Lord Of The Isles - Dalston Revival

Benji Lehmann, Hackney - United Kingdom - on 25/5/12

Lord Of The Isles is Scotland's latest musical export to turn heads in the world of house music. A popular edit of Tina Turner's "What's Love Got To Do With It" for Cole Medina's label followed by a string of well received releases on labels like LA’s Adult Contemporary and American Standard, Japan’s Ene Records and the devastating Hot Blob EP on his own “Little Strong Recordings” in the last year have earned the mysterious Caledonian a strong reputation. Now this weekend he appears in London for the first time as part of the Revive Her monthly residency which takes place at the East End's Dalston Superstore Club. I caught up with him to find out more.

Your chosen 'nom de plume' is Lord Of The Isles. Which of the Scottish isles does/would your territory include? Skye, Hebrides, Knoydart, Ardnamurchan and the Kintyre peninsula.

One of your better known musical emissions was an edit of Tina Turner's 'What's Love Got To Do With It?' What gave you the idea to take on something so brazenly pop? Well bit of a strange one that. We were having a typical family Christmas party a couple of years ago and someone had brought round Singstar for the Playstation. I was practically horizontal on the sofa after drinking red wine all day when my wife and her sister got up to sing 'What's Love Got To Do With It?'. I’ve never been a fan of the song but when I heard the intro that evening, I was like ‘eh? that’s amazing, really beautiful’ (I blame the red wine). So I thought I’d sample the beginning to see what would happen. A couple of nights later I sat down and completed it in two hours. Very quick for me! Suppose all the hard work had been done. I just added the solo in the breakdown some additional percussion and a new melody. It sounded fat straight from the off.

You have recorded on a host of international labels, including LA's Adult Contemporary and Japan's Ene Records. What are the pros and the cons of working with labels overseas? Suppose the pros are getting your music listened to by a geographically wider spectrum of people and the cons are not really getting the chance to hook up personally with the people involved.

DJ Harvey recently included one of your tracks on his X Mix CD, quite an accolade. Is he someone who you enjoy listening to play? Yeah, I like his outlook on music. Great DJ.

Which other DJs are you still prepared to drop your hard earned dollar on when they come to town? The ones that spring to mind that I’d like to hear are Theo Parrish, Levon Vincent and Kyle Hall.

Before I forget, what does love have to do with it? Isn't it all about money these days? Is it? I don’t see much of that stuff! It’s all about the love for me right now.

Your own label is called Little Strong Recordings. What's in a name? It was an affectionate Native American name for my son when he was little. My daughter is called ‘Never Shuts Up’.

This Friday you're on your way to London to DJ, tell us something about what we can expect to hear in your set. Some new music, some old and some unreleased/unheard music.

London crowds are notoriously fickle in their tastes. Is London a city you enjoy visiting and DJing in? Are they? Thanks for the heads up! I love coming to London. I’ve never played there before so I’ll let you know how I get on!

The party you are playing at is called ReviveHER. You can probably tell where this question is heading. Have you recently revived anyone? (Male, female or otherwise). I had to give a Budgie mouth to mouth recently, it was tricky but he pulled through.

Lord Of The Isles will be supported by Gatto Fritto, Voices Agency DJs. Men & Machines, Bi-Bop and Nicholas Feel at ReviveHER at Dalston Superstore tomorrow. Tickets & Info

Listen to Lord Of The Isles on Pulse Radio