Ammo For the Dancefloor
Interview with Sydney X Uggo
Article written by Amy Thomas
Amy Thomas sits down with Sydney and Uggo to talk friendship, collaboration and the Bristol foundations behind their latest YR4 Records dancefloor release.
George and Mitch, also known as Sydney and Uggo, are joined at the hip. They met at college and have been friends for over a decade, music careers intertwined through their Bristol-based collective Stayput and a five-year Noods residency. Their paths recently converged once again with a signing and upcoming release on the newly launched YR4 Records.
As they dialled into our call from the same computer, I asked if they live together, to which Mitch chuckled: “No, not anymore… I live just across the park from George though!” They finished each other’s sentences and stepped in when the other drifted, but when it comes to the music, their output clearly stems from two distinct, well-rounded sonic identities. We chatted about their new release, their music pathways, key influences and how London clubs need more pizza.
Amy:
How are you feeling about this release, and how does it compare to any previous releases?
George:
This one feels super relevant to me now — to what we’re making and what we’re playing out and DJing — whereas my first release on Black Acre was me just trying to figure out what I’m into. I was DJing at the time too, but I just couldn’t play the stuff I was making out. So this is a lot more exciting because it’s ammo for the dancefloor.
Mitch:
For me, it feels really special because I feel like I’ve been making music for nearly 12 years, and I’ve never put anything out. So it feels like a coming together of everything I’ve been trying to do for a long time. I’ve got hundreds of tunes that I’ve never played to anyone apart from some mates. I think not releasing them was just a confidence thing, whereas now I’m now in a place where I’m super confident with my productions; I know exactly what I’m trying to achieve with every song. So now I’m driving myself to make something that makes more sense, like with this release.
Amy:
How did you two meet and start Stayput?
Mitch:
We met at college, actually. We were classic tech students hiding out in the darkroom and, on the last day, we were like: should we take a walk around this campus because we’ve not seen it? Then we didn’t see each other for two years. When I was at uni, my group at the time were looking for a fourth housemate in Bath. We scoured the internet and couldn’t find anyone good, and we ended up with George.
George:
You never told me that.
Mitch:
Yeah sorry, you were the last choice. But we did end up living together for a year, which was beautiful.
George:
It was sick, yeah. And that’s actually where Stayput was born!
Amy:
And what is Stayput to you?
George:
Stayput originally started as a radio show that we called “Podcasts.”
Mitch:
I don’t think we really ever spoke on it though.
George:
Yeah, we’d put the tracks together in Ableton, which took a few hours, then we’d do an hour of “talking” over it and the show was only an hour long. It was a really backwards way of doing it. We studied Music Technology so you’d think we’d have a better way, but yeah, we did a test show and found a logo.
Mitch:
We found the logo on a recycling bag and just replaced “reduce, reuse, recycle” with Stayput. We actually went from having the idea of doing a radio show to recording within a day which is crazy. We were both definitely into our electronic music but, for some reason we decided to do really deep dives into disco, MPB, Euro rarities.
George:
We recorded it and sent it to Noods, who had just started then; I think we were one of their first 10 residences. We did that for five or six years and later added Sam Bhok, whose knowledge filled in the gaps in ours and definitely rounded out the show.
Amy:
Mitch, how did you start making music? What were your early surroundings and influences?
Mitch:
My brother sent me a copy of FruityLoops that he cracked. I had just moved from Dorset and had no friends, so I sort of just made music constantly to pass the time and the boredom. A few of my cousins would send me really crap MP3s of Nottingham grime artists on MSN. I was into very early dubstep and garage and very interested in how those sounds were made, so I was just experimenting with whatever I had. I was on FruityLoops until someone showed me Logic at college, which honestly just felt too good for me. It was way too techy at first.
Then someone from school said I’d either win the lottery or become a DJ/producer. And as soon as I heard you could do that as a job, I was sold.
Amy:
Who were the artists?
Mitch:
It’s probably very, very obvious and very, very normal, but it was Wiley from back in the day, El B, Wookie — those kinda garage artists. I didn’t really know what I was listening to; it was a lot of that early dubstep — Coki, Skream.
George :
Aw man, this is so much cooler than mine.
Mitch:
I remember having loads of sketchy YouTube/SoundCloud rips. Actually, SoundCloud culture back then felt unmatched: people were just uploading the maddest stuff and you’d find the craziest things; it was great. But then I think Joy Orbison is the person who made me realise that you can blend those things together to make something that sounds good.
Amy:
Do you think those kinds of sounds influence your DJing and production now?
Mitch:
I think when I DJ I lean towards vocal chops and melodies that are tied to vocals, because everything I was listening to back in the day was an R&B remix. So now when I’m trying to find tunes, if there’s no vocal in it, I often wish it did. It’s quite cool finding stuff that’s also heavily influenced by the UK; I’ve definitely fallen more in love with straight-up house bangers recently.
I think the turning point in my production was when I first heard Arca. She’s definitely my favourite producer and she really opened my eyes to different ways of manipulating sound. There was a lot of time spent trying to recreate what she does, but I think the UK flavours are now slowly bleeding back in. I’ve been absolutely rinsing Mumdance for the past month or so; his tracks are exactly what I love about UK music and about production in general.
Amy:
George, can you give me a few words on how you’d describe Mitch’s sound?
George:
Arca. Stripped-back. Drums. Stylish. Edgy but focused. Arpeggiator-driven with lots of sound manipulation. Highbrow, but in a good way.
Amy:
What were your early influences, first sparks, and instruments?
George:
My answer is gonna be a lot less cool than his. I had some anger issues when I was a lot younger and the school didn’t really know what to do with me, so they put me on drums and gave me free lessons for ages. I then did GCSE Music and I ended up making a dubstep track on Cubase because that’s the software they had.
Then, embarrassingly, the summer after GCSEs, I listened to “Titanium” by David Guetta and it blew my mind. I was also listening to a lot of hip-hop, like A Tribe Called Quest and Big L, also some pop and R&B, but honestly, listening to that David Guetta tune — hearing that synth duck underneath a kick — that’s what really got me into making electronic music. More recently, Al Dobson Jr. and the Rhythm Section lot are definitely some of my main influences as well.
Amy:
Do those influences show up in what you make and play now?
George:
I went through a period where I was listening to a load of Dilla and Madlib and, for a while, that definitely was reflected in my music, playing percussion-focused, chilled beats. I think because of DJing more clubby stuff at points and doing Stayput, my taste got a lot more electronic. I still sample the music I used to listen to and the stuff we found at the start of Stayput, but I now really want to make music that I can play out.
Amy:
When you’re DJing out, do you have any artists, labels or genres that you always come back to?
George:
I don’t like playing too many of the same artist’s tracks; I never want people to know what I’m about to play next. So I rarely have more than two tracks by the same artist, which sometimes is good and can also throw me under the bus on a very specific night. Mitch and I have a strange relationship with finding music: we find completely different things that are in the same vein, so when we bring stuff to a night we’re DJing, we have the energy to match each other but the tunes are completely different. Sometimes I’ll want to play a tune, but Mitch has it on his USB. It’s like our playlists are built upon each other.
Amy:
Mitch, can you give me a few words on how you’d describe George’s sound?
Mitch:
Percussive; deep, unfamiliar grooves; loud and polished; hard to pin down but cohesive. Very referential.
Amy:
How did you first meet YR4?
George:
We know Henry via a mutual friend, Poppy, and now everyone in our group loves him. I think I first met him at Waterworks or a house party, then I DJ’d his 30th birthday. He didn’t know I made music at that point, so when we realised that Alex and Henry had set YR4 up, we mentioned we were sitting on stuff we could send over.
There was definitely confusion about whether we’re a duo at first because I’m always pushing Mitch and myself. If anyone ever asks about music I say me and Mitch are doing this. I don’t stand cool on my own, man.
Mitch:
And I crumble under the pressure without George. It works perfectly. And even though this release is separate productions, we’re actually going to the studio next week with a singer together. It’s definitely slower, UK/R&B-adjacent because it’s got a singer, but we have another rough dance track to polish as well.
George:
We definitely want to make more music together.
Amy:
What does it look like when you get together and make music?
Mitch:
I reckon once every blue moon we get together and show each other what we’ve been making. I’m always at George’s or George is always at mine, just hanging out. And when there’s something I’m really excited about, I show George, which usually triggers us showing each other ten different things we’ve made.
George:
We’re always quite brutally honest with each other about the stuff we’ve made.
Amy:
Have you been DJing together recently?
George:
We haven’t DJ’d out at a proper event for a while, only house parties really, but I’ve personally been DJing out at Spiritland and Next Door Records; it’s just that life got busy with our 9-5s, so that slowed us down a bit.
Mitch:
Stayput also shifted. The events eased off in Bristol, and getting booked in London was weirdly tough despite having so much radio experience, so many events and releases already. There’s a lot of collectives booking each other, and we still felt like Bristol people in London. Costs in London punch you in the face compared to Bristol, where we had solid venue relationships.
George:
In Bristol our nights popped — like the Idle Hands heads would come through; we booked from outside Bristol, like DJ Gilla, Athens of the North, Mr Bongo. In London, our niche didn’t translate the same, so we pivoted to DJing ourselves with London guests like Bushbaby and similar local DJs.
Amy:
Can you walk me through some of the gear you use? Any dream hardware you’d like to test?
Mitch:
I’m straight out of the box! I make music every lunchtime at work and it’s all free VSTs, free plug-ins — mostly Max for Live stuff. Also super-weird software that people make and that you download for free and it does something cool. I kind of love that stuff because it does the same job as more professional gear. And then my holy grail would be a Korg Triton — pure Timbaland era.
George:
Oh, you twat. That’s what I was going to say. I would love to make music on that. I’d also love to play with the Elektron Digitakt, the drum machine/sampler. SOPHIE used an older model, the Monomachine, which has no patch saving, so I’m not sure I’d use that. I have a Korg sound bank that I use. I do more sample manipulation than recording these days. My dream bit of hardware would probably be the Electribe, the sequencer that SOPHIE used? The Korg Electribe sampler.
Amy:
What would be your dream venue to play at in London? What do you think of the current scene here?
George:
I just went to OM. It’s got matching quad hi-fi rigs in all corners and nine speakers facing into the dancefloor in a traditional square room. It’s super selector-led and the energy stays musical, not just faster. OM is exactly what London needs, but I do think overall there’s an amazing scene here.
Mitch:
Yeah, I’m a bit boring because I don’t go out that much, but there’s a bunch of great clubs in London, like Spanners and Ormside, that are sick, but you just never know when they’re gonna close. I mean, Corsica is closing down!
George:
I think that in another time, some clubs in London could be the starting point of something special, but can they withstand the test of time? We have one of the most exciting scenes in the world for music: the collectives, the DJs, the variety — it’s all amazing.
Mitch :
People are always gonna wanna play in London. We just need those clubs that never close: open all weekend with chill spaces and food for those really long sessions. Provide a service where you can do that safely. The London scene is great but I think there’s a lot of work that needs to be done.
Amy:
And finally, what’s your favourite track to finish a set on?
George:
I actually got all my records nicked back in 2019 and there was one record in there I was gutted about. It had this track on it that was kind of Japanese city pop, but it’s quite fast-paced and upbeat. It’s called Junko Ohashi – “Feel So Fine.” This tune is so uplifting, man; you can swing it into a dark, heavy set and it just works.
Mitch:
Mine is semi-similar but it’s Italo-disco; it’s called “Love Is on the Rocks” by Lama. It’s just perfect. You can close your eyes, put your hands in the air, or maybe cry if you’re in a bad situation. I love it.
With new solo cuts and more projects on the way, George (Sydney) and Mitch (Uggo) carry the Stayput ethos forward into their partnership with YR4: lean, percussive, and built on collaboration. The ammo has definitely landed.
Ammo For the Dancefloor
Interview with Sydney X Uggo
Article written by Amy Thomas
Amy Thomas sits down with Sydney and Uggo to talk friendship, collaboration and the Bristol foundations behind their latest YR4 Records dancefloor release.
George and Mitch, also known as Sydney and Uggo, are joined at the hip. They met at college and have been friends for over a decade, music careers intertwined through their Bristol-based collective Stayput and a five-year Noods residency. Their paths recently converged once again with a signing and upcoming release on the newly launched YR4 Records.
As they dialled into our call from the same computer, I asked if they live together, to which Mitch chuckled: “No, not anymore… I live just across the park from George though!” They finished each other’s sentences and stepped in when the other drifted, but when it comes to the music, their output clearly stems from two distinct, well-rounded sonic identities. We chatted about their new release, their music pathways, key influences and how London clubs need more pizza.
Amy:
How are you feeling about this release, and how does it compare to any previous releases?
George:
This one feels super relevant to me now — to what we’re making and what we’re playing out and DJing — whereas my first release on Black Acre was me just trying to figure out what I’m into. I was DJing at the time too, but I just couldn’t play the stuff I was making out. So this is a lot more exciting because it’s ammo for the dancefloor.
Mitch:
For me, it feels really special because I feel like I’ve been making music for nearly 12 years, and I’ve never put anything out. So it feels like a coming together of everything I’ve been trying to do for a long time. I’ve got hundreds of tunes that I’ve never played to anyone apart from some mates. I think not releasing them was just a confidence thing, whereas now I’m now in a place where I’m super confident with my productions; I know exactly what I’m trying to achieve with every song. So now I’m driving myself to make something that makes more sense, like with this release.
Amy:
How did you two meet and start Stayput?
Mitch:
We met at college, actually. We were classic tech students hiding out in the darkroom and, on the last day, we were like: should we take a walk around this campus because we’ve not seen it? Then we didn’t see each other for two years. When I was at uni, my group at the time were looking for a fourth housemate in Bath. We scoured the internet and couldn’t find anyone good, and we ended up with George.
George:
You never told me that.
Mitch:
Yeah sorry, you were the last choice. But we did end up living together for a year, which was beautiful.
George:
It was sick, yeah. And that’s actually where Stayput was born!
Amy:
And what is Stayput to you?
George:
Stayput originally started as a radio show that we called “Podcasts.”
Mitch:
I don’t think we really ever spoke on it though.
George:
Yeah, we’d put the tracks together in Ableton, which took a few hours, then we’d do an hour of “talking” over it and the show was only an hour long. It was a really backwards way of doing it. We studied Music Technology so you’d think we’d have a better way, but yeah, we did a test show and found a logo.
Mitch:
We found the logo on a recycling bag and just replaced “reduce, reuse, recycle” with Stayput. We actually went from having the idea of doing a radio show to recording within a day which is crazy. We were both definitely into our electronic music but, for some reason we decided to do really deep dives into disco, MPB, Euro rarities.
George:
We recorded it and sent it to Noods, who had just started then; I think we were one of their first 10 residences. We did that for five or six years and later added Sam Bhok, whose knowledge filled in the gaps in ours and definitely rounded out the show.
Amy:
Mitch, how did you start making music? What were your early surroundings and influences?
Mitch:
My brother sent me a copy of FruityLoops that he cracked. I had just moved from Dorset and had no friends, so I sort of just made music constantly to pass the time and the boredom. A few of my cousins would send me really crap MP3s of Nottingham grime artists on MSN. I was into very early dubstep and garage and very interested in how those sounds were made, so I was just experimenting with whatever I had. I was on FruityLoops until someone showed me Logic at college, which honestly just felt too good for me. It was way too techy at first.
Then someone from school said I’d either win the lottery or become a DJ/producer. And as soon as I heard you could do that as a job, I was sold.
Amy:
Who were the artists?
Mitch:
It’s probably very, very obvious and very, very normal, but it was Wiley from back in the day, El B, Wookie — those kinda garage artists. I didn’t really know what I was listening to; it was a lot of that early dubstep — Coki, Skream.
George :
Aw man, this is so much cooler than mine.
Mitch:
I remember having loads of sketchy YouTube/SoundCloud rips. Actually, SoundCloud culture back then felt unmatched: people were just uploading the maddest stuff and you’d find the craziest things; it was great. But then I think Joy Orbison is the person who made me realise that you can blend those things together to make something that sounds good.
Amy:
Do you think those kinds of sounds influence your DJing and production now?
Mitch:
I think when I DJ I lean towards vocal chops and melodies that are tied to vocals, because everything I was listening to back in the day was an R&B remix. So now when I’m trying to find tunes, if there’s no vocal in it, I often wish it did. It’s quite cool finding stuff that’s also heavily influenced by the UK; I’ve definitely fallen more in love with straight-up house bangers recently.
I think the turning point in my production was when I first heard Arca. She’s definitely my favourite producer and she really opened my eyes to different ways of manipulating sound. There was a lot of time spent trying to recreate what she does, but I think the UK flavours are now slowly bleeding back in. I’ve been absolutely rinsing Mumdance for the past month or so; his tracks are exactly what I love about UK music and about production in general.
Amy:
George, can you give me a few words on how you’d describe Mitch’s sound?
George:
Arca. Stripped-back. Drums. Stylish. Edgy but focused. Arpeggiator-driven with lots of sound manipulation. Highbrow, but in a good way.
Amy:
What were your early influences, first sparks, and instruments?
George:
My answer is gonna be a lot less cool than his. I had some anger issues when I was a lot younger and the school didn’t really know what to do with me, so they put me on drums and gave me free lessons for ages. I then did GCSE Music and I ended up making a dubstep track on Cubase because that’s the software they had.
Then, embarrassingly, the summer after GCSEs, I listened to “Titanium” by David Guetta and it blew my mind. I was also listening to a lot of hip-hop, like A Tribe Called Quest and Big L, also some pop and R&B, but honestly, listening to that David Guetta tune — hearing that synth duck underneath a kick — that’s what really got me into making electronic music. More recently, Al Dobson Jr. and the Rhythm Section lot are definitely some of my main influences as well.
Amy:
Do those influences show up in what you make and play now?
George:
I went through a period where I was listening to a load of Dilla and Madlib and, for a while, that definitely was reflected in my music, playing percussion-focused, chilled beats. I think because of DJing more clubby stuff at points and doing Stayput, my taste got a lot more electronic. I still sample the music I used to listen to and the stuff we found at the start of Stayput, but I now really want to make music that I can play out.
Amy:
When you’re DJing out, do you have any artists, labels or genres that you always come back to?
George:
I don’t like playing too many of the same artist’s tracks; I never want people to know what I’m about to play next. So I rarely have more than two tracks by the same artist, which sometimes is good and can also throw me under the bus on a very specific night. Mitch and I have a strange relationship with finding music: we find completely different things that are in the same vein, so when we bring stuff to a night we’re DJing, we have the energy to match each other but the tunes are completely different. Sometimes I’ll want to play a tune, but Mitch has it on his USB. It’s like our playlists are built upon each other.
Amy:
Mitch, can you give me a few words on how you’d describe George’s sound?
Mitch:
Percussive; deep, unfamiliar grooves; loud and polished; hard to pin down but cohesive. Very referential.
Amy:
How did you first meet YR4?
George:
We know Henry via a mutual friend, Poppy, and now everyone in our group loves him. I think I first met him at Waterworks or a house party, then I DJ’d his 30th birthday. He didn’t know I made music at that point, so when we realised that Alex and Henry had set YR4 up, we mentioned we were sitting on stuff we could send over.
There was definitely confusion about whether we’re a duo at first because I’m always pushing Mitch and myself. If anyone ever asks about music I say me and Mitch are doing this. I don’t stand cool on my own, man.
Mitch:
And I crumble under the pressure without George. It works perfectly. And even though this release is separate productions, we’re actually going to the studio next week with a singer together. It’s definitely slower, UK/R&B-adjacent because it’s got a singer, but we have another rough dance track to polish as well.
George:
We definitely want to make more music together.
Amy:
What does it look like when you get together and make music?
Mitch:
I reckon once every blue moon we get together and show each other what we’ve been making. I’m always at George’s or George is always at mine, just hanging out. And when there’s something I’m really excited about, I show George, which usually triggers us showing each other ten different things we’ve made.
George:
We’re always quite brutally honest with each other about the stuff we’ve made.
Amy:
Have you been DJing together recently?
George:
We haven’t DJ’d out at a proper event for a while, only house parties really, but I’ve personally been DJing out at Spiritland and Next Door Records; it’s just that life got busy with our 9-5s, so that slowed us down a bit.
Mitch:
Stayput also shifted. The events eased off in Bristol, and getting booked in London was weirdly tough despite having so much radio experience, so many events and releases already. There’s a lot of collectives booking each other, and we still felt like Bristol people in London. Costs in London punch you in the face compared to Bristol, where we had solid venue relationships.
George:
In Bristol our nights popped — like the Idle Hands heads would come through; we booked from outside Bristol, like DJ Gilla, Athens of the North, Mr Bongo. In London, our niche didn’t translate the same, so we pivoted to DJing ourselves with London guests like Bushbaby and similar local DJs.
Amy:
Can you walk me through some of the gear you use? Any dream hardware you’d like to test?
Mitch:
I’m straight out of the box! I make music every lunchtime at work and it’s all free VSTs, free plug-ins — mostly Max for Live stuff. Also super-weird software that people make and that you download for free and it does something cool. I kind of love that stuff because it does the same job as more professional gear. And then my holy grail would be a Korg Triton — pure Timbaland era.
George:
Oh, you twat. That’s what I was going to say. I would love to make music on that. I’d also love to play with the Elektron Digitakt, the drum machine/sampler. SOPHIE used an older model, the Monomachine, which has no patch saving, so I’m not sure I’d use that. I have a Korg sound bank that I use. I do more sample manipulation than recording these days. My dream bit of hardware would probably be the Electribe, the sequencer that SOPHIE used? The Korg Electribe sampler.
Amy:
What would be your dream venue to play at in London? What do you think of the current scene here?
George:
I just went to OM. It’s got matching quad hi-fi rigs in all corners and nine speakers facing into the dancefloor in a traditional square room. It’s super selector-led and the energy stays musical, not just faster. OM is exactly what London needs, but I do think overall there’s an amazing scene here.
Mitch:
Yeah, I’m a bit boring because I don’t go out that much, but there’s a bunch of great clubs in London, like Spanners and Ormside, that are sick, but you just never know when they’re gonna close. I mean, Corsica is closing down!
George:
I think that in another time, some clubs in London could be the starting point of something special, but can they withstand the test of time? We have one of the most exciting scenes in the world for music: the collectives, the DJs, the variety — it’s all amazing.
Mitch :
People are always gonna wanna play in London. We just need those clubs that never close: open all weekend with chill spaces and food for those really long sessions. Provide a service where you can do that safely. The London scene is great but I think there’s a lot of work that needs to be done.
Amy:
And finally, what’s your favourite track to finish a set on?
George:
I actually got all my records nicked back in 2019 and there was one record in there I was gutted about. It had this track on it that was kind of Japanese city pop, but it’s quite fast-paced and upbeat. It’s called Junko Ohashi – “Feel So Fine.” This tune is so uplifting, man; you can swing it into a dark, heavy set and it just works.
Mitch:
Mine is semi-similar but it’s Italo-disco; it’s called “Love Is on the Rocks” by Lama. It’s just perfect. You can close your eyes, put your hands in the air, or maybe cry if you’re in a bad situation. I love it.
With new solo cuts and more projects on the way, George (Sydney) and Mitch (Uggo) carry the Stayput ethos forward into their partnership with YR4: lean, percussive, and built on collaboration. The ammo has definitely landed.