Back in London clubland at The End on January 22nd. We hook up with the girls behind the show, Lottie and Caroline Prothero…
So Lottie, an amazing career…I used to bump into you in the queue at The Hacienda back in the late 80s/early 90s. An amazing, ground breaking club. What tunes still stand out and what DJs were you pounding the floor to back then?
“Graeme Park, Andrew Weatherall and Jon Da Silva, it wasn’t so much about the DJ then though was it? It was all about the people you met, (usually in that looooong queue) and what records you were gagging to hear out. I remember “Robin Wants Revenge” and “Computer Madness” being two of the most exciting tracks I’d heard and getting them in Eastern Bloc as soon as they came in.”
Caroline, along with Charlotte, one of the coolest music industry girls ever – we knocked back shots at Venus in Nottingham way back in the day.. Your home city has produced some amazing clubs and DJs – where/who have been your all time favourites?
“Ha… that’s nice of you to say Dan, I think the reason I’ve had such a long career is by being open-minded and certainly have never seen myself as paticularly “cool”. Manchester is my real home town – I was a Hacienda rave-child too, though I hadn’t met Charlotte then. But I was lucky to be at Uni in Nottingham, during a very special time for dance music. James Baille was running the venue that became Venus, then a dark Trance club. It was just after the Summer of Love in 1990 when Charlie Chester was back from Ibiza after taking DJs and A Man Called Adam to make a Short Film About Chilling. They started the first ‘DJ Tours’ bringing the ‘Flying’ night’s from London to Venus. James stripped the club, painted it white and created the headiest, happiest space for clubbing. Paul Wain, Christian Woodyatt and Angel were instrumental residents playing with guests like Rocky & Diesel, Dean Thatcher, Phil Perry, Farley & Heller. Not forgetting a young Clive Henry plus Graeme Park and his then protégé Allister Whitehead at The Garage – another special House music club.”
Lottie, you obviously made it into this crazy dance music world thanks to your early residency at Turnmills (not mentioning the rave dancing on stage), what were those days like? Best nights, DJs you played with that blew you away, tunes that again, knocked you off your feet?
“I think it was actually Trade that really blew my mind, it was actually the catalyst for me moving to London. Malcolm Duffy and Kenny C introduced me to a lot of Todd Terry and Sneak’s early stuff when all those American producers used to make everything on a drum machine. I used to listen to them for hours, Malcolm and Kenny were Turnmills unsung heroes for me. There was a big group of us that used to party from Friday night to Monday morning, in and out of Turnmills and listening to records at each others houses in between, it was a lot of fun.”
This is a question you’ve been asked many times before girls, definitely Muzik Magazine I think years ago, is it it really that more difficult for a girl to make it in the music industry in today’s age or is that all yesterday’s chip papers now…?
Lottie – “I always stand by the fact that if you’re passionate and brilliant in what you do you’ll succeed no matter what your gender and I haven’t personally encountered any sexism. I’ve been lucky enough to meet like minded music people, my gender only became an issue when I started to get succesful. That said, I still find it utterly baffling why there aren’t more girls in the top end.”
Caroline – “I remember that Muzik article, all of those young women around the table have continued to flourish and I value them as pioneering peers. Their career’s have lasted longer than many of the people who were just in it for the party – maybe because we did have to work harder to be taken seriously back then. We were in the minority for sure. But, things have changed so much since. Gender has less to do with anything than ever before. Lottie’s right; it’s about passion, selfbelief and ultimately ability. You need knowledge of your subject, the market and most of all, be prepared to graft – this is no 9-5er. I’d say that building and maintaining relationships is paramount and that comes naturally to women.”
Which label head / A/R boss / MD / record industry mogul have you both sited as a real inspiration over the years?
Lottie – “Mark Jones (for obvious reasons)
Caroline – “Maria May, Agent at ITB – the woman who works tirelessly and quietly behind the live careers of so many artists, from Paul Oakenfold to Soulwax, Def Mix to David Guetta.”
Charlotte, Caroline…what have been some of your best tunes of 2008?
Lottie –
“Dr Strangelove ‘Photograph’
D’Jules ‘For Those That Know”
Grace Jones ‘Williams Blood’
MGMT ‘Electric Feel’
AHuman ‘Black Moon (Dr Strangelove remix)
Patrice Baumel ‘Roar’
Ocelot ‘Our Time’
Cirez D ‘Diablo’
Siriusmo ‘All The Girls’
Caroline – “There are so many underground singles I could mention, but the artists who have endured for me are MGMT, Justice, David Guetta, Duffy and Adele.”
Well January 22nd sees your ‘Missdemeanours – The Final Fling’ party at The End, which is of course sadly been sold. Why did you both decide to start a club night together in the first place? A tough question again, talk us through your venues, favourite DJs over the years and biggest tunes that saw people spangled out all over the place…
Caroline – “We were at WMC in Miami, loving the congregation of Brits and international DJs but wondering why it didn’t happen at home. So we decided that we would try to make it happen. The first party (at The Saint Bar) was just after that Miami trip with the same people and then some. It was intended to be a social where people with the same passions and to a point, business, could get together. The venue was great but the sound system wasn’t really designed for star DJs, so after a short stint at Denim, we found our perfect home at AKA. We would invite the best talent to play along with their peers to come and hang out. We hosted the biggest and the hottest emerging talent and it just rolled from there. The likes of Sneak, Morillo, Norman, Morales, Tiefshwarz, Mark Farina, Gilles Peterson, Jon Carter, Rob Da Bank, Cassius and Jacques Lu Cont played – all for a drink and a cab home. There was often more headline DJs at the bar than you’d find at Global Gathering, so many deals were done there too. Aaron Ross was with us from day dot. He was an unknown DJ then and is now A&R at Defected and has a Galaxy show. ‘missdemeanours’ ran there for four years -every Thursday – so to be invited back for the final party weekend is an honour we couldn’t pass up. The classics I remember are Lucy Pearl ‘Don’t Mess With My Man’, ‘Finally’ by Julie Mc Knight and Trax ‘On Da Rocks.”
Girls, best ever Miami and best ever Ibiza moment?
Lottie – “Tenaglia at Groovejet in Miami, perhaps 1997? And our ‘missdemeanors’ after party a couple of years later on the roof of The Nash Hotel, I think that was my favourite party ever. Ibiza? Space in September 1999 when Pepe and Fritz crowned me the Queen of Space…”
Caroline – “Our ‘missdemeanours’ party at the Nash Hotel, co-incidentally with Norman was great fun, but my favourite has to be our Mutiny On The Bounty boat party. It was back when there was a massive movement of industry players to Miami. The boat was crammed with the craziest and we ended up getting taken back to shore to be met by 30 cop cars! No-one was arrested, it was only Acid House high-jinks, but the story grew and grew after the captain sent a hilarious letter of complaint which ended up with ‘missdemeanours’ on the front page of the NME. Dave Beer and Yousef were the key culprits with Annie Nightingale attempting to turn the boat to Cuba a close contender!”
Best city/club you have EVER partied at?
Lottie – “Tenax in Florence. It’s a very special place. It’s like an Italian Manumission meets Studio 54 and they have a spectacularly good wine bar full of Barolo.”
No shirking here… best record ever made, best film ever made and the best record label of all time?
Lottie – Too hard a question, but I’ll say this today Prince “Sign Of The Times’ (the album), ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ and Wall of Sound.
Caroline – ‘Come Together by The Beatle, ‘East Is East’ is my personal favourite (did you know that the lead actor Jimi Mistry is a great DJ and is making a film about House music?). And Kitsune are always on the edge and pioneering.”
Okay, I have danced around many a living room with you both before. What is your cheesiest ‘guilty pleasure’ tune you will always put on…
Lottie – ABC “Poison Arrow”.
Caroline – Chris Rea “Fool If You Think Its Over”
Who was the maddest caner at your night at your various venues? Kim or Sparrow?
Lottie – Neither, they’re both very sensible people…
Caroline – “There was a guy called Dan who used to lead the reveling like no other, if my memory serves me well…”
What was your favourite venue you’ve played host to – and why?
Lottie – “AKA, it just worked there better than anywhere else, saying that Josh Wink at Subterrania was an incredible party for us too.”
Caroline – “Oh, AKA for sure. It was a very special time and the perfect place for ‘missdemeanours’. It was more like a weekly family party than a “proper” club.”
Was there one record and a DJ that you think you helped to really break?
Caroline – My first ‘real job’ was promoting records for Virgin Records. I played my part in getting The Chemical Brothers early productions to DJs, ‘Setting Sun’ more than any is a proud moment – their first number 1. I also took a then unknown Daft Punk on the road in the UK back in 95 and seeing ‘Homework’ explode like it did was mesmerizing. It was an honour to be able to work with them. They are incredible artists, I’m not taking credit for their genius though. I’ve managed David Guetta for the past 7 years and seeing how he has evolved world-wide as a DJ and producer is very satisfying. He’s inspirational to work with. I’m grateful every day to have been able to work with something I love for so long. I’m currently very proud of PromoOne, the new global promotion system I’ve just launched with Beatport, it is designed to help electronic record labels share their promos with the worlds best DJs.”
Someone DJ wise or artist wise to look out for this year?
Lottie – “Ocelot, I played with them at Fabric a couple of weeks ago and they were amazing. Their tracks are mindblowing too.”
Will we see ‘missdemeanours’ ever again on the world dancefloor?
Lottie – “Never say never.”
What do you miss the miss the most about your weekly and monthly nights…
Lottie – “Dancing with my mates…”
Caroline – “Definitely the people who came – and getting to see Lottie every week.”
And finally, what were the infamous after-parties at my sister’s Gab’s house like – tell us some magical moments? Like Jon Carter washing her dog Billy in the bath and Derek Dahlarge scaling a ten foot fence to join the throng…
Lottie – “Oh God don’t remind me…”
Caroline – “I think my favourite was Gab answering the door one early morning after-the-night-before to the Environmental Health, (whom she’d mis heard to believe were the Mental Health). They’d come to ask us to turn the music down and asked for the owner of the (rather grand) house. Confidently defending her cause, the place was in a very noisy part of London and also detached – they literally backed away with sheer disbelief on their faces. What they made of the angry proprietor dressed as spider-man we will never know.”
Lottie – “I remember that, Gab actually invited them in because she didn’t want them to feel excluded, they declined her offer…”