The ace trio from up north making you get up and dance, every single time…
Interview : Dan Prince
Steve, Lee, Christian welcome to DMCWORLD…where in the world are you right now?
“Absolute pleasure to be chatting to you guys at DMCWORLD so thanks for reaching out to us. So we are currently sat in our studios on the Wirral in the north west of the UK…”
Cool. Well, you are unquestionably three of the busiest producers out there right now…different guises, countless mash ups, numerous remixes, releases on the likes of Universal/AATW and Spincredible Records. So the obvious question, how did you join forces in the first place?
“So myself (Steve Cocky) and Lee Butler have been DJs together in Liverpool for a very long time, most of that time we spent our time at rival clubs in the city but were always friends. 12 years ago or so we joined forces as I joined the dance weekend team at Radio City 96.7 where Lee was already a presenter. It was around this time we got our heads together and I invited Lee to spend some time with me at my studio set up and see if we could develop some music. We pretty quickly wrote, produced and developed lots of ideas that secured several big club tracks and numerous recording contracts with the likes of AATW and Ministry Of Sound. Our passion to create and develop more and more ideas just grew. We were always on the look out for other talented people we could use for additional production or remixes so we could develop more ideas quicker. Five years ago we came across an exciting younger producer by the name of Christian Davies. Chris was based on this own in a very good slick studio in Rhyl in North Wales. We liked a lot of his productions and remixes but always felt he was lacking what we had…killer tracks!! We invited Chris to get involved and sent him a few tracks to remix for us. As he had listened to both myself and Lee on Radio City for years and had sent us both a lot of tracks for support and feedback, he was pretty keen to get involved with us. His productions for us were soooo on the money it was frightening. He had the same ethos as us – hard working, passionate and efficient. He listened to briefs and got the job done to the highest of standards. The relationship quickly developed and although mainly via email, Chris’s workload became 90% dedicated to us and our projects. We were by this point now writing and recording additional tracks purely with the plan of getting Chris to just produce and mix them. The set up was exciting, efficient and starting to be profitable. We collectively decided that the best way forward was for the three of us to be together on a daily basis. We needed to be together sharing ideas, developing ideas, writing, recording and having an equal input into everything we did. In May 2011 Christian relocated his entire life from North Wales and joined us full time at Base Studios and his new Home on the Wirral. The brand new team of In Demand Music was born. From day one of our new team set up it paid massive dividends. We signed in excess of 12 major label recording deals that year, remixed over 20 tracks and created more than four new production guises. The initial financial investment in our studios was paid back within 6 months and the business has continued to grow and grow…”
Great story lads. So where were some of the early clubs you earnt your disco stripes at and who were some of the DJs you’d travel to see…?
“We all have different DJ backgrounds…
So…Steve Cocky…
I started my professional DJ career at the notorious Buzz Club in Liverpool at the age of 15. Went on to be resident at Life @ Bowlers in Manchester, the very famous Wigan Pier as well as hugely successful stints at Liverpool’s State, The Drome in Birkenhead and Time & Space in Newcastle-under-lime. I was really influenced by a lot of the DJs I witnessed at The Drome in Birkenhead and I was fortunate to have played there for a short time. This was just before the major explosion of Cream and most of the serious DJs played here and not at Cream; Laurent Garnier, Carl Cox, Josh Wink, Westbam, Sven Vath, Joey Beltram and Tony De Vit all smashed it. I was also lucky enough to play with and watch Sasha and BT at Time & Space…these DJs really inspired me, not always for their music but their methods and creativity behind the decks. The way they thought about what they where doing and how to work a crowd taught me a lot for sure. My early mentor and one of my very good friends was DMC European Mixing Champion DJ Trix, so I knew that technically I had learnt from the best. But all these other DJs certainly helped to teach me more about entertaining and working the crowd.
Lee Butler…
“I was without doubt swept away by house music and was a full on raver when the dance scene erupted in 1989. Music was my first love and buying vinyl and wanting to be a DJ my goal. Every penny I had was went on vinyl and having partied at illegal raves up and down the county decided I wanted to be the one spinning the tunes. I was travelling the country to Illegal raves and then all of a sudden Saturday nights belonged to Quadrant Park in 1991 where John Kelly and James Barton worked theiur magic. I was now playing at gigs and clubs all over the north west; Wigan Pier, Bowlers, Maxines, The Pleasure Drome, Nation, Garlands and Mr Smiths were just a few of the big name venues I was being asked to rock the rafters at week after week. It was at this time Club 051 came in with an offer I couldn’t refuse and made the move from Lime Street to Mount Pleasant and the 051 was the new place to be where I worked in partnership with Dave Graham. The next step was radio!! My Plastic Surgery show was born at Radio City’s new home – St Johns Beacon and became the north west’s most listened to Friday night dance show…and so my Saturday night show was born.”
Christian Davies…
I have always been a producer at heart and ended up DJing as an outlet to share my music with the world. Growing up in north Wales, the night life was limited to say the least. However I began working at the Tivloi nightclub in Buckley as a glass collector when I was 17 and worked my way up to resident DJ. I moved to Leeds when I was 19 working at Evolution and then the 5000 capacity Majestyk where I shared the turntables with most of the big touring DJs of the time.”
When I told the Buzz Chart crew I was interviewing you today they were so excited about your ‘Get Up & Dance’ tune…”a massive festival anthem Dan that you cannot ignore”. Thoughts on that little comment…? and Tell us the history of the track…
“Not much to say about this track…sometimes a track speaks for itself. However it says it all that when we made this track that we never for one minute thought that a release would be possible, we just made this track for us, for our own sets, something to blow the roof off any dance floor and an exclusive for our sets. The Africa Bambaataa rap we have used must be one of the most sampled raps in house music and I can’t think of anyone other than the legendary Bassheads that have managed to clear it. You can imagine our excitement when our publisher told us of a conversation that they had had with the owners of the work: that they and Africa Bambaataa himself loved this track and wanted to find away to make it happen. AATW/Universal then came in to sign the track for the world and the rest is history…”
You are not getting away that easily. Come on, more Afrika details please…
“Hahaha. Well we are big fans of Africa Bambaataa and ‘Get Up & Dance’ is one of our favourite ever tracks. We never actually spoke to him directly but we had long conversations with his former Label Tommy Boy in the USA who were in discussion with him at the time. We were told that he loved the track and it was discussed that he may actually re-record new vocals especially for this track, however after many discussions between the original publisher, the original label and the new label it was decided that was not the best way forward. I wouldn’t rule out an official collaboration with him for a brand new single at some point in the future though. He is a total legend!”
What is the current top 10 you are spinning…
“Just our big ten…
BINGO STAAR – GET UP AND DANCE
DIMITRI VEGAS & LIKE MIKE – FIND TOMORROW
KOELE VATEN & BASS PUNK – OVERDRIVE
DEORRO – DECHORRO (KOELE VATEN MIX)
BINGO STAAR – WHEN I WAS YOUNG
KAMURA – NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP
UMMET OZCAN – RAISE YOUR HANDS
JASON FUBAR – THE WOLF (FULLY CHARGED MIX)
HARDWELL – EVERYBODY IS IN THE PLACE
FULLY CHARGED & RICHARD GREY – HEY
What can you tell us about the Melbourne bounce style…and are you championing the sound in the UK?
“We make music that gets us excited. If you go through the Bingo Staar stuff most of it probably leans towards more Jackin’ House. ‘Get Up & Dance’ is obviously quite tuff and in ya face with a Melbourne Bounce edge and I’m sure there will be more tracks with that kind of attitude. But Bingo Staar is just about making big house music. If that means it’s Melbourne Bounce, EDM, Deep House, Electro or Progressive house then so be it!”
Like that answer. Your tunes have received support from the likes of Fatboy Slim, Laidback Luke, Bingo Players and Danny Rampling…who though are some of the producers/DJs you especially like to see supporting you?
“The ones who mean the most are always the ones you’ve looked up to and admired their own work. When they come back to you and effectively say “I love this, I’m happy to play it alongside my own”, then it feels like you’ve really achieved something. Laidback Luke has been pretty good to us and always finds the time to give us feedback and support on our stuff. The best support we probably got was when we found out that Tiesto had been heavily supporting one of our tracks, This lead to our first record deal and relationship with Laidback Luke’s label Mixmash.”
Tell us about your studio set up…who excels in what department…
Well, we obviously all have a say in the general production and sound on any given project. Specifically, Christian is the technical wizzkid who handles most of the engineering. Steve does all the vocal production and tracking as well as looking after the management side of things…and Lee brings the sandwiches! Er, sorry…we mean the ideas. Not the sandwiches lol!”
You work, rest and play together. If you could change 1 thing about each other, what would it be?
Christian: “Steve has Sky Sports News on the studio tv screens all day, everyday…which bores the living daylights out of me. I guess it helps my productivity though! Lee has a habit of sitting at the back of my studio typing furiously on his laptop whilst I’m trying to finish a mixdown! Maybe I need to buy him a cushioned keyboard…”
We all have on, what is each of yours guilty pleasures piece of vinyl lurking in a box somewhere…
Christian: “Do ol’ Justin Timberlake albums count?!”
Steve: “I have a cheeky Supertramp vinyl…always loved em. It’s my older brothers fault.”
Lee: “Totally 100% Madonna – still have my moments on my iPod in the sun when I’m holiday.”
What is coming out next from you guys studio wise…?
“I doubt you’ve got enough room to print a full list. As always there’s new music in the pipeline from Bingo Staar, Koele Vaten, Rudedog and Kamaura, plus we are collaborating with a number of upcoming artists on tracks for Spincredible…”
Who are some of the artists you are into away from dance music?
Christian “I’ve always loved BT – some of the more experimental albums rather than the dance-based singles. At home I pretty much never listen to dance music. A typical playlist might include Bruno Mars, Mayer Hawthorne, Miles Davies, Alison Krauss, Crystal Fighters, Imagine Dragons, Frank Ocean, Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, The Neptunes, Muse, Earth Wind & Fire, The Beatles…”
Steve “I love all music but I mainly love music with soul like Stevie Wonder and Alexander O’ Neal. But I also love to rock it out a bit with Stereophonics, Kings of Leon and The Killers. My iPod playlists are always full of 90s RnB as well…things like Aaliyah, SWV, Blackstreet, Zhane, TLC and I have to say right now that Frank Ocean, Beyonce and Bruno Mars are all pretty special!”
Lee “Can’t beat a bit of Luther Vandross, Bobby Brown and Alexander O’Neal…but more recently Beyonce for sure.”
And finally…what’s with the name?
Chrsitian…”You know the lads are from Liverpool, right? Think about it! Haha..”
