FREESTYLERS interview with Aston Harvey

The lovely Aston Harvey, founder of the Freestylers, caught up with me before heading to Spain later today.

You were brought up and lived most of your life in the suburbs of London – how does that lifestyle contradict your constant touring. Do you enjoy it?
I love doing what i do.I guess i'm in a very fortunate position to be in.Think it keeps me quite grounded,but i was a Suburban Boy when i was younger....


How did you get into music scene?
When i was 16 i got my first set of decks and that changed my life.I used to jam in my bedroom with these rapper friends of mine and one day i turned round and said to them maybe we should go to a studio and lay some of these ideas down.We started using this studio quite regularly but at the time i didn't know how to use the equipment,so i wanted to learn.I got a job working at this particular studio and soon i picked up a lot of the technical side of things quite quickly.After a while i really got into the whole beat making process and was flying at doing my own productions,my first outing being an underground classic which i recorded under the name Blapps Posse.I started making music at the time when it was the birth of the whole Dance Music scene in the UK.


How has music production changed in the 30 years since you’ve been involved?
Production has changed so much since when i first began.The first sampler i used you only had 8 secs sampling time,which is a blip in todays terms.The programs you use nowadays are so powerful along with computers.There's no restrictions with what you can do now.20 years ago you would have a studio full of drum machines, keyboards and a big mixing desk,but now all you need is 1 keyboard with one big computer and you're sorted.


You do live shows as well as dj sets - which do you prefer and why?
I enjoy both for different reasons but they are both as rewarding as each other,although doing band shows involve at lot more effort with team work and rehearsing.


You've just had a new track come out Bounce to This (Pete Jordan Rmx)is there anything else in the pipeline?
We've got a single coming out called "Cracks "in July which features the vocal talents of Belle Humble and another single in Sept called Frozen.We've been working on an Album that we hope to be out early next year as well.


When can we expect to see you on our sunny shores again?
Hope to be back at Xmas.....


Thanks Aston - we hope to see you soon!