Check out this new interview with Ned from the Magnet Men, published by Reading-based Breaks night THUMP, in the run up to their event on Friday…
How did you guys get together originally and what brought you guys to the Breaks scene?
We met as art students at Kingston University in 1999 and ended up living in the same house. Adam was heavily into band music like Radiohead, Muse and Deftones and I was into Dance music ie; Happy Hardcore (yep I do dare say it so there!), Jungle and Drum and Bass.
I was also Listening to a lot of Pirate Radio which at the time was all about Garage music and many of the tunes played were re-hashes of my first love Old Skool Hardcore. This really appealed to me as I liked the tempo, the filth and the vibe. We had talked a lot about writing music together and decided this new off shoot of Big Beat and Garage which I had started to Dj as a direct result of listening to those stations would be a good place to start as Adam felt within the genre, he could still use his musical influences… and POW!
The Magnet Men were born: Two Art students who likes cider and loud Music!
What other artists/acts would you say have influenced over the years and how has that influenced your own production.
Musicly we could list tons. Everything ranging from Drum and Bass to Indie, Hardcore to Punk, Film Scores to Electro. Artists such as Radio head, Backdraft, Deftones, Dj Ratty, Mickey Finn, Muse, Vent, Nirvana, Terrafirma, Foriegn Beggars, Jeff Buckley, Noisia, Joy Division, Mob Deep, Prodigy, Altern-8, New order, 2 Bad Mice, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Out Da Ville, Blur, Acen, Bjork, Carl cox, Ellis Dee, John Williams, Queens of the Stone Age, Benga, AFI, Ruffige Kru, Grooverider, Danny Elfman, Gangstar, Dj Seduction, Drumsound and Bassline Smith…
Production wise we love any music that’s designed to make you pollute your knickers! It’s hard to say exactly how one tune or band effects our music. In the studio we might compare our mixdowns or maybe it’s a melody that is inspired by a particular composition. It’s all relative I guess.
The Hardcore Beats/720Bass camp, of which you two have played a central role for many years, is responsible for some of the heaviest music to come out of the Breaks scene. What is it about the tearout sound that resonates with people?
I can’t really speak about other people but for me because Drum and Bass has tempo on its side Breaks has to engineer that energy through interesting percussion arrangement, weird bassline sounds or hooks and clever writing.
As a result can go in as many directions as you want it too. It has space to experiment, to push boundaries, It can have as many influences as you care to mention but it’s always aimed at being party music. (though no one has taken advantage of Country Step yet!) Tearout is an unethical mix of brutal beats, epic melodies and obnoxious basslines that are so down right filthy and grimy they can really make a dance floor go bananas!!! Its fun and it’s badass so there!
What’s your opinion on the state of the Breaks scene today?
Well, I can only really talk about the grimy side of Breaks though much of what I say is relevant to all forms of Breakbeat. If I’m honest I find in this country Breaks is a dirty word. People have got into electro, Figit and Dubstep in a bid to find the ‘filth’.
As a direct result of this shift in interest producers lost there way a little (some even stopped completely). Its hard to say why exactly and it can’t of helped that in the last five years people have changed the way they buy their music. Vinyl’s fallen away and many labels have packed up. All this has definitely dented the popularity of ‘Breaks’ and it’s in a bit of a lull at the moment. Still, out of the fire and all that!
There is some awesome music about at the moment and what with Dubstep using more breakbeats in its programing I really feel passionately that we’re on the verge of some really exciting new music from very different backgrounds and influences (Vent, Noisia, Reso anyone?) and you can call it what you want it’s all in the same ball park. Having said that, ‘Breaks’ still smashes the south of Spain, America and eastern Europe so there plenty of life in our faithful friend!
Every headliner we meet seems to have some dodgy gigging story. What’s the strangest gig you guys have played?
Well not sure about strangest… Maybe an old Orchard, that was a pretty good party (and by sun up we’d run out of mixer for our vodkas and substituted it for Cider of all things!? That may well have added to why it was pretty strange!) I guess the biggest scrape was probably when I went to Belarus.
Wicked party but on the way back to the airport the next day the car broke down (a few times!) and they wouldn’t let me on the plane. My visa had run out too and as a result I was an Illegal Immigrant! Try that on in a communist Dictatorship! Everything worked out in the long run and besides water torcher isn’t all that, and I don’t need all my toes anyway! (actually all was okay, the promoter was wicked and after being stressed out by the Stazi, he sorted it all out and I got the next flight out…)
This, by the way, is my only printable story…
What advice would you give to young producers looking to start out and get their music heard?
Geez, I’m not sure. Keep listening to as much music as possible for ideas, samples and inspiration. Analyze your favorite producers and try and glean as much as you can from their work. Get involved in production forums, YouTube has loads of tutorials from top producers and basically if you feel your there or there abouts, send it to the labels you like or indeed the Dj’s and producers who you feel would like your stuff.
Ask for feedback and most importantly don’t be put off. It’s really tough out there but hell, it’s worth it!
All Magnet Men releases also have a uniquely visual element to them – in the form of some truly striking artwork. As awesome graphic artists, how important do you think it is to use strong visual stylings to accompany your music?
I think the way Adam constructs most of his melodies actually paints strong imagery anyway and lends itself to a different medium but as both of us work in the art industry as a way to put Marmite on the kitchen table I guess we were always going to be about imagery in all its forms.
It’s all part of the same creative beast so it was natural to include it in what we do. Its all part of what we’re trying to say, it’s all a statement. We want to stand out and we want to be our own brand. Music: check, Artwork: check, now all we need is matching shell suits with our names on!
What does the future hold for The MagnetMen!?
Well that’s a big question! Get a quicker turn over of tunes released for one thing. We haven’t yet captured anything like the following we want because we’ve been working on getting our sound to a good enough standard so have not had a chance to build up momentum.
Now we feel we’re there I think all we can do is put good music out there and hope that people will get it. I guess it’s about preaching our gospel and Get people excited about this music form again. Basicaly smash as many parties to peaces as humanly possible!
Oh and personally I’d like to start up my own sex cult…
Catch Ned from the MagnetMen Live at Bar Iguana in Reading alongside a selection of THUMP’s very best residents for a night of belly-shaking Breaky badness! 
Nice interview! Magnet Men rock! Keep pumping out those quality tunes guys!!!!