Samples exclusive

Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip speak exclusively about getting the nod from Radiohead

28 July 2008 - The new single from Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip’s debut album Angles , Letter From God To Man, is released today (28 July).

It borrows heavily from Radiohead’s Planet Telex, which is the opening track of their 1995 album, The Bends .

When we caught up with the duo, they told 6 Music they had a ramshackle approach to getting clearance to use the Radiohead sample.

Dan Le Sac said: “We weren’t clever enough to go directly to Radiohead at first, we just kinda found out about people who work with people, who work with them, and just passed the track all over the place. We gave it to a guy who’s Thom Yorke’s art agent – anyone.”

Scroobius Pip, and his usual humour, interjected: “We stood in Oxford givin’ it to anyone going; ‘Have that, anyone know Thom Yorke?’

Despite giving it to Radiohead’s people, they said they hadn’t really expected to get clearance for it.

Scroobius Pip explained: “It was kind of at the point where we were throwing in the towel on it and thinking it was over that we got an email saying, ‘They’re having a listen to it Tuesday and we’ll let you know Wednesday’.

“We were like, ‘Oo, er, what, your getting the band? Right. Ok.’ Because we were resigned to the fact that it would be a live favourite and never be released.”

Even though they got the green light from Radiohead via a text message, they’re still not sure what Radiohead think of their song.

“We still never found out if they are really into it or not, we didn’t get any more detail or critique, it was simply; ‘You have artist approval’,” said Scroobius Pip.

"It was at the point where we were throwing in the towel on it and thinking it was over that we got an email."
Scroobius Pip

Getting involved with samples

They mused on the samples that first caught their ear tossing names like Portishead and Tricky into the mix, to which Scroobius Pip then said: “We talk such a load of rubbish, the first one was blatantly Ice Ice Baby, think of something more credible quick – it was definitely Ice Ice Baby.”

Both were agreed in the opinion that samples can be hugely influential.

Dan Le Sac said: “There’s one we sampled – Billy Squier’s Big Beat – for Fixed which Dizzee Rascal used with the vocal, which Jay-Z used for 99 Problems.

“It’s just got this break that everybody’s used and it’s so nice to see that you can re-use these things and people put their own slant on it.”

The duo also think that samples can introduce listeners to new artists.

“My view on sampling is that it’s not always this negative, lazy thing,” Dan Le Sac explained. “You’re not just taking something and trying to trade off what the previous band did, because so many samples and covers, to an extent, actually open peoples’ eyes to who’s be sampled.”

The good and the bad of sampling

Dan Le Sac believes that the quick turnaround of artists using samples of other artists, can only be a good thing.

He said: “What I love about samples is how quickly they are coming around again - like Kanye West with the Daft Punk sample, you’re talking a three year gap.

“It’s quite nice that people are willing to be bold with it and not just trying to slip something in.”

But as, Scroobius Pip described, there are examples where sampling has gone horribly wrong.

He used a track from Kanye West’s second album, where the American rapper sampled Gill Scott-Heron’s Home Is Where The Hatred Is, as a reference point, saying: “Kanye made his name as an amazing producer, but on that track he basically played Home Is Where The Hatred is and just rapped in the gaps in it.”

Scroobius Pip continued: “That’s what you do when you’re starting out and you’ve got no beats and you’re doing mix tapes and you can’t afford much. It’s like, he’s one of the biggest acts in the world, clearly a great producer, and he was just taking a brilliant track and saying stuff in the gaps.”

Scroobius Pip’s anecdotes

You can always rely on the pair to tell an amusing tale. When chatting to 6 Music Scroobius Pip regaled us with a recent gig occurrence.

He said: “I hit someone in France and it was described in the press as ‘I Winehoused someone’, because I stage dived at a gig and someone nicked my wallet. I found the guy afterwards and ‘Winehoused’ him apparently – but I thought that was a beautiful terminology.”

He also described a random meeting he had with Badly Drawn Boy in Wolverhampton: “I met him in the street once and he said I could have a guest list to his gig if I told him where the nearest Pool Hall was, if I went there and beat him I could have unlimited guest list but I declined because I was going home to watch my Alan Partridge DVD.”

Georgie Rogers