Popping Up: Billon

Robbie Daw | October 21, 2014 9:29 am

Popping Up is our recurring look at new artists making noise on the music landscape. Because, hey — Madonna and Britney were once unknown, too.

Jennifer Hudson knows it; Kiesza knows it; and Mary J. Blige definitely knows it: as far as popular music goes in 2014, London is where it’s at, and deep house is the name of the game. Recently we’ve shined our Popping Up spotlight on beat-heavy British acts ranging from Gorgon City to Clean Bandit to Route 94, and there’s always room for one more, provided the music is solid.

That brings us to UK dance duo Billon, who’ve steadily been earning a solid reputation by remixing artists like Katy B (“Still”), Yasmin (“Thinking About You”) and Ella Eyre (“If I Go”). The pair have also offered up a couple EPs in the past, and today (October 21) sees the stateside release of their brand new single “Special.”

Head below to find out how the guys partnered up with songwriter MNEK and singer Maxine Ashley for “Special,” and how the whole Billon project got started in the first place.

DUO NAME: Billon.

MEMBERS: Ed Butler and Robbie Lamond.

WHERE THEY’RE FROM: London, England.

WHAT THEY WERE DOING, PRE-BILLON: “We were both working on solo projects, ‘Drop Lamond’ & ‘Cinematic’ — you can work out whose is whose,” says rascally Robbie, before adding, “Ha ha!” The nerve! Ed notes, “We were also producing separately for other artists, in a variety of genres & happened to have studios in the same complex.”

HOW THEY MET: Ed explains, “We met in the street, and after realizing we had studios in the same building we decided to get a session in — and Billon was formed.”

WHAT THEY SOUND LIKE: The gents describe their music as “a modern take on house and garage from the ’90s with a UK bass sound and a jazzy musical touch.” Got it?

WHY YOU SHOULD TAKE NOTICE OF THESE TWO: Their single “Special,” released today stateside, is an absolute firecracker. “We were in a session with MNEK at our studio and had already written a few other ideas,” Ed notes, when describing how they created the track. “We then decided to start by just laying down chords on a piano and then work from there. The whole song was written to basic piano and a simple drum beat. We then produced it up in to the form you hear now.”

MAXINE ASHLEY IS THE VOCALIST ON “SPECIAL”: Robbie explains, “It ended up being quite lucky in the end. We had ‘Special’ written, produced and had tried a couple of vocalists, but it didn’t work out. Then we decided to drop an email to a friend of ours at the label Maxine is with. She then told us about Maxine and how she was going to be in London tomorrow and that she was up for singing the song. Before you know it ‘Special’ was complete!”

OTHER VOCALISTS THEY’RE WORKING WITH: “We’re actually currently on the hunt for singers, so if you know anyone who has a great voice let us know!” Robbie says. “We were lucky enough to get a few sessions in with UK Garage legend Craig David and [we’re] looking forward to it putting out the track we started. We’ve also worked with an amazing vocalist from the UK named Thabo. He has an incredible voice.”

FAVORITE REMIXES THEY’VE DONE FOR OTHER ARTISTS: “Probably a toss up between the Katy B remix for it’s energy and the Ella Eyre remix for the bass line and vocal chop,” Robbie says.

WHO THEY’RE LISTENING TO AT THE MOMENT: Dusky, Danism, Glimpse and Midland — “all great producers,” says Ed.

CAN WE EXPECT A BILLON ALBUM AT SOME POINT?: “We hope so,” Ed says hopefully. “It’s definitely at the back of our mind and look forward to expand our horizons musically when we do get the opportunity.”

You can grab Billon’s Maxine Ashley-featuring single “Special” on iTunes now.