The Drum & Bass Thread (formally Drum 'n' Bass is dead?)

Pendulum [a] have always been an act to drive debate and controversy within the drum & bass community.

Since ‘Hold Your Colour’ and their collaboration with Freestylers, many have seen this Australian dance act as being either too commercial or regarded as saviours of the scene.

This week, Pendulum release their new single ‘Granite’, a track from their forthcoming album that looks to drive the band more towards a live sound.

The track takes the act from their previous album, ‘Hold Your Colour’, and builds on their live elements.

Heavily present within this track are heavy guitars, full vocals and big drums; a hybrid between metal and drum & bass, which will appeal to some and not to others.

Many within the drum & bass community decided to label the act as a sell out.

This criticism was based on the act’s ability to sell records, hold sold out tours and leave behind their former indie label in order to move on to a bigger one.

Should this be considered selling out, or just the result of an act that produces great music that sells well?

After a lot of criticism on drum & bass community , Dogs on Acid, Pendulum decided to respond with this comment:

“Okay, I’ve had just about enough of this.

“I don’t mind when people aren’t particularly fond of our tracks - with every tune we make I go through different stages of loving it and hating it, so I can empathise with pretty much every comment made so far.

“The only comments I don’t get are the ones saying we’ve ‘sold out’.

“I define ‘selling out’ as not only making music for profit, but also making ANYTHING you don’t really want to make for ANY reason (including fame, pleasing fans, staying true to a genre, or un-necessarily repeating yourself out of fear of progression).

“The only way I believe I could have really ‘sold myself out’ is if I had made any more tracks that sounded like vault / another planet / still grey etc.

“Those tunes are cool for what they are, but I’ve moved on in both my musical taste / influences, and my ambitions for this group…

“If you want to blame anyone for our change in direction, blame Led Zeppelin, The Shadows, The Surf Coasters, Dead Kennedys, Dick Dale, Howlin’ Wolf, Weather Report, Tool, In Flames, Herb Alpert, Underoath and all the other stuff I’ve been listening to instead of drum and bass.

“We have fended the vultures off this project so much that it would probably fill a novel if I tried to explain it all.

“All I’ll say is, I wanted to make every single thing we’ve ever put out.

“Saying we ‘sold out’ is talking out your ass.

“I never wanted to make straight up dnb — it was never on the cards.

“Oh, and by the way - I’m not sure if drum and bass is dead or dying (I’ve been in the studio / on tour too long to tell).

“However, if your genre was flimsy enough to be knocked over by ONE SINGLE RECORDING ARTIST who happened to - god forbid - sell some fucking records for the first time in about 5/6 years, then I’m glad it was us that got to drive the final stake through its stale pig shit heart - and good riddance.

“Wake me up when your genre is making something that people outside the scene believe is worth listening to again.’

The whole response can be seen by visiting the Dogs on Acid community website.

In the meantime, check ‘Granite’ out now and judge for yourself.

But whatever you do, just don’t tell Pendulum [a] what you believe!

And hold your breath for the Dillinja remix coming soon.....