Darius World

OneMusic meets the production team behind Darius' album - The Misfits.

OneMusic Interview with The Misfits March 2003

Pete Glenister and Deni Lew have only been working together for just over a year, in that time they've established themselves as two of the premier pop producers in the music business. So how do they do it?

Tell us about your production backgrounds.

Deni: "I'm from a pop writer's area, whereas Pete is more singer/songwriter. The first artist we produced together was Darius because he crosses over those two genres, he's a serious singer songwriter but pop at the same time so we both thought we could lend something to the project."

How did working with Darius come about?

Pete: "We'd been writing with him before he got his record deal and he was signed on the basis of the work that we'd done with him."

Deni: "We thought he was very talented and had a certain star quality. He's a good singer, writer and guitar player."

How do you decide whether to work with an artist or not?

Pete: "You have to be excited about the artist. You take what you're good at as a team and then see if the project can benefit from it. We start from a writing point of view so there's no point us working on a project where the singer is totally self-contained and can write their own material."

What does your writing process involve?

Pete: "How we work will always depend on the artist because different records are made in different ways. With Darius, Deni was more involved in doing the vocals and the overall view of the record and I was involved in making the tracks, musically."

At what point do you head into the studio?

Pete: "We always make sure we've got a proper song ready before we go anywhere near the studio. Most of them written on the guitar first."

How does the relationship between you and the A&R men work?

Deni: "A&R want something that is ready to be released. That's where we come in; we create the music and try to get them to that point. The A&R men then decide whether they like it or not and ultimately decide whether to release it or not."

What's your work rate like at the moment?

Pete: "We're busy for the next year, so unless something really good comes along that we have to make time for."

Deni: "Artists are approaching us! It would be nice to be looking, but we're busy and it's nice to be busy too."

Have you ever had to turn down work offers?

Deni: "Yes. It's nice to be in a position where you can't do everything. As a producer and writer I think things often come in spurts. We're 'hot' right now but there might be a time very soon when we're not, you just don't know."