Rudimental 'We The Generation' Interview

Having dominated the charts since 2013 with their debut album ‘Home’, Rudimental are back with their sophomore release ‘We The Generation’, featuring a medley of artists including the late Bobby Womack, Will Heard and up-and-coming vocalist, Mahalia. BBM’s Hannah Shakir caught up with the formidable collective’s Amir Amor in-between recording sessions to find out more about the new album they will be performing during the Australian leg of their world tour this November and December…
Hi Amir, how are you?
I’m good, how you doin’?
I’m good, thank you. So where are you talking to us from?
Actually in London, we just came from one studio and we’re going into another studio.
Recording at this time – it’s 10pm!
Oh yeah, always!
Cool, so the new album… It’s coming out on 18th Septebmer?
Yes, ‘We The Generation’.
It sounds brilliant!
Oh, brilliant, thank you.
So tell us what the concept was behind it?
‘We The Generation’ is a kind of continuation – in a way – of ‘Home’. We carried on writing songs and making music right through the release of that album all the way up until now really. And it’s taken on a more soulful twist. It feels like the best music we’ve written. We’re working so much better with each other, we’ve toured a lot and we’re a lot more comfortable around each other in the studio and all that stuff. So it’s got the same energy and that kind of festival epic moments that we love to do and this time we’ve got the new singers on there – some fresh voices and there’s some legends on there as well like Bobby Womack who we worked with before he passed away. It’s just full of energy – but I think more soulful this time, and I think the song writing this time is just better. So we can’t wait to get it out there. We’ve been playing the songs live actually for a little while now. Generally we write an idea, then we start playing it out before we even finish it, and we get it back into the studio and tweak it, add bits and take bits away. You know we’ll do something live and be like “Oh that sounded sick, let’s get in the studio and record that.” And we get inspiration from that and we kind of feed off each other.

As you were saying, you’ve kept those epic moments and that signature sound of brass and beats going. What is it that draws you guys to that sound? What made that become your signature sound?
We never go in with a tempo in mind or even any sort of genre or anything like that, sometimes we go in there and we end up making a reggae track or sometimes we go and make a drum and bass track. The thing is with all four of us, we have a really wide range of influences and upbringings, so when we come together we bring in a lot. It can go any directions. With us four there’s a mixture of live instrumentation, electronic, we’ve got the rave culture – as that’s where we came from, the grime, the garage, the drum and bass, but also the soulful vocals and you know, we love the festival. We love the gig and the stage, and we love to perform so what naturally comes through is the energy we bring to it. So when we’re making music it’s quite a collaborative process.
You’ve got Mahalia featuring on the title track, how did you come across her?
Mahalia was actually introduced to us through our label a couple of years ago and we’ve ended up doing a bunch of tracks together and we’ve performed together as well on Jools Holland. She’s a wicked talent. With Mahalia, we managed to write a load of songs and out of it came ‘We The Generation’. It feels like it represents the message of what Rudimental is all about.
I really like what you did on the website with the album cover…
With the fans uploading photos? Yeah we don’t really want to be in the limelight and want the music to do the talking, so press images and things like that, there’s a couple but generally we’ve generally been getting inspiration from the people so we asked them to submit loads of photos to us, and there’s some wicked stuff in there. So we’re kind of working on integrating that into an album cover as we speak. It’s an inclusive thing, it’s not about four guys, it’s about the family, the generation, so I think doing something like an album cover that involves a lot of people is interesting.

Last time we spoke, you were saying about how you guys are really involved in the community in London, and you obviously nurture up-and-coming talent too. How do you go about finding these new artists?
We’ve got a studio in East London where we’ve been based for many years now. And a lot of artists come through, it’s kind of a social area, it’s not a typical recording studio. We have a lot of randomness going on… it kind of just works. I don’t think any of us can put our finger on how we do it.
You’re heading out to Australia towards the end of the year and you’ve got a few days in-between gigs so will you be exploring much?
Yeah, we’ve got a little bit of exploring time so it would be great to see a bit of the nature of it and explore the people also, you know. We usually get a day off in the places that we visit. We’ve been to Sydney and Melbourne, and you get a little taste of it, and it’s just become one of our favourite places. It literally is our second home. We’re so connected to the scene out there, so we just can’t wait to come back. Like I said, it’s our second home.

Rudimental Australian Tour Dates

27th November – Eatons Hills Hotel, Brisbane
1st December – Metro City, Perth
8th December – The Forum, Melbourne
10th December – Enmore Theatre, Sydney
More info + tickets >>>