Reprazent to disband

Roni Size reveals album number three may be their last as a collective

15 September 2008 - They've been touring this year as well as working on a third Roni Size Reprazent album, which they say is their last.

Speaking to 6 Music Roni Size says the collective - who were 1997 Mercury Prize winners for their album New Forms - have taken a step back over the last few years, but explained what they have in the pipeline.

“What we’re currently doing is letting people know that, we’re here, we’re back, we’ve got the live show – it’s good energy, high energy and we’re currently in the studio trying to put the finishing touches to the final record.”

But beyond that Roni thinks they will go their separate ways: “We’re gonna do number three, Reprazent album and we’ll see what happens from there. I think that will be our last album and we’ll tour again next year and hopefully we’ll start to make a real impact and people will see what we can bring to the table.”

He explained why he thinks it’s time to wrap it up: “The whole thing about doing Reprazent was different people coming from different groups to form one and I think that there’s people involved in Reprazent who do need their own individual careers, like Dynamite and Onalee.

“Everyone in Reprazent can do their thing and has their own goals so it’s not really fair of me to ask them to keep on representing Roni Size. I need to get into some kind of position where I can help them as well.”

But it won’t be the last we see of the drum ‘n’ bass artist because speaking of his plans once Roni Size Reprazent disband, Roni said: “Hopefully I’ll get some family time, some love time and I’ll still be djing, I’ll still be creating music, I’ll still be hitting the clubs and I’ll still be touring the world and I’ll be doing this for the rest of my life. So, I’m still gonna be visible, wherever, I’ll be there.”

"Everyone in Reprazent can do their thing and has their own goals so it’s not really fair of me to ask them to keep on representing Roni Size."
Roni Size

'It's accepted now'

Drum 'n' Bass is still thriving and Roni claims that it’s here to stay, especially with it being used in a variety of different musical genres.

“The scene is very diverse,” he said. “I think more now than ever the scene has become very commercial now. You have a lot of artists crossing over on a regular basis now and you can hear drum and bass music really now starting to kick-in in indie music and all different forms of music. It’s no longer a new thing it’s accepted now, it has stood the test of time.”

And the DJ from Bristol thinks that the scene is still healthy, particularly in some unexpected corners of the world.

“I think eastern Europe is where it’s going off, places like Estonia, Serbia, definitely places like Slovakia, Prague,” he told 6 Music, “anywhere in Eastern Europe for me is the hot spot. It’s just absolutely incredible, Austria, that’s where it’s going off right now, it’s crazy, tens of thousands of people.”

Georgie Rogers