Exclusive DMC interview with Andrew Meecham – the man behind Playing With Knives – it’s back!
Interview : Dan Prince
Andrew welcome to DMCWORLD Magazine. Well what a journey you have over these last four decades…and here you are again back on everybody’s lips with the new mixes of ‘Playing With Knives’ courtesy of Utah Saints, Drumsound and Bassline Smith, Timothy Allan & Mark Loverush, and Magnus J. This new package spearheads the celebration of Vinyl Solution’s 25th Anniverary who are making their entire back catalogue available digitally for the first time…when did you hear about this project?
“Four decades – easy! Not quite on my pension yet Dan! Well, I heard about it a few months back. Alain got in touch one evening and we had a nice chat on the phone and he explained the whole project – what he was going to do, what he wanted to do and would I be available to comment. I said yes because he was so excited about it all and because we have always stayed in touch and been friends – which is rare in this industry.”
Who’s choice was the array of remixers and what were your thoughts on each mix…?\
“Everyone was involved in choosing remixers. They were put to us by Vinyl Solution – we could have vetoed anyone we wanted to – we didn’t feel the need to – there’s an interesting selection and we were interested to hear what people (who we may well not have chosen ourselves) would do. Also – we decided not to do a Chicken Lips, Emperor Machine or Rhythm Oddessy mix because we wouldn’t know where to start with such a classic track and it would be a bit obvious. A lot of people spoken to were too nervous to touch it – it was a difficult choice for some people. I’m going to keep my thoughts to myself for now on individual remixes but they do sound cool! You are going to have to wait and see. I’m really positive about the package and some really good work has been done. It’s really hard for me to comment to be honest. I would sound like an arse if I say that I don’t think that any of them are better than the original and I don’t want to sound like an arse.
It’s always going to be hard for me to accept that anything could beat the original – it’s really special to us. I’ve always hated people messing with the track. Sasha turned it down years ago for that reason.
I think what’s been done has taken the track and made it more relevant for people who weren’t attracted to the original. Other people may think that some of the versions are better than the original! I have to accept that too. That’s a really hard question.”
The question everybody is asking, why take so long to remix the track?
“’Playing With Knives’ has been bootlegged so many times there are loads of versions kicking around. The main reason as you mentioned earlier is the 25th Anniversary for Vinyl Solution – we couldn’t say no to that. It’s all part of the big plan.”
Right let’s rewind a few, years you have had one helluva career. It sounds though you had music instilled into you from a very early age, your father was hugely into his sound, he even had a Tandberg system in your living room?
“Yes – my dad loved his technology – my mum loved music. The outcome of me was inevitable. I remember my dad and my uncle Bill experimenting with stereo sounds and it being a huge influence on me. I think we had the loudest sound system in the street. I used to serenade the neighbours by pointing the speakers out of the window and playing sci-fi noises from a BBC FX album. I hid another speaker on top of the shed behind some bricks and peeked out of the curtains to watch people look up to see what the noise was. I was probably around 10. Good job we had a lot of family living on the street otherwise I would have probably been beaten up or locked up.”
Is it true you tested out ‘Playing With Knives’ out on that system because it was so clear?
“Yes it is. I used to work upstairs in my bedroom and then run downstairs to test the mix. I even bought back the final mix from Out of the Blue Studios in Manchester to test on the Tandberg speakers, it had to be right on those speakers. After years of pestering my Dad I ground him down and I now own those very speakers. If you use them with a CD player they don’t sound very nice but once you use them a record player or a cassette deck they sound absolutely beautiful.”
After a brief stint DJing at the Coliseum in Stafford you got an engineering job at the aforementioned Blue Chip Studios for northern soul star Kev Roberts. But you had never engineered before, how did you manage to blag that and what were those early days like down there?
“Chris Peat (Altern 8) and I answered an advert in a local newspaper which was looking for studio engineers/keyboard player. We could both play keyboards but the engineering side was just a huge blag. Luckily Chris and I had both been bought up with lots of technology, speakers, amplifiers, guitars, keyboards, so the only thing we had to do was say to Kev that we would take the manuals home. We took the manual to the Sound Craft desk home and some other manuals to the outboard gear – read them, went back the next day and basically showed him that we could use the equipment. I think he gave us a chance. I think he knew we were blagging but because when we walked in there already sitting there was Dean Meredith and Mark Archer working on the Acid Trance LP. We knew them from school. I think that helped. Basically we could play keyboards and they couldn’t so we got the job because Chris and I had already been in a band together playing keyboards for the past few years. I think it was the keyboard skills that did it in the end.”
Tell us about the beginnings of Bizarre Inc. – didn’t you swap with Altern-8?
“It was quite incestuous at the beginning. Yes we did swap around in the end. Mark and Dean were the founder members. They recorded the First Album called Technological and had a few releases, one of them being Its Time to Get Funky – which did quite well I think. In the end I think the keyboard players split up between the two bands. I went with Dean and Chris went with Mark. Didn’t Abba do the same thing?”
I love the story of the night when Dean took the tune to Quadrant Park and gave it to Graeme Park to play…a moment huh?
“Yes. Unfortunately I wasn’t there. That is probably the only thing that I would change in my career if if I could rewind time. I would be there. Apparently it was amazing. Dean came back the next day and said “kid you should have been there, the whole place put their arms in the air, I think we have got a monster on our hands here” I think from what I remember Dean said he gave it to Graeme and he had a quick listen and then just dropped it in.”
Classic! Where was the first time you witnessed it played live then?
“The Hacienda.”
I booked you for various Mixmag gigs around the UK, The Orbit and The Eclipse stand out. Where were some of your favourite gigs in that halcyon era?
“Yes – probably The Eclipse in Coventry. The funny thing is I found the original poster from that night the other day. I liked the Eclipse because it was like a big Shelleys – it had that dirty atmosphere that worked. I did love Shelleys, not just because it was local but it was a great atmosphere. When you went to Shelleys you felt part of a family. Even my Mum and Dad came one night to see us play live. They came backstage. Some of my friends were gurning and I didn’t know what to say. My Mum and Dad took it in their stride and said they loved it. It was a bit weird though. The video for ‘Such A Feeling’ was recorded at Shelleys during that very gig.”
Another cracking moment, well not then but looking back you can see the funny side now. The Top of The Pops keyboard moment…
“Ha Ha – yes. For those that don’t know what you are talking about, it’s the time when my keyboard stand fell off the stage but Top of the Pops carried on recording. That was, at the time, really annoying because I hated the keyboard stands that were built. It was something that Carl and Anthony (our manager at the time) designed to be different – probably more Anthony. I can be honest now and say that I thought they were shit. Because Anthony spent so much time designing them I didn’t feel like I could say anything at the time. I think what happened was that the stand was too big for the stage and I knocked it off but they kept it into the final take and if you watch carefully you can see me grabbing the stand. Yes – it is funny.”
How important was engineer Adam Lesser to the tune?
“Extremely important. He made ‘Playing with Knives’. It was him that engineered it and made it sound as powerful as it is today. He spent hours and hours EQing the kick drum and time stretching the vocal sample. He was really nice guy who should have been given an award for putting up with us three idiots. Although we had written the track we had to re-write it all again into the Atari. He was a great guy. Very patient. Did an amazing job. We carried on working with him for the next few releases.”
You went onto produce magical music with The Emperor Machine and Chicken Lips – what’s coming next for you studio wise?
“I am currently working on the New Emperor Machine LP – with a new vocalist – Michelle Bee and it is sounding really good. There is a new single out called Hey! in September with some excellent Ewan Pearson mixes on. It’s out on Southern Fried Records. Also I am involved in a new project called Llama Farm. Which is a rest home for analogue vintage synths. Chicken Lips is one of those projects that is always on the go but not necessarily full on. Sometimes Dean and I don’t work together for a few months and then we will work together so things take longer. Also Dean has been working on his Rhythm Oddessy mix and his new label Rogue Cat Sounds. I have also started a project with Erol Alkan on Fantasy Sound called the Future Four. Dean and I also record as Randee Jean on Clone (Royal Oak) so lots going on as always.”
Thanks pal, it’ s been a long time since Shelleys and the service station after parties – hope life is good…
“Ahhh Shelleys. Thanks mate, great questions. They were hazy times but I am very proud of those days.”
