InTheNews.co.uk
Breaking News:
Your source for news

In Conversation

 30 August 2008 14:50 BST

Freemasons: It's all turning out quite well

Monday, 23 Jun 2008 12:16
Freemasons: It's all turning out quite well
To coincide with the release of Freemasons' new single When You Touch Me, featuring Katherine Ellis, inthenews.co.uk's Lewis Bazley talks to Russell Small, one half of the uber-successful production duo.

And to mark the occasion inthenews.co.uk has teamed up with Freemasons to offer you the chance to get your hands on a signed copy of their album Unmixed, complete with a brand new disc and exclusive bonus tracks.

Read on for the inthenews.co.uk interview with Freemasons and your chance to win a signed copy of the album.

Hi Russell, how's it going?

Yeah, good thanks, how are you?

Very well, thank you. So, you've got the new single When You Touch Me coming out on the 23rd - after the success of Uninvited and Work, do you think this single could do even better?

Not too sure, we never try and predict anything. It's seen a lot of play and been getting a great reaction at gigs but you can't predict these things. At the end of the day, it's the fifth single from the album so to get five singles from an album is great from our point of view.

How did this single come together - with Love On My Mind, you discovered Amanda Wilson singing karaoke, so how did you find Katherine Ellis?

Well, she's in an act called Bimbo Jones and there was one particularly soulful track and I told James it would sit well on our album. So we got our record company to phone her up and she called back within an hour and we explained we were short on our time but wanted to rework an old a capella of hers. And she picked When You Touch Me, instantly it suited us down to the ground. We just can't believe other producers had turned it down! (laughs)

It's got hit written all over it so it must be a good feeling to bring it out yourself?

It is, yeah. Sometimes other people can't hear these things, so we must have the ear for that.



With a remix like Work, is that case of hearing the song and thinking 'We can do something with this'?

We actually turned Work down to begin with because we were expecting Matthew Knowles - Beyonce's father, who also manages Kelly Rowland - to ask us to do a house mix of the song. And we're very precious about our vocals and when we sped the Kelly Rowland vocals up, it sounded f*****g dreadful. So we went back to them and said we wanted freedom to do what we wanted. And they said we could do whatever we liked! And that song's opened a few new doors for us, production-wise, as people could see we could do pop as well as dance.

Is that how working on the Beyonce album came about?

Well, we put about six tracks in for that but I think she's got Timbaland on it now, so that's fair enough! He's at the top of the game and he's one of our favourite producers so we're using the tracks for other people.

You also worked with Kylie as well, right?

We did, we co-wrote a track on the X album called The One and we also remixed it and now they're releasing the remix, so that's worked out quite well for us! It all seems to be turning out quite nicely at the moment! (laughs)

You and James have been in dance for a long time now, since having a hit with Turn Around in 1999 - what's changed?

It's all gone a bit electro and 80s in flavour these days and obviously you can't help but be influenced by what goes on around you, so we try to fuse different genres. When we get a remix, we don't say we're going to do it in any particular style, we just see how it goes. At the moment, we're doing Moby and it's quite tough and quite proggy, but it's still got that Freemasons sound.

How do you pick potential remixes? Is it just a case of stuff you're listening to, or things you're sent?

We just sit around and go through iTunes and listen to old stuff… At the end of the day, iTunes is a fantastic library and you find stuff you might have forgotten and it has the 'you might like this…' thing as well, and that provides a lot of ideas.

Is there anyone around at the moment that you'd be really keen to remix?

We turned down Madonna the other week! Not because we wanted to but because of a time issue. We've got two more remixes to do, we've just co-produced a track for the Will Young album so we just didn't have time. And we want to make an album at the end of the summer, so we're not taking on new material.

So what festivals have you got lined up before you start on the next album?

We've got Ibiza, a couple of festivals in the UK, we're having a week off at the end of August so I'm going to Bestival to enjoy myself and then we'll get to work on our new album.

Another feature of this summer, even if England aren't in it, is Euro 2008 - who's going to win?

I did want Portugal because I'm a Man United fan but if Ronaldo goes, he's a wanker! (laughs) So I definitely ain't supporting them! I like the Dutch though and the Spanish are looking good. Between the both of them, I prefer the Dutch, they're more like the British, they've got a sense of humour, I've got a lot of Dutch friends as well, so I would say Holland.

One final one - obviously you and Jason Hayward had a massive worldwide hit with Turn Around as part of Phats and Small- are you still in touch with singer Ben Ofeudu? He's obviously a minor celebrity of sorts, thanks to being Vanessa Feltz's fiance.

I speak to Ben every now and again, I've spoken to Vanessa as well, who seems very, very nice, they seem very happy together. I was stunned at first! But they seem very happy though, so I'm glad, because he's a lovely bloke. They did Wife Swap together and it really didn't portray Ben as the character he is, he's just a genuinely nice person. So yeah, if Ben's happy, I'm happy for him!

Great. Well, thanks a lot Russell, good luck with the single!

Thanks a lot mate, cheers!

Lewis Bazley

Freemasons feat. Katherine Ellis' When You Touch Me is released on June 23rd.

And to mark this occasion inthenews.co.uk has teamed up with Freemasons to offer you the chance to get your hands on a signed copy of their album Unmixed, complete with a brand new disc and exclusive bonus tracks.

For your chance to win, just answer the following question:

What chart position did Freemasons' recent single Uninvited reach?

Email your answer to competitions@inthenews.co.uk with 'inthenews Freemasons competition' in the subject line.

This competition closes on July 7th.

Terms and Conditions:

1. The prize is provided by Charm Factory.

2. This competition is NOT open to employees of Adfero, or any agency connected with this competition or family members of any of these organisations.

3. Only one entry per person and you must be over 18 years old.

4. The judges' decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

5. The closing date for the competition is July 7th. The judges cannot accept responsibility for late entries. Proof of sending email or postcard is not proof of receipt of entry. No entry can be accepted if all details are not provided.

6. No cash alternative for any of the prizes.

7. Entrants acknowledge that their entries may be released or displayed to the public by inthenews.co.uk or any agency connected with the competition and as such sign all rights necessary for promotion, publication or of such entries to inthenews.co.uk. Winners agree to grant inthenews.co.uk or any agency connected with the competition the right to use their name and likeness for advertising and publicity purposes without any additional compensation.

8. The competition shall be governed by the laws of England and Wales.End of story


    • Win a Sony PSP & game

      Win the next generation of handheld consoles - The PlayStation Portable or PSP as it is more commonly known. The PSP console not only gives you high quality 3D game play but also lets you watch full-length feature movies, gives you the chance to listen to your music like a walkman and it even lets you browse and display your photographs. Not only will you win the console but also the 3 top PSP games at the time of winning - Great gaming in the palm of your hand!

      Click here to enter

Also In Conversation 

© 2004- 2008 www.inthenews.co.uk. Advertise | Privacy | Terms of Use