London-born rapper Example has one foot in the underground and the other at the top of the charts. He tells Rob Fitzpatrick about his perfect plan for pop domination
A few nights ago Example had a gig in Ibiza. He flew back early the next morning and came straight home to Fulham. He'd been home for an hour when his parents (who know him as Elliot Gleave) arrived from Australia ? he hadn't seen them for a year. One hour after that, his tour bus arrived to take him to Glastonbury. By his own reckoning, Example appeared at seven different events last weekend, from live shows and dubstep sets to an acoustic show late on Sunday afternoon.
After Glastonbury there was a beach festival in Newquay and then, this weekend, a show with the Black Eyed Peas, Plan B and Tinie Tempah in Hyde Park in London. A couple of weeks ago Example's new single, Changed the Way You Kiss Me, the first release from his third album, Playing in the Shadows, sold 115,000 copies in a week and went straight to No 1. Not that he's that fussed by it all.
"I don't give a shit about No 1s," he says. "I've not celebrated it really. The day it went to No 1, I played Wembley stadium as part of a Capital Radio show ? we were the only people who got the whole place bouncing. After the gig I was told we were No 1, I had a steak dinner and went home to bed. You know, I released a song in 2004 that sold 100 copies. I've done about 20 music videos. When I went to No 1 the only thing I really thought was: 'About time.'"
Example is one of the most startling pop stars in the country, someone who writes airy, melodic pop songs that develop into crunching, beat-driven dubstep, breakbeat and trance-house monsters. He can sell records and concert tickets ? he is currently one of the UK's biggest live draws and is booked for 27 summer festivals, more than any other British act. "This bass-music scene, me and Chase & Status and Wretch 32 and Skream and Benga and all the others?" he says. "This is the new punk rock for kids ? and I want to become its first proper star."
Example arrived seven years ago as a comedy-haired rapper signed to Mike Skinner's Beats label. He grew up on Blur, Nirvana, the Wu-Tang Clan and Michael Jackson, and had a half-developed cartoon persona and a background in theatre, film and TV. Skinner wanted him to try out every lyrical angle possible, so there were songs that featured Hammersmith bus routes and fighting in the cinema, a song about nuclear destruction and a love song to MDMA called Me and Mandy.
His debut album, 2007's What We Made, was "a mess, a warped version of me and it didn't connect". The follow-up, 2010's Won't Go Quietly ? his first after signing to Ministry of Sound's Data label ? "was all over the place, I didn't much like that either. It upset my cheeseometer," he says.
But one track on that second record would change everything for him. Released as a single last June, Kickstarts went to No 3. Its engaging and colourful boy-girl video ? with a smiling Example in the starring role ? has clocked up nearly 11.5m You Tube views in the last 12 months. A vastly more disturbing video for the excellent Bar 9 dubstep remix has more than 4m views of its own.
"Kickstarts was very personal," he says. "It was sad and happy ? an anthem. I idolise Blur, but even they didn't really know what they were doing until album three. That gave me confidence. I'm 28 and I only realised I wanted to be in music when I was 21. I knew nothing about the industry. I can't play any instruments, but it was that track that showed me what I should look like, how I should sound, what I should write about.
With that in mind, Example planned this new record very carefully. Written over six months, it drew on his personal experiences. "Then I'd tweak it to make it for everyone," he says. "I have developed this new technique: I get a title, and then work backwards from that. They must tell a story, and I believe you can't write good dance music unless you've done ecstasy. Also, it's important that you know what the song is about before you hear it, so it's all there in the titles; Wrong in the Head, Never Had a Day, Under the Influence, Stay Awake."
The results are a series of what Example calls "uplifting rave tracks" ? big chords, echoing breakdowns, drum'n'bass or dubstep parts ? that all wear peculiarly revelatory lyrics. In fact, there is an overarching theme to the whole record.
"This is my drugs and commitment album," he says. "The music industry puts a lot of strain on your relationships and social life. There's always pressure or opportunity to take drugs and to drink and to stay up all night and to cheat. This whole album is me asking: 'Should I be doing drugs? Should I be drinking? Should I commit? Should I stop partying? Should I settle down?' That's what the title is, too ? Playing in the Shadows. Am I trying to be someone else? Is it a split personality? But it's also about being in clubs with drugs and women getting thrown at you. I'm worried that being comfortable and having a family will mean I can't write songs that touch people any more. Then, if I do have a family, what will my kids think? What do I say to them when they hear me talking about cocaine like it's a beautiful woman?"
Behind all these questions is someone with seemingly limitless ambition. Put simply, now Example's had a taste of what could be in store, he wants everything, and he fully intends to get it. You can see it in those endless festival shows and the various Ibiza residencies, and his stated intention to be "hitting every market". That means all sorts of European events, from the coolest festivals to leftfield club nights, and taking his live show around the UK from hotspots such as Fabric in London to totally mainstream clubs such as Oceana in Plymouth.
"Some of those clubs are full of 18-year-olds on M-Cat," he says. "Some are full of drunk students, some are full of 14- and 15-year-olds on laughing gas and pills, but they all react to bass music like it's the new punk rock. Girls going berserk with their makeup running down their faces. When I was that age, you would have had to go to a metal or grunge night for that level of energy. I used to go to garage nights, but there everyone was dressed up and drinking champagne and trying to avoid the stabbings."
The years spent trying to work out what it is he should be doing, plus that direct line to the underground via the very top of the pop charts, places Example in a uniquely confident position. A few days before we meet, he pointed out on Twitter how the lyrics to the X Factor contestant Cher Lloyd's debut single ? Swagger Jagger ? seemed woefully uninspired. Hundreds of her fans were outraged and tweeted their disgust. Such was the furore that Example found himself talking about the affair on the radio the next day, only stopping himself when he realised his rationale ? how did a project with almost unlimited funds and the best possible contact book end up with such a catastrophically poor track? ? was a little too highbrow for a commercial radio breakfast show.
"I'm not against manufactured pop," he says. "Unless it's shit."
So no David Guetta guest spots?
"No," he says, without a pause. "And in the long run, that will be better for me. A year ago, if I'd been offered a verse on Girls Aloud or Gabriella Cilmi or the Wanted, my label would have expected me to do it. But now they realise what I'm doing. I'm very careful about who I collaborate with. I'll only work with drum'n'bass or dubstep producers and grime MCs."
Example's ultimate goal is to be "the first of my kind" to headline Wembley stadium. Two years ago he was playing Dingwalls. Next April he will headline the O2 Arena ? so there's no reason to think a stadium show is too far off.
"I have a formula now," he says, with admirable candour. "Some people try and be too creative and too artistic, and I fully rate that, but all I really want is to get people dancing in clubs and at festivals. It used to be Basement Jaxx or Groove Armada that were the top of the tree, now it's me or Pendulum or Chase & Status. The people want uplifting rave music, so I think, why not simply give the people what they want?"
? Example's next single, Stay Awake, is released on Data Records on 28 August, followed by the album Playing in the Shadows on 5 September.
From hardcore to mainstream: Five breakthroughs in UK Bass
Summer 2001: Skream, Benga and Arthur Smith meet at Big Apple Records, Croydon
Benga's brother shopped there every Sunday. A pre-teen Skream worked there at weekends. Benga was already making tracks on his PlayStation. Upstairs, Smith was making garage and techno records. Magnetic Man was born the moment the three met.
April 2004: The Hyperdub label is born
Hyperdub founder Steve Goodman was a DJ at the seminal Forward>> club in London and hosted the night's Rinse FM show. His label has always drawn on "the hardcore continuum" ? dub reggae, jungle, rave, garage and UK hardcore. In 2005 he released Burial's debut.
July 2005: July 2005 Pendulum's debut album released
As UK bass star Benga would have it: "It's their songs that make this album so inspirational, not the bangers." Though Australian, Pendulum were inspired by the UK underground and became massively popular ? thus helping to make bass music massively popular ? by concentrating on melody as well as rhythm.
March 2009: Skream remixes La Roux's In for the Kill
This should have been the single to push Elly Jackson (pictured) to the next level. What actually happened was Skream's remix became so huge that it overshadowed the original. Suddenly, the remixer was the person everyone wanted.
December 2010: Chase & Status release the Blind Faith video
A brilliant example of how rave nostalgia and modern bass music could be emotionally linked together, the short film for Blind Faith so stunningly recreated late-80s dance culture that a million crinkly-eyed ex-ravers wept at their desks.
January 2011: Britney's dubstep moment
Spears already had form with 2007's wub-wub friendly Freakshow, but the Dr Luke and Max Martin-produced Hold It Against Me was a full-on tribute to the sound of bass. And thus hardcore became mainstream.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jun/30/example-uk-bass
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