It’s not long to go until the Green Meadows Festival in Elton this August and as usual, the festival is serving up some fabulous music over the two days.
Big names will be playing under the stars and Anna Ruggiero managed to catch up with Utah Saints and find out what makes these cool cats, Jez and Tim, as popular now as they were 25 years ago.
When did it all start for Utah Saints?
“Jez and I met through Djing in Leeds clubs, and before this we’d both been making and releasing music. I enjoyed time touring round Europe with my band and Jez was into his hip hop and enjoyed a successful career as a scratch DJ.
“We released our first track back in 1991 titled What Can You Do For Me and since then have constantly been making music, promoting club nights and festival stages, running record labels and producing music. We have now even launched our studio as a commercial venue (www.utahcentralstudios.com).”
Who are your music legends and inspirations?
“When we met, we both had a common interest in electronic music and I guess at the time our biggest influences were bands such as The KLF and Public Enemy and were lucky to work with Chuck D of Public Enemy. We like the power and energy of bands like Rage Against The Machine and with Utah Saints we always just try to fuse our influences together into something new.”
Describe Utah Saints in three words!
“Energy, excitement, power!”
Best tune?
“Our biggest tune was Something Good but our personal favourite is Lost Vagueness.”
What sounds will you be bringing to the Green Meadows Festival?
“Green Meadows is going to be awesome this year as we are performing inside a giant igloo which will have visuals projected onto the inside walls.
“There are also some great other acts including Craig Charles doing his Funk and Soul show, A. Skillz, Featurecast and local heroes Shades of Rhythm, so it’s going to go off for sure! We always play a decks and effects type set and make a lot of our own edits and versions of tracks.”
What are your thoughts on the dance scene now?
“The dance scene is really healthy right now and there are some great new artists coming through making some really exciting music. Obviously things go in cycles and phases and at the moment it seems to have gone full circle with house music that is quite similar in style to what was being done in the early 90s, with a lot of pianos but made with much better production skills and sounds.
“Although we do get sent a lot of promo’s and free music, we still tend to find the best music that we play out on places such as soundcloud and blogs and a lot of these are made by still yet undiscovered acts and DJs.”
Where can we see you next?
“At the moment we are writing new music and playing festivals and you can catch us playing at Green Meadows Festival.”
The Green Meadows Festival is on August 12 -14 – a three day gathering of music and fun featuring the Utah Saints, Space, The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Club, BBC Radio Introducing, local legends Shades of Rhythm and loads more along with stalls, workshops, kids entertainment and more www.greenmeadowsfestival.org
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