Since childhood Ben Medcalf has had an active interest in music, playing a variety of instruments before eventually deciding to take up drumming in his teens. Around this time he formed a metal band with guitarist Martin Dawson (who now produces electro house as King Roc) and bassist Chris Jarman (now drum and bass producer Raiden). Following his stint in the band, Ben enrolled at University and it was during this time that he developed his love of broken beats and began to play drums alongside drum and bass djs at raves. At the completion of his university degree Ben decided to further pursue his music interests and moved to London with hometown friends Tom Neville and Tom Real. It was in London that Ben began to go clubbing and develop his love of the then relatively new breakbeat scene. At the same time he also began tinkering in the studio of his roommate and now Ministry of Sound resident Tom Neville, whilst continuing to work as a session drummer.

Fast forward to 2006 and Ben aka The Rogue Element, is considered one of the brightest talents in breakbeat whose tunes are featured in the sets of breaks djs throughout the world. His 2005 debut album ‘Rogue Rock’ was arguably the best breaks album that year and he has remixed some of the biggest names in the business. This year at the Breakspoll international breakbeat awards he took out the Breakthrough Producer prize beating stiff competition from breaks heavyweights including Dopamine and Metric, and ‘Rogue Rock’ was nominated for Best Album but was beaten in a very close call by Atomic Hooligan’s album ‘You Are Here’.

Your artist album 'Rogue Rock' features a diverse range of sounds, including some downbeat and funk influenced styles, are there any plans to release more music outside the breakbeat genre?
Definitely, at the very least on the next album, and possibly with a view to releasing some 12s in other genres. I think it is important to be defined by your sound rather than what category of electronic music you are perceived as fitting in to. The next album is going to be approached differently – I am going to try and avoid putting edits of my dance 12s on there like the last one, instead I’ll be writing songs and then doing club mixes of them for the dancefloor.

How long was the production process for 'Rogue Rock'?
The actual process was about 14 months or so – the first track I finished for it was ‘My Style’ in about April 2004 and the final one was ‘Sunrise Leaves me Blind’ which I finished in about July 2005. However, there is stuff on there which was originally written years ago – ‘My Style’ for example had its first incarnation in about 2002 before I’d had anything released, and I re-engineered it once I started getting interest from Exceptional.

You have collaborated with Tom Real for a number of projects, are there any other producers that you plan to collaborate with in the future?
Yep, I am doing a collaboration with Vandal next week as it happens, and at present there is talk of a collaborative remix of a Krafty Kuts track with your very own Kid Kenobi. And Tom and I will have another 12 coming out on Functional in September.

What releases and remixes can we expect in the near future from The Rogue Element?
Well obviously the aforementioned stuff, and I have just remixed a track called ‘Badass’ which is by The Crystal Method featuring Rahzel. I don’t think that is going to be coming out on vinyl  at present however, as it is for a special compilation project they are doing for Nike and iTunes. I think there is more info on the iTunes website. Also I have just finished a mix for the Freestylers of a track from their forthcoming album. Solo release-wise, I am getting ideas and samples and scouting for vocalists and musicians for the next album, as I said I will be approaching this one a bit differently so it might be a few months before my next solo release.

There was a cheeky bootleg of The Prodigy's 'Girls' by Le Rouge Elephant doing the rounds not long ago – is there any chance of an official release?
I don’t think so….. Le Rouge Elephant told me he doesn’t really like putting bootlegs out commercially, as they aren’t strictly speaking his work. He has no problem with anyone else doing it, it’s kind of just a personal foible. Battle weapons and swaps only!!
 
This will be your first visit to Australia – what can we expect in your sets? Which new tunes are currently doing damage on the dancefloors?
My sound when I play out is generally high octane, dirty but funky breaks with the odd house track chucked in… if it’s filthy enough. The sounds and energy in a track are more important to me than whether it’s breaks or 4/4. There will be quite a bit of new stuff no-one will have heard, at least a couple of exclusive bootlegs and remixes, maybe a couple of new original tracks I am toying with.

Given your background playing in bands, and the current trend for breaks acts to perform live (eg Hyper and Atomic Hooligan), are there any plans for a Rogue Element live show?
Not at this stage, as it involves a lot of work and when you do something like that you have to make sure it’s done properly. If not it can be a disaster. Both the Hooligans and Hyper have done it extremely well and have set a high standard that at the moment I don’t have time to commit to trying to match!!

What are your favourite bits of studio gear?
Disappointingly I don’t use any outboard stuff at all!! I run a studio computer and a few software synths . I tend to rely on the ES2 in Logic, which is an excellent softsynth… once you get to grips with it can make pretty much any sound you want. I  do a lot of processing on my sounds to get away from that ‘software’ feel.

What is the plan for The Rogue Element in 2006 and beyond?
I have a very busy July, and obviously I am visiting you chaps for most of August, then I think another US tour has been penciled in for the autumn… after I get back from Australia I am going to be seriously getting down to work on my next studio album. The projected completion date for the next album is mid-2007. I want to do a lot more collaborations over the next months on 12” releases as well as for the album, as I find that writing on your own all the time can get boring especially when you are engineering everything as well…. and it isn’t particularly healthy creatively either, at least not for me. In other words, hopefully carry on enjoying myself as much as I am!
 
Interview by Andy Garratt

Catch The Rogue Element @ Major Break III - Saturday 5th August, 2006