Phil Asher

The London legend lights up Groove Odyssey at Ministry of Sound

Words by Nicky Trax


Since his first DJ slot at Delirium in London in 1991 Phil Asher has slowly built an extensive résumé as an international DJ, producer and integral figure in the UK’s dance music community. In the late 90s and early 2000s, Asher was central in the evolution of broken beat as a founder of West London’s Co-Op club and as a prolific artist with countless remixes and recording projects. Asher started his life in music in a rather unique fashion. As a youngster he’d sneakily filch some of the records his father would bring home from a record store job and sell them to his schoolmates. Later on, he followed in his father’s footsteps by working at record shops and developed his taste for several styles of music, encompassing jazz, funk, soul, disco, and house. He ventured into DJing in the early 90s, radio and of course producing…sending dancefloors loop the loop under so many guises including Restless Soul, Basic Soul, Global Logic, Phlash, Phlash 3000, Woolph, 12 Bit Rephugeez, Back 2 Earth, Blak ‘N’ Spanish, Down From The Ghetto, E-Q Lateral, Electric Soul (2), Focus, Level III, Los Jugaderos, MusicLoveLife, Overcats, Pascal’s Bongo Massive, Phoojun, Powa, Room Zero and Two Shiny Heads. Next weekend Asher is back where he belongs, Ministry of Sound’s famous DJ booth alongside some giants of HOUSE MUSIC…the girl like Trax checks in with the main man…

London is your home town Phil, you must be looking forward to headlining the Groove Odyssey Easter Sunday Party alongside Louie Vega and Atjazz?

I can’t wait to play at the Groove Odyssey party and it will be great to see CJ Mackintosh, Jazzy M and the GO gang…and of course playing at Ministry. I’m really looking forward to playing some music and having a dance and it’s going to be a great night.

What can we expect from your set…?

House classics from the 80’s till now…good vibrations.

Please tell us about your next releases coming out…

I have recently remixed Kyoto Jazz Massive’s ‘No Cross No Crown’

https://youtu.be/V5xpwaK9564

…and  ‘So Many Ways’ by Lay-far  

https://soundcloud.com/lay-far/cant-help-it-phil-asher?in=lay-far/sets/so-many-ways-remixed-part-3

I have also been engineering projects for releases on Utopia Projects, a new label…run by Alex Bradley.

https://soundcloud.com/utopia-records/u-t-p-01-aa-manabu-nagayama?in=utopia-records/sets/low-tension

I am also an engineer on a Folk/Rock Funk project called Wood & Waveforms which combines Folk guitars with Roland acid and some amazing songs. This is a change of tack for me, but as I love all types of music it has been a very natural course. My solo output as Phil Asher has slowed right down, and I have chosen to only release music under my name that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I am currently writing new songs with D’wala with no release date planned as yet, as I just want to make it sound right first. 

Who are the producers from around the world you are giving high fives to at the moment?

I’m loving a lot of music makers at the moment including Craig Smith from Edinburgh, Inks Well from Australia, Paranoid London, Thatmanmonkz, Andrew Ashong, D’Wala, Nite Jewel and James Massiah to name a few.

Where do you get your musical inspiration from?

I’ve loved music my whole life, way before I starting making music or even deejaying. My parent’s worked in a record shop when I was young and they were my first and most powerful inspiration. I work in a record shop now myself and enjoy listening to new and old music. I love Disco and there are hundreds of records I could mention but one comes to mind as a catalyst to all the music that inspires me – MFSB’s ‘Love Is The Message’. It combines arrangement with musicianship in a faultless arrangement and bridges the gap naturally between soul and disco, house and hip hop  or me. EPMD – ‘So What You Saying’ into LITM into Blaze  ‘If You Should Need A Friend’.  

How did your local area influence your musical path…?

As a Yoot my environment and neighbourhood meant everything. They still do and Ladbroke Grove has definitely influenced my musical integrity and taste (if any) lol). There are many clubs that influenced me including Delirium, Confusion, High on Hope, The Loft with Paul ’Trouble’ Anderson, Garage City, Enjoy, Lost, Family Function, Method Air. There’s way too many stories about all of them so please catch me at GO for the gossip.

 And what should we be listening to as we head out the door to the Groove Odyssey party

 ‘Paranoid London’ album by Paranoid London or D’angelo’s ‘Black Messiah’ depending on your mood of course.

Phil Asher headlines the Groove Odyssey Easter Party alongside Louie Vega, Atjazz, CJ Mackintosh, Jazzy M, Bobby & Steve, Ronnie Herel, Housefm.net and many more on Sunday April 5th at Ministry Of Sound. All info on www.grooveodyssey.com