One of the most exciting house producers in the world stars at the re-opening of Sankeys Manchester
Interview by Dan Prince
Brawther welcome to DMCWORLD…where in the world are you today and what was the first piece of music you heard this morning?
“Hey DMCWORLD. I’m in Leeds and today the postman handed me some nice records…one of them was by Johnny Fiasco – https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iyTX93WobDA.
The flipside is great too but this was actually a nice way to start the day, bringing the sunshine to another rainy day in Leeds.”
This week finally saw the full release of your EP VXVXVX which has been causing serious dancefloor damage for months now :
http://www.juno.co.uk/products/brawther-vxvxvx-1-per-customer/549982-01/
The EP was your only original solo material created in 2014…will 2015 see more on the original side of things for you…and if so, what is coming along next?
“Yes, I’m puttin out an album project which consists of out of print and sought after works from the last five years! A lot of people have missed my records the first time around, the original records were pressed in relatively small quantities and unfortunately people are selling them for crazy prices on the second hand market. All the tracks that I have selected have been re-mastered. After that i’ll be putting out exclusively new stuff!”
In an interview in 2011 when you lived in Paris you said “the house scene in Paris is kind of dead, you’ve always got the same DJs who are like dinosaurs.” Even though you now live on UK shores, you still must cast an eye on your old home city’s scene?
“The scene has totally changed from what I can see, it’s like night and day! Paris is now on the map of the best cities to go clubbing in Europe. I would have never thought about it. This revolution is not even down to the DJs if I’m honest, it’s about a whole generation of young people who are hungry for a proper party and show their boring big brothers how it’s done. I dig that!”
It’s a legendary story of how you discovered house music back in your teens. Year after year you would visit a family in Lincolnshire in the UK on a house swap, every year you would find new sounds including one time you stumbled onto house music down at the legendary Bomb club in Nottingham. Tell me, do you still keep in touch with the friends you’d visit all those years ago and if so, what do they make of your incredible success in the music world?
“Totally man, these years were golden and the memories forever engraved. We are still top mates and they are really supportive of what I do. They were the first to see me try my first beat matches over hard house and making beats on their drum machines! Cool no?”
This weekend sees you leave Leeds for a set at the mighty Sankeys Manchester alongside the legendary Lil Louis. When did you first become aware of the sounds of one of the founding fathers of house music?
“Everyone knows LIl Louis thanks to his ‘French Kiss’ anthem. I had heard his music before knowing about him. I used to listen to an old recording of a radio show he did for the French radio “Skyrock” in 1992! It’s very dope, you can check it here:
https://m.mixcloud.com/artistsupport/lil-louis-live-max-party-skyrock-28-11-1992/
Sankeys has been one of the finest clubs in the UK for many a year…there club in Ibiza is now sitting pretty with the superforces on the White Isle. Can you recall your first adventure at Sankeys?
“I think my first adventure was to play in the Basement after Mike Huckaby had torn the place apart. Move D had just closed Spektrum and downstairs got even more busy. It was really special, I played a little harder than usual and that sound system really did the tunes justice! Really good memories.”
New Years Eve in Bucharest looked fucking freezing dude!!!! Just how cold did it get and what was your highlight of the night?
“-18 degrees dude! Total brain freeze while waiting for a cab back to the hotel! Drunk people were being helped by people so they wouldn’t fall asleep in the cold! Taxi drivers wouldn’t take anybody unless you are able to fork 5 times the price! It was a challenge!”
New Years Day saw you hit The Rainbow Complex in Birmingham where Dungeon Meat played live alongside one of your heroes Kerri Chandler. We hear it’s a new live show with a new visual show…tell us more…
“It was our fourth live show actually. We don’t want to do too many live shows as DJing is what makes us really buzz, so we thought about bringing a visual element to our parties. My brother is creating the visuals and a team of VJs animate the whole thing. It’s still early stages but very promising. We only did the visual thing at Fabric though, in Room 2, and it was really good. Can’t wait to see both music and visuals evolve together in the future.”
Give us a tip for a young producer to watch out for in 2015…
“Watch out for Julian Alexander, our 18 year old Dutch friend who did the third release of Dungeon Meat. He is a true house music sorcerer. His skills are unreal and I can’t wait to be served some amazing music for probably as long as he will be in the game, that is probably a life time!”
A date in your diary in 2015 you are REALLY looking forward to…
“Glastonbury – Block 9 field at the NYC Downlow…”
And finally young man, a piece of advice you can give to the thousands of people reading this wanting to follow in the producer/DJ/live artist footsteps of Brawther…
“Arm yourself with patience, do it for the love, work hard every day teaching yourself the skills and the history, don’t let anyone sway you by their negativity, respect your audience and the world. Peace.”
***
Sankeys Opening Weekend Information…
Part 1
Friday 23rd January
@ Sankeys, Beehive Mill, Radium Street, Manchester, M4 6AY
Basement:
Matador (live)
Legowelt
Jovonn
Chapell
Spektrum:
Freeman and Farrelly
Jimmy Switch and Pedro
10.30pm – 5.30am
www.sankeys.info
Part 2
Saturday 24th January
@ Sankeys, Beehive Mill, Radium Street, Manchester, M4 6AY
Basement:
Lil’ Louis
Brawther
Oli Furness
Spektrum:
Angus Jefford
Daniel Sanders
Keiran Sharples
10.30pm – 5.30am
www.sankeys.info
