Deadbeat – Hung, Drawn & Quatered?

Deadbeat, aka Scott Monteith has been crating dub inflected house and techno for over ten years. His latest project however is his most explicit love letter for the genre yet. Drawn & Quartered is made up five cuts of stretched and manipulated soundscapes where the joy is to be found not so much in the sounds, as the space between them. Performing alongside visual-conspirator Lillevan, who brings unique stunning visuals to Monteith‘s music, he even set up his own label to release Drawn & Quartered, due to the demise of what he felt was the natural home for his music – Pole’s Scape label. We got in touch with Scott to find out some more, and at the end of the interview you can watch an exclusive excerpt from the duo’s live set

Tell me about the inspiration behind setting up your new label – I read it was inspired by the demise of Scape?

Philosophically yes it was though the idea of starting a label has been in my mind for some time and their closure as well as the crop of material I had just finished writing allowed that idea to fester into fact.

What was it about scape that was unique or needed to be replaced?

It always seemed preoccupied with a special kind of deep listening and adventurousness for me from a curatorial perspective that was necessarily concerned with dance floor function or genre convention. Dub was the jumping off point for the best Scape releases but individually they were all quite unique, and I guess that’s what I’ll be aspiring to for BLKRTZ.

The debut album is by yourself – will the platform open up to other artists?

Yes most definitely, though I’ll be concentrating on my own stuff and special collaborative projects for the foreseeable future.

Drawn and quartered is the name of new album – what’s the meaning behind the tittle – anything to do with being hung drawn and quartered?

No it’s simply a play on words regarding the four quarters of the vinyl release. I had the idea for an album with these kind of extended track times for some time and I’m very happy to have been able to realize it.

Dub is by its definition a fairly rigid starting point – where does your interest in the form come from?

I would disagree, In fact I think there have been countless examples over the last few years both in the techno and whatever-step off shoots that it is a very loose creative concept that can be pushed and pulled in any number of directions. It’s that sense of experimentalism and playfulness from a technological stand point which one can very easily trace all the way back to the earliest Jamaican dub experiments which has always drawn me to dubby sounds.

How do you continue to make dub music exciting?

I guess personally by pushing down the walls and kicking in the doors of any creative box that feels a little too comfy.

You recently performed alongside Lillevan at Mutek – how was that?

Fantastic, we both had a great time and really hope to do it again soon.

What was the idea behind the show?

A free form dialog using the material from the album as a jumping off point and trying to develop an immersive experience based on this material and images which Lillevan was inspired to create for the performance.

How do you work together?

We do a lot of talking about many things, loosely frame or creative goals before had and then have at it on stage. We’ve known each other for many years and it’s definitely the kind of performance I would only want to do with that kind of history. I’m really not at all interested in having whatever visual thrown on top of my musicby someone I’ve never met.

How do you find the right visual language for the music?

I leave that to Lillevan and have yet to see anything I didn’t like.

Who is your favourite dub producer?

From what era? Classics I’d say King Tubby or the Mighty 2 but there are any number of producers that could fill that spot depending on the day. It just never gets old for me.

Published August 22, 2011.