Nero elevates dance music to a new level

Combining a symphonic structure with the heavy beats of dance music could be considered akin to comparing apples and oranges. Yet Nero, the dynamic duo of Joe Ray and Dan Stephens, has done just that to a smashing degree. Hailing from North London, the two men are highly skilled as remixers, DJs and innovative producers on the international club scene.

For their debut "Welcome Reality," their longtime vocalist, Alana Watson, joins them. She adds just the right touch to bring forth the melody and, as a vocalist, adds a more human touch to many of the fourteen selections presented on this futuristic CD.

Here for EDGE Media Network, Joe Ray elaborates on the elements involved in creating their distinctive sound, the inspiration behind it and the various twists and turns on "Welcome Reality" which make it quite original and exciting. The never-ending drone of the same styles presented in dance music is nowhere in sight for Nero's debut. Their innovative sounds elevate dance music to a new level.

A symphonic sound

EDGE: Hearing just the first two songs on "Welcome Reality," the sounds are futuristic, heavy and thick on the beat and parts of the mix sound like an Apollo spacecraft being launched. The sound structure is also symphonic in nature. What was your vision to achieve with this debut?

Joe Ray: We just wanted the sounds to be big, epic and kind of orchestral. We wanted to write an album that at the same time was a little bit symphonic and that would take you on a journey. We've always been DJs in a dance floor club way, so in a way, it was trying to marry the two together. You could listen at home and it's also music that we could play out at clubs. There was kind of a vision behind it. It just naturally became a futuristic sounding, Vangelis, "Blade Runner" soundtrack vibe. We were inspired by soundtrack music by Bernard Herrmann and Danny Elfman... people like that. That kind of soundtrack album was a vision for this as well.

EDGE: Alana Watson provides the vocals on several tracks throughout the album. A couple of the songs she sings reminded me of Olivia Newton-John's voice. Specifically on the song, "Guilt," the tone of her voice is like Olivia on an emotional rampage. (Laughter) There is definitely a touch of Bernard Herrmann on that one. She's kind of like your Hitchcock blonde. What do you enjoy about working with her in creating this innovative music?

Joe Ray: It's really nice to have someone whose vocal range is really good, sitting on top of lower, heavier...you know, really big music. She's got a high-end voice and maybe that's part of the thing with ONJ. It's quite like Alana's voice. In general, we like to write the kind of music that is song-structured in places with bits of a chorus or verse and it's also in the boundaries of dance music. "Promises" on this is probably the most song-structured tune. That was really fun to write. Having a vocalist who we work with constantly really opens doors, in terms of it's not just dance music... it's got some melody in there.

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Watch the video to "Me and You":

In the future: no touching

EDGE: I read that you are an aficionado of old film scores, what are some of your favorites?

Joe Ray: For me personally, I would say "Vertigo" by Bernard Herrmann. It's just brilliant. That would be my favorite one.

EDGE: I have that. One thing about that soundtrack is that it can get really quiet and then super loud.

Joe Ray: (Laughter) Yeah... there's no compression on it. It's just so moving.

EDGE: The video for "Promises" is also interesting... "Don't take the pill!" and kissing is not allowed in the future or you get pulled away.

Joe Ray: The idea for that is that all touching isn't allowed. We were going to have a little intro thing saying that and then we decided not to, to keep it a bit more ambiguous. So, I think some people are a bit confused... but you're allowed to do that in a music video.

EDGE: Going back to the song, "Guilt," who wrote this? The structure of relationships, frustration, anger and disillusionment is all there in the lyrics.

Joe Ray: The lyrics? We really do that all together. Alana wrote some of that, so I don't know if she was getting out some relationship frustrations on that particular tune. The three of us have known each other for about ten years now. We were friends when we were still in our teens and used to go out clubbing together. It works out well. It's not like, "Here are the lyrics you're going to sing and you have to do this. "As it could be with a finishing vocalist...it's more just three friends.

A little bit sci-fi

EDGE: The debut is titled, "Welcome Reality." What were your feelings in choosing this title for the album?

Joe Ray: It was actually the name of an old track that we had done. For some reason, we just kind of thought it sounded a little bit sci-fi and futuristic. As it isn't "Welcome to Reality" it's "Welcome Reality" which is a bit vague as to whether this is a good reality or not... a bit of sci-fi without being too obvious, really.

EDGE: The track "Scorpions" seems to be the centerpiece of the record and it's definitely one of my favorites. What is the back story on the creation of that?

Joe Ray: The name came from the band, The Scorpions, because I heard them on the soundtrack to "The Wrestler" with Mickey Rourke... there's an amazing tune on there, that I found out was by The Scorpions. The tune started out almost copying that and it was almost a cover version as the vocal was the same. Over the course of a year or two, it slowly changed and changed and now it's nothing really like that. It really evolved and it's one of the more progressive tunes on the album.

EDGE: It's really interesting to listen to.

Joe Ray: That's probably what we'll do more of, songs that sort of start in one direction and kind of flow through to something else.

EDGE: The last several songs on "Welcome Reality" go in to a whole other direction for Nero. The cover with Alana's vocals of "Crush on You" and "Must Be the Feeling" are silly, fascinating and so fun.

Joe Ray: "Must Be the Feeling" is off of an old dirty disco record called "Time to Move" by Carmen.

EDGE: Tell me about this side of Nero. You go through this intense musical journey with a lot of strong vocals and then all of a sudden, it's like Mickey Mouse in the vocals with "Crush on You."

Joe Ray: (Laughter) Yeah, we kind of felt like "Ahhh, you can't be too heavy the whole time" and that kind of release would be quite nice. We play a lot of those old disco records and pop, which "Crush on You" really is. "Must Be the Feeling" is going to be the final single as it really is kind of different and it's got a house beat.

EDGE: Yeah, you took older elements of dance music and are really innovative with them. That is hard to do. A lot of times with dance music it's just the same thing and there is no excitement to it. Well, thanks a lot, Joe.

Joe Ray: No worries. Thanks a lot as well. Cheers.

Nero appears at Webster Hall in New York City on December 31, 2011. For more details about the group and upcoming appearances, visit Nero's Facebook page,