In the latest instalment of Radio 1 / 1Xtra’s ‘Stories’ series, 1Xtra DJ Mistajam sat down with Rudimental recently as the quartet gear up for their anticipated sophomore album We The Generation.
Sitting down with Leon, Kesi, Piers and Amir, Mistajam discovers where the boys took their influences from, how they merged underground club music genres with pop and electronic music, and created a sound that has arguably broken the mould for UK music.
In an age when it’s no longer possible to define music by the colour of someone’s skin, the band talk about growing up with the sounds of soul and funk, and variously getting into garage, grime and hip hop. They explain how the multi-culturalism of East London shaped their open attitude to musical genres and why going to youth clubs, having Heartless Crew visit their school, and working as mentors influenced their ideology, giving them the drive to provide a platform for others. This platform has helped kickstart the careers of John Newman and Ella Eyre, and is likely do the same for a new set of unknown singers on the new album, as the band reveal.
Helping to tell the story are Leon’s mum Beverley, and Piers’ parents Percy and Dot…revealing such gems as how Leon nearly ended up a child acting star, not a musician, and the time Piers was going to be a tortoise breeder! We also hear from Amir’s childhood friend and the leader of his youthgroup, and artist MNEK drops by from the studio next door, where he too met the group and became part of what is now the Rudimental family.
We The Generation drops on 18th September – hit the iTunes / Apple Music link for the preorder:
