Naughty club tackle with Dungeon Meat

Tristan da Cunha and Brawther joined forces to create the funkiest, dirtiest music from the deepest, darkest depths of the underground, and the name they adopted gives an indication of the meaty slabs that get delivered by the pair in their productions and their live sets. 

Both key artists in their own right, Tristan is synonymous with the 2020 Vision label and the Leeds clubbing institution Back To Basics whilst Brawther boasts connections with Balance Music.  

Along with running their own label under the same guise, Dungeon Meat have released the instantly recognisable 'The Fuck Off Track' (below) on My Love Is Underground. Before the duo hit Studio 338 in London this weekend, we spoke to them about their name, their sound and label. 

Tell us about the name Dungeon Meat, how did that come about?

The name came about like a lot of ideas really. It stemmed from a few mates, a crack on and a joke about dungeon meat. Meat that's found in your underpants shall we say. Then we started to associate it with a particular style of house music and began to call certain records we were playing 'Dungeon Meat'.

These tunes would have meaty beats, beefy bass lines, sleazy vocals and a bit of a sinister feel. The name seemed to really fit the music that we were feeling so it just grew from there. 

How and when did you guys decide to start making music together and how do you operate in the studio?

We became a bit obsessed with the whole Dungeon Meat thing and decided we needed more tunes like that to play. We decided we would make our own tracks that fitted into the same vibe and produce them under the name Dungeon Meat.

From there we decided to start a label with the same name focusing on this particular sound and attitude. We really wanted the whole thing to have a strong image so that the visual aspect accentuated the sound of the tracks. 

Studio wise it works really well and we both bring equal parts to the table. We tend to start with some kind of inspiration and then experiment a lot. Trial and error with some happy accidents along the way. We don't have a fixed method, approach or particular role that either plays. We just let it flow and see what comes out. 

If you could describe your sound in three words what would they be?

Naughty club tackle.

Do your productions differ from your DJ sets, if so – how?

We are both big diggers and love discovering new and old music. When we perform as Dungeon Meat we mainly aim to go in for the kill and rock the party with the finest house and techno we can find.

We want to get people jumping and having a good time, that's our main objective. So it's no surprise the production is closely related to our DJ sets. We aim to make music that we want to play out and work on the big sound systems.

We’ve seen some killer releases from the likes of Point G, Mr. G and of course yourselves on your Dungeon Meat record label over the last year or so -  what else can we expect over the coming months?

Well we are only doing four releases a year on the label at the moment and next up we have a really solid EP from our Dutch brother Larry de Kat. It's really fresh and showcases him as a great artist, it even has him getting on the mic for some quirky vocals.

We are really happy to have Larry on the team just like Mr G or Point G. He's a real all rounder, a true artist, great DJ and a really lovely funny guy that we connect with on a personal level as well. After that it's going to be a new EP from us which we're excited about.

We have a few things from our live set that we will be considering releasing and maybe even some new creations once we get back in the studio after the crazy summer of gigs is over. After that there's loads of great stuff lined up for 2016 including new fire from Blunt Instruments and Honey Dijon. 

Will you be releasing any original music or remixes on any other labels soon? 

The only other labels we are recording for outside of our own is My Love Is Underground and hopefully something for Slapfunk down the line. Remix wise we have a few offers on the table so we'll see if we have the time to take them on. The main focus at the moment is stuff for ourselves though. We don't just knock stuff out constantly, for us it's about quality not quantity. 

Which record labels are doing it for you at the moment? 

Well the labels mentioned above have lots of respect from us. We also love Lazare Hoche/Oscillat and that whole crew with Malin Genie and S.A.M's Delaphine.  Cabinet, P!sta, Constant Sounds, Beste Modus, Balance Alliance, POINT G, Fathers & Sons, Home Invasion to name a few off the top of our heads. 

…and what about other DJs and producers - who are your ones to watch? 

In regards to house DJs we enjoy listening to the likes of  Zip, Dyed, Samuel Deep, tINI, Craig Richards, Raresh, Ryan Elliot, Loco Dice, Adam Shelton, Jonny Rock, Prosumer, the MLIU crew of course .

New names to watch would be Herodot who impressed recently at a London party and of course our boy Julian Alexander always has a tight selection. 

Ones to watch Producer wise would be Our very own Blunt Instruments, also Nudge from Italy, Evan Baggs, Cinthie and the Beste Modus crew, the new school Dutch crew Julian Alexander, Daniel Temperelli, Ferro and Larry De Kat.  Also Monsieur Gorget which is just a new alias for Chris Carrier so not sure if that counts but we love his stuff. Also Leeds' own  Bobby O'Donnel and Annie Errez from Strobe Wax are solid producers too. 

What’s that one ‘magic’ track that always, always gets the crowd going? 

Grobbie - Headshot (Samuel Deep edit) never fails to raise the roof. 

Which is your favourite country to play in and why? 

We're spoilt playing in the UK as there are some really great crowds with super lively atmospheres. When we go abroad they have a lot to live up to. Paris at the My Love Is Underground party is always pretty electric because of the enthusiastic house heads.

Ibiza can be fun as well when all the elements are right. Croatia has also been great but mainly again because its loads of house hungry British people  partying out there. It's a hard question to answer really as everywhere has its merits. 

Like this? Try our interview with Motor City Drum Ensemble

Tickets are no longer available for this event