Metronome #011: Hostage

Insomniac’s Metronome series features mixes from some of today’s fastest-rising electronic stars, as well as championed legends. It takes listeners deep across a wide range of genres, movements, cultures, producers, artists and sounds that make up the diverse world of electronic music.

Hostage has been a staple in the burgeoning UK club scene, and he’s seen his fair share of musical trends come and go. His sound is a complex and boundary-pushing conglomeration of ‘90s rave and warehouse-inspired techno that has seen him land on labels like Black Butter and Simma Black. With past forays into genres like drum & bass, electro, and a recent dip into deep house, the Scottish producer is coming into 2015 with an entire catalog of new music that draws from his energetic roots.

For his Metronome mix, Hostage showcases much of his unreleased arsenal, as well as a slew of club weapons that he’s been hoarding over the years. Watch out for Hostage to reignite the underground in 2015.

It’s pretty clear that you’re making an effort to go back to your roots. What prompted the change?
The zipping up of my boots. My musical roots are tangled and possibly require radiocarbon dating, so I wouldn’t say that my recent output has been an intentional or a specific throwback to a previous sound or a scene where I came from, but rather a rekindling with my obsession of tougher and sweatier sounds. I guess that’s what I was originally associated with back when this was just all MySpace. I’m feeling energetic, almost youthful again after a bit of a much-needed lifestyle overhaul. I think the music I’m making now, along with the way I want the music to make me feel, is influenced by that. I love playing a chunky, robust, and slightly challenging and characterful DJ set. The weirder and rugged tunes always whip up much more of a frenzy on the dancefloor, too, which is always great.

Listening to house music on repeat can get ridiculously annoying. What do you like to put on to get your mind away from the four-by-four pattern?
It really doesn’t ever annoy me. Sometimes when I’m producing a track, I might listen to the same drum pattern for 20 hours. I’ve been doing that for over 20 years, so my tolerance is very high. Even when there’s no music playing, I’m often still tapping my toes to a steady 4/4 beat at 124.2 bpm in my mind.

But I might put on some… silence. Teddy Pendergrass. Sepultura. Gonzales. Mississippi Fred McDowell. I think you get my drift. We have the luxury nowadays of being able to instantly listen to anything we could imagine, or try and remember at very little cost—yet I still draw a blank. Silence again, probably.

You’re coming into 2015 with an impressive catalog of new tunes. How was your flow in the studio?
I’ve come to realize that if I’m gritting my teeth and clenching my jaw when working on a tune, then I’m onto a good thing. There’s been a fair bit of that happening recently. I spent the second half of last year experimenting with some new sounds and ideas with no pressure, and then I completed a load of new tracks, which I’m really happy with. I felt creatively rejuvenated, and this was very motivating. I kept getting those pangs, those uncontrollable urges where you’d have an inspiration or concept that you’d need to realize and then get it down.

It feels so good to have an arsenal of unreleased, fresh productions in my bag to bring some unexpected and unique sounds to my club sets. Some of the tracks will be released for free; the others will come out on various labels and compilations throughout the year.

I’m coming to visit you in the UK, and you’re taking me out for a meal, but I’ve heard the food can be pretty dodgy. What courses are you ordering to change my mind?
Who the hell told you that? Well, being from Scotland, I try hard to strongly reinforce our already-dodgy culinary/health stereotypes. Honestly, I do really enjoy haggis, and I eat it fairly regularly. Most recently for breakfast, I have it fried on toast with BBQ sauce, which is pretty decent; so, I’d make you that. Then, we’d have a steak bridie from the bakers for lunch and wash it down with a can of jaw-dissolving Red Kola. Please, if you have nothing better to do, look up these exotic delights on Google image search for the full mouth-watering tease.

For dinner, you’ll be experiencing the genius Turkish/Italian food fusion, which is the doner meat calzone from the takeaway on the high street. It’s just along from the bakers where we ate earlier. There is a consistency here, as it’s the same shape and rough idea as the pastry-based lunchtime snack that we had, but it’s much bigger and much more deadly. Then, it’s off to bed with indigestion and a coronary. Yeah, whoever told you that was maybe right.

The life of a touring DJ has its pros and cons. What’s your most tragic traveling experience?
I once forgot my neck pillow. I know! An absolute tragedy. Awww—it’s never tragic. It’s always magic! I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to travel to so many places and make new lifelong friends, all because of music.

If you weren’t making music, what do you think you’d be doing instead?
I made a loaf of bread today, and I thoroughly enjoyed the process and the end product. It felt very satisfying and almost primal. I might be doing that, but I’ll always be making music for the fun of it, forever.

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