ireallylovemusic vs freelance hellraiser
hello.
congrats on the album, came as quite a pleasant shock to hear such proper pop music.
so, lets get down to it !
'waiting for clearance' - interesting title considering the fact that this album is largely sample free and more song based. why the connection to the old hellraising days when you are now trying to forge a new direction?
it’s really a small disguised thank you to Eddy Temple-Morris. When he first played ‘A Stroke Of Genius’ on Xfm during the daytime (he was subbing for someone) he sent me an email to tell me it was about to come on and he wrote “Watch it fly…” because he thought it could be quite successful.
so i guess the big quesiton has to be : why such a big change in direction ? was it a realisation of the short shelf life of the bootleg sound, or, did the urge to make music that will have a broader appeal just become too strong ?
I’m afraid what your hear on the album is the real me. The whole bootleg thing really caught me off-guard because I was only really doing those to impress my mates and to have something different to play when I was DJ’ing. I started writing with Gary long before A Stroke Of Genius came out. By the way, I’d say about 80% of bootlegs attributed to me I had nothing to do with.
are you not concerned about the b*stard pop community being somewhat baffled by such tracks as 'all i want' ?
I believe ‘baffled’ sums up the reaction you should have when you hear a really good bootleg. How ? why ? what ? who ? That sort of thing. I was attracted to mash-ups initially because of the way it broke down genre barriers and tickled peoples brains and maybe their feet. It seems normal now to combine a bubble-gum pop singer with an indie band but back then it was a little bit weird. Problem is that as soon as someone invents a name for it it becomes a genre in it’s own right. To me that’s when the fun goes out of it. I’d rather do a sad waltz with Gary now and see what people think of that.
or, are you on the hush hush, still sorting out blends under different names but keeping it quiet to avoid the cease-n-desist orders ?
I still do edits and remixes for my DJ sets. I’m still trying to make stuff that sounds different and exciting. I’m also going to start doing other things under different names. I quite like Terry. I also like The Charles Dance Fundraiser.
you seem to be blessed by having some rather well connected friends - snow pony, garret lee. all this old school indie connection. were you ever a fan of the punked up pop of garrets old band, compulsion?
I knew of Jacknife Lee the dance producer but not Compulsion – I only found out about them after we became friends. Gary I’ve known longer than my wife. I am lucky but only because they’re all such lovely blokes. The other stuff is a bonus.
i see a similar kind of career path with you 2 - underground noise makers convert to the cause and take over the world of radio sanctioned rock and pop (compulsion to U2 via big beat solo albums is quite a path) ?
I’m not sure I want to take over the world. I’d love to be able to produce other bands though. Garret has been a huge inspiration to me in the last few years so I’ll stay in his slipstream for now.
so going back. legend has it you pressed 500 copies of the 'stroke of genius' track. did they all sell easily - or do you have boxes left under your bed ready for the ebay pension scheme ?
Correct. I have 2 left and 1 of those is fucked from being dragged around the world in my record bag for the last 5 years. There goes my pension…
this obviously got you noticed, for good and bad, but where did the idea come from. there seemed to be a sudden explosion and impetus for the blending of dance and rock tracks together. where did you get the idea from ? had you heard a few examples via the internet and thought 'bugger this - i'm up for a go, or, were you always experimenting with such madness before the media when into overload for mashups?
I was doing lots of unofficial remixing with acapellas but not with really
obvious tunes. Soulwax made me realize the possibilities.
The idea for Stroke came in a meeting at my old job. I was working it out in my
head and wasn’t sure if I was humming them in the right key. I wasn’t but it
kind of works. I thought Richard X was the best proponent. His had a lot of
style.
then rather than progress and go full on for a bootleg career a la 2 many dj's, richard x underground releasing record label mixes, etc you seemed to step back from the whole thing, yet i recall your name still being bandied around on lineups with IDC, soundhog etc. was this a conscious decision to hold back from the scene, or had you already set your eyes on things elsewhere for your official releases ?
I think Soulwax, Richard X and certainly Garret had a few years musical experience behind them when they hit. I was totally new to it all and still working for the Post Office. I knew I was still learning my trade (still am) and simply wasn’t good enough to follow their examples straight away. The bootleg thing was the best thing to happen to me but it did catch me unawares.
the next time i found your groove, was when i heard about the 'twin freaks' project. just how did you become the tour dj for paul mccartney ? surely this was like winning the lottery, but, was it all pure fun and pleasure, or, was the concept of a dance dj spinning to a resolutely pop/rock crowd a tough gig to pull off ?
It explains where I’ve been for the past couple of years. He is friends with Youth (they did The Fireman stuff together) and Youth is managed by the same people as me. I guess that’s where the initial approach came from. Paul is a very sweet and supremely talented fella and I had a lot of fun traveling around Europe and America with him. He really looks after you. It was tougher to pull off in America than Europe although in Europe my set was embellished by a troupe of dancers and performers. On the US tour I was flying solo. Very scary.
why was 'twin freaks' not given the full promotion it deserved, after all, it wasn't even pressed up on cd, and only a limited vinyl pressing was available?
It was only ever intended to be a limited underground release. Paul does these kinds of things a lot.
i love the albums sound, despite expecting something more rough, i think it bridges the 2 styles of freelance hellraiser well. ie there is the blending, but the love for the song becomes very apparent. what was the deal, were you given full clearance to every track in the catalogue, or, were a specific few tracks selected and you were given the word to get loose, or were there restrictions applied ?
I was given full access to his entire solo back-catalogue from 1970-now. It took me 2 months just to get all my loops together. He suggested some titles and I suggested a few and we met in the middle. He even gave me stuff that had never been released. It was an honour really for him to put so much trust in me.
did paul get involved with the actual music side of the project at all, other than the originals of course ?
During the concerts he had a very big input, he oversees every (and I mean every) aspect of the show because he wants punters to get their moneys worth. By the time it came to doing the album he really let me get on with it down at his studio. He knew by then I wasn’t going to let him down.
have any hardcore paul mccartney fans been in touch stating shock/horror/love for the album?
Both. Some loved it, some hated it. I used to look on his website and watch the arguments develop amongst his faithful followers.
did you ever say to paul, "if i do this album for you, can i sneak a few cheeky beatles samples on the album ?" (the sampled chorus on 'we dont belong' sounds rather close to a certain well known choral loop!), or were you aware of the boundaries ?
I did borrow his keyboard player and drummer for The Sweetest Noise but I thought it would be too corny to hassle him to play on my record. We Don’t Belong isn’t a sampled chorus. It’s a motley crew of friends and colleagues assembled at my local village hall. I wanted a chant that you might hear on the terraces of a football match.
so to the album. it sounds like a proper (well produced) band as opposed to just some bedroom/studio boffin, i suspect that this is the desired result. what was the urge to make an album that sounds like this, especially as the whole electro thing is so in demand at the moment. were you never tempted to make a pure dance/electro type of noise for the dancefloor ?
Thanks for saying so. I wanted it to be epic yet understated. I’m kind of an introverted show-off and also up and down with my moods so I suppose it reflects that. The electro dance stuff is still there, just not everywhere. My remixes are more that sort of thing anyway.
one thing, is it all made on computers, or are there real drums/bass/guitars/pianos in the mix ?
It is all made on a computer but there are lots of live elements recorded into the computer. I play bass and keys, Nigel of Bermondsey plays bass and guitar, Jan Hammer plays a synth that sounds like a guitar, Gary plays the triangle, Garret plays with himself, all the drums are programmed etc.
considering your past : are you going to allow new up and coming bedroom tweakers to mashup components of your tracks, or, do you now understand why many artists didn't like the whole scene now that you have carefully constructed and sweated blood over your creation ? after all, you must be one of the few bootleg artists to have crossed the line, so, do you now have empathy for those who dont like their songs being f*cked up with ?
No fucking way. It’s my fucking music and if they want to fucking rip me off
they can talk to my fucking lawyer, and my manager, and my fucking manager’s
lawyer because I earned my fucking fleet of Lamborghinis and I don’t want no
snotty little punk taking the fuckers off me with his remixing and his
downloading and his peer to fucking peer sharing. NO FUCKING SHARING. We
don’t teach our fucking children to share do we ??!!!
Oh wait a minute…..
what are the plans for the album then - form a band of musicians and then take it out on the road to the seasons festivals ?
Hopefully. I can hear these tunes being played live so if anyone would have me, I’d be well up for doing it.
or, will the live show continue to be all about the dj skills ?
That too, I love DJ’ing and want to do as much as possible. Can I actually plug my new night “Good Luck Studio !” at Sosho in London ? We’re getting top record producers to come and play their favourite tunes. So far we have Hugo Nicolson, Jacknife Lee and John Leckie booked.
as the album has been quite long time in gestation, are we to wait another 5 years for the follow up, or, have you opened a thriving streak of creativity ?
I want to do one a year from now on. 1 a week would be better but 1 a year is more realistic.
what are your hopes and plans for the next 12 months then ?
A successful album I guess, a successful club night, lots of remixing and DJ’ing and maybe a trip to the hairdresser at some point.
and to finish off - when was the last time, and please tell all, that you really did, in fact, raise hell ?
Friday 17th February at 23:17.
the end
the album, 'waiting for clearance' is out at the 10th july in real silver form, but will be released as a digital download 19th june.
review for the single, 'want you to know' : here