From the earliest of days launching renegade assaults on the illicit airwaves of the UK’s underground radio network, James Clements aka: ASC, has since dispersed his diversified interests that reconvene effortlessly.  We can take what’s ever becoming a deeper passage back in time to ’97 and having been engaged in everything from drum & bass, techno and Motown, it comes as no surprise that these varied approaches coexist and even cooperate in fusing these elements – his own label Auxiliary is a testament to this, a child of his previous imprint success Covert Operations.

Where’s this all going?  The heavy textured movements could certainly assume the role of an ambassador compiling policies dictating humanities advancement, alongside a continued perseverance in field work with film scores and the engineering behind a portrait of synchronised media.

James’ creative world refracts a relentless energy and this weeks broadcast reflects that.  Full support at our end.

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Kn:  You’ve come a long way since the days of pirate radio in your school years.  The entire concept played an integral part in how to approach music, can you tell us about how that scene affected you and what you learnt from it?

ASC:  In all honesty, I don’t think it affected my approach at all.  The only thing I learnt from it were the names of tunes that I had otherwise no access to at the time! It was a lot of fun though, especially being a 15 year old kid still at school doing a pirate radio show.

Kn:  You’ve produced a variety of works over the years across various genres, no doubt a derivative of said earlier experiences.  A few prominent techno releases and projects have come about of late – how do you work on your approach to varying sounds, is it just all the one world refracted through a prism?

ASC:  I couldn’t have said it better myself.  It really is just one world, one vision, just refracted through a prism.  Each light that is dispersed is just another part of my sound.  Obviously when I’m working at 120 and the structure is 4/4, the thought into how the music flows is different than it is when I work at 170 and the beats are broken up more significantly, but I still see it as shades of many different colours of my sound.

Kn:  As far as studio time is concerned, is there anything fresh at the moment that you feel is defining or inspiring different avenues of thought whilst you’re working on production?

ASC:  Nothing immediately springs to mind.  I find going over previous techniques and DSP chains that I’ve created and then approaching them differently, or perhaps just taking a step back and thinking outside the box instead of my usual methods can bring great results.  It’s not always about getting new gear, new plugins etc.  It can be as simple as re-inventing the wheel, so to speak.

Kn:  You’re currently releasing the majority of your work on your own label.  How does the label fit into the broader image of what you’re about – how did it come about and where is it going?

ASC:  I’ve always loved doing my own thing, so when Auxiliary originally came to life, I had this whole vision of what it would be all about and where it would fit in with what I was currently doing.  I think if anything, it’s gone beyond that, into more deeper realms than before.  The label originally came about when I was still with Nonplus.  We’d decided that it would be good to do another label, which I was going to start with Consequence originally.  In the end he decided the time wasn’t right for him, so I decided to go ahead on my own and came up with the name Auxiliary.

As for where it’s going, it’s hard to say.  I see it as something natural and organic.  It’s almost got it’s own lifeform and dictates it’s own path.  I very rarely sign a piece of music just on the spot, usually it has to ‘speak’ to me, and some tracks just say Auxiliary when I hear them.  With my own work, it’s slightly different, as I don’t really write with the label in mind.  It’s usually a conscious decision after I’ve let the track seep into my brain over time!

Kn:  What’s on the horizon from here?  You’re already working on film scores outside of a ‘normalised’ routine, is it one of the things you’ll be spending more time on or?

ASC:  Very much so.  This is a where I feel my future lies and I’m looking more and more into getting that one break that I can then use to take my work to the next level.

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