With the latest track from Fanatix featuring Kele le Roc 'Lesson Learned' making a big stir on the dance floors I managed to catch up with Aaron Ross at his studio while recording some material for his new label project Osiris Trax...

So what's the angle of your new label venture Osiris Trax?
It's going to be launching end of August, early September, and it's going to be a chance to bring out some more dubby edge stuff.

So your pretty busy at the moment then?
Yeah it is busy, I've just got back from a couple of days in Greece yesterday and then I'm off to Ibiza tomorrow so it's kind of non-stop at the moment.

The scene in Asia is building a lot, have you been going over there much?
Yeah, I've been going to Thailand quite a few years actually and the scene is definitely growing all the time, it's only a couple of years in, so it's really fresh out there and there's loads of energy to it, especially in Thailand where I have been a few times on holiday. I then started playing a few bars out there which led me to meet Simon from the Mint Bar that's one of the main places in the South. Through him I played in Bangcock and other places, I'm hoping to go out there over Christmas and do Singapour, China and Hong Kong and maybe Japan.

What is the crowd like over there?
They1re really good, I found the Bangcock crowd a little hard to please, I was playing some tracks that I expected would definitely go down but didn't seem to connect with them and they just didn't really go for it. They tended to like the driving deep sound, not so many breakdowns or chords. It's more about the beats and grooves which they went for in a big way, so once I connected with that sound they really went off to it and were a cool crowd to play to.

In contrast the Americans especially in New York prefer to feel the music and really dance along as part of it don't they?
Definitely! You don't see those kind of dancers in this country and I haven't seen them in many other countries either, they don't just go and have a boogie, they really go for it. Youv'e got people who really dance and become one with the music that really don't give a monky's what other people think. They chuck themselves all over the place and really enjoy the music, they have the kind of people that solely go out for the music and to let their hair down and really go for it when they dance.

So how did you get on over there?
I played in New York and in Miami and I think I did pretty well especially in NYC where I really played a New York sound, this was back in September last year when I played with Kevin Hedge and Louie Vega and I was lucky enough to have a lot of fresh material, quite deep stuff and I was feelin' it a lot so that helped too.
I'm going back over there to L.A. doing a West Coast tour in October playing in Marques Wyatt's club Deep on the 23rd and I'm then also playing San Fransisco and Sandiago. Then I return back to England via the Dominian
Republic, so that should be a good one I'm really looking forward to that.

How do you find time to do your radio show with all the rest you have going on?
The radio show is something that I always make sure I have time for, organised for and well rested for because without that I wouldn't be getting the gigs that I do. I owe a lot to 1-Xtra for believing in me, and in House Music, and giving me a great platform to launch myself from, so for me the radio comes first.

Do you have to pre-record shows very often?
Every now and then I'll do one, maybe every two months or so. A little while ago Alex Alvarez stood in for me, and tomorrow for instance I'm off to Ibiza so I have Jon Cutler doing the show. He's done like a two hour mix and turned over the links, so it will go out like that, it makes a change for the listeners.

So does it take much preparation to do the shows?
It takes more preparation than people may think, when it comes to the guests you need to do research and know your stuff when talking to them, you need to know where they are coming from. Even preparing the tracks I play on the show, knowing they are flowing the right way and that I'm delivering all angles of the music and not just concentrating on one particular style. As you'll know from listening to the show it's not just about the Soulful side it's Afro and a little bit more tuffer and so on.

Is it right that your show time is moving?
Yeah, from August it's going to be on a Monday night from 12-2am. For me it's going to be a good thing for two reasons; it free's up my Fridays and means that I can work on a Friday night, and it's also going to open me up to a whole new load of listeners, because on a Friday night a lot of people are out. So unless they listen of the playback system via the 1-Xtra website they're not going to hear the show, so I think Monday nights are a positive move for the show.

How did the collaboration with yourself and Neil happen to form the Fanatix?
Neil and myself have been pals for quite a few years now, actually cos' I used to work for Virgin Records a few years back doing promotions and he was managing Release The Groove Records and we had a little swapping thing going. I would sort him out some new bits and he would sort me with some new imports and we just became pals from there really. Then we were playing Soul Heaven together and I knew he was wanting to start producing, I had already started doing some studio work and had my drum machine and was making some tunes with which I had the first release on Osiris which was Rain People 'Trippin' On Love'. Neil was trying to lay down some tracks with a couple of other guys but not getting very far, and we both had an idea on a track so got together and invited Alma Horton in to do the vocals. The track titled higher, ended up getting signed to Masters At Work's label which was mad and took us by surprise. The unfortunate thing is that the track has sat on the shelf with MAW and not been released as yet..

This latest track with Kele Le Rock is really hot and seems to have made a big impact in the scene, Who did you guys hook up with Kele.?
Kele has actually been a friend of Neil's for quite a long time and when Neil and I first got together he said "I've got Kele Le Roc who's a friend of mine", and actually she was going to do the vocal on Higher that Alma Horton ended up doing as Kele was to busy at the time and so we got Alma in to do it. 'Lesson Learned' that Kele vocalled, was originally going to be with Shaun Escoffery, but he was too busy and so Kele became available and dropped the vocal for us. All In all, it was a great way to do things in that Kele was already a mate of Neil's and there was no like "I want this, that and this"you know it was really laid back and friendly and worked very well.
Kele is a very professional artist and is bang-on-it..! she really is something special, out of the whole day of recording there was probably only two takes that we chucked away, she was just hittin' it perfectly every time. She was warmed up properly before she started and is very professional in every way. We'd leave her harmonies on loop and let it record round and she'd sing each harmony and nail it every time. We wouldn't even have to stop for her to catch her breath, just let her do her thing and it was done.

Who were the musicians on the track cos' there sounds like a lot of real instrumentation in the track?
Kaidi Tatham from the Bugz In The Attic on the keys, Scott Bayliss from Reel People, Cris from Delata, and Smokey from Smoke City on guitar as well, so a bit of an all-star line-up as musicians go really. It's an important part to our sound, we like to use people that we know are up to standard and able to deliver the goods! We have three keyboard players that we like to use as well, Mark De Clive Lowe and Kaidi Tatham and Mike Patto from Reel People and they are each pretty damn hot at what they can do.!

So how did you hook up with these guys?
Mainly through Phill Asher, he was the one who introduced me into production and what I'm doing now in the studio so it's all down to him really. I am doing what I'm doing today due to him so I owe a lot to him, even down to the 1-Xtra thing, he was the one who put me forward for that...he's kinda' like my big brother really.

So how did you meet Phil?
It was back when I was working at Virgin Records Phil had a studio around the corner, and another guy who first and foremost really introduced me into House Music opened me up to the sounds of Masters At Work and Mood II Swing was a guy called Nigel Wildman who I worked at Virgin with. He was doing A&R and I was doing Promotions and he introduced me to Phil, and that's how I first got a passion for this music.

I see you've got a couple of albums coming out soon?
Yeah, one for suSU and one for Miss Moneypenny's and the one for Moneypenny's is going to be an ongoing thing as I'm a resident for their Soulful night, so basically this is going to be part one of the series. They have a more Housey style one they are putting out first and then the Soulful one will follow, so I'm looking forward to getting that out there..

I hear that you’r involved with the launch of Soul Heaven Records?
Yes, I'm going to be head of A&R for the label which is going to be done through Defected Records. I'll be picking up singles and putting together album projects for that, so my background from working at Virgin Records has helped me out with what I can bring to the table within this project. It's all good at the moment and plenty going on.!!

Sounds like you have loads going on, do you take much time out to chill.!?
I do like to take some evenings where I don't do too much just kick back and chill, catch a movie when I can, it is really busy at times, but I do feel it's important to take a step back and see friends and find time to chill out.

So what's forthcoming from the Fanatix then?
We've got a remix of Stephanie Cooke 'Show Me', that's coming on Soul Groove records, we've got DJ Jorj 'Till I See The Sun' on Curious Records, a production for Kimara Lovelace which is a track called 'Just A Dream', that will be out on Toronto based Home Recordings. We have got another track for my label, Osiris featuring a girl called Alex Mills who has been involved with the Role Deep album project and she's coming from a bit more of an Urban background. We have her on a single called 'Love Connection' which is due for a release at the end of September, and then we have another Kele Le Roc track which we'll be putting out on Neil's label Hustle Music, and also a track which is yet to have a vocal on it and with which we are considering a male vocal as we have done a lot of female vocals so far. And we have got the Kenny Bobien single 'Grateful' as well that is going to be on Dennis Frerer's label Sfere and that's about it for now... We have a lot of things going on at the moment one way or another!! That and as well as the Osiris Trax label as everything so far has been song based and very musical, both me and Neil have a big love for the more tougher driving sound, so were gonna make an EP of some of that style grooves for Osiris Trax.
Well that type of sound always seems to hit the spot in the clubs.
Definitely, we haven't done enough of that type of sound and we get people say to us "Oh how come you guys really haven't produced anything like that?" Even though we play that kind of stuff. We have done the odd dub here and there but now it's time for us to show the diversity of the sound and do something a bit different to the Soulful stuff that we are known for.