With the likes of Jay-Z, Pharrell and Snoop Dogg hollering at them for beats, UK production tag-team Chase & Status are the go-to-guys for what they’re calling ‘gritty pop’. Rajveer Kathwadia speaks to the duo about making music for Sir Michael Caine, dressing Kano as Shaft, and receiving death threats from Rihanna…

Bearing in mind their prominence for gritty underground dubstep splashed D&B, I did not expect to find Chase & Status occupying a studio on London’s stylish South Bank, in the shadows of the Houses of Parliament and overlooking the Thames. Even more paradoxical is that their workspace is part of cheesy pop producer Pete Waterman’s Hit Factory. The corridors are lined with plaques from the likes of Kylie, Mel and Kim, and Bananarama – take a wrong-turn and you might find yourself face to face with the man himself perched like some sort of pop overlord on his big black throne.

But then again, with urban music taking up more and more space in the top 40, perhaps Chase & Status’ doom-laced bass beasts are the pop hits of tomorrow. After all, they’ve just embarked on a tour after performing at all of the big festivals over the summer, they’ve contributed music to Sir Michael Caine’s new film and provided what Rihanna has called the ‘backbone’ of her next album. So maybe the London based pair aren’t so out of place after all.

“We’re actually part of a great production hub,” Saul aka Chase reveals about their corridor co-habitants, “Shy FX is in here, Sub Focus and Nero. The music industry and the public in general are just up for a change. Pop music is now becoming much more gritty.”

“It’s interesting that we’ve moved into such a commercial building yet we’re doing something that’s so non-commercial,” adds Will aka Status, about the creative space where they constructed their album More Than Alot, as well as a heap of critically acclaimed remixes and production work. But have the numerous platinum and gold discs that line the walls inspired them on? “You can’t falter Rick Astley and Musical Youth,” laughs Saul, before Will proclaims “early Jason Donovan is classic!”

Meeting over ten years ago and sharing a mutual love for raving to jungle and D&B, Will and Saul formed Chase & Status with a dream of DJing at classic nights at clubs such as the now defunct Bagleys and The End. Finding themselves learning their trade in Manchester whilst partying to old skool garage (“I owned 14 Mosch[ino] shirts!” Saul proudly smiles), they returned to London to not only fulfil their ambitions, but set in motion a production line that has resulted in classic underground anthems such as Duppy Man, Dumpling Riddim and the dubstep destroyer Saxon. More Than Alot followed spawning their first collaboration with Plan B; Pieces (having previously remixed his single No Good) and Against All Odds with Kano where they somehow managed to convince him to dress up like Huggy Bear! “I was trying to explain to Kane what we wanted him to do, babbling on and then he just interrupted me and said ‘Just tell me you want me to dress like Shaft.’” Will explains about how they managed to get KA in an afro and a dodgy suit.

The album reached 60,000 fans as well as a certain Snoop Dogg, who reached out to C&S about vocalling what was a lot of people’s standout track from the disc; the Bollywood sampling Eastern Jam. “It was just incredible hearing Snoop’s voice on a track that we did. It was a great honour…” says Will of Snoop Dogg Millionaire, which might not be the final collaboration between them. “We’ve been sending him some beats.”

Someone else on the other side of the pond they’ve been sending beats to was current Paris Fashion Week darling Rihanna. Hitting her up with music via mutual connections Will and Saul thought nothing of it until one morning they received a threatening call from the diminutive diva telling them “I’m a big fan, I love your stuff, but if you give the tune to anyone else I’ll kill you!” Death threats aside they eventually linked up with Rih-Rih to work on what they describe as “just proper grimy,” Saul describes. “Everything we’ve done has got that edge to it, coupled with pop sensibilities; trademark big beats, big bass, 140bpm. She sounds fantastic too”

Other visitors to their studio include Pharrell, and Drake with whom the doublet are working with on his album when they fly out to the States soon. “It’s really exciting cos he’s the hottest rapper in the world right now,” Saul states. Glancing around their studio you might also spot a case of Ace of Spades – more commonly known as ‘that gold bottle of champagne Jay-Z has in all of his bloody videos!’ “Yeah Jay-Z gave that to us after our first session together.” The remix of DOA is only the latest in a long line of tracks that have received the C&S treatment after Dizzee and Prodigy were also blessed with mixes of their singles.

So will they be asking all of these hot US stars to return the favour by appearing on their own second album, which work has already begun on? “Never say never,” Will ponders. “They’re all artists we love and respect, so that’s just a bonus, but I think we really wanna push some of the exciting music coming out of the UK. There’s so many cool bands and MCs and artists here at the moment we wanna create something new based around the British music industry.”

“We’ve always had the most exciting music in the UK from people like Donaeo, White Lies, Florence + the Machine, Mr Hudson, Dizzee and Nero,” Saul lists. Someone else who can be added to that list is Plan B. He’s recently worked with the pair on a song from the gangster flick Harry Brown, which stars the east London spitter/singer as well as the legend that is Sir Michael Caine. “We got a phone-call form Pete Tong who has directed the music for the project saying ‘I need a track for the end credits of this movie that Plan B’s in.’ He obviously thought we were joking when I told him that we had a song calledEnd Credits with Plan B that we’d written even before we even knew about this movie.” End Credits like the majority of Chase & Status’ songs, effortlessly tiptoes the lines between over and underground. It won’t be long before this musical-trapeze act finds their own discs gracing wall spaces alongside the likes of Samantha Fox and Steps.

End Credits is out 2 November. Chase&Status.com

Tags: Chase & Status, Feature, Interviews, RWD TV