Family
“I’ve got a great family, but great for very different reasons. With the exception of my brother, they are quite blinkered to the outside world. They live and work together and exist in their own bubble. That’s brilliant because they don’t have a strong opinion on anything I do. You don’t want to go home and talk about a tour or record, you want to know what’s been happening in their world. I really value the fact that they are never impressed by anything! It’s the same with friends, I don’t really have any friends in the music industry apart from Zoot Woman. I don’t hang around the music scene and I doubt I ever will.”
Musical Roots
“I’m a bit of a musical robot. I’ve never been part of a scene; I didn’t grow up as part of a movement; I’m not a hip hop head. In fact, Im probably one of the only music producers that will confess to having no interest in the emergent hip hop scene of that time whatsoever. I’ve always been a studier of styles. My parents had a strong classical music influence on me and were very analytical about music. I’m similar - not to the extent where I ignore the ‘X’ factor of music or over-criticise it - but where in my head I’m now feeling totally isolated and unaffected by trends and the like. My listening never followed any distinct pattern and that, I think, reflects on my work. I don’t see myself as belonging to any movement or scene or style. My listening was a strange journey including Harold Faltermeyer, Jean-Michelle Jarre, Yes, Bomb The Bass… there’s no common link between any of it. My age is an interesting one – I was too young for acid house or hip hop and probably just picked at bits of the past.”
First Projects
“I studied music at O-Level, A-Level and through my musical grades. I was more interested in notating music than anything else, I love looking at scores and that kind of thing. I’ve ended up in this electronic environment and that’s probably due to my best friend Adam (who I’m now in Zoot Woman with). We set out to make a record (the first Zoot Woman thing) and that was the first time I’d done that. Before then I’d never even given anything a name, never mind thought about releasing anything. I don’t really like words, I’m not a reader at all. When you look at my life there’s music and numbers. I’m a fact man! I’d rather experience something than read about another person’s experiences.”
Labels and Production
“The music world is very interesting for someone like me. You’re signed to a label but you’re free to remix anywhere, which means you work with a whole variety of different labels on a number of different things. I have a deal with Wall of Sound and I’m remixing for Sony for example. It’s an interesting and diverse experience and you never really feel trapped. You hear of the old ‘stuck in a crap record deal’ thing and I’m sure that still goes on, but for someone like me the situation is pretty perfect. There’s no general rule to remixing, you just listen to a song and think ‘how would I have made that?’ You never try and please the original artist, you have to try and please yourself. That’s true of all things in life I think. If you approach anything trying to please the person youre doing it for, you probably wont do a good job. If you set your own standard to match you’ll please everyone.”
DJing
“I don’t think DJing is that cool. I don’t like the image of the silver boxes and the hooded jacket and crappy sunglasses. To me, it’s only worthy doing if you are trying to do something different which is what I tried to achieve in my FABRICLIVE mix. I don’t like the supposed glamour in DJing and I even hate the name! I’m a DJ? Don’t think so… When it makes sense for me is at a party. It’s so immediate.”
Fabric
“The FABRICLIVE nights have been inspirational. Nowadays when I approach a remix I think about that room and how it’ll work in there. When I started remixing in the nineties I didn’t even go to nightclubs. If I didn’t play in them now I probably still wouldn’t. At the moment I’m remixing as Thin White Duke and its all based around the club. Without sounding too sycophantic, because globally I’ve had a lot of great DJ experiences, Fabric presents you with an amazing system on which to present your music. That’s where it steps up to the next level, you’re not fighting the soundsystem. It’s like you’re playing at home and when you’re that comfortable you get more creative, more inventive and more inspired.”
The Future
“Zoot Woman will be out in Summer 2003. After that I’ll be doing my next solo record but what shape or form that will be I just don’t know.”
