Seamlessly blending the influence of breaks, electro, acid, and house, Lee Coombs is about to release his latest mixed CD compilation 'Lot 49 Presents: Lee Coombs.' Massive tracks such as "Future Sound of Retro" and "Skyjuice," released on Finger Lickin' Records, launched Lee into the stratosphere. Having remixed the most credible of dance artists including Sunscreem, New Order, Sister Bliss, Moby, and Lamb, Lee is currently working on an artist album and remixes of Bassnectar, Unkle, Uberzone, and Hyperion.
DJ Ron Slomowicz: So you're now based in Orlando now. How did you end up
there? Weren't you based in California and the UK before that?
Lee Coombs: I was in the UK and then I was sort of semi-living in San
Francisco and I was just about to make the full-time move to San
Francisco when I met my wife and she comes from Orlando. So I ended
up coming over here.
RS: How have you embraced the Orlando scene or how has the
Orlando scene embraced you?
Lee Coombs: Oh it's pretty good. To be honest, I'm not running about
trying to get gigs in every club in Orlando. I'm here to hang out
with my wife. I've got a studio here and I've got gigs coming up in
Orlando, - they're good people.
RS: Has the move to Orlando affected your music in any way?
Lee Coombs: No, I'm not influenced by the Florida breaks type thing,
I do my own thing.
RS: You have breaks in your background, that's why I was
wondering if the Orlando break scene would affect your breaks sound.
Lee Coombs: No, because like I say, I'm here with my own studio and
I've got my own influences going on which come from the people that I
already work with around the world. I've got Lot 49 records, and San
Francisco is an influence on me because of the amount of times I go
over there and DJ.
RS: Very cool. You have a new compilation coming out later this
month, Lot 49. How do you choose tracks for a compilation like this?
Lee Coombs: There's a number of reasons why you choose tracks to go
on a comp. They've got to be tracks that you'd play in a club but
also tracks that sound good on a CD because to be honest, some tracks
that we play in clubs would sound terrible on a CD. They've got to be
new and preferably not heard before and some of them will be
exclusive. So I generally contact everybody I know and see what comes
in and then kind of pick and choose and mold it from there.
RS: Very cool. What track are you most excited about on this compilation?
Lee Coombs: What track? Let's have a look, let's have a look at the
album. I think the one that's probably got the most longevity for me
is UNKLE vs Black Mountain "No Hits." I love that record.
RS: You've worked with UNKLE before though, haven't you?
Lee Coombs: I haven't worked with him before, I'm actually working
with him right now because I'm remixing a track from their last album.
RS: What else are you in the studio working on right now
production/remix-wise?
Lee Coombs: Remix-wise, I've got a whole rake of stuff coming. I've
remixed one of my old classic tracks from Finger Lickin' Records
called "Future Sound of Retro" which came out in 1999.
That made some pretty big waves back then so I've remixed that and
that's coming out in later this month (October). I've got my new
single which is on Lot 49 Records called "Control," and that's being
promoed at the moment and it's doing the rounds. I've done a remix
for Uberzone for the track "Alpha Waves" which I'm quite excited
about. I've also done a remix for Bassnectar called "Ridiculous
Model," that's coming out soon.
RS: Going back to the "Control track, " that you did with
Katherine Ellis, how did you collaborate with her? She's in the UK and
you're in Florida, so how did you all work that one out?
Lee Coombs: Katherine is the easiest person in the world to work with
because you send her an idea and she makes something up, records it
and sends it back in an mp3. Then we'd talk about it and then she
would do a better quality version of what we'd talked about and send
it straight back over the internet. So we don't really need to be in
the same room, as long as what she does fits well with the record and
we're both on the same page, we only need to get together if we want
to record final full quality versions. But I mean, to be honest, even
then she could do it at home anyway so it's just really easy like
that. Ive been working with her for years now.
RS: Yes, she's awesome. It's also cool if she can do something
really underground with you or Superchumbo and then do the really
commercial stuff with Bimbo Jones.
Lee Coombs: Yes, she's forever trying to write pop records. Well I
say trying, she does write pop records, she's got that kind of
capabilities.
RS: How did you get your hands on the Meet Beat Manifesto track,
"Radio Babylon?"
Lee Coombs: Well I've owned that record since the day it came out, so
I mean I didn't get it in parts, I remade the whole thing, just
sampled it off the record.
RS: Of all the records out there, why did you choose that one to redo?
Lee Coombs: I just had this idea all of a sudden that it could be
done. I was remixing a track for someone else a little while ago and
I thought that arrangement would work perfectly for the "Radio
Babylon." So I started sampling it and messing around and it came
together really quick, and you know a track's good when it comes
together really quick. So I did a little bit more work on it and,
brought it up to standard and there you go, there you have it. It's
not an official remix or anything like that, I did it just to play at
the festivals this summer. It worked so well that I just decided to
let everybody have a listen.
