Bay Area-based trio Bachelors of Science consists of Phil “Rene,” Chris “Doe Boy,” and the most recent addition of Lukeino. In 2008, their debut album, Science Fiction became on the best-selling drum ‘n’ bass albums of all time.

Although their sound is most closely affiliated with the drum ‘n’ bass sound, remixes of indie bands like The xx and Death Cab For Cutie have set them apart, earning plays from prominent musical figures like Annie Mac and DJ Hype. They make a rare appearance alongside High Contrast at Mighty on June 23rd.

How did you meet and form the trio?

Rene: We all met out in San Francisco. Chris and I met back around 1999, right after the time he was DJing the infamous Homebase parties in Oakland. Both of us had that dance music connection from our time in the UK (Brits tend to magically flock together in the Bay Area). Over the next 10 years in the Bay Area, we kept running into other people in the scene such as DJG, Method One and Lukeino. It was only a matter of time before we started working close with Lukeino and asked him to come on board as a member of Bachelors Of Science.

Why the moniker Bachelors of Science?

Science is at the core of everything.

You remix all kinds of artists, from Groove Armada to Silver Swans. How do you shift modes from working with such a dance-oriented group to an indie rock band?

Lukeino: It’s actually a pretty natural process. We get a lot of remix opportunities, but we’re always making tracks that are some sort of style of electronic music. Bottom line is we’re equally as comfortable making minimal electronic tunes to making dance-floor tracks, so we just listen to the original tune and within five minutes of hearing the original parts from the bands we usually know what direction we want to take it. It’s been great working with such a diverse range of bands.

Your sound is mostly drum ‘n’ bass, since the release of your first album, Science Fiction, a decade ago. How have you seen this type of sound evolve in the mainstream, with your experiences?

Chris: DnB is one of those things that goes in and out of style across the years. You had the rise of Goldie and LTJ Bukem early on, then you had a lot of people get into dubstep. More recently, you’re seeing another rise with crossover acts, such as Pendulum and Chase n Status and the Hospital guys like High Contrast and Netsky. The really interesting thing is that just when you think you’ve heard every style of drum ‘n’ bass, along comes someone that just flips everything on its head like dBridge and Rockwell at the moment. We’re continually surprised to find that a lot of the best producers in the world got their feet wet under a different name in DnB.

How would you say your sound has evolved through your career?

Rene: We’re a lot more open these days. Early on we were very sample-based and just churning out stuff. These days we’re a little more thoughtful and tend to use a lot more live instruments in our recordings.

You are situated in SF. What makes you stay and not branch out to Europe, where it seems like the drum n bass genre is more widely distributed?

Rene: Yeah that’s actually been a bit tough, we had a really great time touring the UK and there’s no question that the whole dance scene over there is just a whole different world. But, you have to make choices about where you want to live your life, we just love the San Francisco vibe so much that we’d rather keep here as our homebase.

Do you guys have any releases coming up?

Rene: We recently finished off some remixes for Home Video, Groove Armada, Dirty Vegas and Miguel Migs. Not sure what the release plans for the last two are but I’m sure they’ll be coming out soon. Meanwhile we’re working on a new drum n bass focused EP and in addition Lukeino has several solo releases on Rubik and Sublife that have been getting a lot of attention and has just finished up a new mix that we’ll be putting out.

Come June 23rd, you’ll be playing with High Contrast. What are you guys looking forward to the most in that show?

Chris: Playing some of our new cuts off the EP for the first time. Also reconnecting with High Contrast after many years and for the first time ever we’ll be premiering some of our custom live visuals that we’ve been working on. It’s a much more “complete” experience now.

Bachelors of Science perform with High Contrast at Mighty on June 23rd. Doors open at 9pm and advance tickets are $15.

• Tag: Bachelors of Science, Drum n Bass, Interviews, Mighty