Exclusive Mix and Interview – Utah Saints

Utah Saints have been making music, DJ’ing and playing gigs around the globe since the birth of House Music. The world renowned duo have released 9 Top 40 UK hits, 4 of which hit the Top 10 and sold over 2 million records worldwide (equivalent to 800m+ streams).

Precariously walking the tightrope between genres and the underground and mainstream, Utah Saints roots are firmly in electronic dance music.  Having met in a club in Leeds at the beginning of the rave movement in the UK they’ve subsequently established themselves as pioneers of sampling in dance music.

Alongside this success, they set up and promoted award winning and legendary club nights The Gallery and SugarBeatClub both live in Leeds, with residencies at Cabret Voltaire in Edinburgh. Utah Saints are still very much at the top of their game, DJ’ing regularly each month as well as curating festival stages such as Beatherder – putting on an eclectic range of artists and DJ’s and talent spotting early.

When the pioneering musicians aren’t playing at clubs and festivals in various parts of the world, they can be found in the studio working on their own material as well as producing and remixing other artists from The Osmonds (Crazy Horses) to Bring Me The Horizon. 

As part of our 10th Birthday celebrations, we invited Utah Sants back once again, with an exclusive mix and chat.

Utah Saints, it’s an honour to have you back with us as we celebrate Decoded Magazine’s 10th birthday! Let’s start by taking a trip down memory lane. We’re sure you’ve been asked this many times and it is a track that defined a lot of the early 90’s.  What was it like to experience incredible success in the ’90s with your hit track “Something Good”?                                    

Thank you for having us back, that is also an honour! So Something Good was our 2nd hit in the UK, after our first, What Can You Do For Me, which came out the year before. That took off for us really suddenly – we pressed 1000 copies on vinyl ourselves, and within 3 months we were signed and it had sold 165,000 copies in the UK. So when Something Good came out, we weren’t expecting it to be a hit, but we were a bit more prepared when it was. We started in 1991, and when Utah Saints started getting busy we were promoting 4 nights a week, booking a lot of DJs, playing at raves most weekends and making dance music on computers and samplers during the day. Everything was flat out and a bit of a blur, but really exciting and it really felt like something new was being built.

“Something Good” famously sampled Kate Bush. Can you tell us about the process of clearing that sample? How did you manage to get the green light from such an iconic artist?

We aren’t too sure – we weren’t involved directly with the process, but she did like it, and she’s never cleared anything else, so we are incredibly grateful and honoured. We hope it was because we didn’t take the essence of her track and make it the essence of ours, we tried to make something new and put her amazing line in a different musical context. She is such an iconic unique true artist, and to be honest at the time we were young and pretty intimidated to talk to an artist of her calibre, so we left it all to the business people.

You had a hectic touring schedule during your early years (and subsequently over the last 3 decades). How did you handle the demands of constant touring, and do you have any memorable stories from the road? (no names needed).

We’ve always seen this as our main job, and taken it seriously, so we kept focused on the music and doing the best gig we could at every show. When Utah Saints started, both of us had already done a lot of gigs – Jez Utah with two bands, and Tim as a DJ. Luckily this put us in a good place when it comes to touring. Yes, we have a lot of stories, but we’re still not comfortable talking about them – sorry! Every rave, gig and show is special to us, whether it’s playing to an empty room (as everyone wanted to go upstairs to see Vernon Kay) or opening for U2 in front of 70,000 people, we always try and do the best we can. Oh and to be honest, there is a lot of waiting around when you tour, too much thinking time sometimes 🙂

How have you seen the music scene evolve over the past decade since we last spoke? Are there any significant changes that have particularly stood out to you, that is either good or bad?

A decade?! Wow, time is flying… music is contracting a bit at the moment. It’s no one’s fault, but there is less industry support at the moment for up-and-coming music. That’s one of the reasons publications like Decoded are so important.  Without going too deep, we all need to support new music, and value it – too often people working in the arts are seen as “not having a proper job” and that needs to change. That said, it’s a very exciting time in music – loads of new tech evolving, and shaping immersive events. Music will always be there, either as a driving force, or part of a bigger experience.

Looking ahead, where do you see the future of the electronic music scene going in the next 10 years? What trends or developments do you think will shape its future?

There will be a LOT of music, which is why there will be a need for Gatekeepers like Decoded and MADE Festival. We think there is a big need for authenticity – although YouTube is helpful in seeing and listening to music, nothing can emulate a real shared experience. That’s why it’s important to respond to music as you feel it, not how you think YouTube has told you to. Next time you go to a festival, try it – there is some intangible quality of an act or event with soul that we can connect to – no other experience has that.

Tracks will probably get shorter – not many people have a long attention span, and social media will dictate track lengths to a certain extent. Events will get more immersive, and some will become experiences – the recent Sault gigs showed us all a possible direction for this. AI is the big discussion, but at the moment it is reactive – it can only work with what has happened before, and that doesn’t always connect with people. For example, look at how many acts tried to be like the Beatles when they arrived, but no one really got close – the Beatles were the real deal, and the copies were seen as that. Where AI will get really interesting/scary is when it starts being creative – we’re a while off that at the moment, so the future is bright, we all need to work out how to fit AI into that!

 We love hearing about exciting new acts to check out, What up-and-coming artists do you think we should have on our radar? Are there any new talents that have impressed you recently?

Yes, a lot! Not going to list them as we know we’ll accidentally leave some out. English Teacher are from Leeds like us and brilliant, so that’s our hometown plug – beyond that, we are constantly impressed by a lot of the new music coming out  – oh and Orbital are our mates and have some great new music.

Technology, AI, hardware, DJ software, have leaped in bounds recently (Traktor 4 anyone?) How do you see the future of music technology? Are there any innovations or advancements that you’re particularly excited about?

Yes, AI is definitely exciting. Looking forward to more randomisers for composition and sound design. Really like a lot of sample manipulators – taking small slices of sound and rearranging them to make new, never-heard before combinations. We keep moving with the tech (although we were Serato not Traktor – changeovers were hairy!), and there are new developments all the time, helping us make edits on the fly during a set – keeps us busy!

Do you have any special news or upcoming releases that you can share with us? What can your fans expect from Utah Saints in the near future?

We are hoping to announce some releases towards the end of this year – until then they are being kept secret. We intend to reach as many gigs and people as we can, we want to collaborate in interesting ways with interesting acts, and generally be as busy as we possibly can. You missed an incredible time at MADE festival last week

 Reflecting on your 3 decade long music career, what have been some of the key factors to your enduring success in the music industry?

The music. The music we started with has developed, but the core is the same and still completely relevant. We also have to be involved with music, that’s just what we’ve always done. We both started performing and making music when were at school, and haven’t stopped. Defining the word “success”. To us that means still being here, and able to keep making and playing music. So there have been a lot of major ups and downs. For a while we went properly back to the underground, started our own nights again, and booking DJs we liked, that gave us the opportunity to regroup a bit, and figure out what to do next.

The re-release of Something Good ‘08 was a massive boost for us as well, will always be grateful to Van She Tech for that. And lastly, we do try and treat everyone the same, and try not to be idiots. We both know what it’s like to be down, and would never want to knowingly add to someone else being down. We try and remember that pissing on someone else’s chips won’t make your chips taste better….

Finally, as we celebrate Decoded Magazine’s 10th birthday, do you have any special memories or thoughts about your experiences with the magazine over the years?

Decoded – you are an essential and authentic part of the electronic music scene – we always visit your site when we are looking for info – you guys are true experts and know your history, which makes you great gatekeepers – we know that any of the acts or music tech we find through you will be quality – thank you for that , and please keep up the good work!

Particularly liked the feature on the Emulator 2 from Ferris Bueller – none of us could afford that machine, but were fascinated by what it could do!  More of that please, perhaps something on the Akai S612 that we started with.

Thank you, Utah Saints, for taking the time to speak with us. We’re thrilled to share your insights and stories with our readers as part of this special anniversary celebration!

Thank you Decoded – happy anniversary from Utah Saints!

Tracklisting

Yo Yo Get Funky (Andre Zimmer Extended Remix) – Dj Fast Eddie
The Tape (Pig Snatchers & M-Staffs Anthem Remix) – Frank De Wulf
At All Times (Original Mix) – Chambray
Love Island (Crusy Remix) – Fatboy Slim
No Reason (Chris Lake Extended Mix) – Chris Lake
Don’t U (Originl Mix) – Sean Den
Willow – Wallace
The Hack – The Hack
I’m Alive – Adelphi Music Factory
Marlb (Original Mix) – Matrefakt
Vamp – Outlander
Superstylin Tool – Odd Mobb
Staar Cowgirl – Underworld vs Tom Staar

Take a trip 10 years ago with Utah Saints in our previous interview and mix

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