Artist Profile – Polska – (Republic of Ireland) – With Guest Mix
Interviewing DNB producer Polska heralds the first time we’ve represented The Republic of Ireland here at INSIDE DNB. He’s a regular in the Twitch stream chats and I first met him on the platform quite a while ago.
We received a Bandcamp message here at INSIDE HQ recently, informing us of an album he’d way created back in 2006. After further listening to it, and his other work, we realised it was about time we talked to him.
Polska is a purveyor of some of the world’s finest drumfunk drum and bass. It’s a finely crafted style with attention to detail and longevity at its core, and it’s the type of music you can literally lose yourself in.
It’s not particularly well represented within drum and bass media either, so if you’re wondering what drumfunk is and you fancy delving into the mind of one of its finest creators, here’s your chance.
Polska! Welcome in!
Thanks!
You’re a native of Dublin. We know nothing about the scene in the Republic of Ireland, so what kind of an introduction can you give us about the drum and bass scene there?
Sure! Ireland has its varied scenes, there’s the ‘Slither’ nights with Tim Reaper, Double O, Mantra, Ambit, Steve Executive, Tamen…………
There was also an Asterizm Records launch (who I’ve released with, in the past) in Limerick a few weeks ago, with K3Bee, Hago, Code (Subtle Audio) and myself. I’m sure there’ll be many more to come too.
Sounds wicked. Now tell us a little bit about your musical pedigree. Are you or would you class yourself as a musician?
I first started listening to the Beatles and my parents were very much into music. Then I turned into a rocker (and I still listen to metal music) but Ultra Sonic, The Prodigy and 4th Dimension showed up, so I turned into a raver! I’ve always had a love for drums though, so drum n bass suited me well, as well as fusion jazz.
The more people I speak to, the bigger the connection between rock and DNB becomes! Your name is pretty unique. Where did it come from, especially seeing as your Irish?
Oh, I used to be called Indica as a DJ, but then I found out that there was already a producer called Indica, so I just picked up a cassette tape and looked at the writing on it and liked the name ‘Polska’. I actually thought it was a part of the manufacturing of the cassette!
Well, that’s interesting, because there is actually a cassette manufacturing plant in Poland, so that might have been it! You started off on air via Power FM, which is a pretty well-established station in Ireland with quite a history. How did you get involved with them?
That was thanks to Con, Rohan + Naphta and myself. A few of us would have odd mixes aired on Rohan + Naphta’s show, and then they gave us an hour each of their show, so we started our own programme called ‘The Clockers Show’, with myself and Con, who is a DJ partner an Bassbin, a DNB night in Dublin.
This led to a residency at Bassbin, which also seems to have quite a reputation in Dublin. This was quite a seminal night for the city, right?
Yeah, looking back now it’s great to think I was involved in that journey. None of us really knew how it would go, but it was an amazing experience and it was great to meet up with all the crew at the 25th Bassbin Birthday back in April. There’s still love for Bassbin. It was packed.
You’re connected with Beta 2. He has links with Metalheadz, and I’m guessing he was quite influential in your journey?
I met Beta2 in ‘96/’97 when I was playing a drum kit in my mates house when he walked in. Soon after I went over to his place and he showed me a music making programme called Fast Tracker, and it all started with that first floppy disc he gave me. Big up Beta2. We were on a Counter Intelligence release way back in 2005 which was great, and we are both on a colab with Ricky Force on his new album Doomed Planet. Be sure to check out Ricky Force.
You first released a down tempo EP on Irish label Kin back in 2002. This was your preferred style of music to make back then?
I always make different tunes with different tempos. I make ambient, hip hop, jazzy stuff, drum and bass. I still make downtempo music. Kin records was owned by Triple A, who was another DJ from Bassbin.
This was followed in 2004 by the stunning Swept EP on Inperspective Records. This in the drumfunk vein. Quite a departure from downtempo?
Yeah, but there’s also two downtempo tunes on that release. I don’t want be pigeon holed into one style of music, where it’s either downtempo or drum and bass. Look at Klute, Sonar Circle, Alpha Omega and Paradox for example. They all do the same and there’s many more I could mention.
As is the norm for drumfunk, the drum sounds that you use are in themselves quite incredible. The clarity of the sound really shines through. I’m guessing you spend or have spent hours and hours trawling through jazz and blues recordings trying locating them?
Well firstly, thank you. The longest I’ve spent on a tune is quite subjective, as it could have been started a week ago or last year, just trying to get it exactly the way I want it. I work on several tunes at any one time so I’m not bogged down on one otherwise it’ll end up driving me mad!
I find drums from unusual sources, and I also sample my own drum kit. I don’t tend to use the well-known breaks in drum and bass, like the Amen or the Apache for example.
Yeah, I guess one of the issues with sample packs might be the problem of using drum samples that have been used before. If there was a sample that you absolutely fell in love with, but wanted a totally original feel to it, what sort of changes might you make to it to make it yours?
I’d get a drummer in, or sample my own drums and then programme them. If you check out ‘Duplicate’ on Asterizm Records, it’s a live drummer playing the amen break.
Wow, yeah. You can clearly hear that. I guess then the real work begins, with the editing of the samples and chopping and arranging. How long would you usually spend programming the drums on a track?
Probably somewhere between a week to a month if they work. I’ve a weird process, chopping them up into individual bits, then sampling the loop I created, only to then chop it up again and so forth.
Sounds long! One of the things I love about this style of drum and bass though is that you still get long compositions, compared to a lot of more modern tracks where you’re lucky to get 4 minutes at a push. This must pose a problem in terms of filling that amount of space though? How do you manage to draw the piece out for so long? That’s a lot of work!
When making a tune I tend to go with the flow, then leave it for a day or two and re-listen. The advantage is that I can edit it and if it’s not flowing or it’s becoming too repetitive, I change certain bits and add more or remove some samples, but to be honest I’m my own worst critic.
You have had a weekly show on jungletrain.net radio since May and have had a number of very interesting guests on. Is it a drumfunk only show, or do your explore other styles within the broadcast?
I’m delighted to get on jungletrain, but it’s not strictly drumfunk. I also play downtempo, electro, jazz, all sorts really.
I’ve been honoured to have Kev Asterism, Highly, dgoHn, Frankie Gunns, K3Bee and Dodz on the show so far, with many more to come.
I also use jingles featuring the voices of some of friend’s kids, so it’s all good fun!
Big up Arnie, Josh Hill, Darkstar, Ombrios , Bronsen and all the jungletrain crew.
Talking of other styles, what is your take on modern drum and bass? There’s such a wide variety of styles out there right now. What are you feeling and what are you not?
Well personally for me, liquid is a bit meh. Once you’ve heard one, you’ve heard them all, and with neuro you need to be on acid or ecstasy!!
To be honest I don’t pay any attention to the name of it. If I like then I like it.
Have you ever thought about broadcasting your radio show via Twitch as well? Do you think there’s a place for it on the platform?
That’s all a work in progress, so who knows?
As a producer you inevitably have artists that you either look up to because if their skills set, or because of the quality of their productions. Who would be on your ‘to do’ list in terms of colabs and why?
Photek, Alpha Omega, Paradox, Sonar Circle, dgoHn , Aphex Twin (I wish!), Luke Vibert, Squarepusher……………….I could go on for days about this, but the reason I’d choose them is because they’re all legends.
We spoke to a producer recently who claimed to spend 80 hours on a single track and stated that this was quite normal for them. Out of interest, how long would you spend on a single track on average, and how do you know when a track is truly complete?
It really depends on the track. Some just seem to write themselves and other not so! The longest is track I’ve been working on is nearly a year now and I’m still not happy with the drum pattern.
One thing you have to do is just let go of the tune and say to yourself ‘it’s done’, even though still end up listening back and saying to myself “I should of changed that”, so to answer your question, I suppose a tune is never really finished.
Tell us a bit about what you have on the agenda release wise then? What’s coming up?
There’s a few remixes coming up and a vinyl release scheduled in, as well as an EP that’s taking forever because of the disruption of the lockdowns. There’s a few things going on.
As a parting shot then, what is it about drumfunk that makes it ‘yours’. What is it about the genre that makes it your style of choice?
It’s purely from playing the drum’s and loving them. Nuff said, now leave me alone!!
HERE POLSKA’S FIRING GUEST MIX HERE!
FIND OUT MORE HERE:
polska (@polskapolskapolskapolska) • Instagram photos and videos
