Stunning new album on the way from many people’s producwer of the year
Interview : Dan Prince
Simon welcome to DMCWORLD, where in the world are you right now?
“Thanks Dan! I’m getting ready for ADE 2013 at home in Southsea, UK.”
When I told the Buzz Chart crew I was interviewing you today, they were like, wow, he is our favourite producer of the year. Thoughts on that…?
“Wow indeed that’s pretty amazing, totally stoked to hear stuff like that. It’s been a lot of work getting this off the ground, but the rewards come in many forms and this is one of them for sure. Thank you Buzz Chart crew!”
Your new album ‘Collected’ is swinging our way in November…full of remixes, originals and some exclusives. What can you tell us about the exclusives?
“There’s 2 or 3 unheard bits on there that I’ve been getting finished for Collected, including a collab with Sinden. All house music apart from 1 track named after my home town, which is a bit different. I wanted to try and make sure as much as I’m known for house, that another side of what I want to do is on there, just like the London Grammar remix…less dance floor.”
Two other fine releases causing mayhem right now is your ‘Friday’ track featuring Takura which Radio 1 are all over, and also your anniversary re-vibe of your Dave Spoon track ‘At Night’. Talk us through this re-work, how do you approach a project like that?
“It was a tough thing to do, “At Night” was such a key track when I was Spoon so to go back to it in any form was never an easy thing, nor is any remix. The label approached me about it and I wasn’t sure at first but I said I’d try and see what happens. T Williams and I wanted to do some stuff together and so here we are with a new version. It’s kind of bizarre to have done it but both T and I love it. It’s subtle but ticks all the boxes!”
Where you ever worried that we’d seen the back of house music as we know and love it, or did you know the famous cycle would yet again kick in…?
“It always comes back doesn’t it, but nothing can be taken for granted. It’s all guided by trends and movements in the culture that we don’t totally control, it’s down to all the people out there. It’s amazing to be apart of this one though…really loving the ride once again.”
I can remember you once saying that you would be coming home from a Spoon gig uninspired. What were your main issues with how things were going?
“Yeah I felt that Electro House had run it’s course for the Spoon thing. I had so many great times with it and no regrets, but I can’t be fake and pretend I was enjoying it, I really wasn’t in the end and I think people could start to tell from my output. So it was all about hitting the reset button for me personally…I have some great friends from those days who are smashing it still, especially in the US, but that whole scene just musically isn’t for me and I had to do something about it. Coming back from gigs and not knowing what to do in the studio was horrible, and totally alien to me. I had to remove all the creative and business boundaries that came with that scene and start fresh and I’m so fortunate it worked, without ever hyping it. My Shadow Child music spoke for itself first and it doesn’t matter that I had a past in any form, that’s simply all I wanted.”
For the people reading this who have never been to one, can you try and explain what being in the middle of a Silent Disco is all about. We loved you at Creamfields this year with Duke Dumont and Riva Starr…
“Thanks…it was something I’ll never forget! Seriously right up there with the best of all my musical experiences. It’s the most surreal too with that many people and NO sound whatsoever, other than headphones of course. I can’t thank Riva and Creamfields enough for that one!”
What is the current top 10 you are spinning…
“In no particular order…
Shadow Child & Sinden ‘Get At’ – Food Music
Kry Wolf ‘Nightmode’ (Pedestrian remix) – Food Music
Dusky – Esperanto Juggler – Aus Music
Midland ‘Archive01’ – Graded
Kry Wolf ‘U Like’ – Food Music
FSOL ‘Papua New Guinea’ (Shadow Child VIP) – white
Pete Graham, Marc Spence & Lorenzo ‘Who Dat’ – Food Music
AlunaGeorge ‘Best Be Believing’ (Shadow Child mix) – Universal/Island
Shadow Child ft. Takura ‘Friday’ (re-fri) – Food Music
Motez ‘Ride Roof Back’ – Food Music
Getting your track ‘23’ on Grand Theft Auto (and having Flying Lotus actually choose it) – the pinnacle of your career to date?
“It’s a big moment for sure, and to get props from someone like Flying Lotus is dope. There were so many big things that happened in the past before Shadow Child, but this is top of the pile right now for sure.”
We’re loving Wednesdays on Rinse FM as we think you are too – but what’s all this about people having a moan about talking??
“Haha…I think they misunderstand the concept of radio, or they’re YouTube / Soundcloud ‘rippers’. I love doing the Rinse show, but finding a balance between radio and just a 2hour mix that pleases people is really important. I have to say 99.9% of people totally get it and that’s all that matters.”
This was your first season working with Sankeys in Ibiza, go on then, how was it…?
“It was fun, a few teething problems were had in room 2 on the opening weekend but it was all sorted and the club had a great season with dirtybird. I was a massive fan of Sankeys back in Manchester, loved playing there under both guises and will always have a soft-spot for them.”
I remember how much you loved playing with Sasha at Amnesia and also Mark Knight at Space…what was your highlight this summer?
“The first dirtybird party at Sankeys was wicked in Ibiza, but that Silent Disco at Creamfields tops the lot!”
Where some of the places we could have found you this summer away from Sankeys, we know how you love to explore!
“Eastern Electrics was another great one to do, it’s sad to hear what’s happened to them. Also Sheffield has a great night called Tuesday Club where I played with Bondax a few days ago. My word that went off.. also the date I did with them in Brighton at Concorde2 was dope. So many great ones…Optimus Alive in Lisbon too.”
Anthem of the summer?
“If I’m allowed to, I’d say my remix of ‘Reverse Skydiving’, but that’s probably not right! Breach deserves that one for ‘Jack’ I think!?”
Apart from Ibiza, where were some of the other stand out gigs over the scorching summer months?
“Bestival IoW, Gaasper Festival Amsterdam, Optimus Lisbon, Found Festival London…so many cool others too.”
Who are some of the up and coming producers we should be looking out for soon?
“Lookout for a resurgence from NT89…his new EP on our Food label is awesome. Kry Wolf are changing it all up a notch and also that ZoeZoe ‘Twista’ record is wicked…looking out for what’s next!”
Another thing you once said, “a part of DJing is like acting, if you don’t like the music you play, it defeats the object of why I got into all this in the first place”. Do you think too many fellow producers are guilty of that?
“Yeah, and I feel the same too. I could never say about anyone else…I know that there’s got to be some who are stuck in what they’re doing but if they love it and can keep it all going then that’s all that matters. I can only speak for myself on this one and that was where I was at back then. I just know there’s got to be a lot more creativity in some people that they don’t get a chance to explore through the demands of the Electro / ‘EDM’ scene though. I’m really not dissing it all, it works for so many big names and nobody has anything to prove, but personally it started driving me mad having a career based on how many pyrotechnics were at gigs, and even worse whether you’re in the Beatport top 10 or not. When I was in the top 10 with Spoon stuff it was nice but it didn’t determine the scene at first. When labels and stuff became digital music business models instead of offering something special and unique, the creative side of things fell away and I can’t operate like that. I hope it doesn’t happen with House this time around, I think everyone’s learnt a lot but who knows!? I just want to enjoy it, there’s so many positive things happening for lots of us that are making this music and so many great tunes around, so none of those other things seem to matter any more.
And finally, once ‘Collected’ is out, what is coming out next from you studio wise – what’s the latest with Food Music?
“Yeah, Food Music is the label I run with Lewis from Kry Wolf, we have some great stuff to unleash in the coming months so we’ll be fully concentrating on that, but for Shadow Child who knows…as long as I can still be having fun with this project and not taking it all so seriously, that’s all I care about. Chapter 2 of SC is about to begin!”
“Thank you dude.”
“A pleasure Dan…”
WEB: http://www.theshadowchild.com/
SOUNDCLOUD: http://www.soundcloud.com/theshadowchild
TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/shadow_child
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/user/shadowchildmusic