We caught up with fast rising Bristol duo Waifs & Strays, here's what they had to say

How did your sounds evolve last year? What were you feeling most, musically?

I think a lot of our tunes are quite different, so I dont think we evolved so much, but definitely learned a lot about getting tunes sounding right for club soundsystems, how certain sounds are going to be interpreted on a big system etc. Basically i think our sounds and productions just got tighter all round, which is something that only comes with time spent in the studio. In terms of what we were feeling most, i think the two stand out people for us has to be Maceo Plex and Eats Everything. They both have had an amazing 12 months and have totally brought something new along with their productions. 

Who does what when DJing and in the studio?

We both do it all! We have strengths and weaknesses but there isnt one thing that a particular person does only. This is a good thing as it can happen that only one of use can go to DJ or that only one of us works on a particular tune, and so we are both comfortable that the end result isgoing to be the same. 

How important is Bristol on your sound?

I dont think its massively important on the sound exactly, but being in Bristol is definitely inspiring on a daily basis. To us, its the best city in the world and over the last two years its really stepped its game up on so many levels, which in turn has inspired us to do the same.

Any plans for a full length album at all?

Not right now, but maybe at some point in the future. 

What is the most important thing to you when producing, feeling or a technical thing or the groove or…?

Its all about the groove and feeling...without that there is nothing. You can be an amazing technical producer, but if you dont have thefeeling behind the music, its just going to sound cold and clinical. We like to be technical where we can, but its definitely about the feeling!

And what should the Connected crowd expect from you at Cable on 11th Feb? Do you know from one gig to the next or… is it more random?

We try to keep it interesting and not just keep it to one style of house music, and also to put as much energy in to the music as possible. We always prepare for gigs, but keep the actual set on the night pretty open depending on how the crowd are.

How often do you spend looking for new music and where? Do you switch up the contents of your record bag very often?

We both spend a few hours a week looking for music. Luckily we DJ on Traktor so can basically bring our whole record collection with us to all gigs, but we go through our current selection before each gig, so pretty much every week.

What else you got coming up/are you looking forward to?

We have our first gigs in the US which we are really looking forward to, plus loads of really cool gigs in the UK and Europe - 2012 is looking great so far!

Have you any plans or goals for 2012 musically?

Just to build on the work of 2011, continue to work with the labels we are with at the moment and try to carry on releasing music that people like!