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By Simon Nash

From Djing and promoting in Manchester's intimate Drum and Bass scene, to headlining the Respect festival at the Millennium Dome, there is no denying the three members of Un-Cut, Darren, 2D and Jenna G, have come a long way, in terms of the music they are producing, the broad audience they are reaching, and the 200 odd miles they have trekked over night down the M1 to perform at one of the biggest cultural events of the year. The tour bus they have been traveling in, is fully kitted with all the luxuries and mod cons you would expect touring rock stars to enjoy. Mike the tour manager led me in to find band members 2D and Darren playing Playstation, having a few beers, and generally chilling before the show.

Rather than being simply plucked from nowhere, 'Pop Idol' style, Uncut have been huge names for a long time in a very different world. Darren and 2D met one another as fellow Drum and Bass promoters in Manchester. Darren recalled, "The DnB scene in Manchester was pretty small so you were bound to know other people in it. He [2D] actually tried to blag his way into the first night I ever did. It was a quid to get in." 2D attempts to defend himself, but Jenna cuts in, and accuses him of being a "free loader". Darren continues to explain that shortly after they first met, 2D wanted him to hand out some flyers for his night, telling him if he did he could come into the studio with him, but didn't expect him to take up the offer. "He used to tell every one that, just to do favours for him," Darren insisted, "but I just turned up." Without ever actually agreeing on anything long term, Darren quit University, and the pair began to work together, "It was not a conscious decision, it just felt natural," 2D explains.

The pair became 'Future Cut', and their dark stomping tunes gained notoriety, especially when their track 'Obsession' was championed by Goldie. Once Jenna came on board, providing her vocal hooks, they landed a string of dance floor hit productions, including the likes of the 'Blood Line EP' and the Ghetto Style EP on 'Renegade Hardware'. With these releases, they continued to cement their reputation as top producers of grimy DnB. Whilst firmly at the darker end of the DnB spectrum, their somewhat evil sounding tracks had a habit of standing out, with a unique sound often being achieved. Darren points towards a vast range of music from which they draw their influences, other than just DnB. Between the group, they managed to mention just about every genre of music as inspiration for what they do.

Born and bred in Manchester, 26 year old 2D made his way into music once he came to terms with the fact he would never fulfill his childhood dream. "As a kid I always wanted to be a rapper, but by the age of 12 I realised I was sh*t. So I thought I'd become a DJ instead. From Djing I got a real feel for the technical side of things and just progressed." Learning his trade as a sound engineer he started to do in house remixes while promoting his night and Djing. However he also blames his other passion for his choice of career. "Anything that meant I had to get up at 9 in the morning would stop me partying, so sound engineering seemed the natural thing to do." All of his acquired technical experience has now been translated into a live show in which he provides the samples and programming.

Also from Manchester, and the baby of the group at 23, Jenna recalls a more haphazard entrance to the industry, "I was listening to the radio and they did this thing where you could phone in and sing. My mum phoned up, "Oh my daughter can sing" and that was how it all started off." Jenna went on to join a hip hop group, but left them when she gained a residency at a freestyle night which she went on to do for the next three years. "It was just live impro, with the band just making stuff up; the DJ scratching and MC's just getting up on stage and freestyling." Jenna now fronts Uncut with her incredibly powerful and soulful voice.

The man behind the keyboards is Darren Lewis. Originally hailing from London, Darren was drawn into underground music via radio, "I got into pirates, then into hardcore, then Jungle and DNB I guess over the past four or five years, I've been getting into everything again." Their collective diverse musical backgrounds goes some length to explain how their sound progressed from an underground scene, virtually free from vocals in the late 90's, to a vocal driven sound that 2D describes as "21st century soul."

It was the trio as 'Un-cut', who helped lead the vocal revolution in DNB in recent years with the dance floor classic 'Midnight'. The track, which features Jenna's vocal talent in full flow, broke the mould. Despite actually completing the track long before it hit the DNB circuit, the group decided to sit on it. According to Darren, "We thought no one's gonna be in this, we were in it, we thought maybe it would appeal to certain people. After going back to it a few times we gave it to a few of the bigger DJ's and they were instantly just in it. So I guess that gave us the confidence." With the track featuring the brilliant MIST remix, Midnight quickly sold out it's initial 10,000 copy run.

Following this success, their sound as Uncut started to take shape. "I had done what I wanted to do with Midnight," Jenna said, "I had a song in the clubs, and we'd rinsed the DNB with 'Obsession' and 'Borderline'. The first songs we did were a bit like DNB, but were a bit more punky, we were looping up 'Susie and the Banshees'. We started sampling up all other stuff, and that's when other sounds came out. It was not conscious." The band are adamant that they do not get typecast into any musical genre. They feel that since crossing over various genres, they now want to stand out in each, rather than concentrate on one style. According to Jenna, "We are defiantly encouraging people to bootleg remixes" to help to do this.

For their album 'The Uncalculated Some' - a fusion of soul, jazz and mellow DNB, to reach such a wide audience, they were going to need the muscle of one of the major record labels. Following various offers they eventually singed with Warner last year. Coming from an underground scene they have had to get used to a different way of doing things. 2D believes things were a lot more straight forward in the underground with everyone simply wanting to get their record out in the clubs, "DJ's don't have an agenda. If it's good and it goes off, then they play it. If the DJ's like it, they play it on the radio. When you step into the more this [the mainstream], everyone's got an agenda. Each radio station has their own agenda, like what they want to champion, do we look cool, don't we look cool, you've got to cut through all this sh*t."Darren adds, "People were writing sh*t about us we didn't even know. You just have to not let things get to you."

Despite their apparent frustrations with the industry, their music has remained unaffected, as all the tracks were written before their signing. They have had to undertake promotional tours and events that they obviously would rather not have done. For Darren it has reached the point where "We just kinda get told where we're going and sit on the bus." The move into the mainstream has certainly been a learning curve for the band, "It's the industry that gets in the way of you just appreciating that you're making music and getting paid for it." But Jenna continues, "I'd never quit music, even if it meant sitting in the tube station singing."

Uncut have now apparently come to terms with their new world, with 2D looking at their situation as a compromise, "To get one thing you have to give up another. You know to do the album and sit in this tour bus, you have to give up a bit of control. Where we have been so in control for the past six years, it is a bit weird."

They suggested there will be more straight up dnb tunes to come, but for now, Uncut have slowed the tempo, pushed lyrics to the forefront, and made an eclectic collection of fantastic soulfully rooted songs.

While some in the Drum and Bass scene have cried 'sell out!', Uncut are without question producing the music they want to. Jenna has some choice words for anyone who wishes to challenge the boys on the subject. "If you think Darren and 2D have sold out, then come and see me and I'll f**king sort you out, I'll sell you out. At the end of the day what does sell out mean, that more people are listening to your music, or getting paid to make music. If people are saying sell out, then tough f**king titties!

Related Site:
www.un-cut.co.uk/

Single: Fallin - Out Now