Northern Irish techno duo Loco & Jam, aka Lloyd Reid and James People, recently dropped their new single, “Breathe,” via There Is A Light Records.
According to Loco & Jam, “For ‘Breathe,’ we wanted to create something that sat in between techno and melodic. A groover with hypnotizing vocals that could be played across all genres of house and techno.”
Formed in 2007, Loco & Jam has gone from strength to strength playing clubs and festivals worldwide. 2009 saw the pair break through big time when their remix of Henry Von’s “Propaganda” on Fergie’s Rekluse imprint made its way onto Carl Cox’s Space Ibiza compilation. It was also featured as the ‘Global Warmer Track Of The Week’ on his Global Radio Show, which had over 10 Million listeners worldwide.
Since then, the duo has been killing the Beatport Techno charts and have a long list of productions and remixes on major labels such as Adam Beyer’s Drumcode, Christian Smith’s Tronic Music, Coyu’s Suara, Sian’s Octopus Recordings, Chus & Ceballos’ Stereo Productions, Monika Kruse’s Terminal M, Green Velvet’s Relief Records, Marco Bailey’s MB Elektronics, and Mark Knight’s Toolroom Records.
With massive support from DJs such as Adam Beyer, Solomun, Technasia, Sharam, Pan-Pot, Carl Cox, Carl Craig, Green Velvet, Solomon, and Hot Since 82, Loco & Jam comprises a techno tour de force.
CelbMix spoke with Loco & Jam to discover more about how they got together, the inspiration for “Breathe,” and the dance scene in Ireland.
What inspired your new single, “Breathe?”
We wanted to go back to our roots and make something with the same groove as our earlier tracks ‘A Pinch of Spice,’ ‘Trigger,’ ‘Omaplata,’ etc. We also wanted to give it a slightly more melodic vibe with the lead arp and hypnotizing vocals. We think we pulled it off.
How did you get started in music?
My uncle (Loco) was a mobile DJ and had a room in my grandparents’ house set up with Decks and speakers, etc. He showed me from a very young age how to mix and actually gave me my first set of Citronic Belt Drive decks. From then I started collecting records and he let me play school discos, etc., from the age of 10. The rest is history!
Where and when did the two of you first get together?
I returned from living in Ibiza in 2004 and started running Techno parties in my hometown. Not too many DJs in my town played Techno. They were mainly into Progressive House, Trance, etc. However, I booked Jam to play at my event and he was playing nearly the same style of Techno as me. We started to do back-to-back sets over time and then we decided to get in the studio and make some music. If it worked, it worked, and lucky for us it did… That’s how Loco & Jam was born.
Loco & Jam hails from Northern Ireland. What’s the dance scene like in Ireland?
The dance scene is great here… There are a lot of big events putting on all the A-listers and a lot of smaller parties. The people of Northern Ireland are definitely up for a Rave!
Did your sound evolve naturally, or did you deliberately push it in a certain direction?
It just evolved naturally. We never set out to make a certain style. We always just went with the flow in the studio and whatever came out came out!
What inspires your writing? Do you draw inspiration from poems, music, or other media?
Listening to other DJs play out and other people’s music that we like definitely inspires us to get in the studio. Taking little ideas from different tracks and trying to do our own thing with it and turn it into our sound.
What can you share about your writing process?
When we get in the studio we always start with the drums and the groove of the track. If you have a good solid groove, then you have many options on the lead sounds and which direction you want to take the track.
Which artists in your opinion are killing it right now?
Definitely new upcoming artists such as Rebuke, Eli Brown, Matt Sassari, Lilly Palmer, and Oscar L are all putting out great music and are playing everywhere.
How do you define success?
Success is doing your dream job that makes you happy and that you can make a comfortable living off it.
How do you keep your sound consistent onstage?
On stage, our sets are always full of surprises… We never play in a straight line. We always go up and down and throw tracks in that in no way you are expecting…
Looking at your experiences from the last few years, what have you learned from them?
Absolutely we have learned from them. As we say, there is no such thing as failure. Only learning.
What can your fans look forward to over the next six months? Music videos? Live gigs?
We have music on the way on Eli Brown’s Arcane, Nervous Records, a huge collab with a major artist that we cannot talk about right now as well as shows in Dubai, Canada, USA, and Australia to name but a few.