’s why we became artists in the first place. Starting our own label was the logical step to take to gain absolute musical freedom and not be led by A&Rs who were strictly sales-driven. We got turned down by a lot of people who either weren’t feeling our sound, or who liked it but didn’t think that it would sell well. So that’s why we started the label, and it's turned out rather well I’d say ;) The label now has turned into an amazing tool to push and support artists that I think have an original and own sound. The ones that might not find a spot with others should always have a spot with us. We support creativity, not just sales / marketing. We’re artist-driven rather than sales-driven. Whilst succeeding at both :)  

Did you have a clear vision as to what direction you wanted the label to pursue when you started it, or was there a degree of uncertainty?

For everyone involved, the most important thing was that we held true to our musical beliefs and styles, our integrity. The whole reason for Flamingo’s creation was because we wouldn’t compromise our sound just to make money, and that still holds true today. Without any creative compromise we've managed to become one of the top five labels in the scene today. So it turns out you can have the best of both!
 
To what extent do you feel constricted by trends when choosing which artists to support and music to release?

I don’t, it’s as simple as that. I’m not doing this to be trendy or fashionable, and if I don’t like a song, I don’t care how big it is, I won’t play it. I support artists and tracks that I’m feeling, that I get excited about, music that makes me want to move, that makes me want to get straight into the DJ booth just so I can drop it out for the crowd. If I love it then I’ll support it and I’ll play it out. That’s all there is to it.
 
Considering there are three of you running Flamingo, do you ever find yourselves clashing over the label's direction?
 
No, we’ve divided the tasks very clearly at Flamingo and we’ve known each other for such a long time, so there never are any issues whatsoever.

How do you approach honouring the vision of your artists, while also honouring your own vision of the label?

Sometimes we sign an artist for 1 or 2 tracks, and sometimes we sign an artist who musically and sound-wise fits us very well. The challenge is to search for artists that fit very well with your vision from the beginning, not to find an artist and have them adapt theirselves to you. This label was created to get away from creative limitations, so we definitely don’t want to oppose such limitations on others.
 
What do you feel are the main hurdles/advantages of establishing a label in this day and age?

The biggest obstacle without a doubt is illegal downloading. I don’t know how much I can say on that subject that hasn’t been said before. Until the industry takes a good, hard look at what’s going on and perhaps steps outside of the box a little instead of trying countless tired, different methods - that, let’s face it, just don’t work - to secure revenue, I think we’re facing an uphill battle.

Advantages – the upside to being digital rather than analogue is that it’s easier to release music, the production costs are far cheaper in some aspects so we’re seeing a much higher production rate of new music. And of course you also reach more people and can establish a really solid fan base.
 
Did you ever anticipate how successful and respected the label would become? And where do you picture the label in a year’s time?

You never know how well anything is going to go when you first start out. You believe in it of course, but you don’t have a crystal ball that tells you everything is going to turn out great. You have to work hard. If we continue to be the creative safe-haven for ourselves and other people that the label has been to date (and still is), then it's worth all the effort.  
 
What other labels and artists do you like, any particular ones you’re rating at the moment?

Toolroom and Spinnin' are great labels, I’ve signed tracks regularly to them and the labels have pretty much the same ethos about commitment to music and artists as we have here at Flamingo, so it’s a good fit.

Finally, you’ve signed some fantastic artists - such as Camille Jones, Ida Corr & Dany P-Jazz to name just a few. Who can we expect to see future Flamingo releases from?

I’ve actually just finished a remix for Nikki Williams which I’m very pleased about. But honestly, as for the rest you’ll just have to sit tight for a bit longer ;)

Luckily though we DON'T have to wait for Fedde to take over London again - roll on Saturday night!

After feeling disheartened with current projects Danny and Alessandro, better known as Flashmob, joined forces five years ago and never looked back! With a string of underground tracks later and a headline slot in the 103 on November 17^th for  Deep House Album launch party, we caught up with Alessendro after he dropped an exclusive Flashmob mix for the 2Deep House show last Thursday

You guys have been really busy since with the release of Need in Me, out on Defected. Tell us all about the record and how has everything gone?

It’s been going great! All the little pieces have fallen nicely into place for ‘Need In Me’ since we changed hands with an agency that are based in the UK. It was great to hear ‘Need In Me’ being played at places like Pacha, Ushuaia, Bloomingdale Beach and, also, being the most sold record on Defected last year – it’s almost at 1 million views on You Tube after only 5 months!

So, it all started with “Brick house” released on Get Physical - are you guys still keeping that underground flavour alive? Has anything changed for you guys?

Not really to be honest, ‘Need In Me’ came out by chance - we didn’t think it would ever be released! We felt the sound in between Need In Me/Brick House wasn’t the right time for us to start shifting away from that kind of “Brick House” flavour, which is what we are right now musically. So that’s why when ‘Hot’ came out we felt it showed a different kind of side to our music. We are also releasing another remix on Get Physical at the end of November of ‘Ninety Five’ plus we’re giving out some music for free to our fans from our Soundcloud page. One track called ‘Sometimes’ was one of Annie Mac’s Free Music Monday’s but you can also find it under our favourites  

You gotten some spins from some of the biggest DJs out there, what was one of your most proud spins?

No doubt, hearing ‘Need In Me’ being played in Ibiza by Pete Tong and by Kerri Chandler in the same week was one of our proudest moments. When that happened, Danny and I just looked at each other and said ‘Ok the record has been understood in some way’. We made it in a real underground fashion but released with some elements that had obvious potentials to make a record that wasn’t just for the underground circuits.

You prepared an exclusive 1 hour mix for the 2Deep House show for last week’s show. What can we expect? 

We started editing tracks and putting in more things from our own sets including a couple of tracks which are working really well that we have no intentions of releasing. So we’ve mixed all kinds of stuff really. Right now I am feeling a record by Julien Sandre called ‘Wanna Be’ and another record I think you should check out is (which I think Pete Tong played last Friday) coming from Dirty Channels featuring Rosina - that one is really really good as well. I am really a big fan of theirs!

You’re headlining the 103 at Ministry of Sound on the 17^th November for the Deep House album launch. Is that the next date you’re in the UK?

Yes, it is as I am on paternity leave soon!  We are playing in Zurich on the 10^th and then coming over to London for the Deep House album launch party at Ministry of Sound. But we will be back before the end of the year – playing at Village underground on December 5^th and also hitting up Manchester and Exeter around then too

Download your copy of Deep House, featuring Flashmob’s track ‘Need In Me’ here

Listen to Flashmob's exclusive mix here

After competing at the London 2012 Olympic Games this summer, the Team GB Rhythmic Gymnasts had a harder task awaiting them at the end – starring in the official video for Michael Woods’ new single ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’. We talk exclusively with Frankie and Lynne...

How did you come to feature in Michael Woods video for ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’

Frankie: We were approached after being spotted at the Olympic Games during the summer. As the whole group was up for it and we arrange the date and went along!

Lynne: The crew we were filming with told us that lots of ideas were pitched from different people and in the end their idea of combing rhythmic gymnastics and lights was chosen!

How did filming go for the video? Talk us through the day...

F: I travelled up the night before so I could arrive early on set and check everything was ok. The others came from Bath quite early the next day - it was a long day but worth it! Once our hair and makeup had been done, we got into our black cat suits and started filming lots of different moves as a group but also individually.

L: The rest of us set off from Bath quite early the morning of our shoot and went straight into hair and makeup before changing into the cat suits. We first filmed in light and then in the dark with the LED light suits. The routine had to be performed quite a few times to make sure we got a good shot!

How soon after the Olympics had finished were you working on a new routine for the video shoot?

F: Filming started a few weeks after the games so we luckily had a routine which we could adapt and didn't need to prepare anything for the video

L: Yeah we simply took parts of our routine from the Olympics for filming and also some individual moves that the directors had seen before and wanted for the video

How was it performing in the 60 LED light/leotard outfits?

F: Unfortunately, due to my injury after the games, I couldn’t take part in the LED bit. But the effects were really cool

L: It was certainly different to performing in our normal leotards! We had to be careful when rolling, kneeling etc but it was really cool to see the end result and it was nice to wear something different!

What 3 words would you use to describe the video?

F: Unique, unusual and creative

L: Different, flexible, fresh

Finally, what’s been the highlight of starring in Michael Woods new video?

F: It's pretty cool seeing yourself and your team mates on music channels like MTV! It's good for our sport also as more people might become aware of rhythmic gymnastics after seeing the video - especially as rhythmic isn't very well known in the UK, but is gradually growing in popularity!

L: I think the hype from the Olympics plus featuring in a music video will really help rhythmic gymnastics and help carry on the hype after the summer

Michael Woods new single 'We've Only Just Begun' featuring Ester Dean is out on October 28th on Ministry of Sound recordings. Pre-order your copy here