Over the last two years the respected partnership that is Ulterior Motive has helped spearhead the revitalisation of Teebee's acclaimed Subtitles imprint keeping it at the forefront of the scene in terms of innovation and production quality.

At the same time the pair have quietly gone about redefining tech funk for a new generation of drum and bass fans with critically praised tracks appearing on labels including Metalheadz, Critical and Reinforced.

Their recent release Tesla / Seven Segments has only served to reinforce their pedigree as certified dance floor smashers with their now trademark blend of punchy drums arrangements, guttural baselines and eerie atmospherics demonstrated to full effect and all those early comparisons to Veterans Ed Rush & Optical and Bad Company have now been blown out of the water as the duo stamp their own identity on the dnb movement.

Example magazine caught up with the undisputed kings of squelch to chat about their sound and their plans for the rest of 2011

    Example :  What has been the most important factor in your success so far?

    UM:   Quality control: we always try to make sure our output is as a good as at can be, constantly being brutally honest with each other. We quite often scrap projects after a few days if the vibe hasn't got what we want. A good work ethic is essential in the studio, we have no issues with each other if one of us isn't feeling the way the project is going
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Example:   What track do you think most accurately nails what UM is about?

    UM:  Every track we produce has it's own individual style, from Yogurt Brainwave to Tesla but we always want our tracks to be funky, and Funk is what Ulterior Motive is all about.

Example:   You've become known for your punchy production sound, what are your fave bits of studio gear?

UM:  A Mac Pro running Logic 9 with a UAD-2 card and a Virus Ti is the core. We've recently dusted down the Emu e5000 Ultra and are using that a lot these days!

Example:    Have there been any major changes in the way you work in the studio?

UM:   Our studio techniques are always changing and advancing but the format of how we work together as duo is still the same as it ever was, except we drink more coffee! We're both confident in the others abilities to push the project in-hand forward.

Example:  Do you consider yourselves to be more DJs or Producers?

UM:    We both started out as DJs in our teens as most people do but we've been producing for such a long time (14 years) I think it's fair to say we're both!

Example:  What are you feeling outside of drum & bass right now?

UM:   Tipper, Scuba, Fleetwood Mac and Duran Duran 

Example:  What have you got on the cards for the rest of 2011?

UM:  More releases on Subtitles - we've written tracks with Hybris and Code 3 that are penciled for release later in the year, plus some more solo material due out mid-summer.