Hugh Pescod is a Bristol raised, London based DJ formerly known as Clipz. Innovative and ambitious, Clipz spent a decade climbing the ranks to drum’n'bass greatness only to vanish from the scene, returning a year later with a new sound, new ideas and a new name… Ladies and gentlemen, this is Redlight Music.
Having felt that he’d squeezed everything he could out of D’n'B, Hugh’s next move was to explore the unnamed airspace between house, dubstep and jungle, creating a new strand of relentless, bass-driven floor-fillers which were suitable for house, dubstep and funky sets alike. In his short time under the Redlight moniker he’s worked with Ms Dynamite, Roses Gabor and Jenna G as well as teaming up with Toddla T to form Roller Express and Ben Westbeach for their joint project Black Sun. After doing the festival rounds in the summer Redlight Music continues to tour with partner in crime Dread MC. i-D online managed to catch him between shows to see what he has in store for us in 2012.
Tell us about your forthcoming release… It’s a track called ‘Get Out My Head’, it’s 4×4 organ stabbing speed house.
You seem to have cracked the formula for the club banger, do you see yourself producing more chilled tracks in the future or is your mind always on the dance floor? Nah, I produce a lot of different styles but at the moment I’m getting the more upbeat sound out of my system. There’s so many different sounds I want to create in the future, I don’t think i’ll ever be sticking to one sound
You took a gamble by removing yourself from the DJ scene whilst you reinvented yourself, did you worry at any point that it wouldn’t pay off? Yeah, course, but you’ve got to believe in yourself as an artist and create – at times like those you come up with your best work as your removing yourself from popular culture… you’ve got no restrictions.
The shift in tempo since your D’n'B days has allowed you to work with a broader range of vocalists, who would you most like to work with in the future? All kinds of different people from Rick Ross to Florence to Kelly Rowland and back again.
Tracks like Planet X and Mosquito pop up in random sets and people go crazy why haven’t they got a release? They’re coming in the new year, on my own label Lobster Boy, it will be a vinyl only release with no press to keep things different, so peep’s have to hunt them down
You’ve been working on a project with Ben Westbeech for some time, how’s that coming along? Me and Ben aren’t working together so much at the minute as were both very busy doing are own project’s but we’re going be finishing the work we have done and creating new things soon
And is the Roller Express still rolling? Yeah but again its the same thing really – we’re both real busy but we have got a beat with Ward 21 that need’s finishing up before Xmas though
What could we expect to find on your ‘most played’ playlist? On the iPod I listen to a lot of Rinse podcast’s and US hiphop, Juicy J, Drake, Ricky Rozay, The Weeknd and Portishead. Then in the record box mainly my music but also at the minute I’m really feeling what Mickey Pearce’s is up to, KW Griff, New York Transit Authority and Breach.
What do we have to look forward to in 2012? I’m so hype for next year, I wanna get the MTA release out, finish the Redlight album, keep the releases coming on Lobster Boy, I’m also producing for a couple of different artists and keep the show’s with dread poplin’ off and building the foundations…
twitter.com/ukredlight
soundcloud.com/redlight-uk
Text: Hugo Allon
Photography: George Harvey
