Mighty Angas

In modern parlance, if you drink too much and amuse your mates, you're a legend. If you don't drive afterwards, you're a bloody legend. The word is thrown around like a nerd's glasses at recess. However, UK producer Dom & Roland, aka Dominic Angas, is as close to genuine EDM legend status as it's possible to get. Credited with creating the 'Tramen' break, and with a 17-year career in the swirling centre of that turbulent genre, he has few peers. But getting there ­has come at a cost. He's “skint most of the time, but I love making music. I'm nearly 40 now, and there's nothing I'd be comfortable doing, unless it was somehow involved in making music.”

Signed to seminal label Moving Shadow along with Aquasky, Calyx and EZ Rollers, Dom saw the once-great EDM obelisk shrink before shutting up shop. “They still send me statements,” says Dom, “(but) I've never been particularly great at business. When I started, people were buying lots of records and I just twisted knobs. Nowadays, marketing is a much more important part of making music and if you run your own label,” – as he does now – “it's difficult to divide your time between making music and the marketing stuff, which I find soulless. That's why I've recently done this Metalheadz thing”. The “Metalheadz thing” is a remix of Goldie's Jah, titled Unofficial Jah. It's unmistakably Dom & Roland in sound and concept – tough and techy, vintage and forward-thinking.

“I've known Goldie a long time… I said to Storm [Metalheadz co-founder, along with Goldie and Kemistry] a couple of years ago that I'd like to have a bash at remixing one of Goldie's old tunes. He said 'Do Jah'. Goldie got wind of the fact I was doing a remix, but I didn't tell him which one. In the end he loved it, and I'd love to do something more with Metalheadz.”

His commitment to his music is soul-serving, obstinate, commendable. “If I'm not making music from my soul, I'm not happy. If I started making the commercial, cheesy stuff, I wouldn't be satisfying myself… I hear a lot of music these days that seems to be up its own arse. It's 'look what I can do with a plug-in' rather than actually having any soul.”

No doubt that notion's kept the standard of Dom & Roland's releases high. Seventeen years in the game is going to give you the odd comical moment though. So, just how often is Dom & Roland mistaken for a duo?

“I was in the Blue Note [drum 'n' bass club] with [producer] Trace, hanging out by the bar. There was this drunk American guy next to him, who though he was a bit cool. Trace asks him if he's met Dom & Roland, and the guy didn't realise he was trying to introduce me to him. The guy starts mouthing off, saying 'Sure, I met those guys. When they came to Boston I looked after them. I took them around the city. I took them to the aquarium'.”