Starting off this month's interviews is High Drive Recording's very own Iridium. Kirk is a growing force on the hard dance scene, with his remix of Carl Nicholson's Blueprint being released on the Tidy Trashed album, along with his newest release about to be released on Butcher Boy's label Carbon. With all these releases in such a short time, it is with out a doubt that this young man will be making an impact this year and many to follow.

The Beat Ranch presents, Iridium

Thanks Kirk for taking the time out to do this mix and interview.

The pleasure is all mine, thank you.

This being your first time on TheBeatRanch, can you give us the low down on where you are from and how you came up with the name Iridium?

I’ve lived in my home town (Grantham) since I was very small. It’s not a bad place to live but Hard Dance is almost non-existent here which is the only bad thing. Ah yes, the name ha-ha, well basically I got the name way back when I was a little nipper at school. I was in a Chemistry lesson learning about elements and I just read that and thought “Yea, that sounds cool, ill use that” and it’s just stuck ever since.

At 13 years old you got hooked on Playstation's Music series, which seem to spark your interest in electronic music, What attracted you to the harder side of electronic music?

As embarrassing as I think it sounds, I used to listen to a lot of the cheesier side of music, artists like Public Domain, Warp Brothers, Darude also stuff like prodigy. I first got into harder music when I bought a hard house album one time, which if I remember rightly was mixed by Lisa Pinup & Andy Farley. After that I was hooked on the sound. I was already producing at the time and “Music” on the PSX didn’t offer the ability to produce sounds along the harder edge so I looked further afield.

Who or what have been your influences over the years?

That’s a tough one to answer. There have been a lot of influences for me. When I was younger, listening to hard house, Nick Sentience and BK were top of the list. As time passed I came across the likes of Nick Rowland, Ingo and Colin Barratt appearing on albums galore. More recently, you couldn’t get much better than Technikal, MDA & Spherical and Paul Maddox, all producing music of highest quality.

You have had a release on Operation 9 with Digital Kid, called Keep rockin, which is alot different in terms of style, then when you seem to produce now. Have you moved on from hard house to hard trance for good?

Yes, that’s right. Keep Rockin was a project I did with DK to get me onto the ropes of FL Studio. I’d already used it for a while and this was sort of a crash course so I wasn’t too fussed on the style. Initially I wanted to write hard trance. After I heard some of his work at the time we decided to do something along similar lines. I was still finding my feet with the scene at the time and the sound I wanted in most of my work was still evolving quite a lot. I have a passion for a lot of hard music. I think there will always be a space for hard house particularly in my sets and on the dance floors, producing it on the other hand is a rarity, Hard Trance is my bag these days.

Your label Hard Drive Recordings has seen the likes of Trevor McLachlan, Adrenaline Dept and of course yourself, what can people expect from the label in 2008?

I’m mainly keeping “High Drive” open as an outlet for my own productions this year. But if I manage to come across the odd “Gem” then I will do a remix on it and put it out. Nothing is planned of yet though. Last year most of my productions were picked up elsewhere but I’ll be working harder to see plenty more releases out on it.

Your remix of Carl Nicholson's "Blueprint" was featured on the Tidy Trashed album, and now you have a release coming out on Butcher Boy's label Carbon. What can people look forward to, for upcoming Iridium releases?

Well, Nick Rowland and I have just finished a collaboration which will be due out on Oblivion at the end of April. It was great fun to work with a legend of our scene that knows exactly the score with production. Oblivion have also taken “The Ascent” which is due out in the next couple of weeks. Sam Hudson’s new label, Slave 7 has taken “Oblong” my latest venture into the chunkier, funkier side of hard dance with a Scott-Foshaw remix. It’s going to be an exciting year!

Which producer or producers would you like to work with in the future?

Well after working with Nick I definitely hope I get the chance to work with him again. But MDA & Spherical, Technikal, Nick Sentience and Paul Maddox would be a shortlist for me all great producers who have influenced my music in some form or another.

Who do you think will make a big impact this year in terms of production?

One guy that seems to be doing particularly well for himself and quite quickly I might add is Scott Foshaw. Having releases on several big labels and played the Tidy weekender already at his age must be a massive achievement for him so fair play to the lad. Technikal is always on form and after listening to his Collaboration with Rob Tissera, “Holdin on” I can say that will be a big contender for anthem of the year. New kid Emilio from Norway is causing a stir at the moment also, he has some decent tracks lined up on Oblivion and one or two other decent labels. If I had to choose one more I would say Sully. He has evolved his sound a lot since I first met him and now he is doing some really tough, kick ass productions of late which are all being battered by the likes of Bas & Ram, Phil York, Alex Kidd, Chuck-E and Kidd Kaos.

Can you give the gear junkies out there a rundown of your studio?

My sequencer of choice is that of FLStudio 7 (Soon to be FL8), its intuitive interface and layout make it one of the easiest of sequencers to learn. The computer is a Quad core Intel processor with 2Gigs of ram with dual monitor display. For studio monitors I use Tannoy Reveal 6D. No studio is complete without a midi keyboard of some form, so I have an Alesis model keyboard.

What’s your favourite plug-in, VST that you could not live without?

A very difficult choice that, there are so many decent plug-ins out there. Instrument wise it would have to be V-station or Sylenth1. Effect wise, the waves bundle is a pretty decent pack.

What do you do when you are not in the Studio producing?

I’m heavily into my gaming so nothing comes closer to enjoyment online at the moment than “Gears of War” on the 360, a solid game that’s addictive as hell, can’t wait for the sequel in November. I do a lot of sports also. A few hours in the gym a week plus a game of football on a Friday night keeps you in tip top shape.

Which world event would you love to play at?

Anywhere with an “Up for it” crowd really. But Global Gathering is always a huge event that most DJ’s could only dream of playing at, including me ha-ha.

When can people see you play out next?

I have a few sets next month. Puzzle Project in London and V1agra in Leeds. Bookings are starting to come in more frequent now so you may see me in a few more event line-ups, hopefully!

Any last words?

Yes! Thank you for the interview, see you in the clubs!

Click here for Iridium's Mix
Click here for tracklisting.

Past Interviews