Hip-hop rhythms/motifs are especially prevalent in the states, while the UK traditionally spotlights drum and bass. What drove you towards half-time based musical projects?

Mike: The first record I bought myself was a De La Soul 7” when I was 12 years old. Until then I’d only had a Beatles tape and a funk compilation set of double LP’s my parents had given me. So I just thought it was all melody, groove and breaks. Which it kind of is. I went to college at 16 and there was a shop called Troublesome Records in my hometown which sold hardcore and techno (before d&b was invented yet). I got into that heavily and spent most of my free time in that shop just hanging about and getting into the scene in general. I studied sound engineering, bought a sampler, and started trying to write some tracks. I was also into the Warp Records catalogue by then, too, after coming across Aphex Twin’s digeridoo on R&S [Records] and this Mike Dred clear vinyl on Rephlex at Troublesome. That introduced me to the world of weird stuff and then I got really in to trip hop and breaks as well. I do love drum and bass though to this day. I’m a firm believer that there are good tracks in every genre as well as bad ones too. For me, it’s either electronic music or acoustic/band music rather than worrying about styles within those. They’re all just made up names really anyway. For me it’s 100% more about whether it’s good or not rather than what people are calling it. I’ve always judged tracks on how they make me feel rather than the tempo or genre.

How does Osmetic compare with Crunch or Mike Wallis in the live sphere? Which project do you prefer to perform with?

Mike: I basically play as K.L.O on the whole at the moment. Ben [Ben Parker aka Lone Drum] and I have been playing together under various names since I asked him to cut over my set at Glade Festival in 2012. I knew straight away I’d like to have him cutting on all my sets if I could. He has a great flow, and the scratching is key for the more uptempo sets, I think. It adds a real live element and makes it feel different every time. I do listen to music with vocals but for me the instrumental vibe is king. As ‘Mike Wallis’ I either play a downtempo set or a Colony set depending on the time and place [Rusted Rhythms Vol. 30 is one such “Colony” mix, featuring only music released through Colony Productions]. I’d say I prefer playing with Ben as K.L.O because it’s fun up there and it’s never the same twice. I don’t want that to take away from my solo sets, because I do really enjoy those too. I also really like the sound we're pushing with the K.L.O sets. The Crunch set at the first Suwanee Full Moon Gathering was a one-off. I doubt we’ll do that again but I’m glad we did it.

The K.L.O project has been booked throughout the US now. What cultural/social differences stand out to you between the nightlife/music scenes in the UK and US?

Mike: The scene is bigger in the states for that style definitely. I knew we were on to something when Rob C got me over for the Tipper pre-party for Red Rocks [in 2015] as that was the first time I dropped any of the K.L.O tracks we'd been working on and they went off. The festival scene is good in the states for sure. I don’t like all the talking in sets, though, if I’m honest. That kind of throws me, I just don’t get it. I think we have a darker vibe here in the UK born out of electro and drum and bass nights. There’s less emphasis on the visuals and rarely any live painting, but we do have it at the odd festival. Noisily is a good one if we’re talking festivals, as is Boomtown in the UK. We have more emcee’s in the UK but I don’t really get that either.