What are your names?
Alias “GB” — Harvey McKay – Ryan McKay
How did you start?
I had been doing my own thing for a long time, but years ago when Ryan was a kid I gave a him a laptop and Ableton and left him to it. Then very now and again I would give home some advice but really wanted him develop on his own and he did certainly did that. He has had a releases on Drumcode and Relief Records Green Velvets imprint.
We eventually got in the studio and were surprised by the results, a very specific sound developed very quickly, and we worked so well together, and ended up pushing each other to ruse the bar in everything we approached.
Where are you from?
Glasgow
Ryan please tell us about up your coming EP:
The EP was a lot of fun to make. The collab seemed to flow naturally. Playing around with lots of rolling snares and chopping up drums.
We felt like we had total freedom to make what we wanted. stripped back techno but with lots of energy. Ever time one of us would add something the other would be itching to add to it. I think we both brought different styles that worked well together. Probably stems from how similar our tastes are musically.
Harvey, what is your gear setup?
We use live 9, and loads of bits, we have a few bits of hardware and original 909 etc., we are more obsessed about the music me make more that the gear we use, It seems to be if it has a millions wires its cool these days, its a bit ridiculous.
Ryan, do you know any music theory?
I received classical training in piano and saxophone. But I always usually go by ear, though the training I had when I was young defiantly still come’s into play.
Harvey how would you describe your music genre?
Its quite dark, very straight machine drum vibe. Even though it is straight, it does have some groove hidden in there as well, . Also when we are working on a new track, when we come up issue or to an idea we need to implement, we try thinking outside the box. So something that would usually work in track, we try think of something different and think that comes across in our sound I think.
Ryan, how did you get into music?
I got into a lot of music through my brother really, he was always producing/mixing when I would go over to his place when I was a kid, there a big age difference between us so I got exposed to the scene really young, both of us did.
Harvey, what are your plans for the future?
We are really focused on in the studio and meet a few times a week getting new music ready. We already have a good batch of tracks that only we have heard yet, we are also busy getting a show together.
Ryan’s Top influences:
Our Dad was a drummer, he got me into a lot of music. Mike Old field, Pink Floyd, Led zeppelin etc.
Harvey, what are you listening to at the moment?
We are totally mad about “The Proclaimers” atm the moment ha-ha, ok maybe not, Yea were into a lot of stuff on the Ghostly International label, really interesting soundscape style music on there, Come Truise in on there as well we both really dig his stuff. We are also quite partial to hip hop, but I have to stress good hip hop really impressed by A-F-R-O his Dark Energy track is lyrically tremendous and seta new standard, and the flow and production doesn’t really get any better.
Techno wise is so varied, and so many different artists its hard to nail down one artist or label, we have such a wide variety in tastes and sounds we dig. Beatport Alias Visions Ep https://www.beatport.com/release/visions/2044203
https://www.facebook.com/gb.alias/
https://soundcloud.com/alias_gb
