Voodoo Records

This is not a myth, this is real black magic material as we catch up with the Voodoo Records outfit for
a brief chat and a few words about the drum 'n' bass world. I introduce you to Mantis & Ghostface the
outfit behind Voodoo Records who are on a roll with such hits as 'The Crypt' & 'Humanoid' making their
way into mix sets with the likes of Mickey Finn, Ed Rush and Grooverider plus many more than I can mention.

How long have you been into the Music Scene? "We have been into the scene since day one from the old rave days such as Rage at Heaven with the likes of Mickey Finn and Grooverider playing in the main room and the great Trevor Fung playing upstairs who would rock any crowd" says Ghostface. Also Mantis says "Trevor inspired us a lot here at Voodoo… as what he was doing on the decks gave us many ideas for our work".

So what is the Voodoo Sound? Mantis describes the sound as unique and differs from many other labels out there at the moment, in his own words "it boils down to a dark magical path of basslines mixed with a potion of samples and beats to delight any crowd". Ghostface says "We are tired of hearing the same old breaks been used in tracks today and we manipulate our own sound from various sources to produce our tracks to 110%.

Who or what has inspired you to produce such tracks to date? Ghostface replies to this one. "Well as I mentioned earlier Trevor has been one person definitely I can remember and others are the likes of Grooverider who has pushed our sound out there to be heard by many". Mantis tells me he gets inspired from many angles such as the old skool days, listening to the radio and a personnel favourite is watching lots of movies. "After I have finished watching a movie I will get many ideas in my head for sounds
I want to create in the Witchdoctor studios and put these down for a track".

Ghostface tells me that the first release on Voodoo Records had used many ideas from the film 'Aliens'. "We have more to come for the future as we believe in creating used samples into our own sound by just feeding it through the sampler again and again until satisfied" says Mantis. Do you aim for worldwide success or just target the mainland for your sound to be heard? "Voodoo Records aims are to reach all borders of the world" mentions Ghostface and Mantis tells me he has visited places such as Thailand, the States and Canada already. Mantis reckons it is important to be in touch with the rest of the world as we have to be very open about other countries as the UK is at the top of the ladder for drum 'n' bass and we need to feed this on to others.

"It's all about the sound and getting as many people involved to keep the scene strong and alive" mentions Ghostface. The producers and DJs in Canada and the States are paving the way for new things, as we are seeing new sounds coming from these people and making the drum 'n' bass scene strong once again. We did have a little spot for a year or two when we had garage music here and in the USA, which hurt the scene a little but once again the drum 'n' bass sound is stronger than ever.

What other music do you listen to? "Here at Voodoo Records we get to hear all different types of music as we are involved in the music scene and I suppose our favourite music is most likely hip hop" states Mantis. "I do like the more r&b hip hop side of things and what Dr Dre is doing is out of this world" Ghostface chips in. How did you start about getting the Voodoo sound heard in the drum 'n' bass world? "Well it was Mickey really who helped the Voodoo sound along to get the recognition, as I had known Mickey from the early days" claims Ghostface. We had been in the Witchdoctor studios doing some tracks and then we burnt them on to a CD and then passed it on to Mickey with our details. It didn't take long before I had a phone call from Mickey who just thought the tracks kicked arse and said "I know just the person who can hook you up with distribution and get the ball rolling for Voodoo's first release for you".

"Since that phone call our distributors for our Voodoo releases have put in 110% to get our sound out there in the wide, wide world of music. Mantis also tells me "Groove has done them proud too by playing the tunes on the Radio show which is important to us". What can we expect for the future for Voodoo Records? "We hope maybe to have live PA nights in conjunction with the label with DJs representing the Voodoo label amongst others playing on the night… this is something that I have been thinking about" explains Ghostface.

Ghostface goes on to say… "We are also currently working on the 7th release for Voodoo Records which has one side completed and will be called 'Sequence One' and the other side still needs some work doing to it before general release. We have cut about ten copies of 'Sequence One' and passed them on again to the likes of Andy C, Ed Rush and Groove who has played this already on his show and good feedback was received from this when it was played out. Check the samples used here… they are very interesting indeed."

The main plan of action for Voodoo Records is to keep on working hard in the studio and seize the opportunity to do some remixes in the future - so watch out for the mix of fat potions to come, Voodoo style! Ghostface and The Mantis would like to give shouts out to all in the drum 'n' bass world and thanks to all who have helped the Voodoo sound in 2001.

by Mike-E