Since its birth in the early '90s, drum and bass has occupied a special bass-adoring spot on the British dance scene. But it takes a truly bombastic track with an irresistible vocalist to send a drum and bass record to the top of the mainstream charts. Luckily for Joe Lenzie and Cameron Edwards, they have both a natural talent for crafting number one songs and enough charm to secure studio time with the likes of Rita Ora, Paloma Faith and Ella Henderson. Sigma's 2015 debut record Life was a surefire hit, and the duo’s still relishing its aftershock.

We called Joe to discuss the duo’s busy summer festival schedule, recording a follow-up album and the idea of putting all of their superstar friends into one band.

How are you, where are you and what are you up to right now?

I’m good. Just in the studio, preparing for the tour. It’s just me here as Cam’s at his own studio. We live a few hundred miles apart, so we work independently.

Is it hard dividing the work between your studios?

It all depends on how you like to work. It works quite well with us because when we have ideas that we’re happy about, we come together and work on them. Working separately allows us to come up with even more ideas and then combine them in one session.

What’s the story of Sigma?

We met at the Leeds University 10 years ago. Cam was a promoter, working on club nights, and I kinda already started DJing and producing just for fun. We eventually started working together and realized we had similar interests.

How did you pick that name?

We’ve spent quite some time trying to come up with the perfect name. It had to be good, you know? Sigma means the sum of all parts. In our case, it means us coming together to create that one kind of sound.

You gathered quite a collection of talented individuals for your album Life. Was it hard getting in touch with all of them?

It wasn’t the easiest job [laughs]. It wasn’t like we got them all in one room that one time and told them to sing. Obviously that would’ve been impossible. It was a hard process but also a very rewarding one. Every vocalist we worked with was happy with it and we were happy, too. You’ve got a lot of people to please when you start working with a lot of other acts. You want the artist that you’re working with to be happy with the final product. We did have fun though.  

What’s been the most fun story from the studio?

As I said, we always have fun when we’re working in the studio anyway. We had a lot of fun with Rita [Ora], she’s a really cool girl. Paloma [Faith] is a very funny individual. Labrinth is a cool guy.

Did Rita Ora give you any fashion advice considering she’s such a fashionista?

Oh yeah, she loves to be on point with the fashion. She actually got me to wear a crocodile jacket in our “Coming Home” video, you can see it towards the end of the video.

Nice. Was it straight from her wardrobe?

No. But she approved of the jacket.

Kudos to you for making her both sing and work as a stylist on set!

Yeah, she was great.

Are you producing any music for the albums of the acts you’ve worked with on Life? In terms of returning the favor?

Unfortunately, we’re in the process of working on our second album right now. That’s the priority at the moment. But there’s always the potential for us to work on some music for the artists we’ve worked with.

What can you tell me about the new record then?

An album is quite a big project to embark on. Our live album only came out couple of months ago. We’re still in the early days of recording and working on sessions. I can’t let you know any names as of now, ‘cause I’ll have to kill you if I told you.

Please don’t kill me for the next question. If you put Paloma Faith, Rita Ora and Ella Henderson in a girlband, how would you call it?

Superstars. How about that? ‘Cause they all are.

With an S or Z at the end?

Z at the end—let’s make it cooler and younger. Superstarz!

Considering you’re touring a lot and your new single is called “Stay,” was there a place you visited and went, "Wow, I’d love to stay there for good?"

That place would have to have a nice beach. I really enjoyed Vietnam, that was an amazing place. Some American beaches are pretty cool, like Florida and California.

That makes sense since I bet you don’t see much beaches in England.

Yes. We don’t have the nicest weather here in England. It’s nice to see some sun and feel warm for a change.

You have a lot of festivals coming up—like Parklife in Manchester. What’s the most challenging thing about playing to the festival crowd?

It’s always nice to be able to play all of the tracks that you’ve worked so hard on over years. Whether it’s a DJ set or a live set, it’s always nice to see the crowd enjoying the music you made. Everything you’ll hear at our show is our own production, whether it’s our original tracks or a re-worked version of some Calvin Harris banger. 

What’s the difference between playing your own show and a festival gig?

At the festival there will be people who are just there to see the festival and not necessarily to see you. With our headline shows, that’s us and our fans. It’s a different experience. We’ve got a new live show going on with a couple of new tracks in there and a few different remixes. We like to mix it up just a little bit. It may get hard to be as versatile with a live set as you can be with a DJ set, ‘cause you’ve got a whole band and can’t change everything in the middle of the set.

You do make a lot of people dance, but do you like to dance?

I dance badly, so I’m probably not gonna do it on stage.

The least glamorous thing about being a musician is…

…the amount of time that you have to spend traveling and sitting on planes. I know that to a lot of people that sounds like an amazing thing to do. And it is for the first few years. But when you’re spending your life traveling, it can get quite exhausting and not very glamorous.

What’s your surviving the road kit look like?

Always have a pair of clean socks with you—they’re essential. And make sure that you’re not too far from a shower, especially at a festival. You need to be able to freshen up.

What’s the phone app you use the most?

Spotify. It’s amazing. I use Shazam quite a lot with the tracks that I’ve never heard. And all of the other social media stuff.

Let’s finish this talk on a philosophical note, shall we? What is life to you?

For me one of the most important aspects of life is just finding happiness. It’s a journey that a lot of people struggle with as they’re trying to chase money, fame or whatever they’re after. For me ultimately it’s just about being happy, whether it’s staying up in the studio and making tracks that I love or playing a gig.