Sonny Wharton has emerged in the past couple of years as one of the brightest prospects in the UK. Described by The Shapeshifters as “one of the most prolific producers out there” he’s remixed the likes of Fatboy Slim, Frankie Knuckles and The Temper Trap. Releasing singles on Size, Toolroom, Spinnin’ and Skint Sonny has received regular support from house music heavyweights Pete Tong, Steve Angello, Roger Sanchez and Mark Knight whilst continuing to push his own label Whartone Records and dominate the download charts. Here Dan Prince gets the world exclusive as the south coast superstar looks back at a remarkable year…
Hey Sonny welcome back to DMC. Where in the world are you right now?
“Hi, thanks for having me back – right now I’m locked away in the studio working on my first couple of singles for 2014 which I’m having quite a lot of fun with to be honest!”
When I told The Buzz Chart people I was interviewing you today, they shouted…”tell him we think he is the future Carl Cox!” – what are your thoughts on that, I know he is a big hero of yours…?
“Wow, really?! I’m not sure I’m worthy of that but thank you – he is a massive hero of mine and still by far one of the best DJs out there! He is the reason I wanted to become a DJ.”
Well Sonny, what a frickin year you have had. Radio 1 all over you, some stupendous productions out, sell out shows everywhere you go…you must be pinching yourself that all of this has happened in such a short time?
“It’s really has been crazy and definitely one I’ll remember that’s for sure – this time last year I wouldn’t have believed it was going to turn out like this at all.”
How important have the whole Skint family been to your development, it really seems you two are a match made in heaven?
“I feel SO lucky to be working with Skint – it genuinely is like a family there and even from the early days of the first couple of remixes I did for them right through to signing with them now as an artist, my manager Rich has been pivotal in how things have progressed and developed for me. Having been a fan of the label for so many years to be working with them like this now is a dream come true!”
Check out Sonny’s crazy 2013 right here…
It must feel great to be in this massive House music resurgence again, even America is dancing to the House sound again! Why do you think this genre is back in vogue once again…?
“I think it’s brilliant that House music is back on the map again! As to why specifically I’m not sure exactly but there really is a lot of great music out there again right now and obviously everything goes through cycles, so to have a whole new generation listening to house music again in whatever form can only a good thing in my eyes…and it’s going to help keep the scene alive. Even if you just look at the last two weeks in the mainstream Top 40 as an example, we’ve had the MK remix of Storm Queen at No. 1 and Fatboy Slim & Riva Starr “Eat Sleep Rave Repeat” at No. 3… this is exactly what we need more of – House music back on the airwaves!”
Fact or Fiction? When the call came in from DJ Mag to let you know you had won the Renaissance / Amnesia Ibiza competition, you didn’t know whether you had enough phone credit to take the call?
“FACT – as mad as it sounds! I was out in Ibiza with hardly any money using a pay as you go phone with practically no credit left and the call came through as “Unknown Number”…I genuinely almost didn’t take the call!”
Tell us about that night. What can you remember about it, the first record you played, the nerves beforehand, who else was on the bill, your mixing skills, the celebrations after…
“It was such a surreal night – from meeting Marcus James, Nathan Seal and the guys at Renaissance to doing my first ever interview at Savannah with Ben Edwards and Andre Ainsworth at DJMag it all seemed so crazy. I was VERY nervous, even though I had a lot of my friends over in Ibiza for the night, I was still so scared as it was the biggest show of my life. At Amnesia the line up was John Digweed and Sander Kleinenberg in the main room with myself and DJ Oliver heading up the Terrace – I remember my set time was from 3am until 6am and when I was due to start looking up to see a full terrace in front of me I was pinching myself that I was about to play one of the best clubs in the world. The first record specifically I’m not sure of, but I do remember alongside three Technics 1210s, I also had two cdj500s (which were very new and rarely used back then!!) to play on so was really enjoying getting to layer lots of tracks together across both formats. It all went really quickly and to this day I still remember seeing my brother and all my friends with such a big smile on their faces – it felt like we were all in it together!”
You enjoyed a really interesting tour of China not so long ago. I went over there a couple of years ago and wasn’t too sure whether the Chinese clubbers would ever ‘get it’…but it seems like slowly but surely they are emerging as a force to be reckoned with…?
“I’ve been over there a few times now and have really fallen in love with the country – at first some of the clubs seemed new to it all but they definitely are a force to be reckoned with as some of my favourite shows of recent years have been over there for me.”
What is the current top 10 you are spinning?
X-Press 2 & Sonny Wharton – Watching Octavia (Marco Lys Remix)
Jaceo – Rap Pastor
Nathan C – The Game (Fran Lk & Kentosty Remix)
Quivver – Push & Pull
Sonny Wharton – Raindance
Kolombo – Throw Your Hands
Dave Davis – Up (Pole Folder Remix)
Carl Cox – Family Guy (Loco Dice Remix)
Marco Lys – Looking For Some Action (Julio Navas Remix)
Morcheeba – Gimme Your Love (Sonny Wharton & Dave Davis Remix)
It was the DJ Mag Top 100 poll a few weeks ago – what’s your stance on it, the magazine obviously gave you a massive leg up with the Ibiza competition, but do all you superstar producers actually give a shit about it?
“I can understand the backlash it’s received over the last couple of years and obviously as with any ‘popularity’ poll it’s generally going to be the people with the biggest marketing budgets that stand strong and come out on top. But I think if people want this to change they need to actually act by getting involved and voting for the sort of names that they feel should be in there rather than just dismissing it as something that has no relevance and slagging it off…If you don’t like it you totally have the power to change it if you really want to.”
Where were some of your stand out gigs from the summer?
“There’s been some great ones this summer but personally I think its got to be Ministry Of Sounds 22nd Birthday with Armand Van Helden – that was just a dream gig to follow on from one of House music’s heroes!”
Anthem of the summer?
“This is gonna sound like shameless self promotion but genuinely for me it’s been my track “Raindance” – not something I would have predicted I’d be saying at all!”
Fact or Fiction : You fell inlove with dance music after seeing Carl Cox on MTV’s The Hitman & Her?
“Another fact – you’ve been doing your research Dan haha!! I can still remember sitting down with my mates in school watching the video tape of this and just thinking WOW!! It totally blew my mind and I was instantly hooked.”
Earlier this summer you hit the US for the first time with shows in Seattle and Los Angeles…how did that all go, what did you make of this fairly new clubbing market?
“I really didn’t know what to expect – obviously from this side of the water I was aware of the whole EDM explosion but equally was curious to see what was going on around that and when the gigs came through was itching to get over there to explore!! Both shows were amazing – I was playing the opening set in Seattle so could really keep it deep and chunky before the main act followed on from me and then in LA I was playing the closing set and got to play exactly what I wanted to a full room from start to finish – I can’t wait to go back!”
Tell us about the forthcoming Fatboy gigs in December, what an early Christmas present!
“When I found out this was happening it was like the icing on the cake for me after the last 12 months – to get to DJ with Fatboy Slim is unbelievable, I really feel so lucky right now!!”
Aside from winning the Amnesia DJ competition, your other massive break was when X-Press 2 asked you to remix their ’Opulence’ track. So rewind to that first hour in your studio, what was going through your head, how did you approach that rework?
“I really owe Rocky & Diesel a lot when it comes to my relationship with Skint as they are the guys that gave me the opportunity and opened that door. I remember feeling the pressure a lot when it came to remixing ‘Opulence’ as it was by far the biggest track I’d got to work on at that point. Equally though I was really excited to be doing it and pretty much had a plan in my head straight away of what I wanted to do. The core parts lent themselves very much to the classic X-Press 2 sound that I was already a big fan of and I wanted to try and preserve that feel – yet give it my own vibe as well…it all kind of came together quite quickly and more or less wrote itself. It’s still one of my favourite tracks that I’ve produced and it obviously holds a lot of sentimental value for me as it was the very start of my relationship with Skint Records.”
How do you think your production style has changed / developed / improved since then?
“I’ve definitely learnt a lot since then, as you do I suppose when spending more time with anything, but style wise I think its fundamentally remained the same – it’s always been about the energy and groove for me and that’s what I try to convey in every track / remix I make…It has to make you want to dance.”
Fact or Fiction : The first time you DJ’d was at at a mate’s house party and you only had 20 records to fill a 10 hour set?
“Haha yes another fact right there – I basically played pretty much every b-side and remix of every track several times throughout that night, it was a great learning experience to say the least!”
Two years ago you were asked if money was no object what your dream line up would be. You said The Chems, Tenaglia, The Prodigy and Zero 7. Well it’s your birthday and you can book 3 DJs to play for you – who would top your list in 2013?
“Carl Cox, Danny Tenaglia and Yousef.”
What are the plans for Whartone Records in 2014…?
“The label has just turned 4 and we’re approaching the 100th release at the end of this year which is going to be my collaboration with X-Press 2 called “Watching Octavia” – with an amazing remix from one of my favourite producers Marco Lys. So following this I’m hoping to continue to step it up another gear as we move into 2014 – there’s some great tracks lined up already and we’re re-launching our label nights again in London from January onwards.”
You grew up in Mid Wales and knocked around at clubs like Delicious and The Rockit. You had a great bunch of mates back then who were obviously with you from the start – do you still keep in touch with any of them, they must be very proud of their friend who escaped the wilderness…
“Those were some amazing times and hold great memories for me on many levels. We’re still all great friends and most of them still come to a lot of my shows in the UK. A couple of times a year I put on events back in Mid Wales purely as an excuse to see everyone and catch up so nothings really changed to be honest J.”
Okay some quick fire music qs…
The record you wish you’d have made?
Superchumbo – The Revolution
The cheesy record you always dance to at weddings?
MC Hammer – Can’t Touch This
Your favourite Sonny Wharton piece of production?
Sonny Wharton – Raindance
The record that always reminds you of an ex?
Tim Deluxe – It Just Wont Do
Your favourite album?
The Prodigy – Music For The Jilted Generation
The best ever Skint release…?
X-Press 2 – Smoke Machine
You are now in a position to give props to up and coming producers, just like you were a few years back. Who has excited you this year?
“There’s SO many great new producers out there so its tough to call but someone that has always amazed me is Richard Knott – why this guy hasn’t been signed up yet is beyond me, he’s such a talented producer!”
And finally, what is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?
“Still to this day the best advice has been from my dad – ‘Be Here, Now’.”
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