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TheBeatRanch.com - Interviews - Chris Comben


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Finishing off our June interviews we have none other then Combat's main arsenal Chris Comben.

Chris has made quite the name for himself by launching his highly successful label Combat Records. However before that Chris was working behind the scenes, working for labels such as Short Circuit and legendary Tripoli Traxx with Marc Johnson. When he is not working hard away on his label, Chris has rocked the decks at such venues as The Scala, The Fridge, Heaven, and The Emporium.

Now with out any further ado, Chris Comben

Welcome to The Beat Ranch Chris, Thank you for taking your time out to do this interview and mix for us. This being your first time here, can you give us a bit of your background. Where are you from and what is the scene like out there at the moment?

Hi all, I'm good thank you sir. I'm from Redhill in Surrey, which for the international people is just south of London in England. I think it'll come as no surprise to learn that the scene's been better. There are still nights on but not with the same sort of regularity as there once was. Hopefully the few clubs that are on are still turning a good profit but to be honest I'm not really sure. I kind of dropped out of running clubs at the end of the last year, too old for that lark now.

What was it that, got you into hard house, over other genres in the scene?

I remember I used to buy a lot of dance music when I was in college and starting work, around the time of Armand Van Helden, all the Positiva, Manifesto sort of stuff. I'm not sure why I bought it, but I remember buying Nukleuz's HardHouse Anthems 3 and absolutely loved it. Loved the BK tracks on there and then went and got the older ones, after that I was hooked and then started going out to the events too.

What else do you listen to other then hard house?

I'm massively into my Drum & Bass, to be honest most of my music I own is Drum & Bass tracks and albums. All types really, from High Contrast to Dom & Roland, TC to Benny Page. Non-D&B I do really really like Kano, I reckon his voice is brilliant, also got a lot of time for Dizzie Rascel. I really don't listen to pop music though, all my mates keep having a go at me because I genuinely have never heard of half of the crap they listen too, as if its some sort of sin to not listen to the stuff that everyone likes. Probably why I listen to Radio5 rather Radio1, that and my love of sport.

What got ya into clubbing? Do you remember your first event?

Really again back to the old HardHouse Anthems, I went to a lot of the Frantic events on at the time if I remember correctly (which to be honest I don't remember much of that time or much in general full stop), also Heat and Tasty used to be class. I'm not sure about my first event but the one I remember well was a New Years Eve at Brixton Academy, loads of stuff came down from the ceiling and all that business. Great times.

Who or what got you into the DJing?

Once I'd been going to a few events I started like certain DJs. Justin Bourne was always a hero, saw him as much as I could. Then obviously I started getting the records and then it sort of snow balled from there. I've got no rhythm so just assumed I wouldn't be able to DJ, so I was quite pleased when after some long hard months I managed to get better. After all the times I'd seen Justin I really did want to emulate him in that way.

Do you remember your first gig?

Not really, I think it may have been a pub in Whilsden now I think about it. I wasn't all that nervous, but I was excited. I seem to remember it going well, I mean a part from the old classic of stopping a record nothing really bad has ever happened to me. Mind you I have mixed in the wrong track a few times, but them I've become quite good at putting another one in really quick so it looks like I did it on purpose, or at least I think I'm good at that.

What has been your favourite venue to play at and why?

Hard one, but probably Heaven, only because its a venue that everyone has heard of. I've been lucky enough to have played at The Scala, The Fridge, The Emporium, and a few other big venue's, but Heaven is one that sticks out in my mind. Especially as I've been there so many times for various nights over the years.

When can people see you play out next?

Sadly no where at the moment. I don't tend to pick up many sets, which I suppose is probably down to me not really going out on the scene much, pressing the flesh and all that. I'm getting on now and with all the sport I do I tend to want to sleep a lot of the time, I'm so old.

You have had the privilege to work with labels such as Short Circuit, and Tripoli Trax. What was it like working with Justin Bourne and Marc Johnson?

Proper couple of twats.

No, to be fair they're both fantastic, and we're still mates now. Working with Justin was great, at the time I was able to help him with sites and graphics and stuff and I hope I added a little something to the label while I was involved. Such a happy chap and always a good laugh. Johnson is class too, a real genuinely nice bloke, can't believe he's a bloody gooner now but what can you do? Bringing Tripoli back for a bit was great, but unfortunately it was just the wrong time, about the point where the vinyl market was crashing and the CD market emerging it just didn't work for us. Still, good to have been involved in the history of Hard House' greatest label.

Your label Combat's first release featured yourself on both sides with tracks, Combat and All Clear. When can people except the next arsenal of Combat tunes to come out?

I'm really pleased with the stuff Combat's got coming up. We've released over 20 tracks so far and the schedule is all sorted until the end of November now. Its all planned out at 3 tracks every 6 weeks, that's been going strong since the start of the year now. Combat 008 has just been released to the download sites, Combat 009 has been sent out to the DJs and Promo List people and seems to have gone down very well. Combat 010 will be a remix package, as its the 10th release. Combat 011 will be a Chris Comben EP. So if you don't like my stuff then you're fresh out of luck. I've tried to be consistent in the quality of tracks that we've released and hopefully people will be pleased with the future things. Its hard now adays, especially as there are no production costs on Digital releases, so its easy to just take a track and release it to say you've got a release. The money the label has made has gone back into advertising so far, magazines and online as well as the website, everything I can think of to try and promote the releases on the label.

With some labels doing CD releases, and vinyl on its last breath, where do you see the future of Combat going, strictly digital from now on?

I was one of the first people to release a CD (Combat 004), however I did it as a vinyl replacement, so it was about the same cost to buy and had three tracks on it. Once the sales figures for that came through it pretty much said Digital was the way forward. It was about six months after that Tidy did the first library CD, that totally changed it really, it said that you need to release eight to ten tracks per CD. To be honest I don't think the quality is there on most labels to do that. Personally I wait for them to be released Digitally and pick the few good tracks that were there and not the poor ones. Gone are the days of B Sides, everything has to be an A Side now. Which is no bad thing in a way.

Combat is one of the few labels with a promo list available, how can people get on this list?

Simples, you just have to sign up via http://www.combat-records.com/combatant/ and for only £20 you get the next four releases directly to your inbox, six weeks before general release! Thats 12 tracks, so they work out at less that £1.67 for full wav versions. Plus the money goes directly to the label and artists, so it cuts out the cost taken from download sites. Everyone's a winner!

You have recently done a track with Dom Sweeten entitled "Tequila Shot". How was it working with Dom?

he mans a legend, no question, lovely bloke too. Tequila Shot is not actually the first track we've done together. Dom has been the engineer for me on Carrier Signal and Buffer Overflow and a few cheeky new ones, and we previously worked together on From Beyond. Dom's great, you can say what sort of track you want and he'll mould your thoughts into a sure fire winner. I'd recommend him to anyone thinking of making a track, but be warned you need to have some firm ideas of what you want to do and also have the samples. It seems to me that can be the mistake a few people.

Who would you like to work with in the future?

Young Timmy Stokes (and his famous girlfriend Laura ;o) ) for a start. I like the stuff he's been doing and he's really passionate about it all. He's also well organised and knows what he wants to do. Jason Roberts is also impressing me a lot at the moment, he and Ben (Rodi Style) have been making fantastic tracks, treading the path between Hard House and Hard Trance perfectly I think, uplifting Hard House. Of the new boys coming up I like HiFreak1c a lot, he's been progressing really well and a colab in the future maybe on the cards there. Darrel White and Gary B are also doing good things. I don't feel I really work too well with others, but yeah, Tim Stokes is probably the next person I'll work with.

But I'm always up for listening to new things, so please e-mail me, chris@combat-records.co.uk with what you have. If I don't reply straight away please bug me as I really do try but sometimes they slip through the gaps so don't be afraid to bug me!

When not djing or producing, what do you like to do for fun?

I'm massively into my football and boxing. I manage a local team as well as play every Saturday. Then I white collar box most days during the week. I'm a big Nottingham Forest and Barcelona fan so this season's gone pretty well for me and I was at Stamford Bridge for the Champions League Semi Final, loved that! I'm also off to see Amir Khan and Anthony Small fight, so I'm hoping my luck rubs off onto them too.

Any last words?

Yeah, you can follow me on the Twitter and the Faceache, for those of you that don't mind my mad rambling. Thanks for putting the interview together Brian, its been a pleasure