And now for a few words from our headliners this Friday… Sarah and Kieran of Ursa Major:

So you’ve gone by many names in the past, from MeMeMe to Ursa Major via Waves, are there any others we’ve missed out? Are you Ursa Major for life?

We previously played separately under Moxie (Sarah) and Purlow (Kieran). After DJ’ing under MeMeMe for 3 years, we decided to start producing under a new name, Waves. However that was short lived as we there were a few factors which meant we had to change our name again, and settled upon Ursa Major. After all the previous names, we definitely don’t plan on changing again!

How does it feel to get a release signed to the mighty Trouble & Bass?

We have both been huge fans of the label since their early releases and they have always been a label we wanted to work with. They have been really supportive of the release and, despite being incredibly busy, are always available.

Ursa Major - Blacklight EP by Trouble & Bass

Who would be your dream producer to collaborate with?

There are so many hugely talented producers out there at the moment. We think it would have to be split into newer and older producers. It would probably be Untold (Sarah) and Lone (Kieran) for making us want to be more experimental and develop our production style and would have to be a classic producer like Kerri Chandler for making such forward thinking music that has helped sculpt the sound of underground dance music today.

When did you two start DJing together and how did it happen?

We started playing together about four years ago now. It started through a mutual love of, and straight up geeky interest in the same music. We both played separately at various nights around Nottingham but came together to play at bigger events such as Dollop and it went from there!

You’ve run successful club nights in the past up in Nottingham. Is it something that you’d ever consider doing again?

It’s hard to appreciate how much work and effort is required to run regular nights until you try it, we would always encourage people who are interested to do it though. Personally our focus was more on running nights that we thought people would enjoy, including ourselves, rather than for financial gain. I wouldn’t necessarily approach it as a money making scheme.

In terms of us doing it again, I don’t think we would ever do a regular club night again. However, we wouldn’t rule out doing one-off events with other promoters and DJs though.

Low Rise by Ursa Major UK

Who in your opinion is leading the way in terms of music innovation within the UK dance music scene?

Currently, it seems the UK is spoilt for producers pushing the boundaries, each in their own unique way. There are a few standout individuals such as Ramadanman/Pearson Sound, and Boddika. Recently, I don’t think we’ve heard a track from these two that hasn’t made us want to work harder in the studio.

Not to limit it to producers, Jackmaster and Ben UFO have been 2 of the best DJ’s we’ve seen in recent years. 

What does the future hold for Ursa Major? Are there many projects in the pipeline?

We’re currently working on our second EP for Trouble and Bass and just enjoying making music. We’d like to try our hands at some remixes and definitely some collaborations with other producers. We guess, the future is us continuing to enjoy making tracks and DJing. Hopefully people will enjoy the outcome.

SH