Mr Ambient House and a DJ who plays just proper music opens his doors to reveal all in his life…
You grew up in Lincolnshire, is it as boring as people say?
“It’s a great place – if you want a career in sugar beet. Most people down south don’t even know where it is.
Radio One’s John Peel was all over your EP you released by your punk band The Ripchords which you played guitar in. What are your memories from back then?
“We formed at school and recorded some demo’s in a barn. I walked into Rough Trade with a cassette and Geoff Travis hooked us up with Cells Records. Then we recorded the single with producer David Lord in Bath, who went on to work with Peter Gabriel. We had exactly 10 white label 45s, one for each of us and six to mail out. I sent one to Peel and a week later he phoned me up at school. Years later I got to do two Peel Sessions and spent some quality time with the great man. Then I moved to London and the band split up. I still see frontman Sean Dromgoole often – I even did a party on his farm in Somerset this summer.”
Intending a career as a computer programmer, phew lucky escape there eh?
“I worked for four years at County Hall in the days of Red Ken, it paid for my first sampler – an Emax I”
You famously toured back in acid house days as the DJ for The Shamen on their ‘Synergy’ tours, rock n’roll moments?
“I did nearly two years on the road for £15 a night, but it was a lot of fun. Gigs in Scotland were totally mad with hundreds locked out. One fan turned up with about 2 kilos of magic mushrooms in a carrier bag, and they went straight in the tea urn. Crew members disappeared after a show in Dusseldorf and were never to be seen again. On one tour there was a mutiny, we took a vote and decided to blow out a gig in Italy – we went back to Amsterdam just for fun! Back in those though days you had to stop at every European border and have all your equipment checked – standing in the snow at the Swiss border in my pyjamas at 5 am while customs men count XLR cables – well you can imagine. Orbital’s first gigs were with Synergy and we did a memorable show at the Brixton Academy with Black Dog live and Aphex Twin – his first gig outside Cornwall. I missed out on the trip to Siberia which ended up with Willy in jail for 3 days though, what a shame!”
Your own production material under ‘Irresistible Force’ that began with your ‘I Want To’ in 1988 led onto the MASSIVE ‘Flying High’ album in 1992, one of the first chill out comps ‘Give Peace A Dance 3: The Peace Collection and a host of other brilliant releases… what is the proudest moment you’ve had seeing your tune in a record store?
“It’s always a good feeling to see your music in stock in a great shop like Hardwax Berlin or Amoeba in SF. I briefly had my own section in Record & Tape Exchange as well! I miss the independent record stores that we used to have 10-20 years ago – they were so important in introducing us to new music.”
What made you check into the Ambient world in the first place …..?
“In the mid 80s, I was into the outer limits of experimental music and I saw amazing gigs like Captain Beefheart, Sun Ra, Steve Reich, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Ornette Coleman, Kraftwerk and I spent some time in Germany where I began to collect Krautrock and early electronic music. I started buying sparse and minimal records, first to sample and then using them in mixes – initially on pirate radio. The key idea was that totally beatless records would sit over house or hip-hop beats to make a real-time mashup. Then I met Alex Patterson at the club night ‘Land of Oz’, I thought what he was doing was very interesting, using many sound sources at once – sometimes with Youth & Jimi Cauty. That upstairs room at Heaven ought to have a blue plaque on it ‘cos so many ideas were born there! In those early days it was all about 12″ singles – I could see ahead, that soon it would be about albums and that would be a whole new ballgame…”
And who do you love in the music world now?
“Sometimes an artist just grabs you by the ears and makes you pay attention. For a decade now, I’ve been loving the West London guys like IG Culture, 4 Hero, Kaidi Tatham, Bugz in the Attic and their mate Domu who now runs TrebleO Records. 4 Hero’s R-Solution radio shows with Kirk Digiorgio and Phil Asher were a real education for me. A lot of electronic dance stuff seems really dull but now and again someone interesting like Akufen, Rei Harakami, Isolee or Nathan Fake come along. I like some of the Berghain music too like Ame & Chateau Flight, also the neodisco king Lindstrom. I still play some US deep house like Joe Claussel, Moodyman, Kerri Chandler. UK chillout still produces good acts like Pan Electric, Future Loop Foundation, Digitonal and ambient wunderkind Ishq. Then there’s the stately grandeur of The Cinematic Orchestra, the genre-defying antics of Matthew Herbert, the ultracool downtempo pf Boozoo Bajou, the unstoppable Recloose, the legendary Carl Craig, the ever-reliable Mr Scruff, the warped genius of Madlib, the wild vocals of Georgia Anne Muldrow, the soulful voice of Dwight Trible, the mashed-up beats of Flying Lotus, the funky good times of Ayro, the nerdhop of MC Paul Barman, the wonky surrealism of Sa-Ra productions, the J=pop genius of Cornelius, quirky dutch popstar Benny Sings, Icelandic eccentrics Sigur Ros, the late great pianist Esbjorn Svensson, Australian improvisers The Necks, Swiss pioneer Nik Baertsch’s Ronin, ambient soundscapes of NY’s William Basinski, and the delightful Japanese/Swedish band Little Dragon. And I keep on mining 70s soul/jazz like Leon Thomas, Yusef Lateef, Idris Muhammed, Pharoah Sanders, Gary Bartz, Webster Lewis…
You’ve DJ’d in over 50 countries – where are your favourites that you have spun at and still look forward to returning to?
“Everyone knows I like Japan and I spend a lot of time there nowadays, I love Japanese people and their super-polite culture, the language is endlessly fascinating, as is the food. The music scene is very healthy too. I want to do more shows in the US – especially after President Obama is elected, when there will be a new optimism. I have many friends in San Francisco, NY, Chicago, Florida, LA. I love Germany and Italy, Copenhagen and Amsterdam, Moscow is something else, and I’m enjoying Stockholm nowadays too. Barcelona is a great place, as is Dublin. I still haven’t been to Australia, New Zealand, China, Brazil, Morocco, Hawaii !
You have quite a connection with Coldcut, remixing their work, putting on the show at The Queen Elizabeth Hall in tribute for writer and philosopher Robert Anton Wilson – what are the guys like?
“I have been friends with Matt and Jonathan for over 20 years now, and they are both fantastic people who have managed to stay focused for over two decades years, carving out their own little niche. Matt is certainly one of the most creative minds in UK music which is why he’s on TV and Radio so often. Nobody has done more to develop VJ-ing either, an art-form that Matt practically invented and continues to innovate in. I’m also godfather to Matt’s son Ki who is now 12. The RAW show was a huge success and one of the best things I’ve ever worked on, it was great to meet Alan Moore and the others. Jon does most of the DJ work nowadays, and his knowledge of obscure funky tunes is mind-blowing. Ninja Tune has given the world some really great music too. And their importance as the first UK underground DJs to make their own records cannot be overstated.”
What’s next for the legend that is Mixmaster Morris?
“My monthly night Nubient is still running after 12 years, I’ve been running a weekly called ‘Calm Down My Selector’ in Brixton, looking for a new venue for that. Doing some special ambient events that will be invite-only. Looking to start a residency somewhere outside London too, maybe Birmingham or Brighton? I’ve done an album with Jonah Sharp that needs to come out, plus we did some live shows this summer. This week I’m doing a mix CD for Wakyo in Japan, and then another double one for Third Ear in the UK. I also have remixes to complete for Me-Sheen, Ayota and Animat – plus radio shows for Samurai FM before another tour of Japan over Christmas. I’m doing something for the Tate Modern too but I can’t tell you about it yet. Next year I want to do something totally different, maybe an acoustic album? And I have a secret urge to do standup comedy too…”
Cafe Del Mar in Ibiza, a bit overrated I think these days?
“I was honored to play there at it’s such a legendary place, but they just seem to play the compilations all day . People kept asking me “what volume is this?” Kumharas is more my kind of place, I played an epic 6-hour set there last time. And one day I want to play at Sa Trinxa and wow?
Making music for BBC’s Doctor Who series – how did that come about?
“That is weird ‘cos I grew up on Delia Derbyshire’s theme tune like many other UK electronica fans, – for 1963 that was astonishingly futuristic. They commissioned lots of people to remix it and used them all for an episode I believe. Funnily enough I’m going to Coldcut’s show with Radiophonic Workshop this month at the Roundhouse…”
Best ever Goa party?
“I went to Goa last year for the first time with The Big Chill, it was amazing and I think it’s inspired more promoters to have a go. People there are very bored with trance and want to see something new. If you mean a psytrance party, I don’t play at so many nowadays but usually you get a great friendly crowd, and you can be sure there will be a chillout as well. Three trance parties to remember for different reasons – the Valley festival in Norfolk 1997, the Turaya festival in Dorset and the Solipse in Zambia 2001. The Mother party in Japan is the one big Psy event that I do every year without fail, it’s 2000 metres up a mountain in the Japan Alps. I still haven’t played at Boom in Portugal though!”
