Your EDM Interview: Blaine Stranger Talks Tech, Viper and How His Tracks “Mesmerise”

Layla MarinoAugust 8, 2017

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Blaine Stranger is relatively new to drum and bass, having been snapped up by Viper recordings on a demo in 2015, but his tracks and style are seen by the community and fans as classics already. At the tender age of 21, Blaine has already toured the world with Viper and released on their Summer Slammer compilation in 2016 and was chosen to do Viper’s 2017 Megamix. He’s also remixed Alison Wonderland and Coppa & Praise Spirit. His new double single came out at the end of July, and Mesmerise/Get Down has already been featured on Metrik’s BBC1 radio program. Mid-tour, Blaine managed to answer a few questions for Your EDM about his whirlwind rise through the drum and bass ranks, what’s up next for him as a young producer and why he thinks his tracks sound so timeless.

You’ve only been with Viper for about a year, but it feels like you’ve been producing forever, partially because of the way you weave old and new styles into your tracks. Can you talk a little about what types of style, both old and new, inspire you?

I’m all about bringing in influences from absolutely anything! I’ve always been super inspired by bands like Tool, Pink Floyd, and Bring Me The Horizon. All the way through to hip hop artists like Rakim, Nas and J-Live. I feel like by doing this you can really carve your own thing/style. I also listen to a lot of house and techno which I think I try to show off in my drum and bass music too.

What about Viper made you decide to sign with them for the long stall?

I’ve always looked up to Viper and the artists they’ve developed in the drum and bass scene. I like the ‘sound’ they’ve always pushed, I’d want to say ‘commercial’ but that’s a bit of a dirty word… I think they just tend to develop artists that most people on the dancefloor can understand, if you know what I mean?

How do you think coming up in the Sydney scene influenced you? What’s different about Australian drum and bass versus Europe or the US?

Sydney is full of amazing artists in every fashion. I think just being able to witness artists rise just pushing their own style and sound was inspiring enough. Flume, Flight Facilities, Alison Wonderland, Phaseone, What So Not, the list goes on! The Australian drum and bass scene is fairly small (depending on the city, Perth’s is huge), but super-tight. It’s like a family here for sure, everyone knows everyone.

The two tracks on this new release are quite different. How did you decide to put them together?

They were made I think around 6 months apart, but on top of that, I wanted to put something out that’d give a bit of a different taste to my style, and to see how people would receive each track.

Speaking of old school styles, “Get Down” has quite an old school techno vibe but it’s paired with a very unconventional beat, even from dnb standards. How did you figure out how to put those two together?

I love big epic hardstyle leads! Decided I’d put one in a drum and bass tune.

By contrast, “Mesmerise” is a vocal track with a punched-up jump up beat. It would sound conventional but that beat is really crisp, making it sort of ravey and technical/sound design-driven as well. How did you get the beat to do both and what ambient sounds did you use to cement the beat and the synths?

I think with this track I just wanted to give off a really atmospheric ‘lights out’ sort of vibe in the verse. Then during the drop was more of a bouncy sing along type of tune. This one was heaps fun to make!

Anything you can say about the next releases you have coming out on Viper?

New tune coming out on the 1st of September for Bassrush 2.0. More of a trap-styled tuned this one. Expect more hardstyle leads during the verse, too. I’ve got another single lined up shortly after.