He is the don who wakes up Bristol on his SWU FM Breakfast Show with the coolest music known to mankind. Part of the seminal Sip The Juice collective, DMCWORLD gets a superb world exclusive as he get set to spin at the forthcoming Scream Opening Party at Lost Horizon…
Felix a huge welcome to the pages of DMCWORLD, where in the world are you right now?
I’m a born and raised Bristolian and it’s also the city where I’m currently living.
Mornings are obviously a very important part of your day thanks to your Breakfast Show, what was the first piece of music you heard after rolling out bed?
I’m an early riser!!! And yes you’re right, mornings are very important, this morning the first song I listened to (a few times in a row) was the ATTJAZZ remix of Dwele – Money Don’t Mean A Thing, amazing broken beat remix with Dwele’s amazing vocals over the top, essential morning get up and mover!!
So before we check into your SWU FM radio side of things, let’s kick back for a moment and see where your musical journey began. You have heavy influences of hip hop in your career, but you have big memories of your dad having records in the house when you were a kid…who were the artists that would have been blaring out of his speakers back then?
I have strong early memories of my Dad playing Loose Ends – Hanging On A String in his Vauxhall Astra literally on repeat in the very early 90s! I was also played The Blues Brothers film a lot of times as a very young child too which can be given credit for my musical taste.
What was your life dream as a teenager, was DJing always at the front of your mind?
DJing was a teenage dream briefly but it quickly faded once I didn’t have any money to buy records. I didn’t pick it back up again until my early 20s when I had some money to buy records and get back into it properly.
Bristol is one of the big musical cities of the world, perhaps the coolest. Who were the local dons that you held in high esteem in the beginning?
Jeeeez! Bristol is amazing for the DJs and musicians that live here. My first proper nights out were at Level back in the day going to Drive By as an underage 16 year old and was handing out flyers and sticking up posters for it by the time I was 17 which then turned into flyering and postering for RUN so seeing all the Bristol DJs in the drum and bass scene was mind blowing in my teenage years (Krust, Roni, Die, Clipz, TC etc) as well as just having older mates who were absolute top tier local DJs in the city like Ben Daley, Amo, Suisse Tony and Apexape (formerly Urban Knights back then) who I was able to watch play when I was getting back into DJing.
You are of course known for being part of the mighty Sip The Juice DJ collective, responsible for some of Bristol’s biggest nights with the likes of Pharoahe Monch, Jazzy Jeff, Blak Twang and the Scratch Perverts headlining. What has been your highlight from your Juice nights and who would be the ULTIMATE artist booking?
We’ve managed to book and work with some pretty big names doing events as Sip The Juice. Getting called up to open for Snoop Dogg was a pretty massive gig!! I think the Pharoahe Monch show for me was probably the best highlight, it was his first ever gig in Bristol and he was super cool and got to hang out with him one on one before the show and chat for a while, his DJ – DJ Boogie Blind is a great DJ and super cool guy too, we’ve booked him a few times over the years and always a pleasure to hang out with. In terms of ultimate booking for myself might be Action Bronson as I’d like to hang out with him for the day before the gig.
These days however you are responsible for putting a smile on the faces of Bristol every morning thanks to your SWU FM Morning Show. Gotta kick off with this – I think you are the only morning radio presenter on the planet who doesn’t drink coffee first thing? WTF?!
HA!!! I don’t want to get the rep as this non coffee drinking weirdo but it seems to be the way things are going now. Yes, I no longer drink coffee, mint tea if I’m having a hot drink but just eat fruit in the morning if I’m having anything.
So there is a great story regarding how you got the slot on SWU, you only had a bit of pirate radio experience under your belt, yet you had the balls one night in a club to pitch your ideas for a show to one of the founders of SWU. Tell us the tale…
I don’t think it was so much the balls as to pitch the idea more as I know Koast who was one of the guys setting it up at the time and I just knew I could do a good job at it. Luckily nobody else had really pitched a morning show to them as most DJs on the roster are night owls so that helped me get the opportunity.
You are constantly hunting the internet and listening to sounds from around the world for your show. When I have tuned in I have heard everything from samba to Afro, gospel, soul, blues, drum and bass, house and hip-hop! What is the main ethos of your show?
The main ethos of the show is just to play music I enjoy and love. It’s kind of happened that each day of the week feels like itself musically. Monday is more mellow and Friday is generally more hype. That’s not on purpose, the show always reflects how I feel on the day. If I’m tired I slow it down rather than force some fake hype. I think the listeners appreciate that, it adds an element of genuineness to the show.
Favourite 3 records of all time?
Fuck! Coming in with the big guns now…. How to even begin picking my top 3 records is making my brain hurt. Possibly my top 3 songs might be Prince – Purple Rain, Stevie Wonder – As and The Gap Band – Outstanding. However!! I might have more favoured songs by these artists, just see these as their most complete songs… My brain is hurting trying to explain this right now. Let’s move it on… Albums I think Midnight Marauders by A Tribe Called Quest is one of my favourite hip hop albums but there’s too many to choose. Van Morrison – Astral Weeks is another album I’d put in my top 10 as well as D’Angelo – Voodoo and….. not too sure, my brain is hurting again…
Favourite film of all time?
Regular listeners of the show will hear me give very brief film rundowns most mornings, in our house we can watch between 5 and 10 films a week so again picking a fav is too much hard work but some top 10s would be Wayne’s World (1&2), Pulp Fiction, He Got Game (IMO Denzel’s best film) and ummmmm…. that should do for now.
An up and coming DJ to keep an eye on?
It’s quite convenient you’ve asked that as she’s playing on the bill for Scream but A For Alpha is definitely one to watch out for. She’s been on my show before and her name keeps popping up everywhere!!
You have had some amazing guests swing by the station for a chat including Crazy P and the undisputed. Superstar of Bristol right now, Dan Pearce aka Eats Everything. Eats is always top value eh, you must have had some insane nights out with this legend?
Yes, I’ve managed to have some pretty massive names on the show so far, currently trying to line up more for this year as well as have mates and local DJs still coming in. I hadn’t ever met Eats before he came onto my show. Ollie at SWU told me that Dan had been listening to my show and thought it was good, which I thought was bollocks from Ollie and he was making it up to give me a boost. Turns out it was true and I reached out for him to come on which he did!! I’m looking forward to getting in the mix with him when the night is on in May!
Which brings us to Sunday May 1st and your appearance at the grand relaunch of Scream at Lost Horizon, Bristol’s coolest new venue. It is the party everyone is talking about, it’s being billed as the start of the summer. What can we expect from the record box (!) of Felix Joy at this Bank Holiday session…?
Yes I’ve been down to Lost Horizons a few times and super up for playing there. It’s a nice no frills space with a good garden ready for a proper super fun knees up party time. In terms of music selection for the night gonna try and do what I always do and keep it fun, throw a few curveballs in there and maybe (probably) the odd borderline cheesy hit (Madonna?). Let’s see what happens on the night, I’m super hyped up for it!!!
Scream was one of the biggest nights in the UK back in the zeroes with the likes of Tong and Sasha smashing it. You were probably too young to get into The Academy back then, but the legend lives on?
The RETURN!!! of Scream, in the early 00s I was still in secondary school, but maybe around 2004-ish would have made it into The Academy underage to a couple of One Nations…
A question we always ask. What was the best piece of advice someone gave you in the early days of your career in the music industry?
The best piece of advice I got early doors was to never mix to different song vocals over the top of each other!!! Obvious now I’ve been DJing for however long but it’s great advice for new DJs who will definitely do that. DON’T DO THAT NEW DJS!!!
And finally Felix, what makes you Scream?
Might be best to ask my girlfriend the answer to that…
Catch Felix Joy on SWU.FM weekdays 10am-12 plus starring at the Scream Opening Party at Lost Horizon in Bristol, 6pm-2am on Sunday May 1st with Dan Pearce, A For Alpha, Robots With No Soul, Paul Conroy and Roland & Emma Gregory. Tickets from Skiddle and Headfirst.
www.instagram.com/screameventsuk
