Terminal V Podcast 076 || Testpress

t e s t p r e s s hail from Aberdeen but now call Glasgow home, and it is from there that they have ripped up the techno landscape in recent times. Their particular love of hard and fast dance sounds has become known as “b i g d u n t e n e r g y” and has come on labels like Speedmaster Records and Method 808’ with support from peers like Ihatemodels, Patrick Mason and VTSS. The duo also made their mark on a recent tour of Australia and always bring a different kind of edge so sit right at the forefront heading into 2025.

Find out exactly what ‘d u n t’ means, get to know how this pair first came together and get the inside track on some of their key inspirations right now by reading through this interview and sticking on their mix. It’s a snapshot of exactly where they are now as well as teasing some sounds that show where they are going on a new collaborative album that is due to drop soon.

 

 

How did you first meet, why do you get on, why start DJ and producing together, why does it work?

We met through partying in Aberdeen, just through mutual friends. We both shared a love for skating and music. It was quite random how we started producing together I (Fraser) lent Dan a pair of speakers over summer 2017 and when I went to collect them we both had nothing to do that day so we decided to make a tune for a laugh. It was the first tune we ever put out and it’s still on our Soundcloud to this day.

We’ve got a great dynamic when it comes to making music as Fraser has 14 years of experience producing so really has the technical side nailed down and Dan has a great creative ear and thinks outside the box when things become too formulaic.

What is a ‘d u n t’ / what is ‘b i g d u n t e n e r g y’ per your bio? how did you come to it, what does it feel like, how does it sound?

It’s everything we stand for when it comes to dance music. It’s punchy, loud, high-energy music that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

What draws you to trance, Eurodance and harder techno, why are they the most exciting sounds to work with for you, do they best represent your personalities?

We’d been making house for years and felt creatively we’d reached a point with that where we needed to move on to a new sound. At the time there were all these great trance/Euro dance tracks coming out Europe that really resonated with us. It’s a perfect bridge between the heavier sounds that appeared after COVID and the more classic 130 bpm stuff that we were playing/producing. It’s definitely the sound of the time.

You have had big-name support and plenty of radio plays and online chart success. Did you always hope to have a crossover sound, are you happy to straddle both underground and more accessible realms? Is that the modern way, do you think?

We try not to think about where our music is going to go when we’re creating it. We find it limits creativity as we subconsciously end up pigeonholing ourselves into making music that A&Rs or labels will like. We just want to focus on doing our own thing, music is genre-less nowadays and people just want to see authenticity.

Tell us about your mix, the aim you had with it, and what you wanted it to say.

We wanted to showcase all of the sounds that we have been playing in our sets. We’ve been working on a collab album with some of favourite DJs/producers in the scene so we’ve slipped a few of those in as well!

What gear did you use, is that important to you in any way whether in the booth or studio?

We’ve had a fair few gigs where we’ve had to play on dodgy gear before but we always make it work. One time we had to play a 2 hour set with one CDJ and Dan MCing on a mic.

What’s next for you? Aside from gigs what do you have coming up/what are you working on?

Next up we’ll be releasing our collab album. We’ve got an exciting list of people involved, some old friends and new which really translates into how special we think this project sounds.

 

Interview by Kristan Caryl