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Soulmaking on Sushi At 21 & 22 years old the Soulmakers are possibly the youngest guys to ever feature on a Stereo Sushi album. Nathan Cross & Ben Preston are guys behind the hot production outfit who also surface under their Tastemakers alias from time to time. Seeing as these boys seem to have what it takes to compete with the big boys, we thought we track Nathan down to get his views.

Q. Nathan, it wasn't so long ago that you guys had your first release whilst still serving time at college. Can you tell us a bit more about it & how you guys dealt with the sudden changes?

A. Yeah, it was a track that came about quite quickly as we were experimenting with some new sounds and the whole Electro House thing back in 2006. We finished the track “Definition” and all of a sudden Fergie had made it his unsigned track of the week on his Radio 1 show and then we had it signed to Born to Dance within a couple of weeks. It gave us some great exposure and helped as a stepping-stone towards all the other stuff we’ve achieved so far.

Q. Both, yourself & Ben studied at a pretty good college but how do you think it aided with your development both on the production side & also on the business side of things? Would you advise others to do the same?

A. Yeah, I can’t fault our time at the ACM (www.acm.ac.uk), it gave us so many great opportunities and essentially helped us develop into professional producers. Being in a constant music bubble was also hugely beneficial – it really was like being in that film “School of Rock”! It certainly helped us on the business side of things, but I think a lot of that you pick up along the way as you start dealing with labels, lawyers, managers etc. and you realize the harsh reality of it all!

Q. Having had your tracks picking up support from some of the biggest names in club land, how do you guys move from one track to another each time trying to achieve the same?

A. We tend to churn the tracks out at a pretty speedy pace these days so its more a case of if people like the tracks then bonus. We make stuff that we want to listen to/or would play, and the larger the amount of people who like it the better! We’re really varied in what we produce as well, so we’re often going between different genres for each consecutive track. It might be an underground House track one day, then a chill out track for an advert brief the next and then a commercial Electro record. Its better that way too – keeps it fun and varied!

Q. Your track "Falling" by the Soulmakers (which was picked up by Sushi fav, Richard Earnshaw on Duffnote) now features on the new Stereo Sushi: Version13 album but generally speaking, you guys aren't really known for your soulful house vibes. Please tell us more & why the change & do you think variety helps?

A. Well, funnily enough (and I don’t think a lot of people know this) but “Falling” was the first track that myself and Ben ever did together. We initially hooked up as we were both inspired by the funky/soulful house sounds around that time (early 2006) so you could say that Soulful House is like our rooting in dance music. Quite quickly though we moved onto the emerging Electro House sound and have now matured a lot more and are focusing our efforts more in the progressive arena. I definitely think variety helps and we quickly get bored with certain sounds, so from that point of view I think we will be constantly changing as time goes on. As producers, we are both really diverse too so we love the variety and that’s why we’ve been coming up with a load of new pseudonyms recently to represent the different stuff we’re doing, so far we’ve got Tastemakers for our main progressive sound, Soulmakers for the funkier/soulful house stuff, Sir Filth for some downright dirty electro antics and Deluded Souls for our more poppy moments. We’ve got a lot of material forthcoming under these names so keep your eyes peeled.

Q. You're now working with a number of producers & vocalists but whose been your most memorable to date & who would you guys most like to hook up with?

A. Yeah the last 9 months or so we’ve been hooking up with some awesome artists and singers. Therese (from Stonebridge fame) was really good and has a really strong voice which I love, Shelley Poole also popped down for a session and she was such a good laugh – really down to earth and great to work with. Laura Vane (MJ Cole, The Streets) is really talented and another great one to work with. In dream world we’d definitely love to collaborate with someone like Daft Punk. If we could work with a vocalist it’d have to be someone massive… we had a chance to work with Leona Lewis before she got famous, bit gutted about that now actually as you can imagine, so I’ll say Leona as she’s so talented. Personally, I’m a big Streets fan and would love to do a track with Mike Skinner and also Mark Knight who is a legend!

Q. Seeing as you guys are pretty new to the scene, but are already achieving good success having worked with a number of labels, can you tell us how or why you think you guys have been fortunate to land these opportunities & what do you do to get noticed?

A. It’s all stepping-stones really; one good thing always leads onto something else good. Certainly, doing our music production degree got us into a great position and got us hooked up with some great people. For example, we wouldn’t have got our deal with Gusto had it not been for the ACM who hooked us up with their A&R Manager who consequently loved our stuff. A few months later we had signed a development deal with them, which meant we could do the music full-time as soon as we left college. Also, we work extremely hard at what we do and (apparently) we’re half decent at it so fortunately that helps towards getting noticed by the right people. Having said that though its a constant graft and we’re always meeting new people and sparking up new friendships. It’s so important, especially when its so hard to survive in this industry.

And finally, a few quick fire questions..... Favourite Sushi?
Stereo Sushi

Best piece of advise for wannab producers & DJs?
In the words of Chicane ft Bryan Adams, Don't Give Up - and also be prepared to get srewed over countless times.

Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of a bottle?
Because glue isn't sticky untill it comes out of the bottle, it has a sticky formula that is inserted from a secret compartment whilst being squirted out.... nah, actually I dont have a clue!

Soulmakers "Falling" appears on the new Stereo Sushi: Version 13 album - Out Now!