Soul Mass Transit System in Interview: The Legend Returns Home
Written by Thomas Anderson Edited by Eve Moat
The city of Leeds has long been a northern powerhouse in the underground music scene, but specifically stands as a hub for electronic dance music fans. Home to iconic venues such as The Warehouse, Mint Warehouse and the local favourite Beaver Works, as well as underground basement clubs Wire and Distrikt, the city leaves no genre of music unturned. Over recent years however, a bass-heavy revolution seems to have hijacked speakers throughout the student-populated neighbourhoods of Hyde Park, Headingley and beyond, as the UK Garage, Jungle, Drum and Bass, and Breakbeat scenes seem to have gripped the city, in an insurgence spearheaded by the native garage legend, Soul Mass Transit System. Previously sporting different alias’s, SMTS has been releasing music under this name since 2020 and has quickly made an imprint on the underground electronic music scene. From earning a nomination for ‘Breakthrough Producer’ at DJ Mag’s 2022 Best of British awards, to releasing records on large labels such as Ministry of Sound, ec2a and Gimme A Break Records, SMTS has been riding high over the last few years, curating an impressive collection of tracks that guarantee to get the crowd moving.
Most recently, the talented producer and DJ headlined the first night of Boiler Room’s long awaited return to his home town and Tom Anderson caught up with him via e-mail to talk all things SMTS.
First of all, how does it feel to be back in Leeds, specifically headlining such a big event in your home town, at such an iconic venue in Beaver Works?
SMTS: Yeah buzzing for this one, really solid line up as well, with a bunch of close friends playing so I’m very hyped! Yeah, Beaver Works is wicked, actually played my first ever gig there back when I was 16, so it’s a nice full circle moment!
You must have some unreal memories of nights in your home town, are there any specific sets, shows or DJ’s that you have great memories of in Leeds? Are there any venues that use to be favourites for you that may have closed down?
SMTS: I’ve had some v special moments in Leeds, would say top 3 would be: Theo Parrish all night long in Wire, dropping Radiohead – Everything In Its Right Place; First Cosmic Slop @ Hope House all those years ago and probably the last Love Muscle Pride, since it’s quite rare that I’m about for it. The Garage/Waxwerks closed a few years back at this point, but that was a solid spot.
The Garage/Waxwerks was a multi-functional venue, opening in 2012, that acted as a creative hub, record shop and small music venue. It quickly gained a reputation for being one of the best small venues in the UK, winning DJ Mag’s prestigious Best of British ‘Best Small Club’ award, the same year it opened. The venue lasted only 18 months however, as the landlord abruptly refused to extend the tenancy, closing the beloved creative locale with immediate effect and without any prior public warning. The iconic Leeds venue is still remembered fondly today. Stories like this, coupled with the recent closure of local independent venues such as Sheaf Street, should act as reminders of how fragile but vital grassroots venues are to underground music scene across the country and connecting music lovers with art.
The last few years have been absolutely massive for UKG but let’s take it back, when did you get into Garage music and what do you think made you gravitate towards it over other genres of electronic dance music?
SMTS: I think I was first into it back in days of kids bluetooth-ing bad rips of Dexplicit – ‘Bullacake’ and ‘Heartbroken’. I was more a metal/emo kid back then, but something about those early bassline bits just really stuck, probably the raw energy that most of the tracks just had, it was like nothing I’d heard.
I used to do bits more on the techno/house side, which I was getting bored with, so I started making a few garage bits just before and over lockdown and was just sucked into it. I Hadn’t been that excited about making tunes in a few years so kinda glad it’s stuck at this point.
The Simpsons. What’s up with that? Your brand and social media, including your profile pictures and art promo’s for edits, seem heavily inspired by the iconic television show – is it just a cool aesthetic thing, a way to keep anonymity or is it something that for instance has inspired you throughout your life? Where did it stem from?
SMTS: Haha yeah just a big fan of it really, got most of my alias names from fairly obscure references from it, kinda all started when I did the first EP back in 2018/19 and was looking for names to put it under since its quite diff from what I did before. Think I thought of a few and Soul Mass Transit System just kind of stuck.
Outside of Electronic music, what have you been listening to recently and what other genres and artists within them do you enjoy/have inspired you in the past as well?
SMTS: I don’t really tend to actually listen to much electronic stuff, I find that most the time I’m listening to it, it’s to sort the Rekordbox and that out. I mostly listen to reggae/dancehall and new age/ambient stuff. Been listening to a lot of the NTS radio infinite playlists, the “island time” one slaps and found some bangers from it.
Well, if anyone needs some inspiration for making some of the coolest and ground-breaking Speed Garage and Bassline tunes, then check out NTS radio infinite playlists!
After finding out more about his Leeds roots, sound inspirations and background for the SMTS project, we moved onto discussing what’s to come next for the Garage virtuoso.
You’ve released numerous EPs such as The Big Speedy G One, Real Love, All I Need and most recently, Only U – your output is also supplemented with your editzzz volume series – is there any new projects in the work that we can expect coming soon? What plans does SMTS have for 2024 in general, can we expect a full album in the future?
SMTS: Been setting up shop with Untitled Dist., who are sorting out most my stuff now, gonna be just putting out whatever I’ve been playing hopefully, a bit quicker than before. Just did the first 2 on my own label “Grand Soul Central” and just did the ‘Fritz Schnackenpfefferhausen’ one on a label I’m calling “Wurst”, so keeping pretty busy with that. No plans for an album yet but it is something I’d like to do eventually, just don’t want it to be an album of club tunes that feel like they could be on a double 12”, if you get me?
With festival season fast approaching, so far it’s been announced that you’ll be playing at Outlook Origins, Shall not Fade and the truly incredible Gottwood. Do you have a preference of playing shows at clubs or at Festivals and can you detail any differences in how you would curate and execute a set in a club, as compared to a festival, how is your track selection different, will you typically mix faster at one over the other?
I’m not much of a festival go-er to be honest but they are fun to play at, def diff vibe cos you know at any point people can probs just dip from your set to go see someone else so there’s a much bigger prerogative to play more high energy from the off, but boomtown last year was a banger so really looking forward to getting out in the sun again this year.
Let’s hear more about your own taste – If you could curate any line-up for your own music festival that you would be headlining, where would it be and which 5 artists would you choose to play as well?
SMTS: Oooooh toughie, would have to go with these if b2b is allowed: Eris Drew b2b Octo Octa, Theo Parrish for minimum like 3-4 hours, introspekt, Love Muscle Residents throw down and Barrington Levy to close, I reckon.
Wow, an eclectic mix of artists and influences there. A lot of US influence there, with introspekt from New York, Eris Drew from Chicago, whilst keeping it local with Love Muscle residents from Leeds. Barrington Levy bringing those vibey Reggae and Dancehall anthems to close would make for a vibey atmosphere that would rival Woodhouse Moor Park on 4/20!
In an interview with Break the Wire in early 2023, you answered the ‘Ben10 Supertsylin edit’ which was huge last year – but what is the one essential tune that every DJ must have on their USB at the moment, in your opinions?
SMTS: Been spinning Operator P – ‘Heads At Dub’ and Spindu – ‘You’re in My System Dub’ so much that people are probs sick of it. Not gonna stop though, they are both bangers. For all the anti-edit people INVT X Introspekt – ‘B1’ off a new ep coming soon is a heater, will have to keep an eye out for that one though.
That’s 3 tunes but it’s hard to pick just the one right now, so much good stuff coming out!
Writing this after the Boiler Room show, he did in fact drop Operator P’s ‘Heads At Dub’ and the crowd reaction definitely proved that people are not sick of it. Keep dropping it chief!
Finally, in terms of Boiler Room Leeds, what other DJ set are you looking forward to the most? Are there any local, up-and-coming DJ’s that you think are specifically exciting?
SMTS: Got 2 B2Bs with Frazer Ray in May that I’m very hyped for, we go way back and I always feel I can push what I play a bit more with him. ODF is a great Leeds based producer/DJ who is really killing it at the moment.
SMTS clearly thinks highly of ODF, as during his Boiler Room set last Friday, he honoured this co-sign by playing the Leeds-based, up-and-coming producer’s bootleg of Tim Reaper’s remix of ‘Pull Up’ by Special Request, much to the crowd’s pleasure.
Thank you for your time and I hope to see you at the show on Friday for a wicked, energy filled set, I’m sure you’ll blow the roof off!
SMTS: Bless! Hope u have a good ‘un!
The first night of Boiler Room’s Beaver Works takeover was certainly a night to remember for Soul Mass Transit System, as his hour long set on ‘Stage One’ sent his home town crowd berserk, between midnight and 1am. I managed to wriggle my way right to the front of the 360-degree deck set up and was blown away by his wizardly mixing and tasteful track selection. It was arguably the best set of the night. Gottwood festival can’t come soon enough, where I will be front and centre, waiting for another dose of Simpson’s inspired basslines and relentless grooves.
Follow, buy, and stream the latest SMTS music on:
Bandcamp: https://soulmasstransitsystem.bandcamp.com/
Instagram: @thesoulmasstransitsystem
SoundCloud and Spotify: Soul Mass Transit System
