New EP ‘The Wired’ coming our way which is booming – out on Slave Recordings…
Underground House all the way – talk us through it – the tracks have a lot of references/inspirational moments from your home city of Sheffield…
“First of all the vocals are from LDV – a very famous Sheffield Pop Star who fancied doing a dark, underground dance record but also wanted to remain anonymous. The Track ‘Wired’ is inspired by Sheffield’s industrial past while ‘The Road Of Excess’ is a reference to living life to it’s fullest – as in to fully experience something you have to excessive. Coming from Sheffield, I was inspired by the early sounds of Warp records in the late Eighties, early Nineties and I guess ‘The Wired EP’ is a reflection of my earliest influences from the Sheffield scene (before Gatecrasher came along and killed it).”
Your sound is dark, pitched down vocals, great tight production and a real Detroit sound in parts – which artists sent you this way years back? Who were your influences?
“I was always inspired by Detroit Techno and as I mentioned before Sheffield had an amazing scene back in the early Nineties. There was a night called Jive Turkey at the City Hall which played the first Acid House and Techno tnes and then there was Occasions on a Saturday night where you would see DJ’s Winston and Parrott spin (The Forgemasters, All Seeing Eye, Sweet Exorcist ). They would play all the early Warp Records releases (being Warp artists themselves) and at the time my favorite producers would have been LFO, Nightmares On Wax, and people like Derrick May, Lil Louis etc.”
Which is your favourite mix on the EP and why? Tell us about the William Blake influence too on track three…
“My Favorite track is my chant remix of ‘The Road Of Excess’ as it reflects my sound right now – dark and chunky with the occasional cheeky vocal. I originally thought the quote ‘The Road Of Excess’ was Timothy Leary’s, but later on found out it belonged to William Blake. It’s based on the idea that to truly experience something you must throw yourself into it entirely – you cannot dabble, you must be excessive – only when you let go will you know its true meaning. It’s the whole idea of the man living without a mask – being true to yourself.”
Who has been Sheffield’s best ever DJ and live act and apart from Sheffield, who around the world has been the best DJ you’ve witnessed?
“My favorite Sheffield DJ would be have to be Winston (The Forgemasters) who I used to hear in Sheffield in the early Nineties. Obviously I travel a lot and I get to hear a lot of DJ’s and my favorite right now would be Loco Dice.
What are your current top ten tunes you are spinning right now?
1 – D.Ramirez Feat. LDV – ‘The Road Of Excess’ (D.Ramirez Chant Mix) – Slave
2 – Booka Shade – ‘Sweet Lies’ (Jamie Stevens Mix) – Get Physical
3 – Dirty Vegas – ‘Changes’ (D.Ramirez Squeezebox Mix) – Toolroom
4 – D.Ramirez Feat. LDV – ‘Wired’ (Original Mix) – Slave
5 – DKS – Thats Jazz (Pig & Dan Club Remix) – Hysterical
6 – Slam – ‘Positive Education’ (D’Julz Remix) – Soma
7 – Tim Sheridan and King Roc – ‘Ghosts That Live In Her’ (King Roc Remix) – Very Wrong Indeed Records
8 – Donk Boys – ‘I Saw The Sine’ – Dirtybird
9 – Rune RK – Sommerfugl – Arti Farti
10 – Pig and Dan – ‘Cubes’ – Yoshitoshi
A major influence in your career was when your legendary Lisa Marie Experience Project struck gold with the tune ‘Keep on Jumpin’ – what was Top of The Pops like?
“It was an amazing experience – here we were, sat with the likes of Suggs from Madness, Ash and Babylon Zoo and we were just a couple of Northern Lads who’d never even left Sheffield before. Chris Ewebank was presenting the show and he kept having to do the take over and over as he had a problem with – ‘At number seven it’s Suggs with Cecilia and at number six it’s the Lisa Marie Experience’ – You can imagine how hard that was for a man with a lisp to get his mouth around.”
Biggest producers and remixers you rate since entering the world of music?
“The best remixer for me ever would be Armand Van Heldon – my favorite producer so far is without doubt Trentemoller .
Best ever club you’ve ever played at?
It was a club in Kiev, The Ukraine called The Forsage Club – amazing!
So what’s the deal with the forthcoming ‘Slave’ parties coming our way – dominatrix themed I hear?
“Ha ha – whips and chains, the lot!”
Pete Tong, Carl Cox, Meat Katie and Mark Knight all over the UK – all good props…?
“Yeah, we’ve had some massive response to The Wired E.P – the above are just a few. Carl Cox wants to License ‘Wired’ to his Space comp, Pete Tong has been playing ‘Wired’ on the Essential Selection, Meat Katie loves it. I guess it shows the appeal and diversity of DJ’s that it’s reaching.”
‘The tune ‘Road To Excess’ was originally featured on Azuli’s ‘Headliners series, what changes did you make?
“When I was commissioned to do the Azuli ‘Headliners’ compilation they wanted at least four original productions of mine and I knew it was a tall order along with doing the compilation itself – consequently I ended up being in a bit of a rush to get my tracks ready. ‘The Road Of Excess’ was one of the tracks on the comp which I felt could have been better given a bit more time – it sounded OK on the album but I knew that it needed more work. What I’ve done is mixed it down again, made it a lot fatter and warmer, I’ve added some extra production elements and I’ve given it a lot more drama especially for the dancefloors…”.
Is it difficult remixing your own tunes? What is going through your head – completely changing it or just bringing it more up to date?
“Remixing is something I consider myself to be quite good at and the beauty of remixing your own music is that you have access to all the parts and you can go back and make the tune you might have wanted to make in the first place – or just rip it apart and make something totally fresh.”
Best album of all time?
“Depeche Mode -‘Violator’ “
What’s next from Slave Recordings?
“It’s another one of my E.Ps – this time called ‘The Satur8 E.P’ – we are still looking for remixers for the project so if there’s anyone out there…”
Other than your own labels, what other labels out there do you rate?
“I love labels like Four:Twenty, Cocoon, Poker Flat, Dirtybird, Minus and Get Physical.”
Two labels you’ve run – what has been your best release and which artists that have made music with you/for you have been the best?
“My favorite release was a track called ‘Venus And Mars’ which was first out on my label Vudu. Later on it got released on Meat Katie’s Lot 49 and then I re-released the 2005 mixes on Slave. My favorite collaborations have been with Mark Knight (this time for Toolroom) on the tracks ‘Colombian Soul’ and ‘System'”.
Your tune with Bobby Lorenz ‘1995’ gained five consecutive Pete Tong plays on his Essential Selection Radio 1 show – must have felt good?
“Of course it felt good – it was one of those tracks I did pretty quickly and just stuck it out there. I never imagined it would be a Tong favorite – you just don’t know with that man sometimes….
