Q ’n’ A: Disclosure

We chat to Guy Lawrence, one half of world-beating electronic music duo Disclosure, about the fire that’s starting to burn.
Congrats on the UK #1. Where were you when you first heard?

We were in the car, coming straight from the show. We heard it on the radio, and we all went crazy. There’s a video on our Facebook that we posted, when we heard, of our reactions.

And how did you get involved in production this style of music?

I think it was mainly just from me going out clubbing. I was listening to DJs, listening to dubstep, I just loved it. I loved all of it, and just wanted to learn how to make it. That was about four years ago, and I just practiced every day: how to produce music, how to make synthesisers work and how to program drum machines – just practicing. Through practicing, we got into writing little structured songs with vocals on them, and working with other vocalists. It was just hard work, basically.

I think we just wanted to be involved in something that was a little different to just conventional pop music, or rock or r’n’b. I love hip hop, so I sort of knew about the electronic side of things a bit, but when we heard this new movement that was happening in the UK, that was it for us. It was like, “This is what we want to be involved with.”

Which records were you into around this time?

Big records for us were early James Blake, Mount Kimbie and their album Crooks and Love, that was a huge thing for us. There’s a song by Joy Orbison: Hyph Mngo, that was huge turning point for me. When I heard that being played in clubs, that was big: it has chords, and melody and wasn’t just a bit pulsing bassline. That was a big step for me, because I used to go out and listen to dub-step a lot, but I never went home and wanted to make it. Joy Orbison and James Blake really made me think that I could really do this. I think the first person I showed was my brother, and we were really into it, like, “this is fucking sick’. Once we heard it, we were like, “Yeah, we want to do this.”

How does songwriting work between you and Howard [Lawrence; Guy’s brother, and the other half of the group]?

It’s kind of different everytime. On the whole, mainly, I do most of the drums and percussion. I do all the production, and the mixing, and all the mix-downs at the end. Howard does most of the chords and the melodies. He also does all the lyric writing, with the singer. I just hate writing lyrics. There are plenty of times where that hasn’t been the case. We do share the roles.

When Latch burst into the charts, there had been a steady build up to that point. Did you think it could chart so high [UK #11] or was it a shock?

It was amazing, man. It was definitely a surprise. We knew the song had some commercial structure: we definitely knew it had a chorus and verses, and we thought it was catchy. It’s pretty hard to know if your song is good. It’s like trying to tell if your children are good looking. It’s impossible. I think you have to rely on what other people think, and when it entered straight away, it was amazing. I think we realised what we’d made.

And you’ve been thrown into touring quite a bit, too. How’s that adjustment?

We wanted to do this our whole lives; doing music for a living is just amazing. Doing anything musical is amazing. Music as a job is what I’ve always wanted to do. It’s hard work and the lack of sleep is pretty painful; I’m pretty sure I’m an alcoholic, but yeah, it’s all good – apart from that.

What kind of music were you guys into prior to your clubbing days?

For me, in my teens years it was hip hop. American hip hop, things like the works of J Dilla, A Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes. I was really into that. But before that, it was just normal, conventional music that our parents used to play, because that’s just what you hear growing up: Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Hall and Oates. Also some cheesy rock, The Who, Led Zeppelin. English rock bands. Real music with real musicians.

When we were young, all we wanted to do was play instruments. I started playing drums when I was three or four, guitar when I was seven. Howard started playing bass as well, and piano. So we were into anything that had actual musical playing in it, so that we could copy it, and play along to it.

Now that hordes of people own Settle, are there things you’d like to change on it?

Always man, it’s horrible. But on the whole, mainly no. We spent so fucking long, doing every little thing, perfecting it, you know, it’s okay. To be honest, I don’t listen to it. I don’t enjoy listening to my own music back, you notice things you don’t like.