It isn’t every day you come across people in the music industry who are as humble as they are successful, but Rudimental certainly fits this description.
Despite the fact they’ve already released several platinum-selling singles, broken festival attendance records and collaborated with some of music’s biggest names, vocalist Amir Amor explains how he and his fellow Rudimentalists still take nothing for granted.
“Honestly we’re four stubborn bastards, but we’re humble enough to know we’re not anywhere yet. We have so much to do in terms of people understanding us, since Rudimental can be a confusing concept. Well it was for record labels anyway.”
As confusing as it may seem, it hasn’t prevented Rudimental from collaborating with many top musicians, the latest of which being Ed Sheeran. Amor believes writing with Sheeran is a no-brainer.
“Ed’s a great guy and well pretty much everything he touches at the moment turns to gold.” However what the band didn’t expect was a phone call from notorious rapper The Game whilst in the studio with ‘The A-Team’ singer’.
“Game was like ‘my girl really digs your music and thinks we should hook up!’ So we ended up recording four songs for his new album, plus a couple with Ed. It was a really productive few days in the end.”
The tease for a recipe of Rudimental and Ed Sheeran may sound tasty to many fans, but Amor insists not to get too excited for a release date just yet. “Well we have to finish them before we can think about releasing them,” he laughs, “but I can tell you that one track has a real Rudimental flavour to it, pretty much our sound featuring Ed Sheeran, if that makes sense!”
On the topic of collaborations, Amor made it quite clear of the group’s desire to have the opportunity to work with music royalty, Stevie Wonder.
“Australians are really open to hearing all kinds of music and aren’t caught up in thinking it has to be a certain way, which works great for our sound.”“We grew up listening to people like Stevie, he’s such an inspiration.” When questioned on which song of theirs he’d have liked Mr. Wonder to have featured on, “‘Hide’ is a bit of a strange one but I can definitely hear Stevie singing it, however if we ever got the chance to work with him it’d be a new track for sure.”
Whilst waiting to receive an offer from Stevie, the boys have been busy playing festivals across the world, the most recent being V Festival in the UK where they attracted the largest audience the festival has seen in five years.
“They had to literally shut down the field and stop letting people in, apparently there was over 50,000 people already watching us”, explains Amor with a clear sense of pride. “I feel sorry for anyone else who was playing during our set!”
Although already having played Future Music Festival in Australia earlier this year, the guys are set to return this month for a national tour, which Amor couldn’t be more excited for.
“Australia is wicked in the sense that cities like Melbourne and Sydney really remind me of back home in London.” Not only does he like our country’s similarities to that of his homeland, but he also appreciates the diversity of our musical tastes.
“You guys are really open to hearing all kinds of music and aren’t caught up in thinking it has to be a certain way, which works great for our sound.”
It is this unique sound that has brought Rudimental so much success, which is even more impressive considering they only formed in 2010. Three years later they released their single-filled debut album Home last April, containing tracks such as ‘Waiting All Night’ which even knocked Justin Bieber from #1 in the UK.
“We feel most at home when we’re on stage, it’s like we take our backyard with us wherever we go.”“That’s got to be our single-biggest achievement to date!” jokes Amor, who is quick to show his appreciation for such a feat.
“I think that was not only a testament to our music, but also to the people, since if I do say so myself, they must have good taste thankfully. I mean if we can out-sell Bieber then there is definitely hope.”
In saying that, hope is a key theme on Home, an album which Amor isn’t shy to discuss. “Home is the album that we as songwriters wanted to hear. It’s music that we all made together and as a result of that narrow-minded aspect when writing, I think that’s what made it so appealing to people.”
Although he admits there were some concerns prior to its release date. “”The scariest part was wondering whether people would understand what we’re about, or just be left confused, thankfully it seems to be going well so far.”
Not only is Rudimental’s music selling well, but so are tickets to their acclaimed live shows, which Amor says can at times offer more than what’s initially expected.
“Usually people turn up to our shows expecting to see a DJ with a couple of guys singing, which isn’t the case at all because we all play instruments along with a full band as well. It’s a real carnival experience.”
‘Carnival’ can be an accurate description of a touring stage show, but that doesn’t seem to worry this English producer. “We feel most at home when we’re on stage, it’s like we take our backyard with us wherever we go,” says Amor. “It’s important to have a good time onstage to ensure it has a similar effect on the crowd, a smile can go a long way.”
However with all of this success comes years of hard work, and Amor credits his passion for music starting after hearing a friend’s unique voicemail message at the age of 15. “On her voicemail she was rapping over this beat, which really fascinated me how she made this happen,” he explains.
“She told me she made it at a music course at the youth club down the road, so everyday I’d go down there and try and get in but they wouldn’t let me because I had to go on a waiting list first. Then my friend who introduced me there dropped out of the course, just so I could go in which is something I’m extremely thankful for to this day.”
It was in this course that Amor met a young Plan B, known then as Ben Drew, who was actually Amor’s teacher at the time. “I’m a bass player, but he opened my eyes up to the guitar and how it can in fact be incorporated into hip hop and dance music”, he reveals. “That was the point it all got serious for me, then when Ben got signed it was really obvious that this genre can work.”
So not only does Amir and his Rudimental comrades have a drive and passion to succeed, but they also have a positive attitude that makes you fall in love with their music before you even hear it. Growing from strength to strength, it’s hard to imagine what’s next for the band. Well Amir has a fairly clear vision.
“We see ourselves as a festival act, so we hope to be headlining shows like Glastonbury in the future and making music that lasts forever. Besides that I think we need to increase our demands since at the moment our rider is just a packet of crisps and some pita bread. Perhaps we should expand it to a bowl of blue M&Ms or something?” We’re sure something can be arranged.
Rudimental 2013 Australian Shows
Wednesday 18th September – UC Refectory, Canberra
Thursday 19th September – HQ Complex, Adelaide – SOLD OUT
Fri 20th September – Eatons Hill Hotel, Brisbane
Sat 21st September – Festival Hall, Melbourne
Sun 22nd September – Panthers, Newcastle
Tue 24th September – Enmore Theatre, Sydney – SOLD OUT
Wed 25th September – Enmore Theature, Sydney
Tickets are $160 plus booking fee (while Adelaide gets a slightly reduced price of $155 + b/f) and go on sale Tuesday 1st October.
Future Music Festival 2014 Lineup
Deadmau5 | Macklemore & Ryan Lewis | Phoenix
Hardwell | Knife Party | Eric Prydz
Rudimental | Tinie Tempah | Chase & Status
Sub Focus | Netsky| 2 Chainz |Kaskade | Dada Life | Porter Robinson
Naughty Boy| Paul van Dyk | Markus Schulz | ATB | Chuckie | Arty
R3Hab | Martin Garrix | Baauer | Monsta | Helena | Adventure Club Carnage |
Stafford Brothers | Timmy Trumpet | Walden | Tenzin | Will Sparks | Helena
Sven Vath | Dubfire*| Maya Jane Coles* | Paul Kalkbrenner*
Gesaffelstein Live | Brodinski | Kaytranada* | Gorgon City | Guy Gerber*
Bassjackers | Deniz Koyu | Dannic | Dyro | Cut Copy
Future Music Festival 2014 Dates & Tickets
Saturday 1 March Brisbane, RNA Showgrounds **NEW VENUE**
Sunday 2 March Perth, Arena Joondalup
Saturday 8 March Sydney, Royal Randwick Racecourse **MAJOR RENOVATIONS**
Sunday 9 March Melbourne, Flemington Racecourse
Monday 10 March Adelaide, Adelaide Showgrounds **NEW VENUE**
FOR TICKETS AND INFO HEAD TO: www.futuremusicfestival.com.au
TICKETS ON SALE: Tuesday 1st October
$160 + bf and service charge; Adelaide only – $155 + bf and service charge
