Analogue evangelists Broken Audio Movement (aka TR-One) know what they like. The Irish trio are spreading their impeccably influenced gospel slowly but surely, on labels like Fine Arts and Nice and Nasty. Bodytonicmusic.com met Dean Feeney.

On various music message boards, BAM come across as quite regimented in your views on music… where does this come from?

We believe in certain musical principles; sound quality, soul, honesty and most importantly the idiosyncrasies inherent in music produced using unique combinations of machines. We also believe in the importance of vinyl. These are trying times for almost everybody involved in the industry, from the independent record stores struggling due to bad sales through the record labels struggling to break even right down to the artists not making money at all.

Is this attitude important in what you do, how you create music…

Completely, it has defined the way we work. The machines we use and even the way we record tracks in live performances. All in an effort to keep the man machine ideology alive.

You care a lot about Detroit music, and maybe also what Detroit means. Why such a focus on the Motor City?

The rise and fall of the auto industry, the riots in the 60s, the near- abandonment of the city resulting in a decaying landscape; Detroit has had a pulsating and turbulent history which has always been represented in the music emanating from the city. From the jazz clubs of the 20s and 30s through the Motown era, Prince!, the funk and soul of the 70s and on to the modern day sounds of techno, electro and hip hop - there has always been a unique spirit inherent in the music of Detroiters. Music would be a very different place without Detroit.

What inspired you to make the recent ‘Tribute To Juan Atkins’ mix?

Juan’s health problems have been subject of rampant rumours over the years, and when a good friend of ours (Thomas Cox of infinitestatemachine.com) was telling me about a recent interview he had conducted with Juan and Mike Banks in Detroit in which Juan was seeming pretty down and out. I felt the need to try and raise some awareness and gather people together to show some love for a man we all owe so much to. I had an idea of making a mix containing music I felt would not exist without Juan’s revolutionary visions of electronic music. The idea was for the mix to be an open letter to Juan in which the music would be a message of support and love for him from music which owes its existence, for the most part, to him. After speaking to Tom - who as always was completely supportive of the idea - we decided that ISM would be the perfect platform to present this project. We also decided to get Underground Resistance’s Mike Banks to say a few words.

Who/what is/are your biggest influences?

Detroit, jazz, poverty, Aphex Twin, Africa, Drexciya, Charlie Parker, Jay Dilla, John Coltrane, Larry Levan and the Paradise Garage, Arthur Russell, Marvin Gaye, Juan Atkins, Gaby Kerpel, Tee Scott, Jamie Jamerson, McCoy Tyner, Robert Hood, Fela Kuti, Parliament/Funkadelic

You’ve released some videos of studio jams - who does what?

Well yeah, it’s a pretty complex process really… Dean drinks tea, Paul complains and Eddie plays Talking Heads baselines for hours on end.

You are taking your time making tracks… is this intentional?

Yes and no. At the minute we are in the process of building a dedicated studio - so everything’s a bit of a mess which has hindered our productivity. But also we believe in quality over quantity. With the rise of MP3 DJing, digital record stores, music production software and so on it’s become relatively easy for people to put out their own music - more often than not it’s merely an attempt to get famous and fuel egos rather than present something of worth. Whereas back in the day it took a little more dedication, investing in equipment, learning to use that equipment and doing something worthwhile which resulted in people having more respect for their music. Nowadays things seem very disposable and hollow.

What do you think about the recent focus on the European house scene? Good for parties and therefore everyone involved, or just a fad that doesn’t affect you?

Scenes are an invention of the media. Lazy journalists feel the need to compartmentalize things and fabricate “scenes”. This kind of stuff doesn’t really apply to us because we just don’t see it this way. The “music” and the “scene” (as defined by the media) are two different things occupied by very different people looking for very different things.

Who do you rate as producers?

At the moment there’s a lot of great music coming from Patrice Scott, Omar S, Theo Parrish, Cybonix, the Oliverwho Factory, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Reggie Dokes, Delano Smith, Jerry The Cat, Kyle Hall, Disco Nihilist, Tychos Comet, Andres, KDJ, Rick Wade, Burial, Spier1200 and Moritz von Oswald.

Which one of you worked in a record store as a kid?

I (Dean) used to work in Abbey Discs in Dublin when I was about 13. I was basically in the store everyday, used to skip school and hop the train some 50 miles and just hang out in Abbey and wander the second hand stores looking for old vinyl. I was and still am a vinyl junkie.

How does it work when you DJ?

It varies depending on the set we’re playing. In a long-ish set we might play three to four records each and build up to one each depending on the intensity. It tends to flow quite naturally, if one of us feels a certain idea there’s freedom there to explore. Shorter sets are much harder. This thing of shoving eight DJs on in a night with an hour each is ridiculous. As a DJ you need time to work a crowd, to do the whole “journey” thing. It can become very emasculating when faced with an hour or sometimes even less to do your thing.

Do you use CDs when DJing?

No. They sound horrific.

What is up next for BAM?

We’ll be playing a more techno/electro-orientated set at Electric City in the Twisted Pepper on April 25. We’re playing at the Square Festival in Wales in July. And there will be some more mixes coming through on ISM and the Dublin Bus Disco blog and of course plenty of crazy dancing at Northern Soul gigs...