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SOLID STATE INTERVIEW
Thanks for the mix! It's very disco. Where does you love for it come from?
When I was very young, in the dog-end of the disco era, I liked guitars and punk music and
bought into the punk mentality that said disco was shit, so it was really a cumulative ‘drip drip
drip’ of records that finally turned me onto dance music. Disco with a capital D was something
that came much later. I was also into the Sheffield ‘Industrial Funk’ tradition, until House came
along and made it suddenly sound old hat around 85/86. In my mind, for many years, the label
‘Disco’ just blended in with every other type of dance music. It was definitely not a major
feature of the dance clubs where I first went. The music then was basically funk, Electro and
early House.
My mate Chas is from Huddersfield and used to go to the Leeds Warehouse around 1980-82
and had also spent time in Paris. He had Parisian radio tapes he played me that harked back
to his heyday on the gay scene in the early 80s. He could even do the special dance to George
Kranz’s ‘Din Daa Daa’ that they did in the clubs over there! The music he liked was definitely
more a Hi NRG and European influenced sound, but I learned an appreciation of the kind of
melody and sense of fun that wasn’t really a feature of the clubs I frequented in the late 80s.
The first person I heard really talking about and playing ‘Disco’ records was Pat Barry, who I
went on to record with for Toko and Guidance in the late 90s. He had a lot of West End and
Prelude classics, and, being from London, took his influences more from Kiss FM, Norman
Jay, Harvey etc. I was raised on Jive Turkey, home of the WARP sound. It was like two sides of
the coin - past and future, you might say - but ultimately what Pat got me interested in proved to
have far more longevity for me. It was around 1991 that I met him. I remember him playing
things like ‘Macho City’ at a New Years’ party in 1993 when all the other DJs were playing
current house and Acid Jazz. It sounded stunning to me. His records taught me a lot about
what production, as well, because they weren’t all just bedroom house efforts, many of them
SOUNDED incredible…
I suppose the mix I’ve done for CITP is really a celebration of the camper side of disco that
Chas would like, rather than the deeper side Pat would approve of - some histrionics and
drama, quite tongue-in-cheek sometimes; but heartfelt, committed music nonetheless.
You were more into deep house at a point with a record releases on legendary labels like
Toko and Guidance and threw parties with Inland Knights and DIY ...
Of course, like most DJs of my generation, I lived and breathed House music for years, but I
always had a wider taste and felt constricted playing House-only sets. In the early 90s in
Sheffield, I was known as a House DJ, AND a soul/funk/hip hop DJ. Around 2000 with Pat’s
slowly percolating influence, disco began to take up more of my sets, and by about 2002 my
sets had almost no House in them. I’m redressing the balance a bit more now, and the so-
called Nu Disco sound is perfect for that, although I’m extremely sparing with it. (Lots of people
are playing it now, and I try to maintain my own take on things at all times!)
You've djed with some amazing djs, like Tony Humpries, Harvey and many more ... who
stands out for you as one of the best and what was the greatest party you've played at?
To be fair, I didn’t hear the best of Harvey at the time. We got him in as a resident at the
Republic (pre-Gatecrasher) in Sheffield 95-96 on Pat Barry's recommendation as he played
Disco and we wanted that in our club. But the venue crowd just didn’t lend themselves to
playing disco, and in the event, all we heard from Harvey was fairly standard House! It wasn’t
his fault though - Sheffield just wasn’t ready!
Warming up for Tony Humphries was an amazing experience though – he was still fairly new
in his Ministry of Sound residency in London and by a masterstroke my mate dragged him up
to play Sheffield in 1993, with me as the warm-up! He came on with Derrick May's 'Sueno
Latino' mix and played all those Double Jay Salsoul remixes off 10'' slates, like the MAW ‘Let
No Man…’ Dub MIx before they were out. You felt like you finally tasting something of the real
US club sound that we all fetishized - We just wanted to hear that real US House sound ‘in the
flesh’ so it was amazing to hear him on the system we hired which was unbelievable.
I’ve also loved having people like Danny Wang play for us at Society in 2003. As everyone
knows, he always brings much more to the party than a bag of records. (In fact we’ve had lots
of great guests it seems unfair to mention just one!)
For me, personally, though, the best night I’ve ever played was probably when I guested in
Johannesburg in 2000. Just a fantastic atmosphere and crowd who completely carried me
along to play like I was possessed! It was amazing… And the Secret Society all night disco
raves more recently have been awesome, too. And some nights at Scuba were incredible, like
when we had Greg Wilson play our Society special in Feb 04 (only his second ‘comeback’ gig)
- he really moved people AND made them think about the music they were listening to and
where it came from. I dunno – lots to choose from, and such a bad memory… Sheffield heroes
Winston Hazel and Chris Duckenfield certainly deserve mentions too, as suppliers of
innumerable fantastic sets over the years!
You promoted your first club night Kangaroo back in 1988 in Sheffield already, right? Do
you still run a night and what's the scene there like at the moment?
Yes, over 20 years on, I run 2 nights - Society and a new night called All Out War – AOW is the
more electronic/weirder version of my playlist! I’m getting older now so don’t always feel like
I'm a big part of the local scene anymore - I’ll just keep playing as long as anyone will let me,
and hopefully do my bit by releasing records now and again. But, as I understand it, the
Sheffield scene is pretty healthy!
What do you think is the difference about throwing a party today versus say 10 years ago?
I think people are far more open minded, 10 years ago it was all shades of House music – we
joked that ‘varied’ meant you played House AND Garage. You can play a lot more variety in a
set now. As far as promotion goes, the internet has made it possible to still promote their stuff
without all that tedious standing around giving flyers to people!
When did you start making music and how did that happen?
I was a guitar player at school from the age of 10 and I got a drum machine for Xmas 1984, so
that's when I started to make 'modern ' music. I joined a band when I was 16 in 1985 as I didn’
t trust them with my drum machine, I insisted I programmed it, instead of just lending it….And
then the guitar came out, too…
Do you still bring live instruments into your recordings?
Not since 2001, when I released ‘2 Sides of Boogie’ on TOKO. I had live bass on the track
‘Boogie One Eleven (which Greg Wilson later played on). But I will again….
You've been running your own label Society Recordings for a while now. What do you think
is the musical focus of the label and do you have any releases coming up?
Disco is the bottom line - the first 2 releases were straight-up disco edits. The third was the
Hot Coins' Laissez Faire ep, I made a deliberate choice to put out some original material and I
loved Danny's Hot Coins demos. Now he's got people like Gilles Peterson saying he's the
most important producer in the country right now, which is great. There's no masterplan, no
house style, I just know it when I hear it. Upcoming we have Bozzwell and Hiem 12s, out of
Sheffield but with a heavy Berlin influenced sound, so we’re spreading our wings in other
directions.
And then there’s my own record, Boom, a house track I recorded at home in 2000 with updated
mixes from Toby Tobias, Chris Duckenfield and Scott Monkz. Big with the few people who have
it on CDR like Danny Red Rack Em and Frank Tope! WARP legend Rob Gordon is mastering
all our releases now, which is great – no matter how good the original sound may be, Rob
gets 20% more out of the recording.
I also have a new label project – ALL OUT WAR, more a solo effort where I have complete
control, so I’m looking forward to getting my teeth into that. I have collaboration with myself,
Bozzwell and Kathy Diamond performing a ‘club classic’ cover version that I’m really excited
about and some new edits too.
Are there any artists you would still like try to get on the label?
Oh gosh, loads. Through Society and the DJ History site I’m in touch with lots of talented
people - I’ll be in touch with ALL of them when the time comes!
What would you describe as your early musical influences?
Pre House - I was into Punk, Electro / hip hop, funk, DC Go Go and the ‘Sheffield Sound’
(Cabs, Human League etc)
Have you ever had moments when you questioned your own taste in music?
I’ve always been pretty independently minded, and I like what I like. The only person who gets
to me is my wife! If she says a record is shit, then I wonder if she might just be right! If anyone
else says it, I don’t listen! But I think I was more insecure a few years ago. Age brings greater
assurance suppose. Now I realise it’s just one opinion against another, and it really doesn’t
matter.
Are you excited about any new music coming out?
5 years ago Society put me on a mission to collect lots of great disco and but you can never
own every great old track, sooner or later you have to start LOOKING FORWARD AGAIN! Our
slogan is ‘like the past love the future’ and, really, you have to do both!
What are you top 5 tracks you listened to today?
In the car I’ve played an Ichi One mix out of Belgium, and some edits I’ve done for release
soon. (Nit-picking, as always, to work out the best way to fit the parts together!)
What do you think will make the world a better place?
Love, sweet love…
Would you like do give a shout out to anyone?
My wife, friends, family and anyone who has supported me over the years. And God, of
course…everyone who downloads my Cool in the Pool Mix… AND - Cool in the Pool for asking
me to do the mix – it was a real privilege, thanks!
How can people contact you for bookings?
Get me on solidstate@blueyonder.co.uk, - it would be my pleasure!
Tracklisting:
1) Intro Sample From Neil Diamond 'The Jazz Singer' OST
2) Evidence 'This World's Life' Solid State Extension
3) DD Sound 'Cafe' (Jonathan Fearing Mix)
4) Air Power 'Welcome To The Disco'
5) 21st Century Creation 'Tailgate'
6) THP Orchestra 'Music Is All We Need'
7) Gotham Flasher 'New York'
8) Made In the USA 'Melodies'
9) In Search of...Orchestra 'Phenomena Theme'
10) Barry White 'Your Love' intro
11) Comapanion 'Give It Up To Love'
12) Don Ray 'Got To Have Loving'
13) Tony Rallo and the Midnight Band' Burning Alive'
14) Santa Esmeralda 'The Wages of Sin'
15) Teddy Pendergrass and 'Take Me In Your Arms Tonight'
Links:
http://www.myspace.com/solidstatecircus
