Introducing themselves on their myspace site in typically modest fashion – '3 blokes who drink beer and moan a lot whilst occasionally making music' - Mist:i:cal are in fact the supreme drum n bass supergroup.

Since first hooking up through Marcus Intalex and ST Files’ Soul:R label, the duo’s work with Irish producer Calibre has been famed for its organic depth and leftfield leanings - an all too rare thing in drum n bass at the moment. With the imminent release of the trio’s debut album ‘The Eleventh Hour,’ we caught up with the Detroit house loving Marcus Intalex (tipple of choice – strong German lager) to talk drum n bass, influences and hardcore Belgian techno....

Yeah not bad, man, just got up to tell you the truth!

Nice one!

FIRST OF ALL, YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN WORKING TOGETHER FOR A WHILE NOW WHAT DO YOU EACH BRING TO A TRACK WHEN YOU’RE IN THE STUDIO?

Well first of all it’s not necessary for all three of us to be in the studio on the same track at the same time. If we are, Calibre can lead on a lot of tracks as he is the man with 6 million samples and 6 million different ways of using each one! He may lay down a nice sample and myself and ST Files will bring the breaks in and try and give that Detroit colour to proceedings. Calibre would make a tune in 2 hours if he wanted to, so in a sense we try and be the brakes on him and let the track develop, to give it an extra something to really stand out.

To be frank, we just want to put out good, interesting music. If it doesn’t turn into the biggest thing in drum n bass then that’s fine. A lot of tunes are heading more for the hardcore rave music style, with huge drops and major BPMs, and that’s really not us. We just want to continue to develop, push things forward and do what we believe in. If something doesn’t excite us, we won’t touch it.

It’s cheesy I know but music is a journey! When I was 18 or 19 I was solely into hardcore Belgian techno, where as now I can buzz off almost any sort of music. You can’t force musical development – everyone matures at their own rate but I do think it’s important that people are curious. Drum n bass can attract a lot of young people so you can’t necessarily expect really developed tastes. But at the end of the day you should make music for yourself! That’s what I do and to be honest, I think if we just make music for kids the scene is fucked!

Well Dominick (Calibre) just has a compulsion to make tunes, whether me and Lee are there or not! But we all wanted to create a work that goes in different directions, has different tempos and different moods, yet this is really hard in drum n bass due to the strictness of the tempo. At the same time we didn’t want to just include one token down-tempo track for the sake of it either. We were wanting to paint a palette of different sounds. I personally love tracks that will take the listener on a journey, you know, slowly shifting and changing, which I think we managed to do in the LP. I’m really happy with it and it inspires me to continue doing what we do.

WHAT OTHER DRUM N BASS LABELS INSPIRE YOU?
I’d have to say Klute’s label Commercial Suicide and D Bridge’s Exit Records. I feel they both make and put out music they truly believe in, whilst bringing maturity to what we all do.

AS WELL AS MAKING FANTASTIC TUNES!
Exactly!

FINALLY, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS YOUR BIGGEST INFLUENCE OUTSIDE OF DRUM N BASS?

Well it would have to be a musical one really. I just love minimal sounds, no matter where they come from. I like taking vibes and translating them into drum n bass - building a gradual progression and intensity rather than just the usual climax climax climax!

MISTICAL'S 'THE ELEVENTH HOUR' IS OUT 12TH FEBRUARY (SOUL:R RECORDS)

WORDS: LOUIS COOK